In our meditation sessions, Geshe la often speaks of the “gross” and “subtle” levels of reality as well as our own abilities to perceive these levels. “Gross” and “subtle,” in fact, are central to an understanding of Buddhist philosophy, and one of the best ways to understand their essential function is to examine them in the context of the five aggregates, another basic concept of Buddhist philosophy.
So, what are the five aggregates and how do the adjectives “gross” and “subtle” apply to them? The five aggregates are:
1) Form—the physical component of experience
2) Feeling—the affective tone of experience, either pleasant, painful, or neutral
3) Perception—the identification of things through their distinctive marks and features
4) Volitional formations, or formative forces, or compositional factors—the many and varied mental factors involved in volition, choice, and intention. This is the mental factor that arouses us to act through words or deeds.
5) Consciousness—cognition that arises from any of the six sense faculties: eye, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
In the Culavedalla Sutra, the Buddha taught that the five aggregates were synonymous with the personality. The story goes that when the Buddha was living at Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, one of his lay followers, Visakha, went to Dhammadinna, a nun whom Buddha declared to be the foremost female exponent of the dharma, and asked her: “Lady . . . what is called personality by the Blessed One?”
“Friend Visakha,” Dhammadinna answered, “these five aggregates affected by clinging are called personality by the Blessed One. . . .”
So unlike the Western notion that sees the personality as a fundamentally monolithic structure, Buddhist philosophy divides it into five components, or aggregates, with each component representing a successive stage of every instant of perception. For example, we see the form of a snake, register a feeling (usually unpleasant), perceive it or identify it as a snake, decide through an act of volition to run away from it, and finally register all of this within the appropriate consciousness. The aggregates are activated in this order with every act of perception as it occurs, second by second. These acts of perception, taken as a whole, are called the personality.
Each of the aggregates exists at both the gross and subtle level. Put simply, the gross level is that which is perceived by the five senses and the subtle level is that which is perceived by the mental consciousness. Regarding the aggregate of form, for example, we see a table at the gross level as a solid, unchanging block of wood with four legs; yet at the subtle level, we know that its molecular structure is empty of the solid form that characterizes its gross form, and that it is a highly composite material that is constantly changing and disentegrating. As we move toward subtler and subtler levels of perception, we are moving closer and closer toward the true nature of our existence. In fact, the same analysis that we perform on the table we can perform on our thoughts, emotions, and ideas.
Because all phenomena, physical and mental, are contained within the five aggregates, all phenomena exist at the gross and subtle levels; all phenomena are composite in nature, and so all phenomena are continually changing.
In dealing with anger, for example, we can easily recognize the gross level: red-faced, violent reactions toward the object of our anger. But what about its subtle level? If we can recognize anger in its earliest stages, we can diffuse it, through patience and self-reflection, before we act on it. And if we can do that, we can make it more difficult for anger to leave a karmic imprint on our consciousness; we can affect its potential to have a lasting effect on our lives. It is like putting out a campfire before it becomes a bonfire. The fire does less damage.
So it is important to understand what is meant by the gross and subtle level because this understanding will directly impact the depth of our practice. It is both a matter of philosophy and a matter of practice. The two go hand-in-hand, a partnership that is characteristic of much Buddhist thinking.
Sidney Burris
