Faculties Page
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.[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.]
These six control the apprehending of their individual objects. They are:
{{:Six sense faculties}}
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.
The five faculties of sensations control the experiences of the fully ripened results of karma. They are:
{{:five faculties of feelings}}
These faculties control the mundane virtues or the purity of detachment. They are:
{{:five spiritual faculties}}
The three pure faculties that control supramundane virtues of noble beings are:
{{:three pure faculties that control supramundane virtues}}
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
Further Reading
*Mipham Rinpoche, Gateway to Knowledge, vol. I (Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1984 & 1997), Ch. 6 'The Faculties, Indriya'
Internal Links
*Twelve ayatanas
Category: Abhidharma
Category: Enumerations
Category: 20s-Twenties