Instructions for Disassembly
If we take a motor car, we feel quite sure about what we have . . . until we
start taking it apart. But once we have . . . taken out the gearbox and
transmission, removed the wheels and so on--what's left? We don't have a car any
more, just a set of spare parts.
It is the same with a person. That too can be stripped down to its basic
components . . . the so-called skandhas or "groups." There is 1. the category of
the physical, which includes the body and its five senses; 2. that of feeling; 3.
perception; 4. mental formations (impulses and emotions); and 5. consciousness or
mind. When these groups of components come together in proper working order, the
right conditions exist for the illusion of a self and a person to arise. But once
they break down and go their separate ways--as at physical death, for
instance--then that self or person cannot be found.
John Snelling
