Sankharas in Buddhism: How Thoughts Shape Your Life

Have you ever wondered why your mind keeps reacting in the same way, over and over again? Or why certain thoughts and emotions seem to rise up without you even trying? In Buddhism, this pattern is explained through something called Sankharas.

Sankhara is a word from the ancient Pali language (in Sanskrit, it’s called Samskara). It refers to the mental and emotional patterns that shape how you think, feel, and act. In simple English, you can think of Sankharas as mental formations, volitional formations, or fabrications—the things your mind creates based on your past experiences, choices, and intentions.

These Sankharas are more than just thoughts. They are habits of the mind. They form the background of your decisions, your emotions, your reactions, and even your identity. Every time you act with intention—whether it’s a kind word or a harsh thought—you’re forming a Sankhara.

In Buddhism, Sankharas are incredibly important. The Buddha taught that they play a key role in how we experience the world and why we suffer. They are one of the five parts that make up a person, and they are also one of the first steps in the chain of cause and effect that keeps us trapped in the cycle of suffering (called samsara).

By understanding Sankharas, you begin to see how your mind works. You start noticing the patterns that keep you stuck. And with that awareness, you can begin to change—not by force, but through wisdom and mindfulness.

Let’s explore what Sankharas really are, how they shape your life, and what the Buddha taught about freeing yourself from their grip.

I. Sankharas in the Five Aggregates (Pañcakkhandha)

To understand Sankharas clearly, it helps to see where they fit into the bigger picture of who you are—according to Buddhist teachings. The Buddha explained that what you call a “person” is not one fixed self, but actually made up of five parts, or aggregates. These are called the Five Aggregates (Pañcakkhandha in Pali), and they describe the total experience of body and mind.

Here’s a simple list of the five aggregates:

1. Form (Rūpa): This is your physical body—everything you can touch, see, or measure.
   
2. Feeling (Vedanā): These are your sensations—whether something feels pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.
   
3. Perception (Saññā): This is your ability to recognize and label things—like knowing a color is red or a sound is music.
   
4. Mental Formations (Sankhāra): These are your mental habits, thoughts, intentions, and emotional reactions.
   
5. Consciousness (Viññāṇa): This is the basic awareness that knows experiences are happening.
   

Now, let’s focus on the fourth one—Sankharas.

Sankharas are your inner patterns. They are the mental habits and intentions that shape how you respond to everything. For example, if someone says something rude and you immediately feel angry, that reaction is likely coming from a sankhara. Over time, these habits build up and influence how you think, feel, and act—often without you even realizing it.

Think of Sankharas as the engine behind your emotional reactions and decisions. They color the way you see the world and drive many of your choices, even when you think you’re being logical. These mental formations are always working in the background, based on your past experiences and conditioning.

So when the Buddha talks about the Five Aggregates, he’s helping you understand that what you think of as “you” is actually a collection of changing processes—and Sankharas are a key part of that process. By observing these mental habits, you can begin to understand yourself more deeply and find more peace in daily life.

II. Sankharas in Dependent Origination (Paticca Samuppada)

To truly understand how your thoughts and actions shape your life—and even future lives—Buddhism offers a teaching called Dependent Origination (Paticca Samuppada in Pali). This is a powerful explanation of how suffering begins, how it continues, and how it can end. It’s a step-by-step process that shows how everything arises due to causes and conditions.

The 12 Links of Dependent Origination

Dependent Origination is made up of 12 links—a chain of causes that lead from ignorance to suffering and rebirth. Here are the 12 links in order:

1. Ignorance (Avijja)
   
2. Volitional Formations (Sankharas)
   
3. Consciousness (Viññāṇa)
   
4. Name and Form (Nāma-rūpa)
   
5. Six Sense Bases (Salāyatana)
   
6. Contact (Phassa)
   
7. Feeling (Vedanā)
   
8. Craving (Taṇhā)
   
9. Clinging (Upādāna)
   
10. Becoming (Bhava)
    
11. Birth (Jāti)
    
12. Old Age and Death (Jarāmaraṇa)
    

These links show how one thing leads to another, creating a cycle of suffering and rebirth. Now let’s look closely at the second link: Sankharas.

Sankharas as the Second Link

Sankharas—or volitional formations—come right after ignorance. This means that when you don’t fully understand the truth of life (like impermanence, suffering, and non-self), your mind starts creating actions based on that misunderstanding. These actions aren’t just physical—they’re also mental and verbal. Every time you think, speak, or act with intention, you’re forming a Sankhara.

