The Invisible Enemy and the Hidden Beloved

The story of a young man who comes to recognize love through the strange stirrings of his body and mind, decoding the role of the Aggregate of Mental Formations in our emotions.

Dusk had just settled, and the streetlights were beginning to glow faintly along the small street. Tuan stood hesitating before the entrance of a bookstore, an old comic book in his hand, his heart in complete disarray. For several days now, he had felt as though he had lost his soul.

Every time he stepped out of his house, he would unconsciously glance toward the second-floor balcony of the neighbor's home, where Lan often hung the laundry to dry. He did not dare speak her name even in his thoughts, yet the image of Lan kept haunting him, replaying again and again like a film in slow motion.

That morning, his mother sent him out to buy fish sauce. On the way, he was so absorbed in thinking about Lan's smile from the evening before that he nearly walked straight into an electric pole. His mother scolded him: "Tuan! What is the matter with the way you walk? Where are your eyes?" Startled, his face burning red, he stammered: "I... I am sorry, Mother. I didn't see the road." In truth, he could see perfectly well, but at that moment there was only one image in his mind: Lan bending down to pick up a fallen scarf, her hair drifting gently in the breeze.

Tuan wondered to himself: "Why am I like this? I have never spoken a single word to her. Yet why does my heart pound every time I hear those familiar footsteps? Why do I remember every tiny detail about her, while the dry history lessons vanish completely from my mind?"

He recalled what his teacher had taught about the Aggregate of Mental Formations (sankhara). His teacher had said that feelings of love and hate are not random occurrences; they are a powerful kind of activity of the mind and heart. The Aggregate of Mental Formations is precisely where these emotions arise. It is not simply a matter of thinking; it is a chain reaction. First, the Aggregate of Mental Formations creates an image and sends it to the Aggregate of Perception — this is Lan's face appearing vividly in his mind. Next, it activates feelings and sends them to the Aggregate of Feeling — the fluttering, the trembling, the sweetness or the bitterness that arise whenever he thinks of her. Finally, it takes hold of the body, the Aggregate of Form — the heart racing, the cheeks flushing, the hands and feet growing clumsy.

Tuan realized that his "love" did not live in his reasoning mind; it lived in the hidden workings of the Aggregate of Mental Formations. It was like an underground river: invisible, yet always rushing onward, wearing away the rocky banks and reshaping the land. Without understanding this mechanism, he would remain confused forever, believing he had been possessed by some ghost or struck by bad luck. But now he understood that this was simply a law of the mind. Love, and even hatred, are immense energies generated by the Aggregate of Mental Formations.

That evening, Tuan grew braver. He no longer avoided Lan's gaze. He understood that behind that shyness was an Aggregate of Mental Formations working with great intensity, longing for connection. Instead of letting his emotions rule him blindly, he began to observe them. He asked himself: "Do I like her for her appearance, or for the kinship of our hearts?" That very question was itself an act of awareness — the first step toward mastering the Aggregate of Mental Formations, transforming it from an invisible enemy that sows disorder into a companion that helps him grow.

The Meaning of the Story:

This story illuminates the connection between the Aggregate of Mental Formations and our emotions of love and hate. According to the dharma talk, the Aggregate of Mental Formations does not only govern intellectual activities such as reasoning and memory; it also encompasses the entire realm of feeling. When we love or hate someone, that is the powerful activity of the Aggregate of Mental Formations, creating images through the Aggregate of Perception and feelings through the Aggregate of Feeling, which in turn influence the body, the Aggregate of Form. Recognizing this keeps us from being swept away by our emotions. Instead, we can use wisdom to contemplate and reflect, transforming negative energies into positive ones, and moving toward peace and awareness.

Compiled from a dharma talk by the Venerable Thich Chan Quang.