Balancing the five spiritual faculties: pañcindriya (pañca+indriya) is important in both samatha and vipassanā meditation to maintain a steady and consistent practice to stabilise and maintain mindfulness on the meditatio object, to sharpen insight on vipassanā objects, and ultimately, to realise the Nibbāna.
The five spiritual faculties (or 'governing' faculties) are as follows:
(1) Faith (Saddhā)
In Buddhism, the objects of faith can be summarised into eight essential elements: (a) the Buddha, (b) the Dhamma, (c) the Saṅgha, (d) the three trainings (sikkhā) of generosity (dāna), morality (sīla) and meditation (bhāvanā), (e) kamma and the law of kamma, (f) past five khandhā (past lives), (g) future five khandhā (future lives), and (h) saṃsāra (rounds of rebirth).
(2) Viriya (Effort)
The four right efforts fall under this category:
The Effort to Prevent Unwholesome States: This effort involves preventing the arising of unwholesome mental states such as greed, hatred, and delusion. When negative emotions or unwholesome thoughts arise, the practitioner makes a conscious effort to stop them from manifesting or escalating.
The Effort to Abandon Unwholesome States: This effort goes a step further than prevention. It involves actively abandoning and letting go of already arisen unwholesome mental states. When negative emotions or unwholesome thoughts have arisen, the practitioner works to release and free themselves from these harmful states.
The Effort to Cultivate Wholesome States: This effort focuses on the cultivation of wholesome mental states such as loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, equanimity, generosity, and wisdom.
The Effort to Maintain Wholesome States: This effort is about sustaining and strengthening the wholesome mental states that have already arisen through consistent practice and mindfulness.
(3) Sati (Mindfulness)
The characteristic of Sati in Abhidhamma is practically 'to remember'. In other words, what sati does is it pays unwavering attentiveness on objects of mindfulness (the four foundations of mindfulness): kāya, vedanā, citta and dhamma. It also puts unwavering attentiveness on ultimate mentality and materiality (nāma-rūpa dhamma), which are the objects of mindfulness. Ultimate mentality and materiality (nāma-rūpa dhamma), forty samatha meditation objects, and
Nibbāna are the right objects of mindfulness. Recalling and staying attentive on these
objects is essential for cultivating right mindfulness (sammā-sati). On the other hand,
individuals who involve themselves with objects that generate greed, hatred, and delusion develop wrong mindfulness (micchā-sati). As such, due to the cultivation of wrong mindfulness, they recall inappropriate objects, and their intention, attention and mind becomes unwholesome.
(4) Samādhi (Concentration)
The Venerable Buddhaghosa mentioned samādhi in the Visuddhimagga as "the state, in virtue of which, consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object undistracted and unscattered”.
Concentration aims to cultivate and sustain a profound state of focused awareness, known as one-pointedness of mind. The practitioner achieves this by directing their attention solely towards a chosen meditation object. As the meditator's focus becomes fully absorbed in that object, a state of deep concentration is established, which endures as long as the attention remains undistracted. As the meditative concentration deepens, the five mental hindrances – sensual desire (kāmacchanda), ill-will (vyāpāda), sloth and topor (thīna-middha), restlessness and remorse (uddhacca-kukkucca), and sceptical doubt (vicikiccha) – gradually reside. With gradual suppression of these hindrances, five absorption qualities known as jhāna factors emerge and intensify. These jhāna factors enable the meditator to sustain the state of deep concentration continuously.
(5) Paññā (Wisdom)
In samatha (concentration) practice, right wisdom is the ability to penetrate and understand the object of meditation correctly. In vipassanā, right wisdom is the ability to penetrate and realise the impermanent (anicca), suffering (dukkha) and non-self (anatta) nature of ultimate materiality and mentality. Ultimately, right wisdom is the ability to penetrate the Four Noble Truths and realise Nibbāna.
Among the five spiritual faculties, certain pairs of faculties can become imbalanced and I will explain further below how this can occur especially in samatha practice.
