The Skandhas - The Five Aggregates

Skandha (Sanskrit, heap; Pali, khandha). 

One of the five 'aggregates' or components which collectively constitute the human individual. 

According to Buddhisn, the human subject can be deconstructed into these five categories without remainder, and since the five make no reference to an eternal soul Buddhism is said to teach a doctrine of 'no self' (anatman). 

According to this, the common but falacious belief in an eternal soul is a case of mistaken identity whereby one or more of the skandhas is mistaken for a soul. 

The five skandhas are 

(i) form (rupa); 

(ii) feelings (vedana); 

(iii) perception (samjna); 

(iv) volitional factors (samskara); 

(v) consciousness (vijnana). 

The five are known as the 'aggregates of attachment' (upadana-skandha) because as the means to pleasurable experiences they are objects of desire or craving (trsna). 

Each of the skandhas, like all compounded phenomena, bears the three marks (trilaksana) of impermanence (anitya), suffering (dukkha), and no self (anatman). Enlightenment (bodhi) consists in realizing that the individual is in reality a process whereby the skandhas interact without any underlying soul or self.

---A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keon---