ཉེ་བར་ལེན་པའི་ཕུང་པོ། | Glossary of Terms

See “five aggregates for appropriation.”

The five aggregates (skandha) of matter (rūpa), sensation (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), karmic dispositions (saṃskāra), and consciousness (vijñāna). They are referred to as the “bases for clinging” (upādāna) insofar as all conceptual grasping arises on the basis of these aggregates.

Said of the aggregates individually, but more commonly in terms of all five as a collective, because they are “the basis of clinging to existence” (Edgerton).

The five skandhas seen as both caused by karma, and themselves the cause, through karma, of future existences.

The “skandhas of appropriation” or “appropriated skandhas,” this refers to the five skandhas as the bases upon which a nonexistent self is mistakenly projected. That is, they are the basis of “appropriation” (Skt. upādāna) insofar as all grasping arises on the basis of the skandhas.