Faith and Wisdom:
In the Visuddhimagga, it is stated that: "for one strong in faith and weak in understanding has confidence uncritically and groundlessly. One strong in wisdom and weak in faith errs on the side of cunning and is as hard to cure as one sick of a disease caused by medicine. With the balancing of the two a man has confidence only when there are grounds for it." (Vism.)
In this post, I will discuss faith and wisdom from samatha meditation perspective.
When someone possesses an excessive amount of faith but lacks wisdom, they may mistakenly identify the wrong meditation object as the correct one. For example, even without encountering a clear and stable nimitta, they may experience joy due to the ability to maintain prolonged periods of attention on the meditation object. Due to their limited wisdom, they might erroneously believe that this joy signifies the attainment of the first jhāna and become content with this mistaken belief. This misinterpretation occurs because they rely on their own misguided confidence (faith) rather than seeking guidance from a knowledgeable teacher and proper teachings. As a result, their concentration develops incorrectly.
Excessive faith can manifest even when someone is practicing correctly. Take, for example, a person engaged in mettā meditation, experiencing extreme joy, tranquility, and peace due to their unwavering focus on the meditation object. However, this heightened confidence in their meditative state might cause them to overlook the crucial aspects of penetrative wisdom and wise attention on the object. They may become overly reliant on the object, neglecting the need for wise guidance and understanding to accompany their practice. As a result, their mindfulness weakens because of this overconfidence with the object, gradually letting go of wise attention and understanding. This vulnerability might lead to the possibility of falling asleep or losing focus on the meditation object. It underscores the significance of maintaining a balance between faith and wisdom in meditation, ensuring that one remains attentive to the object and wisely understanding the object throughout the practice.
Conversely, when wisdom is developed excessively and improperly, it can lead to a decline in faith, as one begins to overanalyse and question the meditation object unnecessarily. In this context, I would prefer to use the term "sceptical understanding" instead of "excessive wisdom" to describe this phenomenon accurately.
Individuals with sceptical understanding and insufficient faith often manifest doubts about the jhāna practice, the nature of the meditation object, the nature of the nimitta, its possibility, and even doubts about the teacher's capabilities and their own potential. As they scrutinise unnecessarily the meditation practice, the object, and even the teacher during their practice, their focus shifts from unwavering attention and faith in the meditation object to a constant evaluation of the flaws or the quality of the meditation itself. Due to the lack of right attention, mindfulness and faith on the meditation object, their concentration weakens, leading to heightened doubts about the practice and the teacher, ultimately resulting in a loss of faith in the Dhamma itself. Therefore, it is crucial to tame scepticism or excessive wisdom to maintain a balanced and fruitful concentration state and meditation practice.
To phrase this in a friendly way: let go of the urge to excessively analyse every little thing and refrain from conducting a PhD research in your mind on the meditation object, the teachings, the teacher, and especially yourself. Instil equanimity within the practice.
Effort and Concentration:
The Venerable Buddhaghosa mentioned in the Visuddhimagga that: " idleness overpowers one strong in concentration and weak in energy [effort], since concentration favours idleness." (Vism.)
The statement explains that when someone becomes over-concentrated during meditation, it may lead to feelings of dullness, idleness, or even sleepiness due to weak effort. In this state, the mind struggles to pay wise attention to the meditation object and stay focused without distractions.
Imagine that you're standing on the edge of a very clear, blue and inviting lake and you wish to jump in. Because you are confident in your swimming ability, you decided to swim and jumped into the water. You enjoy the clear, blue and warm water and at some point, you start to relax yourself because it's too comforting to soak in the lake. Once you start to relax, you become submerged into the water and starts to drown because your muscles are not working their best to keep you afloat anymore. So you start to move your arms and legs again and slowly you're back on the surface and can float comfortably again.
In this analogy, 'the act of jumping in and immersing yourself' refers to the act of fully engaging with the meditation object or concentration. On the other hand, 'relaxing yourself' refers to weak effort. When you relax too much, it's like 'drowning' in the practice, leading to dullness or sleepiness. If this happens, simply rekindle mindfulness and put in the energy to stay alert and concentrated on your meditation object. This way, you'll 'resurface and find comfort once more', meaning you'll able to stay with the object without hindrances.
