Sankhara

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Sankhara

(Pali

Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
; Devanagari

Devanagari

, or 'Nagari', is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together....
: ??????) or (Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
; Devanagari: ???????) is a term figuring prominently in the teaching of the Buddha

Gautama Buddha

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(Pali

Páli

P?li is a village in Gyor-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.External links...
; Devanagari

Devanagari

Sanskrit

Gautama Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was a Spirituality teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddhahood of our age....
. The word means 'that which has been put together' and 'that which puts together'. In the first (passive) sense, refers to conditioned phenomena generally but specifically to all mental "dispositions". These are called 'volitional formations' because they are formed as a result of volition. In the second (active) sense of the word, refers to that faculty of the mind/brain apparatus (sankhara-khandha
Skandha

In Buddhism Phenomenology and soteriology, the five skandhas or khandhas are five "aggregates" which categorize all individual experience, among which there is anatta to be found....
) that puts together those formations. English translations for in the first sense of the word include 'conditioned things,' 'determinations,' 'fabrications' and 'formations' (or, particularly when referring to mental processes, 'volitional formations').

Conditioned things

In the first (passive) sense can refer to any compound form in the universe

Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
whether a tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
, a cloud

Cloud

A cloud is a visible mass of Drop or frozen crystals floating in the Celestial body atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body....
, a human being, a thought

Thought

Thought and thinking are mind Theory of forms and processes, respectively Thinking allows beings to model the world and to deal with it according to their goal, plans, ends and desires....
or a molecule

Molecule

In chemistry, a molecule is defined as a sufficiently stable, electric charge neutral group of at least two atoms in a definite arrangement held together by very strong chemical bonds....
. All these are . The Buddha taught that all such things are impermanent, arising and passing away, and that knowing this is wisdom

Prajña

Praj?a or pa??a has been translated as "wisdom," "understanding," "discernment," "cognitive acuity," or "know-how." In some sects of Buddhism, it especially refers to the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of the Four Noble Truths, anicca, interdependent origination, anatta, shunyata, etc....
. is often used in this first sense to describe the psychological conditioning (particularly the habit patterns of the unconscious mind) that gives any individual human being his or her unique character and make-up at any given time.

The last words of the Buddha were (English and Pali):

'Disciples, this I declare to you: All conditioned things are subject to disintegration - strive on untiringly for your liberation.' (Mahaparinibbana Sutta

Mahaparinibbana Sutta

For the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra see Nirvana Sutra.----The Mahaparinibbana Sutta is a Buddhist sutra in the Digha Nikaya of the Tripitaka....
)

Sankhara-khandha:The builder of lives

In the second (active) sense, (or -kkandha

Skandha

In Buddhism Phenomenology and soteriology, the five skandhas or khandhas are five "aggregates" which categorize all individual experience, among which there is anatta to be found....
) refers to the form-creating faculty of mind, often described as "volitional" or "intentional." States the Buddha:

'And why do you call them 'fabrications'? Because they fabricate fabricated things, thus they are called 'fabrications.' What do they fabricate as a fabricated thing? For the sake of form

Rupa

In Hinduism and Buddhism, rupa generally refers to material objects, particularly in regards to their appearance....
-ness, they fabricate form as a fabricated thing. For the sake of feeling

Vedana

Vedana is a word in Sanskrit and Pali traditionally translated as either "feeling" or "sensation." In general, vedana refers to the pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sensations that occur when our internal ayatana come into Sparsa with external sense objects and the associated vijnana....
-ness, they fabricate feeling as a fabricated thing. For the sake of perception

Samjna

Sa?j?a and sa??a can be translated as "perception" or "cognition."...
-hood... For the sake of fabrication-hood... For the sake of consciousness

Vijnana

Vij?ana or vi??aa is translated as "consciousness" or "life force" or simply "mind".This article considers the Buddhism concept primarily in terms of Early Buddhism's Pali literature as well as in the literature of other Schools of Buddhism....
-hood, they fabricate consciousness as a fabricated thing. Because they fabricate fabricated things, they are called fabrications.'

In the doctrine of conditioned arising or dependent origination , -khandha is understood to be that which propels human (and other sentient) beings along the process of becoming (bhava
Bhava

Bhava is the Sanskrit and Pali word for "becoming" in the sense of 'ongoing worldly existence', from the root bhu "to become".Synonyms:*? Cn: you; Jp: u; Vi: h?u...
) by means of actions of body and speech (kamma

Karma in Buddhism

Karma means "action" or "doing"; whatever one does, says, or thinks is a karma.In Buddhism, the term karma is used specifically for those actions which spring from :...
). The Buddha stated that all volitional constructs are conditioned by ignorance (avijja) of the reality (sacca
Sacca

Sacca is a Pali word meaning "real" or "true." In early Buddhism literature, sacca is often found in the context of the "Four Noble Truths," a crystallization of Buddhist wisdom....
) behind appearance. It is this ignorance that ultimately causes human suffering (dukkha
Dukkha

Dukkha roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, Stress , misery, and frustration....
). The calming of all such fabrications (-nirodha
Nirvana

In sramana thought, Nirvana is the state of being free from both dukkha and the cycle of rebirth. It is an important concept in Buddhism and Jainism....
) is synonymous with Enlightenment (bodhi
Bodhi

Bodhi is both the Pali and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English language as "enlightenment." The word "Buddhahood" means "one who has achieved bodhi." Bodhi is also frequently translated as "awakening."...
), the achieving of arahantship

Arhat

In the shramana traditions of ancient India arhat or arahant signified a spiritual practitioner who had?to use an expression common in the tipitaka?"laid down the burden"?and realised the goal of nirvana, the culmination of the spiritual life ....
.

