Buddhism has a lot of lists: the three trainings, the four foundations of mindfulness, the five skandhas, the eightfold path, the twelve-fold dependent origination, and the 37 limbs of awakening, to name a few. These lists are often presented in a static way, like they’re just overviews of different aspects of life. For instance, the four foundations of mindfulness are usually described as areas of our experience to be aware of, and the five skandhas as a breakdown of the idea of a unified self.
One such list is the five faculties, often called the five spiritual faculties: faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. They are typically presented as if they are five things we need to develop to achieve enlightenment. For example, in the scriptures it is said:
“A mendicant must develop and cultivate five faculties so that they can declare enlightenment. What five? The faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.”
From what I’ve gathered about the Buddha, he wasn’t just interested in providing overviews. He wanted to understand how things work, much like an engineer. His teaching on dependent origination is about how one thing leads to another, each condition creating a path towards greater freedom and joy. So when I see these Buddhist lists, I think about how the items might work together as a dynamic system.
Interestingly, I found that there’s an early text that presents the five spiritual faculties as a dynamic series. In a Sanskrit commentarial work called “The Discourse on the Analysis of Topics” (or Arthaviniscaya Sutra), the five faculties are shown as building on one another. This text was created by monks a few centuries after the Buddha’s death to explain teachings found in the scriptures. Here, they describe the five faculties contributing step-by-step to the development of qualities needed for awakening.
This early text tries to show the five faculties working together, although I see another way they can work together too. Recently, I taught a class where I explained how these faculties can function moment by moment, working together almost simultaneously to help us move from negative to positive states of mind, from suffering to peace, calm, and joy.
Say we’re feeling angry. The five spiritual faculties can help us handle this anger, and they can work in any order.
Mindfulness is about observing our experience. Without mindfulness, no practice can begin. It helps us notice that anger has arisen, so we’re not just angry but aware that we’re angry.
There’s a trend these days to see mindfulness as the only spiritual quality we need. But mindfulness alone doesn’t do anything; it just observes. That’s why we need the other spiritual faculties.
Wisdom isn’t just an enlightened quality that arises at the end of the path. In early Buddhism, wisdom includes understanding everyday spiritual truths, like knowing that good and bad deeds have consequences. So, when we’re aware of our anger through mindfulness, wisdom tells us that this anger is harmful and will lead to suffering. It also suggests alternatives to anger, like curiosity, patience, and kindness, which can make us happier.
Faith in Buddhism isn’t blind belief but a sense of confidence and clarity. We might know on some level that anger is problematic, but also believe on another level that we need it to get what we want. As we observe actions and their consequences with mindfulness and wisdom, we gain confidence (or faith) that letting go of anger in favor of curiosity, patience, and kindness has positive benefits.
Now, we’ve noticed our anger mindfully, understood its harmfulness with wisdom, and gained faith in better responses. But we still haven’t acted.
Vigor, or energy, is the faculty of taking action. With confidence that non-anger is preferable, we can let go of angry thoughts or words and open up to curiosity, patience, and kindness. We might speak kindly, apologize, or try to empathize with the person we are angry with.
Concentration, or samadhi, means having the mind unified around one purpose. It’s not about narrow focus, but about an absence of internal conflict and continuity of mindfulness. In dealing with anger, concentration means maintaining a sustained effort to respond skillfully despite internal resistance.
Over time, keeping concentration weakens the reactive parts of our mind, reducing inner conflict. The mind becomes more harmonized, or “samadhic.”
The five faculties function moment by moment, supporting each other in every act of skillful change. As we practice this consistently, the faculties become stronger. So when scriptures say, “A mendicant must develop and cultivate five faculties so that they can declare enlightenment,” it’s about these moment-by-moment changes and developing habits that help us from suffering.