Additionally, 'confidence in knowing how to swim and deciding to swim' symbolise balanced faith and wisdom. Having balanced faith and wisdom means being sure of your ability to meditate and connect with the meditation object. It also involves understanding the object correctly. With such equilibrium, you can meditate and immerse yourself in the object with confidence, free from doubt. It is essential to cultivate this equilibrium when meditating to ensure a stable, wise and faultless focus on the meditation object.
In the analogy, the emphasis on imbalanced effort and concentration serves to highlight the significance of finding a harmonious balance between these two qualities to address the common challenge that many meditators face and highlight the importance of striking the right balance.
"Agitation overpowers one strong in energy and weak in concentration, since energy favours agitation." (Vism.)
Consider the above analogy again: you are confident in your swimming ability and decided to jump into the lake because it's so clear, warm and inviting. However, as soon you jumped into the water, you start to frantically move your arms and legs so that you stay afloat and forgot to immerse yourself into the feeling of the clear blue water and the joy of swimming. So instead of swimming for an hour, you come up within ten minutes, feeling agitated, exhausted and dissatisfied.
In this scenario, your faith and wisdom faculties remain balanced, enabling you to meditate and absorb into the object confidently without any doubts. However, the trouble begins when you 'start frantically moving your arms and legs to stay afloat, forgetting to fully immerse yourself in the delightful feeling of the clear blue water and the joy of swimming'. This refers to the scenario when your effort becomes overpowering, overshadowing your ability to focus on the meditation object, thereby causing agitation, exhaustion or dissatisfaction.
The reason for this agitation or excessive effort might be that you're trying too hard to immerse yourself or absorb, making the nimitta brighter, or forcing yourself to stay with the object. It's also common when you approach meditation sessions with high expectations, and when these expectations aren't met, you exert even more effort to meet them. Unfortunately, this excessive effort leads to physical tension, discomfort, and eventually, agitation and exhaustion after the meditation session. Such an approach can hamper your enjoyment and motivation to meditate, and it ultimately hampers your progress.
The key is to strike a balance between effort and concentration. Avoid excessive energy and forced expectations. Instead, approach meditation with a relaxed and focused attitude. Find the sweet spot where you can be both alert and at ease, allowing your meditation practice to flourish and advance steadily.
Concentration and Faith:
One working on concentration also needs to cultivate (balanced) faith on the meditation object. Going back onto the analogy of swimming in the lake, if you wish to swim in the warm, clear and inviting water, you must have the faith in your swimming abilities otherwise you will drown. Therefore, you must have faith in the practice, the object, the teachings, the teacher and ultimately, yourself so that you can develop access and absorption concentration.
Concentration and Wisdom:
"Then there is [the balancing of] concentration and understanding [wisdom]. One working on concentration needs strong unification [one-pointedness], since that is how he reaches absorption; and one working on insight needs strong understanding, since that is how he reaches penetration of characteristics; but with the balancing of the two he reaches absorption as well.... with the balancing of the two he reaches absorption as well." (Vism.)
(Here insight also means samatha, and strong doesn't mean excessive).
For instance, you wish to immerse yourself into the water, but if you end up overly analysing the cleanliness, the colour, the depth, the source of the water, etc., you will not able to be swim in the lake with peace of mind and enjoy the experience. Similar to this analogy, one who wishes to attain jhāna or access concentration must not cultivate sceptical understanding (excessive wisdom) because one will only end up analysing the object, the teaching, the teacher and even yourself instead of staying focused onto the meditation object, resulting in a further loss of concentration and faith.
Effort and Faith:
Be cautious not to overexert yourself to the extent that you lose faith in the meditation object. When you put in excessive effort, it can lead to a loss of concentration, which may result in feelings of dissatisfaction with your meditation practice. As a consequence, when your efforts don't yield the desired outcomes, your faith in the practice can further diminish.
