The Tree of Enlightenment
An Introduction to the Major Traditions of Buddhism
by Peter Della Santina
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Part Four
The Abidharma
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Chapter Forty
The Thirty-Seven Factors of Enlightenment
The thirty-seven factors conducive to enlightenment (bodhipakkhiya
dhamma)are
important for two reasons. First, according to tradition, they were
recommended by the
Buddha, shortly before his entry into final nirvana, as primary means
of gaining
enlightenment. Second, these factors form a fundamental part of the
foundation of the
Abhidharma, in that they belong to that category of teaching, like the
teaching on the five
aggregates, that comprises the Abhidharmic contents of the Sutra
Pitaka.
In Chapter 30, we talked about the characteristics of the Abhidharma
and the relation
between Abhidharmic material and the contents of the discourses, or
sutras. The factors
conducive to enlightenment belong to this category of material, which
is Abhidharmic in
nature and yet found in the discourses. Thus they belong to the early
period of
Abhidharmic philosophy.
The thirty-seven factors of enlightenment are without doubt Abhidharmic
in nature. All
five characteristics of Abhidharmic material apply to them: (1)
definition of factors, (2)
relation of factors to other factors, (3) analysis of factors, (4)
classification of factors, and
(5) arrangement in numerical order (see Chapter 30).
The thirty-seven factors are classified under seven groups: (a) the
four stations of
mindfulness (satipatthana), (b) the four right efforts (sammappadana),
(c) the four roads
to power (iddhipada), (d) the five controlling faculties (indriya), (e)
the five powers
(bala), (f) the seven limbs of enlightenment (bojjhanga), and (g) the
Noble Eightfold Path
(atthangika magga). Since we considered the four right efforts and the
Noble Eightfold
Path in Chapters 5, 6, and 7, I will omit these two groups here and
concentrate instead
on the other five.
The Buddha called mindfulness the one way to the elimination of the
afflictions. The
Buddha has also said that the mind is the root of all virtues. The most
important practice,
therefore, is to discipline the mind. One can also understand the
importance of
mindfulness from the fact that mindfulness occurs in five of the seven
groups that make
up the thirty-seven factors conducive to enlightenment, and that the
first of these groups
is devoted exclusively to the four stations of mindfulness
(satipatthana). Mindfulness is
also taught in the Satipatthana Sutta (The Discourse on the Stations of
Mindfulness),
which occurs twice in the Buddhist canon. All this indicates the
importance of
mindfulness.
In recent years there has been a great resurgence of interest in the
four stations of
mindfulness both within the Theravada tradition, particularly in Burma,
and also in the
Mahayana tradition, where the importance of the four stations of
mindfulness as a part of
the practice of meditation has now come to be appreciated. One of the
reasons these four
stations have occupied such an important place in Buddhist meditation
is that they lead to
the realization of the three universal characteristics (impermanence,
suffering, and not-
self). Exactly how this works will become clearer once we enumerate the
four stations: (i)
mindfulness with regard to the body, (ii) mindfulness with regard to
feeling, (iii)
mindfulness with regard to consciousness, and (iv) mindfulness with
regard to mental
objects.
Mindfulness with regard to the body is more inclusive here than it is
in the context of the
forty traditional supports of meditation, where it occurs as one of the
ten recollections but
is restricted only to the body. Here it applies not only to mindfulness
with regard to the
body but also to mindfulness regarding the process of inhalation and
exhalation, the
elements of matter, the decomposing body, and so forth.
Mindfulness with regard to feeling refers to the emotional contents of
personal
experience, to feelings that are pleasant, unpleasant, or
indifferent.
Mindfulness with regard to consciousness--or, to be more precise,
mindfulness with
regard to thought--implies observation of the arising and perishing of
thoughts.
Mindfulness with regard to mental objects refers to the contents of
consciousness,
particularly concepts such as impermanence and the like.
With the first station of mindfulness, we exhaust the material
dimension of personal
experience, and with the three subsequent stations we exhaust the
mental dimension of
personal experience (i.e., the aggregates of consciousness, volition,
perception, and
feeling). The thorough application of mindfulness results in abandoning
the three
erroneous views (permanence, happiness, and self) and attaining insight
into the three
universal characteristics (impermanence, suffering, and not-self).
