“Saṅkhārā is clearly understood as belonging to the mind. The five aggregates—Rūpa, Vedanā, Saññā, Saṅkhārā, and Viññāṇa—include Saṅkhārā as a mental factor. However, I find it difficult to understand how the physical movement of going to get water is defined as Kāya Saṅkhārā. It’s challenging to see how muscle movements can be considered part of the mind. The action of going to get water is generally seen as a result of mental intention. Does this mean Kāya Saṅkhārā = mind? If so, does Kāya Saṅkhārā ≠ physical movement (even though it results from the mind)? Similarly, in the case of verbal expressions, Vacī Saṅkhāra seems to function in the same way.
In the past, I understood Saṅkhāra (which refers to intention) as something more aligned with a purely mental concept. Is that understanding correct?”
Hello Amin,
What you said and the question you brought forth, from my own past experience / contemplation and view can actually be quite complicated to answer. About a year ago, I also had and still do today have a similar line of thinking and question as you have in regards to sankhara being a purely mental concept or not.The reason why I said your question / line of thinking about sankhara can actually be quite complicated to answer is because I can add more layers to your (our) question / line of thinking. For myself, I had to step away from seeking a satisfactory answer to our similar question because it got so complicated in trying to fully address the question / line of thinking. I felt when one layer of the question gets answered; it seems like another layer of questions would open up where it needs to be addressed to gain a more complete / satisfactory answer.
To give you a short example of the complexity in trying to fully answer our question about sankharas being a purely mental concept or not especially when it comes to kaya sankhara. In one of the sutta’s, it defines kaya sankhara as assasa passasa and pretty much all the translations / interpretations I have come across equates kaya sankhara to the process of breathing in and breathing out. To me if someone answers that all sankharas (mano, vaci, kaya) is purely a mental concept, then how would the translation / interpretation of kaya sankhara being tied to breathing resolve this discrepancy? If someone answers that sankharas are not purely mental, I feel an explanation would be difficult to provide in fully addressing the example you given as to why you believe the 3 sankhara’s (mano, vaci, kaya) all results from the mind or a purely mental concept. Like I said, I also have the similar line of thinking (which could possibly be wrong / incorrect / mistaken) in regard to sankhara “possibly” being a purely mental concept.
If you come across or are provided any answers / explanations to your question outside of this forum, please do share it here since I’m also interested in any answers or explanation to your question. If you’re not able to receive any satisfactory answers or explanations to your question and since this what I have to do for the time being, one can always fall back to the common interpretation / translation of sankhara being where it might not be a purely a mental concept. Like I mentioned earlier, one of the strongest case to be made where sankhara might not be a all mental concept is from the commonly and widely accepted translation / interpretation in the sutta’s where it mentions kaya sankhara being tied to breathing. From the Cūḷavedallasutta (MN 44):
“How many processes are there?”
“There are these three processes. Physical, verbal, and mental processes.”
“But ma’am, what is the physical process? What’s the verbal process? What’s the mental process?”
“Kasmā panāyye, assāsapassāsā kāyasaṅkhāro
“Breathing is a physical process. Placing the mind and keeping it connected are verbal processes. Perception and feeling are mental processes.”
“But ma’am, why is breathing a physical process?
“Assāsapassāsā kho, āvuso visākha, kāyikā ete dhammā kāyappaṭibaddhā, tasmā assāsapassāsā kāyasaṅkhāro.
“Breathing is physical. It’s tied up with the body, that’s why breathing is a physical process.
Like I mentioned where we believe / think that sankhara might be a purely a mental concept, it’s possible that our line of thinking might be wrong / incorrect or that we’re missing something. But as of this time, to me it’s still not very clear if sankhara is purely a mental concept or not. Since currently I’m still not fully satisfied with the translation / interpretation of kaya sankhara being a “fully physical concept” getting the idea from being tied to breathing as a physical process and unsure of the answer to our similar question / line of thinking, I’m just keeping my mind open about the possibility of being wrong or correct in my thinking.
I’m not sure if the Youtube channel you linked in your post is your Youtube channel or another but seeing some of the video’s in Korean, I would like to say much merits to you or the person whom created the Korean videos and give the teachings. As far as I know, the Buddha teachings we learn from (ex. Puredhamma, Authentic Dhamma and others similar), there isn’t any or much materials on the teachings in Korean and Japanese. Much merits to the person whom give the teachings in Korean and started the channel. Saddhu saddhu saddhu.