How Sankharas Arise from Ignorance

Imagine reacting in anger because you believe someone insulted you. If you deeply understood that the “self” is just a process—not something fixed—you might not get angry. But because of ignorance, you cling to a false idea of “me” and “mine,” and then you act on it. That reaction is a Sankhara—a mental formation rooted in ignorance.

Sankharas Condition Consciousness

What you choose to think and do leaves an impression on your mind. In Buddhism, these impressions carry over into future lives. This is why Sankharas play a role in conditioning consciousness in the next birth. The kind of mind you develop now affects the kind of life you’ll be born into later. In this way, Sankharas link your past, present, and future.

Sankharas as Karmic Seeds

You can think of Sankharas as karmic seeds—planted by your intentions. When you act out of greed, hatred, or delusion, those seeds grow into more suffering. But when you act with kindness, wisdom, and compassion, you plant seeds for peace and freedom.

So, Sankharas aren’t just random thoughts—they are the driving force that shapes your life and your future. And because they come from ignorance, the way out of suffering is to become more aware. By understanding your Sankharas, you begin to break the cycle—and take your first steps toward liberation.

III. The Three Types of Sankharas

In Buddhism, Sankharas are not just thoughts—they are all the intentional patterns that shape your actions, speech, and mind. These patterns come from your past choices and influence how you experience the world today. The Buddha explained that there are three types of Sankharas, and each one plays a role in your daily life.

Understanding these three types can help you see your habits more clearly and start changing the ones that cause suffering. Let’s look at them one by one.

1. Bodily Sankharas – Intentions Behind Your Physical Actions

These are the intentions that guide your physical movements. For example, when you decide to walk, sit, stand, or raise your hand, that choice comes from a bodily Sankhara. Even your posture—like slouching or sitting upright—often reflects patterns of thought and emotion that you may not notice right away.

It’s important to understand that it’s not the movement itself that matters most, but the intention behind it. If you act out of kindness, your body becomes a tool for peace. If you act out of anger, it can lead to harm. So, your physical actions begin with Sankharas in the mind.

2. Verbal Sankharas – Intentions Behind Your Speech

Verbal Sankharas are the mental patterns that influence what you say and how you say it. This includes both your spoken words and your inner voice—the way you talk to yourself in your mind.

Before you speak, your mind forms an intention. Is your speech meant to help, or to hurt? Is it honest, or deceptive? Even if the words sound polite, the intention behind them matters just as much. Verbal Sankharas shape your relationships and affect how others see you—and how you see yourself.

3. Mental Sankharas – Thoughts, Judgments, and Emotions

Mental Sankharas are the deepest and most subtle type. They include your mental habits, emotional reactions, judgments, and attitudes. These are the thoughts and feelings that come and go all day long—sometimes quickly, sometimes sticking around.

For example, when you feel jealousy, pride, fear, or compassion, these emotions are tied to mental Sankharas. They come from past experiences and conditioning, and they often arise automatically. But with mindfulness, you can start to observe them instead of letting them control you.

Why These Three Matter

These three types of Sankharas—bodily, verbal, and mental—are always working together. They form your responses to everything around you. The more aware you become of them, the more freedom you have to choose a better path.

By understanding Sankharas, you begin to see that you are not stuck with your old habits. Every moment is a chance to plant new seeds—seeds of peace, kindness, and wisdom. And that’s the first step on the path to real freedom.

IV. Sankharas and Karma

When you hear the word karma, you might think of it as some kind of reward or punishment system. But in Buddhism, karma simply means intentional action. And at the heart of karma are your sankharas—the mental formations that guide your choices.

You can think of sankharas as the engine of karma. They are what drive your actions, both big and small. Every time you act with intention—whether it’s through your body, your speech, or your mind—you’re creating karma. And that karma leaves a trace. It shapes not only your present experience, but also your future.

How Sankharas Create Karma

Let’s say you see someone in need and decide to help them. That kind act didn’t just happen on its own—it started with a sankhara. You had the intention to help, and that intention turned into action. Because it was done with kindness, it creates positive karma.

On the other hand, if you act out of anger—say you yell at someone—that action also begins with a sankhara. Since the intention came from anger, it creates negative karma.

So, it’s not just the action itself that matters. It’s the intention behind it. That’s why sankharas are so important—they hold the key to understanding how karma works in your life.

Not All Thoughts Are Sankharas

It’s also helpful to know that not every thought is a sankhara. Sometimes your mind just wanders. You might notice random images, songs, or ideas popping in and out. These are just neutral thoughts—mental noise.

A sankhara only forms when a thought has intention behind it. For example:

• Thinking, “I want to be kinder to others” is a sankhara.
  
• Silently judging someone or holding a grudge is a sankhara.
  
• Daydreaming about something random without intention is not a sankhara.
  

