Indriya

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Indriya (literally "belonging to or agreeable to

Rig Veda and lord of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven (also known as Śakra or Sakka in Buddhism) hence connoting supremacy, dominance and control, attested in the general meaning of "power, strength" from the Rig Veda.[1][2][3][4]

In Buddhism, the term refers to multiple intrapsychic processes and is generally translated as "faculty" or, in specific contexts, as "spiritual faculty" or "controlling principle."[5] In Buddhism, depending on the context, indriya traditionally refers to one of the following groups of faculties:

  • the 5 spiritual faculties
  • the 5 or 6 sensory faculties
  • the 22 phenomenological faculties

5 spiritual faculties

In the

Sutta Pitaka
, indriya is frequently encountered in the context of the "five spiritual faculties" (Pali: pañc' indriyāni):

  1. faith or conviction or belief (
    saddhā
    )
  2. energy or persistence or perseverance (
    viriya
    )
  3. mindfulness or memory (sati
    )
  4. stillness of the mind (
    samādhi
    )
  5. wisdom or understanding or comprehension (
    pañña
    ).

Together, this set of five faculties is one of the seven sets of qualities lauded by

conducive to Enlightenment.[6]

SN
48.10 is one of several discourses that characterizes these spiritual faculties in the following manner:

In SN 48.51, the Buddha declares that, of these five faculties, wisdom is the "chief" (agga).[9]

Balancing the spiritual faculties

In

AN
6.55, the Buddha counsels a discouraged monk, Sona, to balance or "tune" his spiritual faculties as one would a musical instrument:

"... what do you think: when the strings of your [lute] were neither too taut nor too loose, but tuned to be right on pitch, was your [lute] in tune & playable?"
"Yes, lord."
"In the same way, Sona, over-aroused persistence leads to restlessness, overly slack persistence leads to laziness. Thus you should determine the right pitch for your persistence, attune the pitch of the [five] faculties [to that], and there pick up your theme."[10][11]

Relatedly, the

samatha
). Moreover, these commentaries especially recommend that the five spiritual faculties be developed in counterbalancing dyads:

Mindfulness
  Faith Under-
standing 		 
Energy Concen-
tration
Mindfulness
The balancing of the five spiritual faculties.
  • "For one strong in faith and weak in understanding has confidence uncritically and groundlessly. One strong in understanding and weak in faith errs on the side of cunning and is as hard to cure as one sick of a disease caused by medicine. With the balancing of the two a man has confidence only when there are grounds for it." (Vism. Ch. IV, §47, ¶1)
  • "... [I]dleness overpowers one strong in concentration and weak in energy, since concentration favours idleness. Agitation overpowers one strong in energy and weak in concentration, since energy favours agitation. But concentration coupled with energy cannot lapse into idleness, and energy coupled with concentration cannot lapse into agitation. So these two should be balanced ; for
    absorption comes with the balancing of the two." (Vism.
    Ch. IV, §47, ¶2)
  • "... One working on concentration needs strong faith, since it is with such faith and confidence that he reaches absorption." (Vism. Ch. IV, §48)
  • "... Then there is [balancing of] concentration and understanding. One working on concentration needs strong
    insight needs strong understanding, since that is how he reaches penetration of characteristics; but with the balancing of the two he reaches absorption as well." (Vism.
    Ch. IV, §48)

The commentator Buddhaghosa adds:

  • "Strong mindfulness, however, is needed in all instances; for mindfulness protects the mind lapsing into agitation through faith, energy and understanding, which favour agitation, and from lapsing into idleness through concentration, which favours idleness." (Vism. Ch. IV, §49).[13]

Relation to the Five Powers

In

Five Powers and vice versa. He uses the metaphor of a stream passing by a mid-stream island; the island creates two streams, but the streams can also be seen as one and the same.[14] The Pali commentaries remark that these five qualities are "faculties" when used to control their spheres of influence, and are "powers" when unshakeable by opposing forces.[15]

5 material or 6 sensory faculties

In the Sutta Pitaka, six sensory faculties are referenced in a manner similar to the

six sense bases. These faculties consist of the five senses with the addition of "mind" or "thought" (manas
).

  1. vision (cakkh-indriya)
  2. hearing (sot-indriya)
  3. smell (ghān-indriya)
  4. taste (jivh-indriya)
  5. touch (kāy-indriya)
  6. thought (man-indriya)

The first five of these faculties are sometimes referenced as the five material faculties (e.g., pañcannaṃ indriyānaṃ avakanti).[16]

22 phenomenological faculties

In the

Abhidhamma Pitaka, the notion of indriya is expanded to the twenty-two "phenomenological faculties" or "controlling powers" (Pali: bāvīsati indriyāni)[17]
which are:

