[68AttendGem]

...it seems saṅkhāra is worth understanding (sabbe saṅkhāra duḥkha), because these phenomena are involved with how dukkha arises...

the Pali states that which is impermanent is dukkha (unsatisfactory); that which is unsatisfactory is not-self

these Three Characteristics, first mentioned in the Buddha's 2nd Sermon, are inseparable

sankhara here does not mean the play of sankhara khandha (mental concocting; thought conception)

sankhara here means anything compounded, put together by causes & conditions, thus subject to impermanence, such as a rock, subject to cohension & erosion

for example, MN 43 mentions the life faculty or ayu sankhara. when perception & feeling end, there remains the ayu sankhara (which is unrelated to mind)

thus the phrase sabbe sankhara anicca refers to all conditioned things, including rocks, planets, galaxies and things

for example, rocks, planets, galaxies and things are external ayatana (sense objects). they are part of "The All". but this is "All" is dependent upon consciousness (vinnana) for its appearance. this "All" is not created by sankhara khandha (thought formation)

now i sit at the beach. my mind can see palm trees moving in the wind & small waves on the surface of the ocean moving north-west. also, a small lizard has just chirped, momentarily

the impermanence of the wind, palm trees, ocean surface & lizard chirp is not a creation of sankhara. it is not the mind creating this impermanence

it is not the mind causing the physical body to age & food eaten to break down in the disgestive system

as it is not the mind creating this impermanence, it is also not the mind creating this unsatisfactoriness & not-self

kind regards



Monks, whether or not there is the arising of Tathagatas [whether or not it is cognised], this property stands — this steadfastness of the Dhamma, this orderliness of the Dhamma: All processes (sankhara) are inconstant. All processes (sankhara) are unsatisfactory. All phenomena (dhamma) are not-self.

The Tathagata directly awakens to that, breaks through to that. Directly awakening & breaking through to that, he declares it, teaches it, describes it, sets it forth. He reveals it, explains it & makes it plain

Dhamma-Niyama (Law) Sutta
saṅkhāra: This term has, according to its context, different shades of meaning, which should be carefully distinguished.

(I) To its most frequent usages (s. foll. 1-4) the general term 'formation' may be applied, with the qualifications required by the context. This term may refer either to the act of 'forming or to the passive state of 'having been formed' or to both.

1. As the 2nd link of the formula of dependent origination, (paṭiccasamuppāda, q.v.), saṅkhāra has the active aspect, 'forming...activity...of body (kāya-s.), speech (vacī-s.) or mind (citta- or mano-s.). This definition occurs, e.g. at S. XII, 2, 27.... In other passages, in the same context, s. is defined by reference to (a) meritorious kamma-formations (puññābhisaṅkhāra), (b) demeritorious k. (apuññabhisaṅkhāra), (c) imperturbable k. (āneñjābhisaṅkhāra), e.g. in S. XII, 51; D. 33. This threefold division covers...activity in all spheres of existence: the meritorious...formations extend to the sensuous and the fine-material sphere, the demeritorious ones only to the sensuous sphere, and the 'imperturbable' only to the immaterial sphere.

2. The aforementioned three terms, kāya-, vacī- and citta-s. are sometimes used in quite a different sense, namely as (1) bodily function, i.e. in-and-out-breathing (e.g. M. 10), (2) verbal function, i.e. thought-conception and discursive thinking, (3) mental-function, i.e. feeling and perception (e.g. M. 44). See nirodhasamāpatti.

3. It also denotes the 4th group of existence (saṅkhārakkhandha), and includes all 'mental formations' whether they belong to 'kammically forming' consciousness or not. See khandha, Tab. II. and S. XXII, 56, 79.

4. It occurs further in the sense of anything formed (saṅkhata, q.v.) and conditioned, and includes all things whatever in the world, all phenomena of existence. This meaning applies, e.g. to the well-known passage, "All formations are impermanent... subject to unsatisfactoriness" (sabbe saṅkhāra aniccā ... dukkhā). In that context, however, s. is subordinate to the still wider and all-embracing term dhamma (thing); for dhamma includes also the Unformed or Unconditioned Element (asaṅkhata-dhātu), i.e. Nibbāna (e.g. in sabbe dhammā anattā, "all things are without a self").

(II) Saṅkhāra also means sometimes 'volitional effort', e.g. in the formula of the roads to power (iddhi-pāda, q.v.); in sasaṅkhāra- and asaṅkhāra-parinibbāyī (s. Anāgāmī, q.v.); and in the Abhidhamma terms asaṅkhārika- (q.v.) and sasaṅkhārika-citta, i.e. without effort = spontaneously, and with effort = prompted.

In Western literature, in English as well as in German, saṅkhāra is sometimes mistranslated by 'subconscious tendencies' or similarly (e.g Prof Beckh: "unterbewußte Bildekräfte," i.e. subconscious formative forces). This misinterpretation derives perhaps from a similar usage in non-Buddhist Sanskrit literature, and is entirely inapplicable to the connotations of the term in Pāḷi Buddhism, as listed above under I, 1-4. For instance, within the dependent origination, s. is neither subconscious nor a mere tendency, but is a fully conscious and active karmic volition. In the context of the 5 groups of existence (s. above I, 3), a very few of the factors from the group of mental formations (saṅkhārakkhandha) are also present as concomitants of subconsciousness (s. Tab. I-III), but are of course not restricted to it, nor are they mere tendencies.

Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines by NYANATILOKA MAHATHERA