The difference is intention. Intentions are powerful. They’re the seeds that grow into habits, actions, and ultimately your future.

Why This Matters for You

Once you understand the link between sankharas and karma, you gain a powerful tool for change. You begin to see that you are shaping your own path with every thought, word, and action that comes from intention.

This isn’t about blame or guilt—it’s about awareness. By watching your sankharas and choosing your intentions wisely, you can create better karma and live a more peaceful, meaningful life.

V. The Impermanent Nature of Sankharas

One of the most important things the Buddha taught about sankharas is that they are impermanent. That means they are always changing, never staying the same. If you look closely at your thoughts, feelings, and reactions, you’ll notice this too—they come and go all the time. One moment you feel peaceful, and the next you might feel annoyed or worried. These changing patterns are your sankharas at work.

Sankharas Are Not Permanent or Fixed

You might think your personality, habits, or emotions are just “who you are.” But in Buddhism, those things are not fixed. They are conditioned—meaning they arise because of certain causes and conditions. When those causes change, the sankharas change too.

For example, if you’ve built a habit of being anxious, it may seem like that’s just how you are. But with awareness and practice, that pattern can change. This shows that sankharas are not permanent—they are flexible and shaped by experience.

Sankharas Are Suffering (Dukkha)

The Buddha also taught that sankharas are a source of suffering. This may sound strange at first—how can thoughts or habits cause suffering?

It happens when you cling to them. If you strongly hold on to certain thoughts, emotions, or ideas about yourself, you can easily feel stressed, frustrated, or disappointed when things don’t go your way. For example, if you cling to the idea of being successful, any failure can feel like a huge personal loss.

This clinging creates dukkha, the suffering or dissatisfaction that comes from wanting things to be a certain way—even though they keep changing.

Sankharas Are Not-Self (Anatta)

Another key teaching in Buddhism is that sankharas are not-self. This means they are not truly “you” or “yours.” Even though they feel personal—like “my anger” or “my sadness”—they are actually just processes happening in the mind.

When you say, “I am an angry person,” you’re identifying with a temporary sankhara. But that anger isn’t a permanent part of who you are. It came up because of certain conditions, and it will pass when those conditions change.

By seeing sankharas as not-self, you can stop taking them so personally. Instead of being trapped by your mental habits, you can start to observe them with more peace and freedom.

Why This Is So Helpful

When you understand that sankharas are not fixed, are a source of suffering, and are not your true self, you begin to let go. You stop fighting with your mind and start watching it with calm awareness. Over time, this helps you break free from harmful patterns—and opens the door to greater peace, wisdom, and happiness in your life.

VI. Letting Go of Sankharas in Meditation Practice

One of the most powerful ways to understand and let go of your sankharas is through meditation—especially a practice called Vipassana, or insight meditation. This type of meditation helps you observe your mind clearly, without getting caught up in it. You learn to see your mental habits, not fight them.

Let’s explore how this works step by step.

Observing Sankharas in Vipassana Meditation

When you sit in meditation, you begin to notice your thoughts, emotions, and urges more clearly. Maybe you feel restless, annoyed, or suddenly excited. These are all sankharas—mental patterns coming to the surface.

In Vipassana, you don’t try to stop these patterns. You simply watch them arise and pass away. One moment a thought appears, and the next it’s gone. Then another feeling comes—and it, too, disappears. This shows you that sankharas are always changing.

Not Reacting to Sankharas

Normally, when sankharas show up, you might react right away. If you feel angry, you might yell. If you feel anxious, you might try to escape. But in meditation, you train your mind to just observe—without clinging to what you like or pushing away what you don’t.

This practice is called equanimity. It means staying calm and balanced, even when your inner world is noisy or uncomfortable. Over time, this helps you let go of old patterns, instead of feeding them with more thoughts and reactions.

Developing Insight Through Observation

By watching sankharas without reacting, you begin to see three deep truths the Buddha taught:

1. Impermanence (Anicca): Every thought and feeling changes. Nothing stays the same.
   
2. Not-Self (Anatta): These patterns are not truly “you.” They are just conditioned processes.
   
3. Suffering (Dukkha): Clinging to sankharas or pushing them away causes stress.
   

As you meditate, these insights don’t just stay in your head—you start to feel them. You realize that you don’t have to follow every thought or emotion. You can observe them, learn from them, and let them go.

Why This Matters

Letting go of sankharas through meditation isn’t about becoming blank or emotionless. It’s about becoming free—free from habits that cause stress, free from old pain, free from mistaken ideas about who you are.

The more you practice, the more peaceful and clear your mind becomes. And slowly, you begin to live with more awareness, more kindness, and more wisdom—in meditation, and in everyday life.

