ÒThe Group of Linked Discourses Beginning With the AggregatesÓ is named after the first and longest section, which deals with the core Buddhist teaching of the five aggregates. The basic idea of an ÒaggregateÓ is a set or class of phenomena that is mistaken as a permanent or abiding ÒselfÓ. The Buddha, however, showed that the aggregates were suffering, and that it is only through letting go that we can become free from future suffering. Of the remaining twelve sections, three also take up the theme of the aggregates, while the remainder deal with miscellaneous secondary themes, some organized by subject, others by person.