Nyanatiloka Buddhist Dictionary

4. It occurs further in the sense of anything formed (sankhata, q.v.) andconditioned, and includes all things whatever in the world, all phenomena ofexistence. This meaning applies, e.g. to the well-known passage, "All formations areimpermanent... subject to suffering" (sabbe sankhára aniccá ... dukkhá). In thatcontext, however, s. is subordinate to the still wider and all-embracing termdhamma (thing); for dhamma includes also the Unformed or Unconditioned Element(asankhata-dhátu), i.e. Nibbána (e.g. in sabbe dhammá anattá, "all things arewithout a self").(II) Sankhára also means sometimes 'volitional effort', e.g. in the formula of the roads topower (iddhi-páda, q.v.); in sasankhára- and asankhára-parinibbáyí (s. anágámí, q.v.); and in theAbhidhamma terms asankhárika- (q.v.) and sasankhárika-citta, i.e. without effort =spontaneously, and with effort = prompted.In Western literature, in English as well as in German, sankhára is sometimes mistranslatedby 'subconscious tendencies' or similarly (e.g Prof Beckh: "unterbewußte Bildekräfte," i.e.subconscious formative forces). This misinterpretation derives perhaps from a similar usagein non-Buddhist Sanskrit literature, and is entirely inapplicable to the connotations of theterm in Páli Buddhism, as listed above under I, 1-4. For instance, within the dependentorigination, s. is neither subconscious nor a mere tendency, but is a fully conscious and activekarmic volition. In the context of the 5 groups of existence (s. above I, 3), a very few of thefactors from the group of mental formations (sankhárakkhandha) are also present asconcomitants of subconsciousness (s. Tab. I-III), but are of course not restricted to it, norare they mere tendencies.sankhárupekkhá-ñána: the 'equanimity-knowledge with regard to the formations ofexistence', is one of those kinds of knowledge which form the 'purification by knowledge andvision of the path-progress' (s. visuddhi, VI, 8). "It is known by 3 names: in the lowest stageit is called 'knowledge consisting in the desire for deliverance' (rnuccitu-kamyatá-ñána); inthe middle stage it is called the 'reflecting contemplation' (patisankhánupassanáñána); in thelast stage, however, i.e. after attaining the summit, it is called the 'equanimity-knowledgewith regard to the formations of existence' " (Vis.M. XXI).sankhata: the 'formed', i.e. anything originated or conditioned, comprises all phenomena ofexistence. Cf. sankhára I, 4; asankhata.sankhitta citta: in the Satipatthána Sutta, signifies the 'contracted' or 'cramped' mind, notthe concentrated (samáhita) mind, as often translated by Western authors. Cf. Satipatthána(3).saññá: 1. 'perception', is one of the 5 groups of existence (khandha, q.v.), and one of the 7mental factors (cetasika) that are inseparably bound up with all consciousness (s. cetaná). Itis sixfold as perception of the 5 physical sense-objects and of mental objects. It is theawareness of an object's distinctive marks ("one perceives blue, yellow, etc.," S. XXII, 79).If, in repeated perception of an object, these marks are recognized, saññá functions as'memory' (s. Abh. St., p. 68f.).2. saññá stands sometimes for consciousness in its entirety, e.g. in