Remember the principle of anatta, the non-self and non-controllable nature of Dhamma. Acknowledge that some aspects of the practice are beyond your control. At the same time, avoid placing too much blind and excessive faith on the meditation object and your own progress, as it might lead to becoming too comfortable and content with the current state. Such contentment could lead to a lack of motivation to continue putting in right and balanced effort to achieve further progress. It's essential to strike a balance between having confidence (faith) in the practice and maintaining the drive to continually grow and develop in your meditation journey.
Effort and Wisdom:
Exercise caution not to exert excessive effort to the point where your wisdom becomes unable to penetrate, and pay keen and truthful attention to the meditation object. When effort is overdone, it can result in a loss of concentration, making it challenging to stay mindfully focused on the object and causing a lack of clear perception. As a consequence, your wisdom might no longer be able to discern and penetrate the meditation object wisely.
Similarly, be mindful not to cultivate sceptical understanding (excessive wisdom), as it may lead to a decline in your effort, motivation, and desire to meditate. Strive to strike the right balance between effort and wisdom.
Mindfulness:
One faculty that can never become imbalanced is the sati (mindfulness) faculty. The Venerable Buddhaghosa added that: "Strong mindfulness, however, is needed in all instances; for mindfulness protects the mind lapsing into agitation through faith, energy and understanding, which favour agitation, and from lapsing into idleness through concentration, which favours idleness." (Vism.)
Through well-developed mindfulness, one gains the ability to remain equanimous towards the sensory experiences received through the six sense doors: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. By consciously avoiding the impulse to crave pleasurable experiences or harbour aversion towards unpleasant ones, one gains mastery over the mind that could otherwise become unwholesome and rooted in greed, aversion, and delusion, giving rise to unskillful thoughts, speech, and actions.
As a spiritual faculty, mindfulness (sati) plays a crucial role in moderating the other four faculties, ensuring a harmonious balance among them. This balance involves maintaining equilibrium between the faculties of faith (saddhā) and wisdom (paññā) and between effort (viriya) and concentration (samādhi). Such balance is essential for the smooth progress of one's samatha and vipassanā meditation.
Mindfulness (Sati) can be likened to "a diligent shepherd who watches over his flock. It resembles a vigilant soldier on a watchtower, keenly observing for any signs of threat or danger. Sati is comparable to the gatekeeper at a city entrance, deciding who is allowed to enter and guiding the right visitors to the king. It is akin to a skilled charioteer who steers attention and maintains control over one's passions. In fact, it can even be likened to a waggoner who carefully manages the oxen, ensuring they are harnessed to the yoke, greasing the axle, and gently guiding the wagon forward". These examples demonstrate that sati is always purposeful, wholesome, and can never become excessive. The balancing of the other four indriya (faculties) can only be accomplished through continuous and deliberate mindfulness. Mindfulness serves as the key to detecting imbalances in our faculties. Without mindfulness, we remain unaware of these imbalances. Hence, the concept of excessive mindfulness is non-existent, as the real challenge lies in cultivating enough mindfulness to be wholesome.
Therefore, we must continuously nurture mindfulness to prevent unwholesome mental states like laziness, dullness, and restlessness from arising, as well as to maintain a harmonious balance among the faculties. All wholesome mind moments and mental states have mindfulness (sati) as their proximate cause. It is through right mindfulness (sammā-sati) that we can foster wise attention (yoniso-manasikāra), leading to the emergence of wholesome deeds. Mindfulness forms the very foundation for every wholesome mind moment, making it indispensable in both samatha and vipassanā meditation. Emphasising the importance of mindfulness in our practice as well as in everyday allows us to cultivate greater progress along our spiritual journey.
One important note I would like to point out is that having enough mindfulness during your formal meditation session alone is not enough. It is of utmost importance to have mindfulness in your daily life. Just as Buddha explained in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta, we must have mindfulness in all four postures:
“Monks, when moving, a monk understands ‘I am moving.’