Interpretations of the
objects of the four stations of mindfulness vary according to the
various traditions of
Buddhist meditation. In general, however, the explanation here should
be acceptable to
most of the traditions.
Let us look at the four roads to power (iddhipada): (i) wish or desire,
(ii) energy, (iii)
mind or thought, and (iv) reasoning. These four factors are also found
in the twenty-four
modes of conditionality (see Chapter 39), where they are termed
'predominant
conditions' (adhipati). Both the 'roads to power' and 'predominant
conditions' clearly
suggest the power of the mind to influence experience.
A simple example is the power to control, up to a certain point, the
movements of our
bodies and the exercise of our speech. This is a case of the
undeveloped power of the
mind, desire, energy, and reason to control physical phenomena. When
these
predominant factors are intensified by cultivation of the five factors
of absorption (initial
application, sustained application, interest, happiness, and
one-pointedness)--particularly
the intensification of one-pointedness, which occurs upon attaining the
fifth stage of the
form-sphere absorptions--they become roads to power.
Through intensification, the predominant factors lead to what are
called mundane types of
super knowledge and the supramundane knowledge. There are five types of
mundane
super knowledge: the ability to fly through the sky cross-legged, to
walk on water, to
move through the earth, to read the thoughts of others, and to
recollect one's former lives.
The supramundane knowledge is knowledge of the destruction of the
defilements (asava),
ignorance, and so forth. This is perhaps why it is sometimes said that
the four
predominant conditions may be either mundane or supramundane. If they
are directed
toward the mundane sphere, they result in the five types of mundane
super knowledge,
whereas if they are directed toward the supramundane sphere, or
nirvana, they result in
penetration of the Four Noble Truths and in the destruction of the
defilements.
Like the four roads to power, the five controlling faculties
(indriya)--(i) faith, (ii) energy,
(iii) mindfulness, (iv) concentration, and (v) wisdom--are also found
in the twenty-four
modes of conditionality. In the Book of Causal Relations (patthana),
the five controlling
faculties are defined as dominating factors. There is a very close
connection between the
five controlling faculties and the four roads to power, as indicated by
their mutual
presence in the modes of conditionality and their similarity in the
sense of controlling,
dominating, or mastering.
The five faculties are called 'controlling' because they are said to
control or master their
opposites: faith (or confidence) controls lack of faith (or doubt);
energy controls laziness;
mindfulness controls heedlessness; concentration controls distraction;
and wisdom
controls ignorance. Like the four roads to power, the five controlling
faculties can only
really control their opposites when they are intensified by the factors
of absorption. For
instance, faith can only function as a controlling faculty when it is
strengthened by the
presence of the three factors of absorption of interest, happiness, and
one-pointedness;
and wisdom can only function effectively when it is strengthened by
initial application,
sustained application, and one-pointedness. These five factors of
absorption strengthen
and intensify the five controlling faculties so that the latter can
function effectively to
propel one toward enlightenment. Similarly, the five controlling
faculties strengthen the
five factors of absorption. For instance, concentration strengthens
interest and happiness.
Thus the relationship between the two sets of factors is one of
reciprocal support and
intensification.
Although the five controlling faculties are indispensable in bringing
about the
transformation from a doubtful, lethargic, heedless, distracted, and
ignorant mode of
being to an enlightened mode of being, they must be cultivated in a
balanced way. What
this means is that within the five controlling faculties there are
factors that balance each
other. For instance, faith and wisdom are a reciprocal pair: if faith
is allowed to dominate
wisdom, this results in a weakening of one's critical faculties, one's
intellectual powers of
analysis and investigation; and if wisdom is allowed to dominate faith,
this diminishes
confidence to the point of uncertainty and a lack of initial commitment
to practice.
Similarly, if energy is allowed to dominate concentration, this leads
to agitation, and if
concentration is allowed to dominate energy, this leads to sloth and
torpor.
Thus faith, energy, concentration, and wisdom must be developed and
maintained in a
balanced manner, and the faculty that enables one to do this is
mindfulness. Mindfulness
is the watchdog that ensures the proper reciprocal, balanced
relationship between faith
and wisdom, and between energy and concentration.
