「色蘊」的含義是什麼？不同的佛教部派和發展時期回答各不相同。本文擬依據《俱舍論》，參考相關文獻，對此名相作一探討。

在說明研究背景及文獻的基礎上，本文對傳統定義方法做了比較全面的回顧與思考，提出在佛教理論體系下，以經典為依據，從語義與義理兩個層面對色蘊進行研討。在語義層面上，色蘊即「所有色」的積聚；在義理層面上，色蘊的「所有色」僅限於有情自身，而不是包含一切。作為積聚，色蘊的性質是假有。據此，本文將色蘊定義為：五蘊之一，是（與有情生命相關的）一切色法的積聚，性質為假有。

What’s the meaning of “rūpa-skandha”? The answer depends on the Buddhist factions and development stages. This paper will probe this question according to Abhidharmakośabhāṣya and relative documents.

After a concise illustration of research documents and methods, this paper reviews the traditional definition methods and suggests that rūpa-skandha should be defined through two levels—semantics and theory. From the point of semantics, rūpa-skandha is aggregates of all kinds of “rūpa (色)”; from the point of theory, the range is limited to phenomenon related to life rather than all phenomenon. Being a kind of aggregate, it is a false existence.