The Five Skandhas Arise from Delusion
In the great assembly, having heard the Buddha’s teachings, with every word carefully retained and none ever forgotten, Ananda arose from his seat, bowed reverently to the Buddha and said, “The Buddha has told us that the manifestation of the five skandhas are five kinds of delusion coming from our own thinking minds. We have never before heard of such detailed explanation as the Tathagata has just given. Now, here are some other questions – are the five skandhas obliterated at the same time or in sequence? If in sequence, what are the defining boundaries for all five layers? We only hope that the most compassionate Tathagata will further enlighten our minds and purify our vision through further teachings, so that we may serve as guiding light for future beings in the Dharma Ending Age.”
The Buddha said to Ananda, “The true nature of mind is fundamentally awakened and perfectly pure, in which there are no birth, no death, no defilement, nor even emptiness. Everything arises out of delusion. From this originally awakened and true essence, delusion gives rise and thus brings about the world of perceived objects, just like Yajnadatta taking the reflection in the mirror as his own head. The delusion was originally without any cause, but people set up causes and conditions in their deluded thinking, and then, becoming confused about the causes and conditions they assert that things have independent existence. Even the nature of empty space arises from illusion. The notions of causes and conditions and independence are all speculations generated by the deluded minds of living beings.
“Ananda, if you know where delusion comes from, you may speak of its causes and conditions; but if delusion basically has no source, there is no such thing as its causes and conditions. Let alone the case in which people, while knowing nothing of causes and conditions, speculate that all phenomena arise on their own. Therefore, the Tathagata has explained to you that the fundamental cause for the five skandhas to come into being is the same, which is delusion.
“Your body came into being initially because of a thought on the part of your parents, but if your own mind had no thought as well, you would not have been born. It is through mental activities that life is perpetuated. As I have said before: when one thinks of the taste of vinegar, one’s mouth waters; when one thinks of the edge of a cliff, one’s feet tingle. Since there is neither cliff nor vinegar in presence, if there were no connection between your body and false thoughts, how could your mouth start watering at the mere mention of vinegar? Therefore, you should know that the body you have now is the outcome of false thinking. This is the first kind of delusion, which generates the illusion of solidity.
“As said before, the mere thought of a high cliff can cause your body to actually feel the unease. Therefore, sense-perception caused by delusion can affect physical body. That’s why at present you go after what is favorable and turn away from what is unpleasant. The pendulum of these two compulsions is the second kind of delusion, which brings about the illusion of sense-perception.
“And so, your thoughts and concerns are controlling your physical body. But your body is not related to your thoughts, how come it follows the thoughts’ command? When thoughts arise in the mind, the body responds accordingly to grasp at all kinds of objects about which the thoughts are thinking. This applies to both thinking and dreaming – when one is awake, the mind thinks; when one is asleep, the mind dreams. As your mind gives rise to a thought, it brings about a delusion. This is the third kind of delusion, which is constituted of the interconnectedness between mind and body.
“Such processes never cease; they progress incessantly and imperceptibly, such as the subtle growth of your fingernails or your hair, or the declining of your vitality and the wrinkling of your skin, which continue all the time, yet you never be aware of them. Ananda, if they are not part of you, why does your body undergo these changes? If they are truly part of you, why aren’t you aware of them? It’s because your mental formation skandha is characterized by uninterrupted succession of thoughts. This is the fourth kind of delusion, which is constituted of subtle and hidden mental activities.
“And if you could attain an unmoving, permanent state of complete mental clarity, then your body would not experience seeing, hearing, awareness or knowing; if truly there were such thing as perfectly pure clarity, it would not contain any traces of habitual delusions. How does it explain, then, that sometimes you have totally forgotten something unusual seen in the past, but later when you suddenly see it again, you find that the memory of it has been perfectly intact, never ever disappeared? How do we reckon the fact that, in the so-called pure and unmoving clarity, there are actually endless flotillas of mental impressions permeating? (That although we may have forgotten something, every bit of memory about it is actually stored in our eighth consciousness.)
“Ananda, you should know that this state of clarity is not the true mind. It is like fast flowing stream that appears to be still on the surface – you do not perceive the flow, but there is nevertheless a current underneath. If it’s not because there is source of thinking in your consciousness, how could you be subject to habitual delusions? If you do not unite your six sense faculties so as to make them interchangeable, the deluded mental activities will never come to an end. That is why at present your seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are still strung together by subtle habits. Within this false state of clarity, both existence and nonexistence are illusory. This is the fifth kind of delusion, which is constituted of extremely subtle and imperceptible mental activities.
