Saṅkhāra

Mental formations, constructions, volitional forces. Saṅkhāra (Pāli, equivalent to saṃskāra in Sanskrit) is one of the richest concepts in Buddhism, with multiple layers of meaning.

In the chain of dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda), saṅkhāra is the second link: the volitional formations arising from avijjā (ignorance) that condition viññāṇa (consciousness). They are the karmic impressions, the tendencies created by past actions that shape present experience.

As an aggregate (khandha), saṅkhārā includes all mental formations besides feeling and perception: will, attention, energy, concentration, faith, and fifty more factors enumerated in the Abhidhamma.

The key teaching: all saṅkhārā are impermanent (aniccā). In the Dhammapada: sabbe saṅkhārā aniccāti — “all formations are impermanent.” Deep understanding of this is the gateway to liberation.

In classical yoga, saṃskāra maintains a very close meaning: latent impressions that condition future tendencies. Each experience leaves a saṃskāra; each saṃskāra generates vṛtti (thought); each vṛtti reinforces the saṃskāra. Yoga seeks to interrupt this cycle.