“When standing, one understands ‘I am standing.’
“When sitting, one understands ‘I am sitting.’
“When reclining, one understands ‘I am reclining.’
“Or in whatever way the body is positioned, one understands it as it is.
“In this way, one abides… observing the body as the body.
We must also additionally practice complete awareness (sati-sampajjañña) in our everyday life. This is explained by the Buddha as:
“Monks, a monk is completely aware while moving forward or backward. One is completely aware while looking around or examining. One is completely aware while contracting or extending one‘s limbs. One is completely aware while wearing one‘s robes and carrying one‘s bowl. One is completely aware while eating, drinking, chewing, and swallowing. One is completely aware while defecating and urinating. One is completely aware while moving, standing, sitting, reclining, awake, speaking, and silent.
Only through continuous mindfulness, then we can experience significant progress with samatha practice. As the practice advances, the importance of mindfulness grows even more, especially in the vipassanā stages. Mindfulness becomes vital in reflecting, understanding, and penetrating the impermanent, suffering, and non-self nature of all conditioned formations throughout our daily life. Cultivating mindfulness in this way allows for continuous wisdom to arise.
In addition to unobstructed mindfulness, I would like to point out in conclusion that while excessive faith is not advisable for meditation practice, it's crucial to acknowledge that faith forms the very foundation of the journey on the noble eightfold path. Therefore, cultivating balanced faith is also essential for making significant strides in both samatha and vipassanā practices. Without faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha, we cannot achieve Nibbāna. Therefore, strive to cultivate balanced faith with utmost mindfulness and wise attention.
SN 48.50: Saddhā Sutta -
"A disciple of the noble ones who is thoroughly inspired by the Tathāgata, who has gone solely to the Tathāgata [for refuge] would have no doubt or uncertainty concerning the Tathāgata or the Tathāgata’s message. Of a disciple of the noble ones who has conviction, it can indeed be expected that he will keep his persistence aroused for abandoning unskillful mental qualities and taking on skillful mental qualities, that he will be steadfast, solid in his effort, not shirking his duties with regard to skillful mental qualities. Whatever persistence he has is his faculty of persistence.
Sāriputta, of a disciple of the noble ones who has conviction, whose persistence is aroused, it can indeed be expected that he will be mindful, endowed with excellent proficiency in mindfulness, remembering & able to call to mind even things that were done & said long ago. Whatever mindfulness he has is his faculty of mindfulness.
Sāriputta, of a disciple of the noble ones who has conviction, whose persistence is aroused, and whose mindfulness is established, it can indeed be expected that—making it his object to let go—he will gain concentration, he will gain singleness of mind. Whatever concentration he has is his faculty of concentration.
Sāriputta, of a disciple of the noble ones who has conviction, whose persistence is aroused, whose mindfulness is established, and whose mind is rightly concentrated, it can indeed be expected that he will discern: ‘From an inconceivable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. The total fading & cessation of ignorance, of this mass of darkness, is this peaceful state, this exquisite state: the pacification of all fabrications; the relinquishing of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; unbinding.’ Whatever discernment he has is his faculty of discernment.
And so, Sāriputta, this convinced disciple of the noble ones, thus striving again & again, recollecting again & again, concentrating his mind again & again, discerning again & again, becomes thoroughly convinced: ‘Those phenomena that once I had only heard about, I here & now dwell touching with my body and, breaking through with discernment, I see.’ Whatever conviction he has is his faculty of conviction.”
In sharing this post, my intention is for fellow meditators to contemplate the five indriya (spiritual faculties) and embrace techniques that promote balance among these faculties to improve meditation. Taking time to reflect on your meditation sessions and experiences thoughtfully will help you identify any faculties that may be hindering your progress. With understanding, patience and dedication, allow yourself ample time to understand and wisely balance these faculties through continuous practice. This way, you can enhance the quality of your meditation journey and attain greater insights.
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May you not lose whatever wholesome kamma you have gained.
May you realise Nibbāna in this lifetime.