Rather than categorizing our lives in one definite way or another (overwhelmingly bad or heavenly good), we often think of our lives as a series of events happening to us. We see things, we hear things, and then we react. But the Buddha taught a different perspective: we are actively "fabricating" our experience, day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment. Nothing is happening to us--we are everything happening. The Buddha explained this through three types of fabrication (or sankharas) that shape our reality. Understanding them is key to seeing how we get stuck—and how we can get free.
1. Bodily Fabrication: The Breath
This is the most fundamental of the fabrications. It is simply our in-and-out breath, which is tied to the physical body. In more ways that we realize, the in-and-out breath is key to lowering stress and quelling a bad reaction to an event. By telling ourselves to "breathe," we disrupt an impulsive response. While we rarely think about it, the rhythm of our breathing directly influences our mental state.
Getting an infuriating email alone can cause a rise in blood pressure, which changes breathing. Before you even have a thought, your breath becomes short and fast. Your physical body fabricates a feeling of tension and anxiety, which then fuels a negative mental reaction.
2. Verbal Fabrication: The Inner Monologue
Verbal fabrication is the internal conversation we have within our own heads—the "directed thought and evaluation." It is the voice in our heads that narrate our lives, asks questions, makes judgments, and plans. After reading a simple email, perhaps a job application rejection letter, or being on the phone with tech support, the bodily tension mounts and prompts your mind to start spinning, conceiving of your scathing reply to that email. This is the inner verbal storm that is brewing that takes the raw physical experience and turns it into a full-blown emotional episode.
3. Mental Fabrication: Perceptions and Feelings
This is the deeper, more subtle layer of fabrication. It is how we label and categorize our experiences, and the feeling tones (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral) that come with them. By saying, "I'm so pissed off right now," we neglect to realize that we are bringing forth a reality that becomes so only because of our declaration of it. This thought is a verbal fabrication. The mental fabrication is the perception of yourself as "angry" and the feeling of unpleasantness that perception creates. You identify with the anger, and in so doing, you give it power. This self-labeling traps you in a fabricated reality. You can always escape one such dim realities, but first, you have to know you are in one.
Three-in-One
The three fabrications, of course, are not separate events, but a cycle. They are one phase: The body's tension (bodily) fuels the thoughts and judgments (verbal), which in turn solidify the feelings and perceptions (mental), which together bring about the narrative that we live out everyday (one filled with resentment, fear, anger, envy, and worry). In this way, something minor like an angry email or phone call can spiral us into a taking a downward step.
By becoming aware of these three layers, we can start to disengage from the whole process. We can notice the breath, hear the inner monologue, and feel the mental undertones without getting swept away by them. This conscious awareness is the first step toward releasing ourselves from the cycle of self-created drama and finding a more peaceful way of being. In understanding how and why we create our realities, we not only take back the power to reshape them, but we see right through their negative effects even before having to change a thing! This breeds happiness and contentment, which reverses the downward step by allowing us to take a step upward once again.
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