VII. The Role of Sankharas in Rebirth

In Buddhism, your life doesn’t just start and end with birth and death. It’s part of a bigger cycle called samsara—a continuous round of birth, death, and rebirth. One of the key forces that keeps this cycle going is your sankharas—your mental formations and intentions.

Let’s explore how your sankharas connect to rebirth, and how understanding them can help you move toward freedom and peace.

How Sankharas Carry Karmic Momentum

Every intentional thought, word, or action you make plants a seed. These seeds are your karmic energy, and they stay in your mind as sankharas. Even if you don’t notice it, this energy keeps building up and shaping your future experiences—not only in this life, but in the next.

At the time of death, these sankharas influence your next rebirth. They help shape what kind of life you’ll enter—your mental tendencies, your experiences, and even your conditions at birth. In this way, sankharas carry your karmic momentum forward.

So, your future isn’t decided by luck. It’s shaped by your own thoughts and actions—especially the ones done with strong emotion or intention.

Breaking the Cycle

The good news is: you’re not stuck in this cycle forever. According to the Buddha, ignorance (not seeing things clearly) is what starts the whole process. When you don’t understand the nature of life—when you believe that things are permanent, satisfying, or part of a fixed “self”—you keep creating sankharas based on those false beliefs.

But once you start to see clearly, you can stop creating new sankharas. You stop acting out of confusion, fear, and craving. Instead, you begin to live with awareness, compassion, and wisdom.

And when you stop forming new sankharas, the old ones begin to fade away. This is how the cycle slowly starts to end.

Leading to Liberation (Nirvana)

When no new sankharas are formed, and the old ones lose their power, there’s nothing left to push the mind into another rebirth. The mind becomes completely still and free. This state is called Nirvana—the end of suffering and the end of the cycle of rebirth.

Nirvana isn’t a place—it’s a deep inner peace where there’s no more clinging, no more craving, and no more becoming. It’s freedom from the ups and downs of life, and it starts with understanding how your sankharas shape everything.

By learning about sankharas and how they work, you take the first steps toward freedom from suffering. You begin to live more mindfully, act more wisely, and move closer to true peace.

VIII. Sankharas and the Path to Liberation

If sankharas are the mental patterns that shape your thoughts, actions, and habits—how can you work with them in a way that leads to freedom, rather than more suffering? The Buddha gave a clear answer: through Right Effort, mindfulness, and wisdom, you can purify your sankharas and move toward liberation.

Let’s explore how this works in a simple and practical way.

Right Effort and Mindfulness

The Buddha taught that Right Effort is part of the Eightfold Path—a guide to living with awareness and compassion. Right Effort means putting your energy into what is helpful, rather than harmful. In the case of sankharas, this means creating good mental habits.

For example:

• When you notice anger rising, you can choose to respond with patience.
  
• When you feel envy, you can practice appreciation or gratitude.
  
• When you notice a selfish thought, you can shift toward kindness.
  

By doing this over and over, you begin to cultivate wholesome sankharas—patterns based on love, wisdom, and peace. These replace the unhelpful ones and lead you in a better direction.

Mindfulness helps you with this. It gives you the ability to see your sankharas clearly—as they arise—and decide whether to follow them or let them go.

Purification of Sankharas

Many of your unhelpful sankharas were built up over time—through fear, anger, greed, or confusion. The path to liberation involves purifying these old patterns.

This doesn’t mean fighting your thoughts or judging yourself. It means:

• Observing your reactions with calm attention.
  
• Letting go of habits that cause suffering.
  
• Replacing them with wiser, more peaceful ways of thinking and acting.
  

Over time, this purifies the mind—just like a muddy glass of water becomes clear when you stop stirring it. The mind becomes lighter, calmer, and more balanced.

Liberation Through Wisdom

Eventually, as you keep practicing, you begin to see the deeper truth: sankharas are not permanent, not personal, and not worth clinging to. With this wisdom, you stop feeding them. You stop creating new ones based on craving or ignorance.

When that happens, the sankharas begin to fade. And as they fade, your mind is no longer bound by old habits, desires, or fears.

This is the path to liberation—the end of suffering. It doesn’t happen overnight, but every moment of awareness, kindness, and effort brings you closer.

By understanding your sankharas and working with them gently, you are learning to transform your mind. And step by step, you’re walking the path that leads to real freedom, inner peace, and lasting happiness.

IX. Common Misunderstandings About Sankharas

When you first hear about sankharas, it’s easy to get confused. Some people think sankharas are just random thoughts. Others believe they’re all negative. But in Buddhism, sankharas have a much deeper meaning, and clearing up these misunderstandings can help you better understand your own mind.

