The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and the Five Aggregates (skandha-s) of the Early Buddhism: Parallels and Differences on Understanding of Human Mind.
Sung Yong Kang, Soonjo Hwang
Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience August 27, 2026 DOI: 10.9758/cpn.26.1421 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Keywords | Mindfulness-based interventions Research domain criteria Dimensional approach Early buddhism Five aggregates <i>skandha</i>-s |
| Key points | Argues that the RDoC framework and early Buddhism's five aggregates (skandha-s) both conceptualize the mind as the collective operation of decentralized systems, and that this convergence carries clinical and practical value for incorporating early Buddhist theory and data into mindfulness-based interventions. |
Abstract
The research domain criteria (RDoC) was launched by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to provide a framework towards development of neurobiological models and novel treatment methods for mental health disorders. Here we elucidate the possible parallels between the RDoC and the understanding of human mind by the early Buddhism, conceptualized as the five aggregates (skandha-s). They both define the function of human mind as a collective operation of de-centralized systems. The state-of-art neuroscience and the long tradition of empirical observation and practice of introspection converges on human mind as division into dimensional sub-sets that can sometime coordinate but often do not. We argue that this similarity not only brings academic interest, but also clinical and practical purposes of incorporating the theoretical framework and empirical data of the early Buddhism into the daily execution of tools originated from this tradition, including the mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs).
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |