The Five Powers

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The Five Powers, or Spiritual Faculties, in Buddhism are: Faith, Effort, Mindfulness, Concentration, and Wisdom.

Faith and Wisdom balance each other, as do Energy and Concentration. The Five Faculties are ‘controlling' faculties because they control or master their opposites. The faculties and powers are two aspects of the same thing.

1. Faith (saddha) - controls doubt
2. Energy/Effort/Persistence (viriya) – controls laziness
3. Mindfulness (sati); - controls heedlessness
4. Concentration (samadhi) - controls distraction
5. Wisdom (panna)/Discernment – controls ignorance

[edit] External links

• The Way of Wisdom - The Five Spiritual Faculties, by Edward Conze
• The Five Spiritual Powers, Dharma talk by Sarah Doering