Table of Contents
According to the Abhidharma teachings, all physical and mental faculties (Skt. indriya; Tib. དབང་པོ་, wangpo, Wyl. dbang po) are encompassed by a list of twenty-two faculties.<ref>List based on Mipham Rinpoche’s Khenjuk, Gateway to Knowledge, vol. I (Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1984 & 1997), page 67 & Philippe Cornu's article facultés, in Dictionnaire encyclopédique du bouddhisme, nouvelle édition augmentée (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2006), page 218.</ref>
1-6) The [[six sense faculties]]
These six control the apprehending of their individual objects. They are:
<noinclude>The six sense faculties (Skt. ṣaḍ indriya; Tib. དབང་པོ་དྲུག་, Wyl. dbang po drug) are:</noinclude>
- Visual faculty (Skt. cakṣurindriya; Tib. མིག་གི་དབང་པོ་, Wyl. mig gi dbang po)
- Auditory faculty (Skt. śrotrendriya; Tib. རྣ་བའི་དབང་པོ་, Wyl. rna ba’i dbang po)
- Olfactory faculty (Skt. ghrāṇendriya; Tib. སྣའི་དབང་པོ་, Wyl. sna’i dbang po)
- Gustatory faculty (Skt. jihvendriya; Tib. ལྕེའི་དབང་པོ་ , Wyl. lce’i dbang po)
- Tactile faculty (Skt. kāyendriya; Tib. ལུས་ཀྱི་དབང་པོ་, Wyl. lus kyi dbang po)
- Mental faculty (Skt. manendriya; Tib. ཡིད་ཀྱི་དབང་པོ་, Wyl. yid kyi dbang po)<noinclude>
These six faculties control the apprehending of their individual objects. Sometimes only five sense faculties are mentioned as they are material and the sixth, the mental faculty, is non-material.
Internal Links
7) Life faculty
The life faculty (Skt. jīvitendriya) controls the remaining in a similar class of sentient beings.
8-9) The male and female faculties
The
- male sexual faculty (Skt. puruṣendriya) and
- female sexual faculty (Skt. strīndriya)
form the respective physical supports for being male or female, are the basis for sexual pleasure, and control the unbroken continuity of births from a womb.
10-14) The [[five faculties of sensations]]
The five faculties of sensations control the experiences of the fully ripened results of karma. They are:
15-19) The [[five faculties that control mundane virtues]]
These faculties control the mundane virtues or the purity of detachment. They are:
20-22) The [[three pure faculties that control supramundane virtues]]
The three pure faculties that control supramundane virtues of noble beings are:
Other Divisions
- The first five sense faculties (1-5) and the male and female faculties (8-9) are form faculties.
- Mental faculty is main mind.
- The five faculties of sensations (10-14) and the five faculties that control mundane virtues (15-19) are mental states.
- Life faculty (7) is a formation that belongs neither to mind nor form.
- The three pure faculties that control supramundane virtues (20-22) belong to mind and mental states.
References
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Further Reading
- Mipham Rinpoche, Gateway to Knowledge, vol. I (Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1984 & 1997), Ch. 6 'The Faculties, Indriya'