Five Aggregates - BHARA SUTTA BY MAHASI SAYADAW (ABRIDGED)

The Buddha said,

"O bhikkhus! I will tell you about the burden, about the porter who carries the burden, about the act of transportation of the burden and about the laying down of the burden. Hark me well and pay good attention. I shall speak of them now."

The Buddha enjoins the monks to pay good attention to his discourse relating to the burden, the porter, the act of transportation and the laying down of the burden, Buddha's insistence on paying good attention is worthy of note. Nothing avails him who does not listen well. Only those who fix their minds on what is taught can get enlightenment on the knowledge of the Noble Path and its fruition. In prefacing his discourse, his emphasis lies on how to throw down the burden much to one's relief and joy.

When the disciples had pledged themselves to be attentive, the Buddha opened the subject with the following introduction:

"What o bhikkhus, is the burden? Five aggregates of clinging, are the veritable burden."

In our daily life we might have come across stevedores at ports or porters in railway station, transporting heavy loads from place to place. Some loads are so heavy that cranes have to be employed. A familiar sight in Burma is a worker carrying rice-bags. A strong man can carry it or even keep it on his shoulders for a long time. But this long time is, in point of fact, only a matter of minutes. He cannot keep it for hours, not to say for days. If he were to keep it on his shoulders permanently, he might be crushed to death. But what a relief it is when he throws it down! He now feels glad that at long last the job is over, but this is just an ordinary load that one can carry. What about this burden of the five aggregates of psycho-physical phenomena which we call the body? When we cling to these five aggregates, we have the great burden.

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