As ignorance conditions volitional formations, these formations in turn condition consciousness (viññana
Vijnana

Vij?ana or vi??aa is translated as "consciousness" or "life force" or simply "mind".This article considers the Buddhism concept primarily in terms of Early Buddhism's Pali literature as well as in the literature of other Schools of Buddhism....
). The Buddha elaborated:

'What one intends, what one arranges, and what one obsesses about: This is a support for the stationing of consciousness. There being a support, there is a landing [or: an establishing] of consciousness. When that consciousness lands and grows, there is the production of renewed becoming in the future. When there is the production of renewed becoming in the future, there is future birth, aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. Such is the origination of this entire mass of suffering & stress.'

Tradition relates that after the Buddha's complete enlightenment

Bodhi

Bodhi is both the Pali and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English language as "enlightenment." The word "Buddhahood" means "one who has achieved bodhi." Bodhi is also frequently translated as "awakening."...
he uttered the following words (English and Pali):

'Seeking but not finding the housebuilder,
I have traveled through the round of countless births.
How painful is birth over and over again.
Oh housebuilder! You have now been caught!
You shall not build a house again.
Your rafters have been broken. Your ridgepole demolished.
The unconditioned consciousness

Nirvana

In sramana thought, Nirvana is the state of being free from both dukkha and the cycle of rebirth. It is an important concept in Buddhism and Jainism....
has been attained.
And every kind of craving has been destroyed.'
(Dhammapada
Dhammapada

The Dhammapada is a versified Buddhism scripture traditionally ascribed to the Gautama Buddha himself. It is one of the best-known texts from the Theravada Pali Canon....
, verses 153,154)

Aneka jati sandha vissam anibhissam

Gahakaraka gavesanto dukkhajati punappunam

Gahakaraka ditthosi puna geham nakahasi

Sabba te phasuka bagga gahakutam visamkhatam

Visamkharagatam cittam tanhanam khayamajjhaga.

The 'housebuilder' to which the Buddha refers is just this mental faculty of sankhara-khandha whose products, the volitional formations, are conditioned by ignorance.

Nibbana

The Buddha emphasized the need to pacify or appease dispositions rather than eliminate them completely.

Kalupahana states that "the elimination of dispositions is epistemological

Epistemology

Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. It addresses the questions:...
suicide," as dispositions determine our perspectives. The development of one's personality in the direction of perfection or imperfection rests with one's dispositions.

When preliminary nibbana with substrate occurs (that is, nibbana of a living being), constructive consciousness, that is, the house-builder, is completely destroyed and no new formations will be constructed. However, sankharas in the sense of constructed consciousness, which exists as a 'karmically-resultant-consciousness' (vipaka viññana), continue to exist. Each liberated individual produces no new karma, but preserves a particular individual personality which is the result of the traces of his or her karmic heritage. The very fact that there is a psycho-physical substrate during the remainder of an arahant's lifetime shows the continuing effect of karma.

Although an enlightened individual's consciousness is a karmic result, it is not limited by usual samsaric constraints.

Sources

Bodhi, Bhikkhu
Bhikkhu Bodhi

Bhikkhu Bodhi , born Jeffrey Block, is an American Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York/New Jersey area....
(trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.

Piyadassi Thera (trans.) (1999). Girimananda Sutta: Discourse to Girimananda Thera (AN
Anguttara Nikaya

The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
10.60). Retrieved 2007-11-18 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.060.piya.html.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an United States Buddhist monk of the Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He was born Geoffrey DeGraff and converted to Buddhism in high school....
(trans.) (1995). Cetana Sutta: Intention (SN
Samyutta Nikaya

The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
12.38). Retrieved 2007-11-16 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.038.than.html.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997a). Avijja Sutta: Ignorance (SN
Samyutta Nikaya

The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
45.1). Retrieved 2007-11-16 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn45/sn45.001.than.html.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997b). Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of Dependent Co-arising (SN
Samyutta Nikaya

The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
12.2). Retrieved 2007-11-16 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.002.than.html.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2001). Khajjaniya Sutta: Chewed Up (SN
Samyutta Nikaya

The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
22.79). Retrieved 2007-11-18 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.079.than.html.

Sankhara

Conditioned things

Sankhara-khandha:The builder of lives

Nibbana

See also

Sources