Refers to literature of Eastern origins, such as the "Heart Sutra", known in Persian and Chinese works. Also refers to Chinese works found in Xian China, which are from an early Christian monastery. The "Sutra of Cause and Effect", contains the five "Skandas" {skandhas} of the soul, "Form, Perception, Consciousness, Action, and Knowledge". These descriptions match those in the "Acts of Thomas", and the "Heart Sutra". (See "The Jesus Sutras", Palmer, Ballantine, 2001.) "What we in our ignorance call the Self is really an interplay of five mental elements and the physical body (known as skandhas ), in temporary conjunctions, constantly changing and interacting. "Skandha" is usually translated as "heap": or "aggregate" or "group", each skandha being itself a combination of faculties shading into each other. The Sanskrit for the five mental skandhas can be translated as consciousness, sensations, concepts, perceptions, and volition". "The Gnostic Apostle Thomas" (c) 1997 Herbert Christian Merillat. http://www.gnosis.org/thomasbook/toc.html