A Companion Glossary of
Buddhist Terms and Proper Names

Five Aggregates

G. paṃcakaṃdha (pacakadha), P. pañcakkhandhā, S. pañcaskandhāḥ, C. 五陰 (DĀ, MĀ, EĀ, SĀ, SĀ²).

The term “five aggregates” was a shorthand label representing the list of five qualities or phenomena that constitute existence on Earth. These five were forms, feelings, conceptualizations, actions, and awareness.

In the Āgamas, this term is much less common than the list itself. For instance, it occurs only eleven times in the entirety of the Saṃyukta Āgama, and most of those occurrences are in translator notes describing variant sūtras. It seems likely that this term didn’t come into use until the compilation and comparison of various rubrics began, which eventually produced discourses like the Saṅgiti Sūtra and Abhidharma literature.

The five aggregates were juxtaposed with five acquired aggregates. In discourses that make this distinction, the five aggregates become only the bare fact that existence consists of five kinds of things, while the five acquired aggregates represent the aggregates that a person has received, accumulated, and become defiled by through attachment to them. The expression “five acquired aggregates” is much more common in the Āgamas than “five aggregates,” probably because it was more relevant to the practice of eliminating attachment.

Last Revised: 21 January 2025