Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Starting from the Heart Sūtra’s compressed claim that all five aggregates are empty of natural existence, Khensur Rinpoche builds the philosophical case systematically in this 41-minute session. He defines each aggregate — form, feeling, perception, thinking mind, and compositional factors — then shows that the person is merely designated in dependence on them, never existing from its own side. Quoting Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland, he extends the analysis: even the aggregates themselves are dependently established, relying on parts and prior causes. He then draws the practical consequence: because phenomena lack true existence, karma functions — skillful actions produce happiness, unskillful ones suffering. The session closes with a five-minute guided meditation on the I that exists but does not truly exist.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 GM 1990 09 30 Topic Unknown.mp3
UUID: 1bf82a78-da51-40bd-9d27-6e75aa38af20
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Guided Meditations 1988-1992 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1990-09-30
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 41.3 minutes
Words: ~2,065
So the essence of transcendental wisdom or the Heart of Wisdom Sūtra, which teaches the foundation of the view within the great view of context, says that these very aggregates are empty of natural existence. So though the view of emptiness is extremely vast, the Heart Sūtra teaches the condensation of the teachings on emptiness. So how does the Heart of Wisdom succinctly briefly present the view of emptiness? In general, there are two types of phenomena. There are those which arise in dependence upon causes and conditions and those which exist independent of causes and conditions.
There are very few types of phenomena which do not depend upon causes and conditions, but on the other hand, there are a vast number of phenomena which rely upon causes and conditions. If we were to condense those phenomena which rely upon causes and conditions, we could abbreviate them into the five aggregates. All of those phenomena which rely upon causes and conditions are condensed into the five aggregates. That is to say, are established in dependence upon causes and conditions and are therefore said to be not naturally existent nor truly existent. So what are five aggregates?
The first of the five aggregates is the aggregate of forms. This is composed of the elements, the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind energy, and evolutes of these elements. Elements, the composition of those is form. So some examples of forms would be houses, flowers, all the various things about us, our body. These are all collected of, or composed of, the elements and the evolution of elements and therefore are forms.
The second aggregate is the aggregate of feelings. And these are the various types of consciousnesses which arise from time to time such as moments of pleasure, moments of displeasure and those conscious moments when we have neither pleasure nor displeasure, that is to say, neutral feelings. So the first aggregate is that of forms, the second of feelings. The third is perceptions. And this is the consciousness which designates objects.
For example, which thinks this is a human, this is a man, this is a woman, this is a room, this is a flower, this is white, this is red. That is a type of consciousness which is discriminating these various objects. Then the fourth is the mind. And this is the, here mind refers to the thinking process. The thoughts which think for example what we need to do, that I should do this, that I shouldn’t do this, that what I did last year, what I did this year, what I did yesterday, what I’m doing today, what I’m going to do tomorrow.
This very, this thinking process is the mind. Then the aggregate of thought constructions or compositional factors. And this is all of those mental factors which have not been included in the previous four aggregates. That which is not form, not feeling, not perception and not primary consciousnesses. That these, the thought constructions or compositional factors is constituted of the various, for example, secondary mental factors such as wisdom, effort, etcetera.
So these are the five aggregates. All products are condensed within these five aggregates. So why are they called aggregates? In the case of form, the aggregate of forms is a collection of atoms and therefore is referred to as aggregation. And in terms of the mental, the conscious aggregates, they are a composite of previous, present, and future moments of consciousness.
And therefore, again, aggregates of moments of consciousness. And those objects which possess five aggregates are designated as beings, sentient beings. We say that they possess life. Those objects or those things which do not possess five aggregates are said not to have a life force and therefore are not considered beings. So we are a collection — we possess the collection of all five aggregates.
The person is designated in reliance upon the five aggregates. In dependence upon the five aggregates, term the individual a being or a person. On the other hand, those objects which do not possess five aggregates such as earth, stone, wood, we cannot designate them as persons, as sentient beings. In dependence upon having a complete set of five aggregates such as dogs, cats, etc, we are able to term, give them the name sentient being, in dependence upon those five aggregates. So the person is said to exist in reliance upon their aggregates.
The person is established in dependence upon their aggregates. That there is no person which is not established in dependence upon their aggregates. Without relying upon their aggregates, there is no person. There is no person existing from their own side. There is no person which exists independent of their aggregates.
They have no nature of their own outside of their five aggregates. The person is reliant upon their aggregates. They depend upon their aggregates for their existence, for their coming into being, their establishment. There’s no being which is independent of their aggregates. There’s no being which exists from their own side objectively.
And therefore, as a consequence, we say that the person does not naturally exist by way of their own nature, that the person does not truly exist. So in the Heart Sūtra, it says that the correct view is that the five aggregates are empty by their own nature. That the person is, and this is interpreted to say that the person is empty of natural existence. That the person is established in dependence upon the five aggregates. There is no person who does not rely upon their aggregates for their existence.
