Indriyāni
Forces, Faculties, Controlling Powers
Distinguish between the Indriani, and the Balani thus: The indriyāni are the forces in nature of sight, etc.; the balani are the abilities of an individual to use those forces, i.e., powers. See on this SN 5.48.9, where they are described as more or less identical; and SN 5.48.43 which more or less confirms this way of understanding the difference.
References:
[SN 5.48.40]In Order Experienced, Olds, translation.
Book of the Ones, #414
[SN 5.48]
Samyutta Nikaya, V: Mahavagga: Indriyasamyutta
PTS: Kindred Sayings V: The Great Chapter: Kindred Sayings on the Faculties
WP: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: The Great Book: Connected Discourses on the Faculties
DhammaTalk: The Seven Types of Individuals
SN 3.22.47 for the descent of the Indriyani
SN 5.48.43 which provides a simile by way of which it can be understood that the five forces can be thought of as the same thing as the five powers(balani).
AN 6.50 A paticca-samuppada-like sutta showing how lack of restraint of the sense-forces destroys the possibility of knowing and seeing freedom while restraint of the sense-forces results in knowing and seeing freedom.
| Pāḷi | MO | Hare | Horner | Punnaji | Bodhi | Nanamoli | Rhys Davids | (Mrs)Rhys Davids | Thanissaro | Walshe | Woodward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indriyāni | forces | controlling faculties; control of the senses [AN 7.61] | faculty | faculty | faculties, controlling powers | faculties [AN.4.163] | faculties | faculties (for the physical) [AN.4.163] controlling powers [AN.4.151] | |||
| Cakkhundriyaṃ | eye | eye | eye | eye | eye | ||||||
| sotindriyaṃ | ear | ear | ear | ear | ear | ||||||
| ghānindriyaṃ | nose | nose | nose | nose | nose | ||||||
| jivahindriyaṃ | tongue | tongue | tongue | tongue | tongue | ||||||
| kāyindriyaṃ | body | body | body | body | body | ||||||
| manindriyaṃ | mind | intellect | mind | ||||||||
| Sukhindriyaṃ | pleasure | pleasure | pleasant [bodily] feeling | ||||||||
| dukkhindriyaṃ | pain | pain | pain | ||||||||
| somanassindriyaṃ | mental ease | joy | gladness | ||||||||
| demanassindriyaṃ | mental pain | grief | sadness | ||||||||
| upekkhindriyaṃ | detachment | equanimity, poise | equanimity | introspection | equanimity | equanimity | indifference, equanimity | equanimity | indifferent feeling, equanimity | equanimity | |
| Saddhindriyaṃ | faith | faith | faith | faith | faith | faith | conviction | faith | |||
| viriyindriyaṃ | energy | energy | energy | practice | energy | energy | energy | energy, effort | persistence | energy | energy |
| satindriyaṃ | memory, recollection, mind | mindfulness, conscience | mindfulness | attentiveness | mindfulness | mindfulness | mindfulness | mindfulness | mindfulness | mindfulness | mindfulness |
| samādhindriyaṃ | serenity, getting high | concentration | concentration | Equilibrium, Mental Repose | concentration | concentration | concentration | concentration | concentration | concentration | concentration |
| paññindiyaṃ | wisdom | insight | wisdom | understanding, penetrative awareness, the primal knowledge | wisdom | wisdom | insight | discernment | wisdom | ||
| anaññātaṃ-ñassāmītindriyaṃ | knowing the unknown | coming to know the unknown | knowing that one will know the unknown | ||||||||
| aññindriyaṃ | omnicience | knowing | highest knowledge | ||||||||
| aññātāvindriyaṃ | attaining omnicience | perfected knowledge | the faculties of the one who knows |
Pāḷi Text Society
Pāḷi English Dictionary
Edited by T. W. Rhys Davids and William Stede
[EDITED ENTRY]
Indriya: Vedic indriya adj. only in meaning "belonging to Indra"; nt. strength, might, but in specific Pāḷi sense "belonging to the ruler", i.e. governing, ruling, nt. governing, ruling or controlling principle. A. on term: Indriya is one of the most comprehensive and important categories of Buddhist psychological philosophy and ethics, meaning "controlling principle, directive force, elan...(a) with reference to sense-perceptibility "faculty, function", often wrongly interpreted as "organ"; (b) w. ref. to objective aspects of form and matter "kind, characteristic, determinating principle, sign, mark" (cp. woman-hood, hood, kind, form); (c) w.ref. to moods of sensation and (d) to moral powers or motives controlling action, "principle, controlling" force; (e) w. ref. to cognition and insight "category" -gutta: one who restrains and watches his senses.
See: SN.V. Indriyasamyutta PTS: The Method, V.179; WP: The Faculty of Final Knowledge, II.1677; and The Powers of the Aristocrats) Attributes of Indra; Indra-like. Of or flowing from Indra. The usual "faculties," needs "...of Indra" or something that indicates that these are extra-ordinary, or god-like faculties (or, more accurately, faculties seen as godlike or wondrous). Woodward uses "controlling powers, faculties, and controlling faculties." The various Indrianis are all forms of power or attributes that are found under other categories. However when in the Pāḷi they are found under this heading they have a much more magical, super-normal connotation. Since the idea of Indra (a god of War and Wrath, much like, if not the same as Zeus and Jupiter) was largely replaced in the Buddhist culture by the idea of Sakka (a god of good deeds, respect for the elders, and a Streamwinner), I suspect that what we have in these "faculties" is a carry-over of an old set of power categories with the terms being redefined in the Buddhist sense possibly to make the transition more comprehensiable for those of the older beliefs. In the Samyutta version of these three, the heading is ñāya, or "method" or "knack,"
