Anita,

I am no teacher and what little I know is more dangerous than helpful at times. And, there is no way to simply put this cause I really do not comprehend it all. First, you know the person or mind is a creation of the body. The body is a sum of parts and the parts has a mind or a person or self or ego. It is what we call ourselves or what we believe ourselves to be. So when the body dies so does this ego. Buddha described it as the make up of the personality or the five skandhas.

One is form or the body. It contains the five senses. An example would be to see or hear something. Two is the feelings or sensations one has from experiencing the five senses. Often sex is associated with love. Sensation has feelings related to it. Seeing one’s home has a feeling of safety, of relaxation. Three is perception or the way one sees the world. It allows one to relate to the world. We know what a person is because we have perceived a person before. Four is the mental formations or what opinion we develop about the person we perceive. A parallel would be the senses and feelings (emotions). Five is the consciousness. A general awareness of the world about themselves.

Supposedly the five skandhas are like a fluid and flowing all the time so everything changes over time. Don’t ask me. I have very little understanding about this. My mind shuts down when it comes to complicated thoughts about self. I just think of ego as what I believe myself to be. What feels fear in the face of danger. What feels happiness and joy when good things happen.

Sorry, I can not really give you a good answer.

Tommy