“Thus, Ananda, the five skandhas arise from five kinds of delusions.
“Also, you asked about the scope and extent of each skandha. Form and emptiness are the defining boundaries of the form skandha. Contact and separation are the defining boundaries of the sense-perception skandha. Remembering and forgetting are the defining boundaries of the cognition skandha. Ceasing and arising are the defining boundaries of the mental formation skandha. Entering the state of deep clarity and being in the state of deep clarity are the defining boundaries of the consciousness skandha.
“In successive layers, these five skandhas keep arising due to consciousness, and ceasing with the elimination of form. On the level of principle, awakening can be sudden, and all obscurations may be cleared altogether. In terms of practice though, obstructions do not vanish all at once, but in sequence. I have explained this before through the example of untying the knots in the Karpasa scarf. What is it about that you do not understand and have to ask again?
“You should thoroughly untie your mental knots about the origin of delusions and then transmit this teaching to all future practitioners in the Dharma-ending Age, leading them to recognize the falseness of their thinking, to deeply detest their own delusions, and to learn of Nirvana so that they may no longer cling to the three realms.”
阿难即从座起，闻佛示诲，顶礼钦奉，忆持无失。于大众中，重复白佛：如佛所言，五阴相中，五种虚妄为本想心 。我等平常未蒙如来微细开示。又此五阴，为并销除，为次第尽？如是五重，诣何为界？惟愿如来，发宣大慈，为此大众清明心目，以为末世一切众生 ，作将来眼。
佛告阿难：精真妙明，本觉圆净，非留生死及诸尘垢，乃至虚空，皆因妄想之所生起。斯元本觉妙明精真，妄以发生诸器世间，如演若多迷头认影。妄元无因，于妄想中 ，立因缘性；迷因缘者，称为自然。彼虚空性犹实幻生；因缘自然，皆是众生妄心计度。阿难！知妄所起，说妄因缘；若妄元无，说妄因缘元无所有。何况不知，推自然者？是故如来与汝发明，五阴本因，同是妄想。
汝体先因父母想生，汝心非想，则不能来，想中传命。如我先言：心想醋味，口中涎生；心想登高，足心酸起。悬崖不有，醋物未来，汝体必非虚妄通伦，口水如何因谈醋出？是故当知 ，汝现色身，名为坚固第一妄想。
即此所说，临高想心，能令汝形，真受酸涩。由因受生，能动色体；汝今现前顺益违损，二现驱驰，名为虚明第二妄想。
由汝念虑，使汝色身。身非念伦，汝身何因随念所使，种种取像，心生形取，与念相应。寤即想心，寐为诸梦 ，则汝想念，摇动妄情，名为融通第三妄想。
化理不住，运运密移，甲长发生，气销容皱，日夜相代，曾无觉悟。阿难！此若非汝，云何体迁？如必是真，汝何无觉？则汝诸行念念不停，名为幽隐第四妄想。
又汝精明湛不摇处，名恒常者，于身不出见闻觉知；若实精真，不容习妄。何因汝等曾于昔年睹一奇物，经历年岁忆忘俱无 ；于后忽然覆睹前异，记忆宛然，曾不遗失？则此精了湛不摇中，念念受薰，有何筹算？阿难当知，此湛非真 ，如急流水，望如恬静；流急不见，非是无流。若非想元，宁受妄习？非汝六根互用合开，此之妄想无时得灭。故汝现在，见闻觉知，中串习几。则湛了内，罔象虚无，第五颠倒微细精想。
阿难！是五受阴，五妄想成。
汝今欲知因界浅深，唯色与空，是色边际；唯触及离，是受边际；唯记与忘，是想边际；唯灭与生，是行边际 ；湛入合湛，归识边际。此五阴元，重叠生起，生因识有，灭从色除。理则顿悟，乘悟并消；事非顿除，因次第尽。我已示汝劫波巾结，何所不明，再此询问？汝应将此妄想根元，心得开通，传示将来末法之中诸修行者 ，令识虚妄，深厌自生，知有涅槃，不恋三界。
Buddha Mind 