Reading guide
Faculties and powers: one reality, two names
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse states outright that each spiritual faculty IS its corresponding power, and each power IS its corresponding faculty — not two separate things that happen to resemble each other, but the same underlying reality named two different ways depending on the explanatory method used.
A direct echo of "pariyāya" from SN 48.38
Confirmed by direct comparison, this discourse's own governing question — whether there is a “method” (pariyāya) by which the five faculties become the five powers and back again — reuses the identical key term this project's own SN 48.38 used to frame the five-feeling-faculties/three-feelings relationship, now applied to a completely different pairing: the same word doing the same conceptual work across two unrelated topics.
The island-in-a-river simile
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse's own simile makes the abstract point vivid: a river flowing around a mid-river island can be reckoned as ONE stream (counting the water to its east and west) or as TWO streams (counting the water to its north and south) — the water itself never changes; only the method of counting does. By the same method, faculty and power are the identical water, counted two different ways.
Key terms
The text
§1-3 — the Buddha's own question and the mendicants' own deferralSo I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāketa in the deer park at the Añjana Wood. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants: “Mendicants, is there a method in which the five faculties become the five powers, and the five powers become the five faculties?” “Our teachings are rooted in the Buddha. He is our guide and our refuge. Sir, may the Buddha himself please clarify the meaning of this. The mendicants will listen and remember it.” “Mendicants, there is a method in which the five faculties become the five powers, and the five powers become the five faculties.
§4-6 — the identity stated, the river simile, and the closing arahant formulaAnd what is that method? The faculty of faith is the power of faith, and the power of faith is the faculty of faith. The faculty of energy is the power of energy, and the power of energy is the faculty of energy. The faculty of mindfulness is the power of mindfulness, and the power of mindfulness is the faculty of mindfulness. The faculty of immersion is the power of immersion, and the power of immersion is the faculty of immersion. The faculty of wisdom is the power of wisdom, and the power of wisdom is the faculty of wisdom. Suppose that there was a river slanting, sloping, and inclining to the east, and in the middle was an island. There’s a method in which that river can be reckoned to have just one stream. But there’s also a method in which that river can be reckoned to have two streams. And what’s the method in which that river can be reckoned to have just one stream? By taking into account the water to the east and the west of the island, that river can be reckoned to have just one stream. And what’s the method in which that river can be reckoned to have two streams? By taking into account the water to the north and the south of the island, that river can be reckoned to have two streams. By the same method, the faculty of faith is the power of faith, and the power of faith is the faculty of faith. The faculty of energy is the power of energy, and the power of energy is the faculty of energy. The faculty of mindfulness is the power of mindfulness, and the power of mindfulness is the faculty of mindfulness. The faculty of immersion is the power of immersion, and the power of immersion is the faculty of immersion. The faculty of wisdom is the power of wisdom, and the power of wisdom is the faculty of wisdom. It’s because of developing and cultivating the five faculties that a mendicant realizes the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life. And they live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements.”
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