by Chade-Meng Tan | Nov 1, 2023 | Buddhism for All
“Which one of us is going to tell him?” The Buddha taught that the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering. What does that mean? One way to think of it is like trying to grab hold of water with your hands to drink it. No matter...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Oct 31, 2023 | Buddhism for All
“Arrr – draw a line on the water, savvy?” Regarding the five aggregates, allow me to confess a dirty little secret: with the possible exception of form, there is no consensus among Buddhist teachers on the precise definition of each aggregate. ...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Oct 30, 2023 | Buddhism for All
The Buddha ended his statement of the First Noble Truth with the sentence, “In brief, the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering (dukkha).”[1] Simply put, the five aggregates are the five physical and mental factors that, in combination, are experienced as...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Oct 29, 2023 | Buddhism for All
“Master, this car is dukkha.” The lesson from the story of Emperor Qianlong and countless others with lucky human births is clear, that no matter how lucky our birth is, we are all still subject to the same suffering: aging, illness, death, separation, not...
by Chade-Meng Tan | Oct 15, 2023 | Buddhism for All
The teachings of the Buddha can be encapsulated in a single word: Dharma. Dharma is one of those highly polymorphous words with annoyingly many meanings. The broadest meaning of the word dharma (written in lowercase) is “phenomena.” In that sense, everything is a...
