The skandhas are five categories that comprehensively map human experience, providing a detailed analysis of how suffering arises and how liberation is possible.
Abhidharma psychology systematically deconstructs the illusion of a unified self through the five skandhas: form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. This framework reveals how we unconsciously aggregate these components into a false sense of 'I.' Form includes the body and sense organs; sensation registers experiences as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral; perception labels and categorizes; mental formations include intention and emotion; consciousness is the bare awareness itself. Patanjali's approach to yoga complements this analysis by using asana and pranayama to work with the form aggregate, while pratyahara addresses sensation withdrawal. By learning to observe each skandha separately, practitioners recognize their impermanent, interdependent nature, directly undermining the ego-identification that perpetuates psychological suffering and mental disturbance.
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