Delving Into The Five Spiritual Faculties Of Buddhism

We will consider spiritual faith (sometimes translated as confidence) as something that is not at all blind, but full of growth and appreciation of a sometimes hidden world for which we continue to deepen our understanding. The lesson will describe how we incrementally build faith through simple things like trust in friends that we admire, and how this same process can be applied to our practice. The lesson will finish with an opportunity to engage this faculty in a guided meditation.

Energy is the fuel generated by inspiration, by faith. As we become more attuned to its presence, we can let it grow to help our practice flourish. This factor can be understood as initiatory, but also as a factor that keeps us going in the practice when we might otherwise have quit, which is in line with its other translation, persistence. We'll explore how energy may be more available than we think if we just remember our natural interest and curiosity in the observation of our being.

A centerpiece of Buddhist practice and theory, as well as a centerpiece in this list, mindfulness is an ever-present quality of recollection, present awareness, and understanding of consequences. We'll talk about right mindfulness, as it is referred to in the noble eight fold path, and consider what its opposite might be. We'll come to see how mindfulness is interwoven in all aspects of our practice, possibly more than any other factor described in Buddhist scripture.

Concentration is often what we think of when thinking about meditation. It is a quality of gathered faculties - a coming together. Concentration on a meditation object, theme, or subject matter is part of the practice, but there is also a transcendent quality of unified being in mind and body which becomes more and more common through practice. This in turn reveals concentration as a factor of stability. In a way, we set up our concentration,so that other factors have the best chance of success.

Wisdom has an air of mystery about it, as if it's something that's cultivated through the ages and attained only by the old, and possibly strange. But it essentially means getting better and better at knowing the right thing to do, the healthier way to think and be in the world. It's worth noting that wisdom, also translated as discernment, is demonstrated through one simple choice after another. Becoming more and more refined in our access to the present moment offers us increasing ability to demonstrate this faculty. This is possibly why the wise seem mysterious, as they are witnessing subtleties that do not appear to those whose attention is scattered rather than rooted in the present.