Buddhism teaches that a human being is made up of five aggregates or skandhas. Like all forms of existence the five aggregates are characterized by two underlying realities--coming into being (creation) and change (extinction). Once again this points to impermanence as the common thread in the three aspects of suffering. However, even this is only a coarse level of understanding. Pervasive suffering also refers to an undercurrent of consciousness in which attachment and craving can instantly change to hatred and repulsion. It is a very subtle kind of psychological suffering.

The first aggregate is form, referring to the material or physical aspects of our body. The latter four are mental, and within those there are subtler divisions. The second aggregate is sensation. The third is perception, but you can also call it conception. The fourth is volition, which as I have mentioned, plays a key role in pervasive suffering. The last aggregate is consciousness.

Sensation and perception can also be understood in terms of the processes of the mind. 'Mind' is a very general term, but from the perspective of Buddhist psychology we see two different things in this mind: The discriminating, or primary mind and mental phenomena. The discriminating mind is like an emperor who controls his generals, soldiers, and so on. The second and third aggregates, sensation and perception, are a part of this emperor mind, and these two can be subdivided into as many as 175 different mental states.