A bare declarative list, opening a new saṃyutta with no narrative frame
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Significance
★★★★☆ — opens an entirely new saṃyutta, naming the five spiritual faculties central to the thirty-seven aids to awakening
Why this discourse
This discourse opens the Indriyasaṃyutta, Book V's own saṃyutta on the five spiritual faculties (indriya) — faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom — a classic fivefold set found throughout the canon among the thirty-seven aids to awakening (bodhipakkhiyā dhammā), here introduced with the barest possible statement: their names alone, no narrative frame, no further elaboration.
Reading guide
Five faculties, named without elaboration
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse does nothing more than name the five faculties — faith (saddhā), energy (vīriya), mindfulness (sati), immersion (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā) — without defining any of them individually or explaining their own relationship to one another, matching this discourse's own title, “Suddhika” (“plain, unmixed”).
This saṃyutta's own opening vagga, named for its own bare style
This discourse's own vagga, Suddhikavagga, is confirmed by direct reading to take its name from this exact quality — a plain, unelaborated statement of the five faculties, setting the pattern this project expects the vagga's own remaining discourses to vary from, confirmed individually rather than assumed.
A saṃyutta among the thirty-seven aids to awakening
The five faculties named here are confirmed by this project's own prior work elsewhere in the canon to be one of the seven traditional groupings within the thirty-seven aids to awakening (bodhipakkhiyā dhammā), sharing three of their own five terms — energy, mindfulness, immersion — with other groupings already met, here gathered specifically under the “faculty” (indriya) framing.
Key terms
indriya — “faculty” — a capacity or governing power, the term giving this saṃyutta its own name
saddhā — “faith, confidence” — the first of the five faculties named in this discourse
vīriya — “energy, vigor” — the second faculty, shared with several other groupings among the thirty-seven aids to awakening
sati... samādhi... paññā — “mindfulness... immersion... wisdom” — the third, fourth, and fifth faculties, closing this discourse's own bare list
suddhika — “plain, unmixed” — this discourse's own title term, giving the vagga it opens its own name
The text
The complete discourse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. There the Buddha said: “Mendicants, there are these five faculties. What five? The faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom. These are the five faculties.”
· · ·
Self-check quiz
3 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 3
What five faculties does this discourse name?
Correct: A. The classic fivefold set found among the thirty-seven aids to awakening.
Question 2 of 3
How does this discourse present these five faculties?
Correct: A. Matching this discourse's own title, "Suddhika" — "plain, unmixed."
Question 3 of 3
What does the vagga this discourse opens take its own name from?
Correct: A. Suddhikavagga — named for this exact quality, the pattern this project expects the vagga's own remaining discourses to vary from.
