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The Pairs on Formations: Breath, Thought, and Perception With Feeling
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The Pairs on Formations: Breath, Thought, and Perception With Feeling

Saṅkhārayamakaṃ

The three formations here have very specific meanings: bodily formation is the breath, verbal formation is applied and sustained thought, mental formation is perception and feeling. And the text states flatly that the body is not the bodily formation.

8 points

In the Saṅkhārayamaka, in volume 38 of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, the text gives its definitions in the opening lines: there are three formations — bodily, verbal and mental. In-and-out breathing is the bodily formation; applied and sustained thought are the verbal formation; perception and feeling are the mental formation; and all states associated with consciousness apart from applied and sustained thought are also the mental formation.

The definitions matter, because the word formation elsewhere is far wider, while here it means only these three. With them in place, the text asks in pairs: is the body the bodily formation, is the bodily formation the body, and so on through all three.

It then moves to the section on occurrence, asking whether, when one formation arises or ceases for a given being in a given plane, another formation does so too. The answers reach into the jhānas and certain special states.

The complete tables are for detailed study. This page takes the points that help you read the word formation accurately in the discourses.

  1. 1

    The three formations of this chapter Tayo saṅkhārā

    The text states plainly that the three formations are bodily, verbal and mental, and defines all three in the same paragraph before any question is asked. Putting the definitions first is what keeps the questions that follow unambiguous.

    Applying it in daily life

    Before arguing about anything, agree on definitions. Very often, once the definitions match there is nothing left to argue about.

  2. 2

    In-and-out breathing is the bodily formation Assāsapassāsā kāyasaṅkhāro

    The in-breath and the out-breath are the bodily formation. They are called that because they shape the body and are directly bound up with it, not because they are the body.

    Applying it in daily life

    When a discourse speaks of calming the bodily formation, read it as the breath growing finer, not as holding the breath, which is not something to do.

  3. 3

    Applied and sustained thought are the verbal formation Vitakkavicārā vacīsaṅkhāro

    Applied thought lifts the mind onto a matter; sustained thought keeps working over it. These two are the verbal formation, because they shape speech: there must first be turning toward and dwelling upon, and only then can words come out.

    Applying it in daily life

    Before replying to a message that irritates you, notice what you are currently turning over. Catching the thought in time usually changes the sentence you type.

  4. 4

    Perception and feeling are the mental formation Saññā ca vedanā ca cittasaṅkhāro

    Perception and feeling are the mental formation, and the text adds that all states associated with consciousness apart from applied and sustained thought are the mental formation too. It is therefore wider than the other two.

    Applying it in daily life

    A mood usually starts with recognising what a thing is, and the feeling follows. Watch for that order on a day when the mind is unsettled.

  5. 5

    The body is not the bodily formation Kāyo kāyasaṅkhāroti

    The section of answers asks whether the body is the bodily formation: no. And whether the bodily formation is the body: no again. Speech and the verbal formation, and mind and the mental formation, are answered no in both directions as well. A compound ending in formation does not mean the word that begins it.

    Applying it in daily life

    Many compound terms do not mean the sum of their parts. When you meet a new Dhamma term, do not guess from the familiar word in it; find the definition the text gives.

  6. 6

    The breath can arise without any thought Yassa kāyasaṅkhāro uppajjati

    The section on occurrence asks whether, when the bodily formation arises to a being, the verbal formation arises too. The text answers that at the moment of arising of the in-and-out breath, apart from applied and sustained thought, the bodily formation arises but the verbal formation does not; while for one born in the sense sphere who enters the first jhāna, both arise together.

    Applying it in daily life

    The breath goes on without thinking. That is why returning to the breath rests the thinking mind: the breath needs no thought at all.

  7. 7

    In the fourth jhāna the breath does not arise Catutthajjhāne

    Asked by plane, the text answers that the mental formation arises in the fourth jhāna, in the fine-material planes and in the immaterial planes, but the bodily formation does not arise there; whereas in the first, second and third jhāna and in the sense sphere both arise. It also notes that in the second and third jhāna the bodily formation arises while the verbal formation does not.

    Applying it in daily life

    This is detail about deep concentration, not a target to rush at. What is usable is the principle that as the mind settles, what shapes it falls away in stages rather than all at once.

  8. 8

    States in which no formation ceases at all Nirodhasamāpannānaṃ

    In the section on ceasing, the text brings in one who has entered cessation and beings of the non-percipient plane, to answer the negative questions: for them the bodily formation does not cease and the verbal formation does not cease, since those formations are not occurring in the first place. Such special cases are what make the table complete. This point is for overall understanding.

    Applying it in daily life

    When summarising data, do not forget the cases where the value is zero or missing. Those are usually the ones that break a sweeping conclusion.

Try it in daily life

Anyone practising mindfulness of breathing benefits directly here, because the discourses speak of calming the bodily formation. If you know the bodily formation is the breath, that phrase becomes clear at once: it means the breath growing finer, not stiffening the body.

That verbal formation means applied and sustained thought explains why speech begins with thinking. We turn to a matter and dwell on it, and then we speak. Seeing that order opens a gap in which you can choose whether to speak at all.

And mental formation being perception and feeling shows that what shapes the mind most is recognising and feeling — two things you can watch every day.

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