The next group of factors of enlightenment, the five powers (bala)--(i)
faith, (ii) energy,
(iii) mindfulness, (iv) concentration, and (v) wisdom--are numerically
and
terminologically identical to the five controlling faculties. These
five factors are called
powers because on this stage faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration,
and wisdom
become firm, steady, and powerful.
The Buddha indicated that the five controlling faculties and five
powers are two aspects
of the same thing, just as an island in the middle of a river can lead
people to call one side
of the river the eastern part and the other side the western part, even
though the two parts
of the river are one and the same. Similarly, the five controlling
faculties and the five
powers are one and the same. The five controlling faculties are
potentialities that must be
intensified and developed through their combination with the five
factors of absorption.
When they become firm and steady through this intensification, they can
then be termed
powers.
We might add that the five powers become absolutely unshakable only in
the case of the
noble ones (see Chapter 35). On becoming a stream-winner, for example,
faith becomes
an unshakable power because the fetter of doubt is removed.
Although only the five controlling faculties and five powers are listed
in the thirty-seven
factors, in the expanded Abhidharmic classification of the controlling
faculties and
powers, there are three more faculties added to the five already
mentioned (mind, joy, and
vitality), and two more powers (moral shame and moral dread, known
collectively as 'the
guardians of the world'). Moral shame and moral dread are explained as
one's own sense
of moral uprightness and fear of censure or blame. They are called
guardians of the world
because, when developed to the level of powers, they become guardians
of wholesome
actions.
The last group we will consider here are the seven limbs of
enlightenment (bojjhanga): (i)
mindfulness, (ii) investigation, (iii) energy, (iv) interest, (v)
tranquillity, (vi)
concentration, and (vii) equanimity. Mindfulness again appears as one
of the factors, and
again it leads the group, because it is with mindfulness that the way
to enlightenment
begins.
Thus it is through awareness of one's situation that progress on the
path begins. This
progress is sustained through investigation--in this case, the
investigation of factors.
Energy occurs here, as it did in the four roads to power, the five
controlling faculties, and
the five powers. Energy is essential to sustain the progress one makes
along one's
spiritual path. All too often, our efforts are sporadic; we make a
great effort for a short
period of time and then relapse for a much longer time. If progress is
to be sustained it
must be steady, and energy contributes to steady, consistent progress
along the path.
The fourth factor, interest, which is also one of the five factors of
absorption, is suffused
with happiness, although it can best be understood more as interest
than as joy or rapture
per se (see Chapter 34).
Tranquillity in this context is the tranquillity of mind that results
from eliminating the
afflictions of ignorance, ill-will, and attachment.
Concentration is synonymous with one-pointedness, which is one of the
five factors of
absorption.
Equanimity is the elimination of the mind's tendency to wander. Like so
many
Abhidharmic terms, equanimity functions on a number of levels. At the
level of feeling, it
can be indifference. At the level of the cultivation of the Four
Immeasurable meditations
(brahmavihara), equanimity is even-mindedness toward sentient
beings--the absence of
attachment to near and dear ones, and the absence of aversion to
enemies. In the analysis
of personal experience in the teaching on the five aggregates,
equanimity is the
neutralization of the eight worldly conditions (happiness and pain,
gain and loss, praise
and blame, and fame and infamy). Here, in the context of the seven
limbs of
enlightenment, equanimity is that integrated and unshakable state of
mind which is totally
free of mind's habitual tendency to wander.
These thirty-seven factors were codified, preserved, and taught by
generations of masters
for one reason only: they were found to be useful and beneficial in
developing one's
mind, and particularly in aiding progress toward enlightenment. Whether
we choose to
concentrate on the four stations of mindfulness, the four efforts, the
four roads to power,
the five controlling faculties, the five powers, the seven limbs of
enlightenment, or the
Noble Eightfold Path, familiarity with these factors of enlightenment
can manifestly and
immediately aid our progress toward that goal.
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Contents
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01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11
| 12 | 13
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41
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Update : 11-05-2002
