Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (189)

The aggregate body of the five aggregates is illusory; the illusory, provisional combination is called a sentient being

Take another example: when several people form a group, that group is also illusory. If each of the individuals leaves, the group no longer exists. This group comes into being when it is said to exist, and disperses when it is said to disperse—it has no autonomy of its own. When the causes and conditions are complete, it comes together; this is precisely what makes it illusory—existing when said to exist, ceasing when said to cease, with no true reality. This group is merely a false name, a concept, just a term used to express this state. The group is an illusory, provisional name; we simply give the state of this gathering the name "group." Is the group something real? Is it a group when A calls it so, or when B calls it so? A single individual cannot be called a group, and even gathered together it is not truly a group—we merely assign a name to an illusory appearance arising from aggregation, for the convenience of language and communication. All dharmas are like this: we simply forcibly assign them a name.

By the same reasoning, the five aggregates are also like this. The five aggregates are assembled from various conditions; they are a state of provisional existence. This state can arise, can cease, can disperse—it is not real existence, not imperishable. When the various functions and roles of the five aggregates—the abilities to see, hear, taste, and touch—disperse, the five aggregates no longer exist. Therefore the five aggregates of sentient beings are also not real. Analyzing the composition of the five aggregates follows the same principle as analyzing the composition of a group. In fact, any name could be given to the five aggregates: we name this form of five aggregates "human being," and another form of five aggregates "ant" or "mosquito," for the sake of discrimination, but in substance they are all aggregate bodies of the five aggregates. When the functions and roles of the five aggregates disperse and vanish, the sentient being no longer exists. All so-called sentient beings are illusory and provisionally combined.