How You Balance the Five Controlling Faculties

To avoid dropping into bhavaṅga and to develop further, you need the help of the five controlling faculties (pañcindriyā) to push the mind and fix it on the paṭibhāga-nimitta. The five control­ling faculties are:

1. Faith (saddhā)
2. Effort (vīriya)
3. Mindfulness (sati)
4. Concentration (samādhi)
5. Understanding (paññā)

The five controlling faculties are the five powers that control the mind, and keep it from straying off the path of Samatha (tran­quillity) and Vipassanā (insight) that leads to Nibbāna. If one or more of the controlling faculties are in excess, there will be an im­balance.

The first controlling faculty is faith in what one should have faith in, such as the Triple Gem, or faith in kamma and its results. It is important to have faith in the enlightenment of The Buddha, because without it, a person will regress from his work in medita­tion. It is also important to have faith in the teaching of The Bud­dha, namely the Four Paths, the Four Fruits, Nibbāna, etc. The teaching of The Buddha shows us the way of meditation, so at this stage it is important to have complete faith in it.

Let us say the yogi thinks, 'Can jhāna really be attained by just watching the in-breath and out-breath? Is it really true that the uggaha-nimitta is like white cotton wool, and the paṭibhāga-nimitta like clear ice or glass?' If these kinds of thought persist, they result in views such as, `Jhāna cannot be at­tained in the present age,' and the yogi's faith in the teach­ing will decline, and he will be unable to stop himself from giv­ing up the development of Samatha.

So a person who is developing concentration with a meditation subject like ānāpānasati needs to have strong faith. He should develop ānāpānasati without any doubts. He should think, `Jhāna can be achieved if I follow the instruc­tions of The Fully Enlightened Buddha systematically.'

If, however, a person lets his faith become excessive, and here it is faith in the meditation paṭibhāga nimitta, his concentration will decrease. Excessive faith contains excessive joy (piti), which leads to emotions. This means the yogi's mind is disturbed by joyful excitement, and wisdom is unable to understand the paṭibhāga nimitta. Then, because excessive faith has decided on the object, wisdom is not clear and firm, and also the remaining faculties, effort, mindfulness and concentration are weakened: effort is unable to raise associated mental formations to the paṭi­bhāga ni­mitta, and keep them there; mindfulness is unable to establish knowledge of the paṭibhāga nimitta; concentration is unable to pre­­vent the mind from going to another object; and wisdom is unable to see the paṭibhāga nimitta penetratively. Thus excessive faith leads actually to a decrease in faith.

If effort is too strong, the remaining faculties, faith, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom, will be unable to respectively decide, establish, pre­vent distraction, and develop penetrative discernment. Thus excessive effort causes the mind not to stay calmly concentrated on the paṭibhāga-nimitta.

This can be illustrated by the case of the Venerable Soṇa. In the city of Rājagaha, he heard the Buddha teach, and winning faith, he got his parents' consent and ordained. The Buddha taught him a subject for meditation, and he went to the monastery Sītavana. He worked very hard, but pacing up and down in meditation with great energy, he developed painful sores on his feet. He did not lie down and sleep, and when he could no longer walk, he crawled on his hands and knees. He worked so hard that his meditation path was stained with blood. Even so, he won no attainment and was filled with despair.

The Buddha, on Gijjhakūta (Vulture Peak mountain), became aware of his despair and visited him. And The Buddha reminded him that when he as a layman had played the vīṇā (a type of Indian lute), the lute was not tuneful or playable if the strings were strung either too tight or too loose: they had to be strung evenly. The Buddha explained that in the same way, too much energy or effort ends in flurry, and too little energy or effort ends in idleness. The Venerable Soṇa profited from the lesson, because not long afterwards, having reflected on the lesson, he became an Arahant.

To balance faith with wisdom, and concentration with effort, is praised by the wise. If, for instance, faith is strong and wisdom is weak, a person will develop faith in, and respect for objects with­out use and essence. For instance, he will develop faith in, and rever­ence for objects revered and respected by religions outside orthodox Buddhism, such as guardian spirits or protective dei­ties.

If, on the other hand, wisdom is strong and faith is weak, a per­son can become quite crafty. Without meditating, he will spend his time simply passing judgements. This is as difficult to cure as to cure a disease caused by an overdose of medicine.

If faith and wisdom are balanced, however, a person will have faith in objects he should have faith in: the Triple Gem, kamma, and its effects. He will believe that if he meditates in accordance with The Buddha's instructions, he will be able to attain the paṭibhāga-nimitta, and jhāna.

Again, if concentration is strong and effort is weak, a person can become lazy. For example, if, when the yogi's concentration improves, he pays attention to the ànàpàna paṭibhāga-nimitta with a relaxed mind, without knowing it penetratively, he may become lazy. The five jhāna-factors will in that case not be strong enough to maintain the high level of concentration, which means his mind will very often fall into bhavaṅga.

But if ef­fort is strong, and concentration weak, however, he can become agitated. When concentration and effort are balanced, he will become neither lazy, nor agitated, and will be able to attain jhāna.

When a person wishes to cultivate a Samatha subject, it is in any case good to have very strong faith. If he thinks, `I will cer­tainly reach jhāna, if I develop concentration on the paṭibhāga-nimitta', then by the power of that faith, and by concentrating on the paṭibhāga-nimitta, he will definitely achieve jhāna. This is be­cause jhāna is based primarily on concentration.

For a person developing Vipassanā it is good that wisdom be strong, because when wisdom is strong he will be able to know and see the three characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and non-self penetratively.

Only when concentration and wisdom are balanced can mun­dane jhānas (lokiya jhāna) arise. The Buddha taught that this ap­plies equally to supramundane jhānas (lokuttara jhāna), which fur­ther require that concentration and wisdom be balanced with effort and faith.

Mindfulness is necessary under all circumstances, because it pro­tects the mind from agitation due to excess faith, effort, or wis­dom, and from laziness due to excess concentration. It bal­ances faith with wisdom, concentration with effort, and concentra­tion with wisdom.

So mindfulness is always necessary, as is the seasoning of salt in all sauces, and a prime minister for all the king's affairs. Hence the ancient commentaries say the The Blessed One said, `Mindfulness is always necessary in any meditation subject.' Why? Because it is a refuge and protection for the meditating mind. Mindfulness is a refuge, because it helps the mind arrive at special and high states it has never reached or known before. With­out mindfulness the mind is incapable of attaining any spe­cial and extraordinary states. Mindfulness protects the mind, and keeps the object of meditation from becoming lost. That is why to one discerning it with insight-knowledge, mindfulness appears as that which protects the object of meditation, as well as the mind of the yogi. Without mindfulness, a person is unable to lift the mind up or restrain the mind, which is why The Bud­dha said it is necessary in all instances.¹

1 Please see also Vs.iv `Dasavidha-appanā Kosallaṁ' B62 ('The Ten Kinds of Skill in Absorption' Ñ45-49) and VsTi.ibid.