  • six sensory faculties
  1. eye/vision faculty (cakkh-indriya)
  2. ear/hearing faculty (sot-indriya)
  3. nose/smell faculty (ghān-indriya)
  4. tongue/taste faculty (jivh-indriya)
  5. body/sensibility faculty (kāy-indriya)
  6. mind faculty (man-indriya)
  • three physical faculties
  1. femininity (itth-indriya)
  2. masculinity (puris-indriya)
  3. life or vitality (jīvit-indriya)
  1. physical pleasure (sukh-indriya)
  2. physical pain (dukkh-indriya)
  3. mental joy (somanassa-indriya)
  4. mental grief (domanass-indriya)
  5. equanimity (upekhha-indriya)
  • five spiritual faculties
  1. faith (
    saddh-indriya
    )
  2. energy (viriy-indriya)
  3. mindfulness
    (sat-indriya)
  4. concentration (
    samādhi
    -indriya    )
  5. wisdom (
    paññ
    -indriya    )
  • three final-knowledge faculties
  1. thinking "I shall know the unknown" (anaññāta-ñassāmīt-indriya)
  2. gnosis (aññ-indriya)
  3. one who knows (aññātā-vindriya)

According to the post-canonical

paññā).[19]

Other faculty groupings

At times in the Pali Canon, different discourses or Abhidhammic passages will refer to different subsets of the 22 phenomenological faculties. Thus, for instance, in the

Abhidhamma there are references to the "eightfold form-faculty" (aṭṭhavidhaṃ indriya-rūpaṃ) which includes the first five sensory faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue and body faculties) plus the three physical faculties (femininity, masculinity and vitality).[20]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Bodhi (2000), p. 1509
  2. ^ Conze (1993), n. 1
  3. ^ Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 122, entry "indriya"
  4. ^ Thanissaro (1998), Part II, sec. E, "The Five Faculties."
  5. ^ Bodhi (2000) translates indriya as "spiritual faculty" and, at times (particularly when referring to Abhidhammic sources), "faculty." Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli (1999) consistently translate indriya simply as "faculty" both in the context of the five spiritual faculties (e.g., pp. 128-9) and the 22 phenomenological faculties (Ch. XVI). Conze (1993) mentions and uses translations of "faculty," "controlling faculty" and "spiritual faculty," and refers to the five indriya as "cardinal virtues." Thanissaro (1998) uses "faculty." Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 122-123, entry for "Indriya," (retrieved 2007-05-27) defines it as: "Indriya is one of the most comprehensive & important categories of Buddhist psychological philosophy & ethics, meaning 'controlling principle, directive force, élan, dynamis'...: (a) with reference to sense-perceptibility 'faculty, function'...."
  6. SN
    48.51) where the term references solely these five spiritual faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom (Bodhi, 2000, p. 1695).
  7. "perfect morality."
  8. ^ Bodhi (2000), pp. 1671-73; and, Thanissaro (1997a).
  9. ^ Bodhi (2000), p. 1695.
  10. ^ Thanissaro (1997b). See also Nyanaponika & Bodhi (1999), pp. 168-70. Following Nyanaponika & Bodhi, the Pali word vīṇā (which Thanissaro leaves untranslated) is translated here as "lute"; other square-bracketed phrases are from Thanissaro (1997b). In Nyanaponika & Bodhi (1999), they translate this excerpt's last line as: "Therefore, Soṇa, keep your energy in balance, penetrate to a balance of the spiritual faculties, and there seize your object." In the associated end note (pp. 301-2, n. 31), they provide the commentary's interpretation of "object" (nimitta) as: "When such balance exists, the object can arise clearly, just like the reflection of the face in a mirror; and you should seize this object, be it of tranquillity, insight, path or fruition."
  11. enlightenment factors
    , the Buddha counsels that one should develop energy (and other factors) when experiencing a sluggish mind and develop concentration (and other factors) when experiencing an excited mind (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1605-7).
  12. AN
    6.55, Nyanaponika & Bodhi (1999, pp. 301-2, n. 31) reference the Aṅguttara Aṭṭhakathā (AN commentary).
  13. ^ Direct quotes from the Visuddhimagga are from Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli (1999), pp. 128-9. Also mentioned in Bodhi (2000), p. 1511; and, Conze (1993), Part II, sec. 5, "The Balance of the Faculties."
  14. ^ Bodhi (2000), pp. 1688-89.
  15. ^ Bodhi (2000), p. 1511.
  16. ^ Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), pp. 122-23.
  17. ^ Bodhi (2000), pp. 1508-1509, refers to these 22 faculties as "phenomenological faculties"; while Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 122-3, entry on "indriya" refers to these 22 faculties as "controlling powers."
  18. vedana
    , where pleasant and unpleasant feelings/sensations are divided between physical and mental experiences (see, e.g., Bodhi, 2000, p. 1510).
  19. ^ Buddhaghosa & Ñāṇamoli (1999), pp. 442-443.
  20. Dhs.
    709-717, 971-973 (Rhys Davids, 2003, pp. 215-217, 247); and, Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), pp. 122-123.

Sources

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