The Five Aggregates are a conceptual framework that helps us understand what causes suffering and how to free ourselves from it. The Five Aggregates make up the totality of the way we experience the world and illustrate all three of the Buddha’s characteristics of existence: Impermanence, Suffering, and Anata (not-self).
In this session, we will slow our minds down and look at how the Five Aggregates work in our experience. A week before the session, I'll email registrants a few 5-10 minute exercises to practice at home in the days leading up to the session. We'll open the session on Saturday morning by discussing what we experienced and observed during our home practice sessions. Then we'll read through some sutta excerpts and commentary on the Five Aggregates and discuss those too. In the last third of the session, I'll walk us through some different exercises designed show us how the Five Aggregates construct our experiences (and our opinions!).
How: The session is free and conducted over Zoom during the pandemic.
About the Study Session Leader
Elizabeth A. Gibson has been a Buddhist practitioner for 13 years, primarily in the Insight/Vipassana tradition. She is a technical writer and poet and has lived in Atlanta since 2009.
Questions? Please email Elizabeth Gibson.