Reading guide
The identical definitions, confirmed word for word
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse's own §1-6 repeat SN 48.36's own five faculty definitions exactly, word for word — the expected pairing this project's own reading guide anticipated without assuming it in advance.
A new consolidating step: the threefold feeling scheme
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse's own §7 — absent from SN 48.36 — groups the five feeling faculties into three: sukhindriya and somanassindriya together are “pleasant feeling” (sukhā vedanā); dukkhindriya and domanassindriya together are “painful feeling” (dukkhā vedanā); and upekkhindriya alone is “neutral feeling” (adukkhamasukhā vedanā) — the canon's own classic threefold feeling scheme, here shown as a coarser reading of the same fivefold faculties.
Two lenses on the same five faculties, held together
This project's own observation: this discourse's own structure demonstrates that the fivefold feeling-faculty scheme and the more familiar threefold pleasant/painful/neutral feeling scheme are not competing accounts but the same territory read at two different resolutions — the fivefold scheme distinguishing bodily from mental feeling within each of pleasant and painful, the threefold scheme collapsing that distinction.
Key terms
The text
§1-6 — the five faculty definitions, identical to SN 48.36“Mendicants, there are these five faculties. What five? The faculties of pleasure, pain, happiness, sadness, and equanimity. And what is the faculty of pleasure? Physical enjoyment, physical pleasure, the enjoyable, pleasant feeling that’s born from physical contact. This is called the faculty of pleasure. And what is the faculty of pain? Physical pain, physical unpleasantness, the painful, unpleasant feeling that’s born from physical contact. This is called the faculty of pain. And what is the faculty of happiness? Mental enjoyment, mental pleasure, the enjoyable, pleasant feeling that’s born from mind contact. This is called the faculty of happiness. And what is the faculty of sadness? Mental pain, mental displeasure, the painful, unpleasant feeling that’s born from mind contact. This is called the faculty of sadness. And what is the faculty of equanimity? Neither pleasant nor unpleasant feeling, whether physical or mental. This is the faculty of equanimity.
§7 — the threefold consolidationIn this context, the faculties of pleasure and happiness should be seen as pleasant feeling. The faculties of pain and sadness should be seen as painful feeling. The faculty of equanimity should be seen as neutral feeling. These are the five faculties.”
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