Skip to main content
 

The Eight Buddhist Faculties - List

  5.00/5.00 - (1 votes for article, provide comments and help us improve if required.)

Is the Sanskrit and Pali, the term for physical strength or ability in general, and for the senses more specifically is Indriya. There are a number of faculties one must strengthen in order to stay the path.

The Eight Buddhist Faculties - ListThe Eight Buddhist Faculties - ListThe Eight Buddhist Faculties - ListThe Eight Buddhist Faculties - List
The Eight Buddhist Faculties - List

These faculties amongst others according to the Visuddhimagga along with such constructs as the aggregates, sense bases, Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination are the core of wisdom (paññā).

The Eight Buddhist Faculties

The faculty of conviction (saddh indriya).

Part of the five spiritual faculties, this is developed faith.

The faculty of endeavour (viriy indriya).

One of the five spiritual faculties. Strong and strenuous effort in the practice.

The faculty of mindfulness (sat indriya).

One of the five spiritual faculties. Lay persons and bhikkhus who profess to be followers of the Buddha can know whether or not the unsettledness and turbulence of their minds in the matter of sati (mindfulness) have disappeared, and whether or not they are thus persons who have obtained mastery over their minds, only when they arrive at the four constituents of the satipaṭṭhāna. If the attention can be kept fixed on any part of the body, such as out-breath and in-breath, by the successful practice of mindful body contemplation (kāyagatā-sati) for as long as is desired, then it must be recognised as the control exercised by mindfulness (sati). The unsettledness and turbulence of the mind of such a person have disappeared. He is one who has obtained mastery over his mind.

The faculty of concentration (samadh or samādhi indriya).

One of the five spiritual faculties. One pointed-ness of mind is classified as ekaggata. It is also called samádhi (concentration). So with the help of ekaggata, the mind can take any object for a long time repetitively. Just as the flame of a candle lit in still air remains steady and un-flickering so also it is ekaggata that makes the mind calmly concentrate on an object for a long time steadily.
When the mind can be fixed on one object constantly for along time it is known as “the attainment of samádhi” , the arising of a good concentration. When someone achieves some degree of samádhi they attain calmness, and steadiness in thought, word and deed.

The faculty of wisdom (pann indriya).

One of the five spiritual faculties. Having developed wisdom one may declare their awakening, as wisdom fulfils the other faculties.

The faculty of mind (man indriya).

One of the six sensory faculties. Manindriya, the faculty of the mind and thought is a product of the mind.
Thinking is a reactive process depending on experience, knowledge and beliefs. The process of thinking is a material one, cultivated and conditioned for centuries as a separative and isolating process with an emphasis on the me. This gives the thinker a sense of security and consolidates the sense of me. The resulting position is separation, isolation and perpetual conflict leading to misery.
The mind or our consciousness is the core of our experience. All our pain, pleasure, sorrow and happiness our ecstasies, both physical and spiritual, our convictions and hurts, our sense of good and evil are not attributable to any external agency but are the result of our own thought and reactions to it. Thus the self or the ego is the sum total of our consciousness and experience with all its content.

The faculty of equanimity (upekkh or upekhha indriya).

One of the five feeling faculties. Any physical or mental neither pleasant nor unpleasant phenomenon, one of the five sensitive indriyas.

The faculty of vitality (jivitindriya).

One of the three physical faculties. All consciousness with its related factors or the conditioners that influence mind and condition mind pass away at the very same time when consciousness or citta falls away. The life force or life principle of name is called jivitindriya if this jivitindriya is absent, mind cannot function at all. In short it is jivitindriya that prompts the consciousness with its related factors to continue arising according to kamma. There is also a living part called rupa jivitindriya in the material element. The vital force of mind and matter therefore termed nama jivitindriya and rupa jivintindriya respectively. These two in combination form the life of a being. Apart from this two, there is no such thing as eternal soul, or ego. There is no attá (self) at all.

Synonyms/tags: Indriya




Or, per your interest, look at other related links;

  The six sense faculties.
  The Visuddhimagga.

Or, why not search for other related lists on our site;

Or, want to know more? Then more information can be found from external resources at this other website The Eight Buddhist Faculties.

This list was published by Here There, Everywhere and is a printable check-list; To print, hold down the key marked "ctrl", and whilst holding that down, press the "p" key.
This is a downloadable list, select here, if you would like to download the The Eight Buddhist Faculties - List as an excel or .csv file. Or find the print function on your browser (top right, three dots, print) and print to a pdf printer if you would like to download as a pdf file, or print to a pdf file.

If you are interested in advertising with us reach out via the contact page below. If you would like to share viewers, and your site is related with great content, then feel free to use the code below on your site then reach out via our contact page and we will look for a place to mention you.


Otherwise, suggest improvements, request additional items, report typos, errors or misspellings, ask us questions or just say hello via the comments here below, we are always pleased to hear from you.

Comments HistoryBe a pioneer and write the first comment.

Note: Current average rating of 5.00 based on 1 reviews and ratings. (1-Low, 5-High)

Note: Comments and ratings help this site get better; if you see something missing, see something wrong, have a question, or want to suggest something to improve then comment below and join the dialogue;

Comments



Looking for something else? Then search the rest of the internet here. If you do like what you see then come back sometime and create your own checklist here. If the item does not have a checkbox next to it, its probably a folder which you can open by clicking. If there are actions listed against an item on the right hand side you can visit websites, download as excel/csv for xls, or create an ical calendar entry.

If you found this page useful, share it, or like us using the buttons on the bottom right, it helps us to improve.

This webpage with information about The Eight Buddhist Faculties has the following attributes;
The list was authored by .

« Go look for more free lists & checklists