It is because of this reason that we say that the person does not objectively exist, but is empty of natural existence. So the five aggregates are the basis of designating the person. The five aggregates are the basis of designating the person. The person himself does not rely, does not exist independently of relying upon the five aggregates. But not only that, the basis of designation, the five aggregates, are also not naturally existent.
Quoting from a verse from the Precious Garland. It said that the person is established in dependence upon the five aggregates. But in turn, the basis of the designation of the person, that is the aggregates, are also dependently established. That form, etcetera, are also not naturally existent. But they rely upon their basis of designation for their existence.
They rely upon their parts. They are established in reliance upon other factors. They also do not naturally exist. If we take an example of the aggregate of form, you know, we can see that with our own eye. How is that established?
It is established in dependence upon causes and conditions. It is established in dependence upon various parts such as the flesh, the bone, the blood, etcetera. And we can carry on that analysis and see that all of these factors are also arise in dependence upon other factors such as the various elements, earth, water, fire, and wind energy. That can continually see that these do not exist independently of other factors. They rely upon something other than themselves.
They do not exist by way of their own nature. Again, taking the aggregate of feelings that we have the general, are again, have a basis of designation. And these are the various types of feelings. The various parts that constitute feelings such as pleasure, displeasure and neutral feelings. And we go further and analyze a pleasurable feeling.
What does that rely upon? That also has many moments, and later moments of the feeling of pleasure. Pleasurable feelings are a composite of this stream of previous and later moments of pleasurable feelings. That there are no pleasurable feelings which do not rely upon something other than itself. There is no feeling which exists which is not reliant.
If it’s not if it’s not reliant, it’s not established. The same holds true for the aggregates of perception and consciousnesses. That these all have a composite, are reliant upon previous and later moments within themselves. That they are reliant upon their parts. Ultimately, all of these factors are reliant upon, the existence of all of these factors arises in dependence upon causes and conditions.
They depend upon causes and conditions for their existence. If there’s no cause, they do not exist. If there’s no condition, they do not exist. It’s necessary that they arise dependent upon both causes and conditions. Therefore, none of these factors arises independent of other factors.
Therefore, they do not exist by way of their own nature, but exist by way of depending upon something other than themselves. So the person does not exist independently of the basis of designation. That is to say the five aggregates. But additionally, the five aggregates are also not established independent of other factors, that they too rely upon causes and conditions for their establishment. Therefore, all of these factors do not naturally exist.
That is to say, they do not exist by way of their own nature. They do not inherently exist. They do not truly exist. And this is the type of reasoning that we can set forth. All things whatsoever arise dependent upon causes and conditions.
Therefore, they are dependently established. They exist dependently. Therefore, they do not exist by way of their own nature naturally nor do they truly exist. So, we said that most phenomena exist in dependence — most phenomena, that is to say products — which exist in dependence upon causes and conditions. But even those phenomena which do not depend upon causes and conditions are also not truly existent.
So very briefly, all phenomena whatsoever, both products and non-products, arise in dependence upon other factors, that they are not naturally existent nor truly existent. It is by means of the view of emptiness, that is to say, that the non true existence of all phenomena, that we can establish the relationship of actions and their effects such that skillful actions bring about happiness, unskillful actions bring about suffering. If there were no view, then there would be no establishment of the non true existence of phenomena. And we could not set forth that phenomena, that products or things do not, we would not be able to set forth that they rely upon causes and conditions. That they would not rely upon causes conditions if they were not truly existent.
And therefore, we could say that the arrival of happiness does not necessarily mean that we have to create a skillful cause. That the arrival of suffering would not necessitate a negative cause for it it to be brought about. So, in dependence upon the view of emptiness, we are able to establish the various doctrines within Buddhism. If we do not have the view of emptiness, then such types of doctrines such as karma and the causes and results, the existence of past and future life, the existence of omniscient consciousness, the way in which suffering arises in the context of cyclic existence, the possibility for liberation from cyclic existence, that from skillful actions happiness arises, that from unskillful actions suffering arises, from skillful actions happiness arises. By abandoning unskillful actions, we no longer suffer.
By cultivating skillful actions, we find happiness. That all of these rely, are brought about in dependence under the influence of the view of emptiness. So this is one way in which we can look at the importance of the view of emptiness on that hand. On the other hand, we must make use of the view in order to abandon completely the root of our suffering, which is ignorance, and thereby be able achieve liberation. So very briefly, that the I which goes, the I which does — this I is designated in dependence upon the aggregates.
It exists in dependence upon aggregates. It does not truly exist. In general, the I exists. The I which experiences cold, which experiences heat, which experiences pleasure, which experiences pain. It exists but it does not truly exist.
Why does it not truly exist? Because its existence is established in dependence upon causes and conditions. In dependence upon this reason, we can see that it does not exist independently of causes and conditions. It does not exist in independence of the causes and conditions. And we will meditate on this for the next five minutes.