Philosophy:Jīvitindriya

Translations of Jīvitindriya
English	life faculty, vitality
Sanskrit	jīvitindriya
Pali	jīvitindriya
Chinese	命根
Glossary of Buddhism

Jīvitindriya (Sanskrit and Pali) is a Buddhist term translated as "life faculty" or "vitality". Jīvitindriya is identified as one of the seven universal mental factors within the Theravada abhidharma teachings. In this context, jīvitindriya is defined as a mental factor that sustains the life of the citta (mind) and other mental factors it accompanies. The characteristic of jīvitindriya is said to be “ceaseless watching”.

Definition

Theravada

Bhikkhu Bodhi states:

There are two kinds of life faculty, the mental, which vitalizes the associated mental states, and the physical, which vitalizes material phenomena. The mental life faculty alone is intended as a cetasika. It has the characteristic of maintaining the associated mental states, the function of making them occur, manifestation as the establishing of their presence, and its proximate cause is the mental states to be maintained.

Mahayana

Within the Mahayana Buddhist teachings, there are a variety of definitions for jīvitindriya. The Dharmaskandhapadashastra (an early Abhidharma work of the Sarvastivadin school) defines jīvitindriya as: a faculty that persists, continues, maintains, animates, and operates what we called sentient beings.

Etymology

Jīvitaṃ means “life”, and indriya means “controlling faculty”.

See also

• Indriya
• Mental factors (Buddhism)
• Qi or Chi

Sources

• Bhikkhu Bodhi (2012), A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Sangaha (Vipassana Meditation and the Buddha's Teachings), Independent Publishers Group Kindle Edition 
• Nina van Gorkom (2010), Cetasikas, Zolag
• Soonil Hwang (2006), Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The Doctrinal History of Nirvana, Routledge

External links

• Definition of jīvitindriya, Nina van Gorkom
• Definitions for jīvitindriya, Soonil Hwang