What Really Constitutes the True Nature of Self?

How does can this help us attain liberation from suffering?

Course Length:

Weekend workshop

Target Audience:

Beginner to intermediate students of Buddhism, mindfulness practitioners, and spiritual seekers interested in understanding the nature of self.

Course Format:

• Live lectures
• Guided meditations and contemplative exercises
• Discussion
• Reflection

Course Overview:

The Five Skandhas (skandhas in Sanskrit, Khandhas in Pāli) are central to the Buddhist understanding of what we call the “self.” They represent the five aggregates that constitute our experience of being. This course will explore each skandha in depth, challenging the notion of a permanent, independent self and guiding students toward greater insight and freedom.

***

Session 1: Introduction to the Five Skandhas and the Notion of Non-Self

Topics:

• Overview of the skandhas
• Historical and scriptural context (Theravāda & Mahāyāna views)
• The doctrine of anattā (non-self)
• How skandhas relate to suffering and liberation

Activities:

• Lectures
• Guided meditation: Observing the “self” in present experience
• Journal Prompt: “What do I normally consider to be ‘me’?”

Session 2: Form (Rūpa)

Topics:

• What is rūpa? The body and physical phenomena
• The relationship between form and perception
• Dependent origination and impermanence of form

Activities:

• Mindful body scan meditation
• Journal Prompt: “What happens when I identify with the body?”
• Exercise: Explore attachment to appearance and sensations

Session 3: Sensation/Feeling (Vedanā)

Topics:

• The three types of vedanā: pleasant, unpleasant, neutral
• How feelings drive craving and aversion
• Role of vedanā in dependent origination (feeling → craving)

Activities:

• Meditation: Mindfulness of feelings (noting pleasant, unpleasant, neutral)
• Daily practice: Observe your reactions to sensory input
• Journal Prompt: “How do my feelings shape my reactions?”

Session 4: Perception (Saṃjñā/Saññā)

Topics:

• How we recognize and label experience
• The skandha of naming: Perception vs. reality
• The role of memory, culture, and bias

Activities:

• Exercise: Choose an object and notice how perception changes over time
• Meditation: Noting and letting go of labels
• Journal Prompt: “What assumptions underlie my perceptions?”

Session 5: Mental Formations (Saṅkhāra/Saṃskāra)

Topics:

• The most complex skandha: volitions, habits, intentions, karma
• Conditioning of mind and behaviour
• Mental formations as both cause and result

Activities:

• Meditation: Observing mental habits without judgment
• Reflective Exercise: Track one habitual reaction throughout the week
• Journal Prompt: “Which mental patterns define my sense of self?”

Session 6: Consciousness (Vijñāna/Viññāṇa)

Topics:

• Consciousness as awareness of sensory and mental objects
• The six types of consciousness (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind)
• Relationship between consciousness and the other skandhas

Activities:

• Meditation: Open awareness (noting arising and passing of consciousness)
• Journal Prompt: “What remains when I observe consciousness itself?”

Final Session: Integration and Reflection

Topics:

• Emptiness (Śūnyatā) and the skandhas
• Deconstructing the self and cultivating compassion
• How insight into the skandhas supports liberation

Activities:

• Group discussion of your understanding of the skandhas
• Meditation: Guided reflection on selflessness

Supplementary Materials:

• Suggested Reading:
  
  
  • The Heart Sutra (with commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh or Red Pine)
  • What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
  • The Five Aggregates by Bhikkhu Bodhi
    
  • Ajahn Amaro on the Skandhas
  • Pema Chödrön: “Selflessness and the Skandhas”

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Identify and explain each of the five skandhas
• Recognize how clinging to the skandhas leads to suffering
• Apply mindfulness and inquiry to reduce attachment to the self
• Cultivate insight into impermanence, non-self, and emptiness
• Integrate skandha awareness into meditation and daily life

***

Course Dates: TBA