The Post # 58 - The Pancha Indriya Dhamma; the Five Spiritual Faculties – Part 3

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This is a continuation of the descriptions on the five spiritual faculties that develop when we strive to achieve release from this unsatisfactory cycle of Samsara. These descriptions have been extracted from the source material mentioned in the earlier posts. We saw that these faculties were saddhā: faith; viriya : energy; sati : awareness or mindfulness; samādhi : concentration ; and paññā : understanding or discernment. This Post should be read after visiting Post # 56 and Post # 57 where we discussed the nature of saddhā (faith), viriya (effort), sati (mindfulness/heedfulness) in some detail. In this post we will discuss the faculties of Samadhi (concentration) and Panna (wisdom /discernment) as follows.

Samadhi (concentration)

Concentration (samadhi) has been described in the Pali commentaries (visuddhi magga) as “the state, in virtue of which, consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object un-distracted and un-scattered”. It can also be described as calming the mind or wholesome one-pointedness of the mind, free from unwholesome states of greed (lobha), aversion (dosa) and delusion (moha). Concentration can be either mundane or supra-mundane. When concentration is developed in relation to the three worlds of existence namely, sensual world (kama loka), fine material world (rupa loka) and the formless immaterial world (arupa loka) it is mundane concentration. When it is developed in relation to the supra-mundane path of liberation from suffering and all existence it is supra-mundane concentration.

Concentration is mentioned at least four times within the thirty seven requisites of enlightenment. They are Concentration as one of the five spiritual faculties (pancha indriya); Concentration as one of the five spiritual powers (pancha bala); Concentration as the sixth of the seven factors of enlightenment (samadhi sambojjhanga); Right concentration (samma samadhi) as the eighth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path.

In concentration meditation the aim is to develop and maintain a state of deep concentration or one-pointedness of mind by focusing one’s attention on a single meditation object. This state will be maintained as long as the attention of the meditator is completely absorbed into that particular object. With the establishment of deep concentration, five qualities or attributes called Jhanic factors develop and become strong. These five Jhanic factors are; Initial application (vitakka); Sustained application (vicara); Rapture or joy (piti); Mental bliss or happiness (sukha); One-pointedness with equanimity (ekaggata with upekkha).

As the concentration of the mind becomes deeper and deeper, these Jhanic factors contribute to gradually suppress the five mental hindrances. The five mental hindrances are: sensual desire (kamacchanda), ill-will (vyapada), sloth and topor (thina middha), restlessness and remorse (uddacca kukkucca) and skeptical doubt (vicikicca). The mind could then remain in deep concentration continuously and the meditator can experience tranquility, calmness and bliss. During meditation, as the concentration on a meditation object deepens from preliminary concentration through access concentration and fixed concentration, these deep absorption states (jhana) arise in the mind.  In the Indriya Vibhanga sutta of the Samyutta nikaya, the Buddha has described the faculty of concentration as the attainment of the first, second, third and the fourth state of deep absorption (jhana) in concentration meditation.

The main differences among the four Jhana states are the depth of concentration and the number of Jhanic factors involved.

In addition to attaining the states of deep mental absorptions and tranquility, the deep state of concentration and the removal of the mental hindrances could provide the necessary foundation for the development of insight or wisdom into the real nature of physical and mental phenomena.

Panna (Wisdom / Discernment)

In Buddha Dhamma wisdom does not refer to knowledge regarding mundane issues related to worldly affairs however deep or extensive it is, but it refers to intuitive and experiential insight into the true characteristics of physical and mental phenomena. They are impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha) and lack of a permanent entity called self (anatta).

According to Buddhist literature wisdom (panna) can occur at three levels: Wisdom gained by listening to others or reading scriptures (sutamaya panna); Wisdom gained by personal intellectual analysis (cintamaya panna); Wisdom gained by direct experience through meditation (bhavanamaya panna). Wisdom gained by personal experiential insight through meditation into the true characteristics of natural phenomena is the true wisdom that needs to be developed in order to transcend all suffering and attain Nibbana.

In the Indriya vibhanga sutta the Buddha has described wisdom as the discernment of the Four Noble Truths: The Truth of universal suffering-unsatisfactory state (dukkha sacca); The Truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya sacca); The Truth of the cessation of suffering (nirodha sacca); The Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering (magga sacca).

In addition to the obvious causes of suffering such as birth, old age, disease, death, association with the unpleasant, dissociation from the pleasant, and not receiving what  one desires, the Buddha summarized that the five aggregates of clinging (pancha–upadanaskhanda) are suffering. The five aggregates of clinging are form (rupa upadanaskhanda), feeling (vedana upadanaskhanda), perception (sanna upadanaskhanda), mental formation (sankhara upadanaskhanda) and consciousness (vinnana upadanaskhanda) which constitute the psycho-physical aggregation (nama rupa) that we call a person or a being. They are transitory and are in a constant state of flux with no substantial entity in them. But we cling to them and identify with one or more of them as “me”, “mine” and “myself” thus creating suffering for ourselves.

The Buddha stated that the origin of suffering is craving (tanha) which is of three types; Craving for sense pleasures (kama tanha); Craving for a becoming or existence (bhava tanha); Craving for non-becoming or non-existence (vibhava tanha).  Cessation of suffering by overcoming and totally abandoning craving is the state of Nibbana, the sublime state beyond all suffering, a state of complete peace with no possibility of rebirth in any of the thirty one planes of existence. The path leading to the cessation of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path.

Among the five spiritual faculties, the faculties of faith (saddha) and wisdom (panna) are paired together while effort (viriya) and concentration (samadhi) are paired together in a reciprocal relationship. A balance needs to be found between faith and wisdom as well as between effort and concentration to facilitate spiritual progress. The faculty of mindfulness acts as the moderator to make sure that each pair maintains the correct balance without resorting to extremes which can adversely affect the spiritual development. For example, if faith dominates over wisdom the ability of analysis and investigation will weaken whereas if wisdom dominates over faith then it will lead to doubt and uncertainty. Likewise, if effort or energy dominates over concentration then it will cause restlessness and agitation whereas if concentration dominates over effort then it will cause sloth and topor (thina middha).

Because the five faculties are means to deathlessness-rather than ends in themselves- they must not only be developed skillfully but also used skillfully as they are developed. The texts emphasizing this point focus on two of the faculties: persistence and discernment.

As for discernment one's mastery of the faculties is not complete until one discerns the "escape" from them. Normally the texts make this comment only about deceptively attractive objects or unskillful qualities in the mind, but here they use it in connection with skillful qualities. What this means is that there comes a point in the practice where one must go beyond even such skillful qualities as concentration and discernment. An awakened person-through regarding views not in terms of their content, but in terms of the effect they have on the mind-comes to discern what lies beyond views, and yet does not hold even to that act of discernment. As a result of knowing but not holding, the mind experiences ‘unbinding’ in the here and now. This "knowing but not holding" is yet another reference to the perceptual mode of emptiness verging on non-fashioning.

I decided to give in some detail these attributes of the five spiritual faculties, because as we saw before, they become our guides, they direct us and exercise control over our thoughts and intent, enabling us to be on track in the path to liberation.

Please await the Post on the five spiritual powers (pancha bala), the last set to be described of the 37 factors, that assist in realizing the world transcending wisdom.  When the five spiritual faculties are developed, refined and well founded they become spiritual powers that drive us forward in our spiritual journey.