Five Faculties and Strengths: Three Readings

The five faculties and five strengths use closely related lists. To study them accurately, keep the translated terms beside the passage that explains them. Three readings provide a useful comparison: a Pāli discourse on the faculties, another on their relationship to the strengths, and Patrul Rinpoche's account of the bodhisattva paths.

Read all five definitions in SN 48:10

In Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu's translation of An Analysis of the Faculties, the five are conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration and discernment. The discourse gives each a specific Buddhist meaning:

• Conviction concerns the Buddha's awakening.
• Persistence concerns preventing and abandoning unskillful qualities, and developing and sustaining skillful ones.
• Mindfulness includes remembering, then describes attention to body, feelings, mind and mental qualities.
• Concentration is explained through the four jhānas.
• Discernment concerns arising and passing away, and understanding stress, its origin, its cessation and the path to cessation. [1]

These definitions give you something specific to locate when reading. Mark where the discourse moves from naming the faculty to explaining it. If a word seems familiar from ordinary conversation, read its explanation before supplying your own definition.

For example, a question about “concentration” can refer to the jhāna passage in this discourse. Bring that passage to your teacher and ask how it relates to your assigned practice. Memorizing the five names does not establish mastery of what they describe.

Compare the river illustration in SN 48:43

In the passage translated in The Wings to Awakening, SN 48:43 says there is a way of reckoning by which the faculties and strengths are the same. It pairs conviction with conviction, persistence with persistence, and likewise mindfulness, concentration and discernment. [2]

The illustration is a river with an island. Count the water to the east and west of the island and it can be described as one current; count the channels to its north and south and it can be described as two. The discourse uses this to explain the two reckonings. [2]

Note the qualification about a way of reckoning. It gives you a precise question when another text distinguishes the sets: “What distinction is this author making here?” Keep the source references with the answer, so that a comparison does not erase either presentation.

Locate the sets within Patrul Rinpoche's path of joining

Patrul Rinpoche's A Brief Guide to the Stages and Paths of the Bodhisattvas places the five powers at warmth and summit, the first two stages of the path of joining. The translation names faith, diligence, mindfulness, meditative concentration and wisdom. [3]

Here faith aspires towards the wisdom of seeing; diligence applies its methods; mindfulness sustains discipline; concentration supports even meditation; and wisdom develops the view. At acceptance and supreme attribute, the later stages of joining, these qualities are called strengths when their corresponding obstructions no longer impede them. The listed obstructions are lack of faith, laziness, forgetfulness, distraction and lack of awareness. [3]

The location matters. Save the heading “Path of Joining” with your notes, along with the four stage names. Ask a teacher to explain this framework within the tradition you are studying. The stage descriptions are not a scorecard for assigning yourself an attainment.

Keep the translation choices visible

For this comparison, make a note with three entries:

1. First reading: names and definitions.
2. Second reading: the illustration.
3. Third reading: headings and terminology.

Copy only the terms you need, with the translator and section beside them. Leave room for a teacher's explanation of how the presentations relate. If you consult another translation, add its wording in a separate entry rather than changing the wording of the first.

Our article on the four kinds of right effort examines the prevention, abandonment, cultivation and maintenance tasks. It can help you prepare a question about the persistence entry above. Our guide to four applications of mindfulness provides another source comparison.

Bring one located question to the next teaching

A useful question names the passage and the point of uncertainty. For example: “In SN 48:10, how should I understand the remembering aspect of mindfulness?” This is a study question supplied by this site.

Keep any practice instruction your teacher gives with the context in which it was given. If the answer introduces another text, record its title and section so you can read it before the next conversation.

Sources and further reading

1. An Analysis of the Faculties (SN 48:10). Translated from Pāli by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
2. The Five Strengths, section II.F. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, The Wings to Awakening; passage 91, SN 48:43.
3. A Brief Guide to the Stages and Paths of the Bodhisattvas. Patrul Rinpoche; translated by Adam Pearcey, 2007, edited by Phillippa Sison. Version 1.5, March 18, 2024.

Sources checked October 31, 2026. Written with AI assistance and checked against the linked texts. The examples and brief review are supplied by this site; they do not replace instruction from a qualified teacher.