skandhas
skandhas
The Five Skahndhas (body, consciousness, sensation, perception, mental formations) are the five areas we lose our awareness in. The Heart Sutra says that if we realize all five fields are empty, we will be free. The simulation below (downloadable, pictured) images each field as a vector field.
The Body: imaged as an outline, since that is my first impression of it.
Sensation: felt as a simple oscillation of any felt field (math: sin(t) ).
Perception: noticing that one field oscillates in one direction, another field in another direction. (math: -sign(x) ).
Consciouness: noticing that the field strength changes with location. (math: e^(-x^2) ).
Mental Formation: deliberately changing the direction of oscillation of some field. (math: -1*oscillation ).
| Skandha | interpretation | factor | finger |
|---|---|---|---|
| body | am I aware of my physical body? | outline image | pinky |
| sensation | do I feel a basic oscillation of some field? | cos(t), sin(t) | ring |
| perception | do I notice a difference between any two fields? | -sign(x) | middle |
| mental formations | am I deliberately moving the energy? | -1 * oscillation | pointer |
| consciousness | am I aware of the diminishment of awareness away from my center? | exp(-x^2) | thumb |
In the Java simulation (download here), each skandha factor can be turned on or off by clicking a button. The resulting vectorfield is shown (images below).
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| Body + Perception skandhas |
Body + Perception + Consciousness skandhas |
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Copyright 2016 by Kevin Wacknov. Home Page.