Five sense faculties

The five sense faculties (Skt. pañcendriya; P. pañcindriya; T. dbang po lnga དབང་པོ་ལྔ་; C. wugen 五根) are five internal sense faculties; these are inner subtle forms based on the physical sense organs. These are:

• 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

The five sense faculties belong to rupa-skandha (the aggregate of form).

The five sense faculties are the same as:

• five types of sensitive material phenomena (pasādarūpa) within the Pali Abhidharma tradition
• the first five dhatus (elements) within the scheme of the eighteen dhatus
• the first five ayatanas (sense bases) with the scheme of the twelve ayatanas
• the first five of the twenty-two faculties
• the first five of the six sense faculties

These five faculties control the apprehending of their individual objects (the five sense objects).

Sanskrit tradition

General description of the faculties

The five sense faculties are very subtle forms that are supported by the corresponding physical organs.

Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics states:

The five sense faculties, such as the eyes, exist as clear internal sense organs that cannot be dissected into parts nor weighed by scales since they are, like light, extremely translucent. They are dependent on the skeletal cavity supporting the individual sense faculty, and, as their effect, they generate sensory consciousness. Just as, for example, a reflection of an object appears in a mirror, images of color and shape appear to the eye sense faculty and visual consciousness arises. Thus “the clear internal sense organ that acts as the specific dominant condition of eye consciousness, which is its result” is the definition of the eye sense faculty. On the basis of this one can understand how to define the four remaining sense faculties, such as the ear sense faculty and so on.

Physical description of each faculty

The Khenjuk states:

The five sense faculties are the eye faculty and likewise the ear, nose, tongue, and body faculties. The five faculties are the particular ruling factors for their respective cognitions. They are inner subtle forms [based on the physical sense organ].

The [shape of the] eye faculty is similar to [the round and blue shape of] the umaka [sesame/cumin] flower; the ear faculty is similar to [the shape of] a twisted roll of birch bark; the nose faculty is similar to [the shape of] parallel copper needles; the tongue faculty is similar to [the shape of] a crescent moon disc; and the body faculty is [all-covering] similar to the skin of the smooth-to-the-touch bird.

Pali tradition

A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma states:

Sensitive material phenomena (pasādarūpa) are five types of matter located in each of the five sense organs. The sensitivity is to be distinguished from the gross sense organ which functions as its support. What is conventionally called the eye is spoken of in the Abhidhamma as the composite eye (sasambhāra-cakkhu), a compound of various material phenomena. Among these is eye-sensitivity (cakkhu-pasāda), the sensitive substance in the retina that registers light and colour and serves as a physical base and door for eye-consciousness. Ear-sensitivity (sota-pasāda) is to be found inside the ear-hole, “in the place shaped like a finger-stall and surrounded by fine brown hairs”; it is the sensitive substance that registers sounds and serves as a physical base and door for ear-consciousness. Nose-sensitivity (ghāna-pasāda) is to be found inside the nasal orifice, as the substance that registers smells. Tongue-sensitivity (jivhā-pasāda) is to be found diffused over the tongue, serving to register tastes. And body-sensitivity (kāya-pasāda) extends all over the organic body “like a liquid that soaks a layer of cotton,” and serves to register tactile sensations.

The eye’s characteristic is sensitivity of the primary elements that is ready for the impact of visible data; or its characteristic is sensitivity of the primary elements springing from a desire to see. Its function is to pick up a visible datum as object. It is manifested as the foundation of eye-consciousness. Its proximate cause is the primary elements born of kamma springing from a desire to see. Each of the other sensitive material phenomena—the ear, the nose, the tongue, and the body—should be similarly understood, with appropriate substitutions.

Note on terminology

In the Pali tradition, the five sense faculties (indriya) are refered to as "sensitive material phenomena (pasādarūpa)." These are also called the five sense organs (ayatana) in the context of the twelve ayatanas.

The Buddhist Dictionary states:

“By the visual organ (cakkhāyatana) is meant the sensitive part of the eye (cakkhu-pasāda) built up of the four elements… responding to sense-stimuli” (sappaṭigha)… (Vibh II). Similar is the explanation of the four remaining physical sense organs.”

And also:

“The five physical sense organs are also called faculties (indriya, q.v.), and of these faculties it is said in MN 43: “Each of the five faculties owns a different sphere, and none of them partakes of the sphere of another one;… they have mind as their support… are conditioned by vitality,… but vitality again is conditioned by heat, heat again by vitality, just as the light and flame of a burning lamp are mutually conditioned.”

The five sense organs (ayatana) are also the same as the five dhatus in the scheme of the eighteen dhatus.

A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma states:

The elements are called dhātu because they bear (dhārenti) their own intrinsic natures. The eighteen elements are obtained from the twelve bases by dividing the mind base into the seven elements of consciousness (see III, §21). In all other respects the bases and the elements are identical.

Sources

• Bhikkhu Bodhi, ed. (2000), A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, Pariyatti Publishing 
• Mipham Rinpoche (2004), Gateway to Knowledge, vol. I, translated by Kunsang, Erik Pema, Rangjung Yeshe Publications 
• Nyanatiloka Thera (2019), Nyanaponika Thera, ed., Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, Pariyatti Publishing 
• Thupten Jinpa, ed. (2017), Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Volume 1: The Physical World, translated by Coghlan, Ian James, Wisdom Publications 

Further reading

• Buddhaghosa, Bhadantācariya (trans. from Pāli by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli) (1999). The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga. (Chapter XV is "The Bases and Elements (Ayatana-dhatu-niddesa)".) Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. ISBN 1-928706-00-2.
• Upatissa, Arahant, N.R.M. Ehara (trans.), Soma Thera (trans.) and Kheminda Thera (trans.) (1995). The Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society. ISBN 955-24-0054-6.

External links

• dbang_po_lnga, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki