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khandhehi
khandha
masc instr pl of khandha (noun); masc abl pl of khandha (noun); masc instr pl of khandha (adj); nt instr pl of khandha (adj); …
- khandha (masc): mass; heap; pile; volume; aggregation; lit. accumulation
- khandha (masc): shoulder; back; lit. accumulation
- khandha (masc): aggregate; combination; conglomeration; bundle; lit. accumulation
- khandha (masc): (of plant or tree) trunk; stem; lit. accumulation
- khandha (masc): group; class; category; lit. accumulation
- khandha (masc): section; chapter; lit. accumulation
- khandhā (masc): aggregates; combinations; conglomerations; bundles; things that are clung to and taken as a self; lit. accumulations
- khandha (adj): with a back; having shoulders
Built from
- khandh — root · break, scatter
The root imagery of fragmentation and pieces grounds both the literal sense (a heap of broken things) and the Buddhist doctrine that the self is not a unified entity but an accumulation of five separate aggregates.
- a — ending · masculine singular nominative
This ending marks the singular citation form; in the text, khandhehi takes the instrumental/ablative plural -ehi to indicate the five aggregates as the means or agent of experience.
- ehi — ending · instrumental/ablative plural
The -ehi ending marks plural instrumental ("by means of") or ablative ("from") case; in Pali suttas, khandhehi typically refers to the five aggregates as the constituents through which experience arises.
Etymology. From the root √khand- (to break, scatter), related to Sanskrit khaṇḍa (piece, fragment) and ultimately to the Indo-European root *skel- (to cut, split); the sense evolved from "broken pieces" to "accumulated heap" to the Buddhist technical term for the five aggregates (pañcakkhandha: form, sensation, perception, mental formations, consciousness) that constitute personality.