‹ Back to the text

khandhā

khandha

masc nom pl of khandha (noun); masc instr sg of khandha (noun); masc abl sg of khandha (noun); masc voc sg of khandha (noun); …

1. khandha (masc): mass; heap; pile; volume; aggregation; lit. accumulation
2. khandha (masc): shoulder; back; lit. accumulation
3. khandha (masc): aggregate; combination; conglomeration; bundle; lit. accumulation
4. khandha (masc): (of plant or tree) trunk; stem; lit. accumulation
5. khandha (masc): group; class; category; lit. accumulation
6. khandha (masc): section; chapter; lit. accumulation
7. khandhā (masc): aggregates; combinations; conglomerations; bundles; things that are clung to and taken as a self; lit. accumulations
8. khandha (adj): with a back; having shoulders

Etymology. Root *khand- meaning "to break apart, separate into pieces"; related to Sanskrit khaṇḍa "piece, fragment" and ultimately to PIE *skel- "to cut, split" (English shell, scale, skill). The concrete sense of "broken pieces heaped together" → "accumulation, aggregate" → in Buddhist philosophy, the five khandhā (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness) as the constantly changing components that wrongly appear to constitute a unified self.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version