Human Development
Feeling aggregate
Description:
In Hinayana Buddhism, feeling is considered as anything that is perceived as being feeling, whether past, present or future, internal or external, subjective or objective, gross or refined, superior or inferior, far or near. It is also considered as follows:It is of one kind in that all that is feeling is felt.
It is threefold in that it is: good (profitable or moral) and associated with profitable consciousness; bad (unprofitable or immoral) and associated with unprofitable consciousness; or indeterminate and associated with indeterminate consciousness.
This group is divided into five classes, according to the nature of feeling. Thus it is fivefold depending upon whether feelings are intrinsically: (physically) pleasant or bodily agreeable; (physically) painful or bodily disagreeable; (mentally) joyful or mentally agreeable;, (mentally) sad (with grief as essence) or mentally disagreeable; indifferent (with equanimity as essence) or indeterminate (neutral).
Pleasure and pain are associated with profitable resultant and unprofitable resultant body consciousness, respectively. Joy is associated with 30 classes of consciousness: in the sense sphere, 4 profitable, 4 unprofitable, 4 indeterminate resultant profitable with root-cause, one indeterminate resultant profitable without root-cause, 4 indeterminate functional with root-cause, one indeterminate functional without root-cause; in the fine-material sphere, 4 profitable, 4 indeterminate resultant and 4 indeterminate functional (leaving out the fifth jhana in each of the last 3 cases). Grief is associated with the two kinds of unprofitable consciousness in the sense sphere that are rooted in hate. Equanimity is associated with the remaining 55 kinds of consciousness of the 89 in the consciousness aggregate.
Note: The total associated with joy is increased to 62 when the 8 supramundane (4 profitable and 4 indeterminate resultant) are each multiplied by the five jhanas but leaving out the 8 associated with the fifth jhana (32 extra).
Context:
One of the five interacting aggregates that produce the illusory ego. The feeling-group is also enumerated among the psycho-physical faculties (indriya) and the phase conditions (paccaya).< Broader:
Five aggregates