The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (sutra)

Ven. Piyadassi Thera (Wheel Number 001, Buddhist Publication Society) via accesstoinsight.org edited and updated by Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly, August 2020

There are Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

The Tipitaka, or the "Three Baskets" of the Buddhist canon, is replete with references to the limbs or factors of enlightenment (bojjhangas).

They were expounded by the Enlightened One on different occasions under different circumstances.

For instance, in the Book of the Kindred Sayings, V (Samyutta Nikaya, Maha Vagga) we find a special section under the title Bojjhanga Samyutta, where the Buddha discourses on the seven factors in diverse ways.

In this section we read a series of three sutras recited by Buddhists since the time of the Buddha as a protection (paritta or pirit) to avert pain, disease, and adversity.

The term bojjhanga is composed of bodhi + anga. Bodh denotes enlightenment — to be exact, insight concerned with the full realization of the Four Noble Truths, namely:

1. the ennobling truth of what is suffering;
2. the ennobling truth of the origin of suffering;
3. the ennobling truth of the end of suffering; and
4. the ennobling truth of the path leading to the end of all suffering.

Anga means factor or limb. Bodhi + anga (bojjhanga), therefore, means the "factors of enlightenment," or the "factors for insight," wisdom.

What are the Seven Factors?

"'Factors of enlightenment! Factors of enlightenment!' it is said, venerable sir. Pray, how far is this term applicable?" asked a Buddhist monk.

The Buddha's succinct reply was, "Bodhaya samvattantiti kho bhikkhu tasma bojjhanga ti vuccanti — They conduce to enlightenment, meditator, that is why they are called so" [Note 1].

The Buddha further says, "Just as, meditators, in a peaked house all rafters go together toward the peak, incline to the peak, join at the peak, and of them all the peak is reckoned chief: Even so, meditators, the meditator who cultivates and persists in cultivating the seven factors of wisdom, goes toward nirvana, inclines toward nirvana, moves toward nirvana" [2].

The seven factors are:

1. Mindfulness (sati)
2. Keen investigation of the dhamma (dhammavicaya) [3]
3. Energy (viriya)
4. Rapture or happiness (piti)
5. Calm (passaddhi)
6. Concentration (samadhi)
7. Equanimity (upekkha)

One of the discourses on the Seven Factors of Enlightenment may be mentioned here. It begins,

The Great Kassapa Bojjhanga Sutra

"Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was living at Rajagaha [present-day Rajgir, India], at the Bamboo Grove, in the squirrel's feeding ground.

"At that time [the great disciple] Venerable Maha Kassapa, who was living in Pipphali Cave, was sick, stricken with a severe illness. Then the Buddha, rising from his solitude [meditative withdrawal] at eventide, visited Ven. Maha Kassapa, took his seat, and spoke to him in this way:

"Well, Kassapa, how is it with you? Are you bearing up, are you enduring? Do your pains lessen or increase? Are there signs of pains lessening and not increasing?"

"No, venerable sir, I am not bearing up, I am not enduring. The pain is very great. There is a sign not of the pains lessening but of their increasing."

"Kassapa, these Seven Factors of Enlightenment are well expounded by me, cultivated, and much developed by me, and when cultivated and much developed, they conduce to full realization, to perfect wisdom, to nirvana [full liberation]. What are the seven?

"Mindfulness, O Kassapa, is well expounded by me, cultivated, and much developed by me, and when cultivated and much developed, it conduces to full realization, to perfect wisdom, to nirvana.

• "Keen investigation of the dhamma [phenomena and Buddha-Dharma]...
• "Energy...
• "Rapture...
• "Calm...
• "Concentration...
• "Equanimity, O Kassapa, is well expounded by me...

"These Seven Factors of Enlightenment, I say, Kassapa, are well expounded by me, cultivated, and much developed by me, and when cultivated and much developed, they conduce to full realization, to perfect wisdom, to nirvana."

"Truly, Blessed One, they are factors of enlightenment! Truly, O Welcome One, they are factors of enlightenment!" exclaimed Maha Kassapa. Thus spoke the Buddha, and Ven. Maha Kassapa, rejoicing, welcomed the utterances of the Worthy One.

"And Ven. Maha Kassapa [then spontaneously] rose from that [wracking] illness. There and then that ailment of Ven. Maha Kassapa vanished.

— SN 46.14

The power of the human mind

Another discourse, the Maha Cunda Bojjhanga Sutra, of the three mentioned above reveals that once, when the Buddha himself was ill, he asked Ven. Maha Cunda to recite the factors of enlightenment (bojjhanga), and the Buddha's grievous illness spontaneously vanished [4].

How?

The human mind tremendously and profoundly influences and affects the body. If allowed to function viciously and entertain unwholesome and harmful thoughts, the mind can cause a disaster, even kill a being.

But mind also can cure a sick body. When concentrated on right thoughts [motivated by wholesome intentions] with right understanding [right view], the effects the mind can produce are immense.

The mind (heart) not only makes us sick, it also cures us. An optimistic patient has a better chance of recovery than a patient who is worried and unhappy. The recorded instances of "faith healing" include cases in which even organic diseases are cured almost instantaneously.

• —from Ends and Means by Aldous Huxley (London, 1946), p. 259

Buddhism (Buddha-dhamma) is the teaching of enlightenment. One who is keen on attaining enlightenment should first clearly recognize the impediments that block the path to enlightenment. More