Sankharas Are Not Just Thoughts

It’s a common mistake to think that sankharas are the same as your everyday thoughts. But sankharas are more than that.

Sankharas include:

• Intentions – the force behind your actions.
  
• Tendencies – your usual ways of reacting to people or situations.
  
• Mental habits – the patterns your mind follows again and again.
  

For example, if you always react with frustration when things don’t go your way, that reaction isn’t just a thought—it’s a sankhara that has become part of your mental habit.

So, when the Buddha talks about sankharas, he’s not just talking about thinking. He’s talking about the deep mental patterns that shape how you speak, act, and see the world.

Not All Sankharas Are Bad

Another misunderstanding is thinking that sankharas are always negative. It’s true that many sankharas cause suffering—especially the ones rooted in anger, greed, or confusion. But not all sankharas are bad.

In Buddhism, sankharas can be:

• Wholesome – like kindness, patience, generosity, and compassion.
  
• Unwholesome – like hatred, jealousy, or selfishness.
  
• Neutral – like brushing your teeth or remembering directions.
  

The goal of Buddhist practice is not to get rid of all sankharas, but to:

• Let go of unwholesome ones that lead to stress and suffering.
  
• Strengthen wholesome ones that lead to peace and wisdom.
  
• Observe neutral ones with awareness.
  

Over time, this helps you create a more peaceful and balanced mind.

Why This Matters

By understanding what sankharas really are, you can start to notice them in your everyday life. You’ll see that your habits, reactions, and feelings are not just “who you are”—they’re patterns that can change.

And once you see that, you’ll realize something very freeing: you’re not stuck. With awareness and effort, you can let go of what harms you and grow what helps you. That’s the heart of Buddhist practice—and it starts with understanding your sankharas.

X. Sankharas in Daily Life

You don’t have to sit in a temple or meditate for hours to understand sankharas. In fact, your everyday life is full of them—you just have to start noticing. Sankharas are always working in the background, shaping your thoughts, emotions, and actions. When you learn to recognize them, you gain the power to change them.

Recognizing Sankharas in Ordinary Experiences

Sankharas are not something special that only show up in meditation. You can see them in daily habits, emotional reactions, and simple decisions.

Here are a few examples:

• You wake up feeling annoyed for no clear reason. That reaction might come from an old mental pattern—a sankhara formed through past stress or routine.
  
• Someone cuts in front of you in traffic. If your first response is anger or shouting, that’s a sankhara in action—a habit of reacting with frustration.
  
• You see someone succeed and feel jealous. That’s not just a thought—it’s a sankhara formed by comparing yourself to others over time.
  
• You automatically say “thank you” when someone helps you. That’s a wholesome sankhara—a good habit you’ve built.
  

The more you pay attention, the more you’ll realize: you’re not choosing every reaction—you’re repeating patterns. But the moment you recognize a sankhara, you’ve already started to loosen its grip.

Mindfulness as a Tool

So how do you notice sankharas in real-time? The answer is mindfulness.

Mindfulness means being fully present and aware of what’s happening in your body and mind, without judging it. When you’re mindful, you can watch your sankharas as they arise:

• You feel irritation building? Pause and notice it.
  
• A quick judgment pops into your head? Acknowledge it without reacting.
  
• You feel the urge to speak harshly? Take a breath, and observe where it’s coming from.
  

Mindfulness helps you see the space between a thought and your response. In that space, you can choose something better—something wiser, kinder, or more peaceful.

Why This Matters

The beauty of this practice is that it happens right where you are—in your home, at work, in traffic, or while talking to a friend. Every moment gives you a chance to see your sankharas clearly and shift your direction.

With awareness and care, you can let go of what harms you and strengthen what brings peace. And slowly, your daily life becomes your training ground—not just for calmness, but for real inner freedom.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve learned about sankharas, you can begin to see just how important they are in your life. Sankharas are the mental formations that shape your inner and outer world. They come from your intentions, habits, and reactions—and they influence everything you think, say, and do.

But here’s the good news: sankharas are not permanent. They are always changing. They are also not your true self—just patterns created by past experiences. And when you cling to them too tightly, they become a source of stress and suffering.

By practicing mindfulness, you can start to observe your sankharas as they arise. You can choose not to react, and instead let them pass. Over time, you can release the unhelpful ones and grow the ones that lead to peace and wisdom.

If this topic speaks to you, keep exploring. Read the Buddha’s teachings, listen to talks by wise teachers, or try meditating a little each day. The more you understand sankharas, the more clearly you’ll see your own mind—and the more freedom and peace you’ll discover in your life.