Indriya

Indriya (P. indriya; T. dbang po; C. gen. J. kon) is typically translated as "faculty" and is used in the following contexts:

• the five or six sensory faculties
• the five spiritual faculties
• the twenty-two phenomenological faculties

Five sense faculties

Five sense faculties are enumerated within rupa-skandha (the aggregate for form). See:

• Five sense faculties

Six sense faculties

Main article: Six sense faculties

These six sense faculties are identified within the classification of the twenty-two faculties. In this context, the six faculties are said to control the apprehending of their individual objects.

There are five facutlies that process information from the physical sense organs:

• eye faculty (cakṣurindriya) - the capacity to process visual information
• ear faculty (śrotrendriya) - the capacity to process sounds
• nose faculty (ghrāṇendriya) - the capacity to process smells
• tongue faculty (jihvendriya) - the capacity to process tastes
• body faculty (kāyendriya) - the capacity to process touch

And one faculty that processes mental objects:

• mind faculty (manendriya)

Five spiritual faculties

Main article: Five spiritual faculties

The five spiritual faculties (Pali: pañca indriyāni) are:

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

This set of five faculties is one of the seven sets of the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment.

Twenty-two phenomenological faculties

Further information: Twenty-two faculties

In the Abhidharma literature, the notion of indriya is expanded to the twenty-two "phenomenological faculties" or "controlling powers" (Pali: bāvīsati indriyāni) which are:

• six sensory faculties

1. eye/vision faculty (cakkh-undriya)
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)

• five feeling faculties

1. physical pleasure (sukh-indriya)
2. physical pain (dukkh-indriya)
3. mental joy (somanasa-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 Visuddhimagga, the 22 faculties along with such constructs as the aggregates, sense bases, Four Noble Truths and dependent origination are the "soil" of wisdom (paññā).

Etymology

Indriya literally means "belonging to Indra", hence connoting supremacy, dominance and control, attested in the general meaning of "power, strength" from the Rigveda.

The term is generally translated as "faculty" or, in specific contexts, as "spiritual faculty" or "controlling principle."

See also

• Ayatana (sense base)
• Bodhi (awakening, enlightenment)
• Bodhipakkhiyadhamma (37 enlightenment qualities)
• Five Powers
• Four Right Efforts
• Prajna (wisdom)
• Salayatana (six sense bases)

Sources

• Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.
• Buddhaghosa, Bhadantacariya & Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli (trans.) (1999). The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. ISBN 1-928706-00-2.
• Conze, Edward (1980, 1993). The Way of Wisdom: The Five Spiritual Faculties (The Wheel Publication No. 65/66). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved on 2007-05-27 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/conze/wheel065.html.
• Nyanaponika Thera & Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.) (1999). Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society. ISBN 0-7425-0405-0.
• Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F. ([1900], 2003). Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, of the Fourth Century B.C., Being a Translation, now made for the First Time, from the Original Pāli, of the First Book of the Abhidhamma-Piṭaka, entitled Dhamma-Sangaṇi (Compendium of States or Phenomena). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-4702-9.
• Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (1996, 1998). Wings to Awakening: An Anthology from the Pali Canon. Retrieved 2007-05-27 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/wings/index.html.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997a). Indriya-vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of the Mental Faculties (SN 48.10). Retrieved 2007-05-27 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn48/sn48.010.than.html.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997b). Sona Sutta: About Sona (AN 6.55). Retrieved 2008-04-15 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.055.than.html.