Linked Discourses on the Awakening Factors

Dragons nurture their strength in the Himalayas, then enter the rivers and reach the ocean. So too, a mendicant nurtures ethics and then develops the seven awakening factors.

Just as the body depends on food, the awakening factors depend on nutriment. The Buddha gives specific conditions for each of the factors.

Here the awakening factors are described in the context of hearing the teachings and reflecting on them. This leads to full enlightenment, or at least to some lesser attainment.

The various awakening factors can be donned at different times of the day, like a man who puts on bright colored clothes whenever he wants.

They’re called awakening factors because they lead to awakening.

The wanderer Kuṇḍaliya points out that some ascetics argue for the sake of winning debates. But the Buddha says his path is for the sake of liberation. Kuṇḍaliya asks what leads to liberation, and the Buddha traces a sequence of conditions back to sense restraint.

The awakening factors lead to extinguishment, like rafters holding up the roof peak.

Sāriputta asks Upavāṇa how one can reflect and see the awakening factors in oneself.

The awakening factors do not arise apart from a Realized One.

The awakening factors do not arise apart from a Holy One’s training.

Just as living creatures are based on the earth, the awakening factors are based on ethics.

Just as the dawn precedes the sun, good friendship precedes the awakening factors.

Just as the dawn precedes the sun, proper attention precedes the awakening factors.

When Mahākassapa was sick, the Buddha recited to him the awakening factors, inspiring him to a swift recovery.

When Mahāmoggallāna was sick, the Buddha recited to him the awakening factors, inspiring him to a swift recovery.

When the Buddha was sick, Mahācunda recited to him the awakening factors, inspiring him to a swift recovery.

The awakening factors lead from the near to the far shore.

Those who neglect the awakening factors neglect the path to the end of suffering.

The awakening factors are noble and emancipating.

The awakening factors lead to disenchantment.

They’re called awakening factors because they lead to awakening.

A simple statement on the awakening factors.

Frequently focusing on things tends to promote similar qualities, whether good (awakening factors) or bad (hindrances).

Improper attention grows the hindrances, proper attention grows the awakening factors.

The awakening factors lead to non-decline.

The awakening factors lead to the ending of craving.

The awakening factors lead to the cessation of craving.

The awakening factors partake of penetration.

Nothing is as effective for getting rid of fetters as the awakening factors.

Venerable Udāyı̄ celebrates his progress on the path, gaining faith as a householder, going forth, and realizing the Dhamma. Now he develops the awakening factors for the end of suffering.

Skillful qualities are rooted in diligence, which promotes the awakening factors.

Skillful qualities are rooted in proper attention, which promotes the awakening factors.

Hindrances sully the mind like impurities in gold.

Awakening factors purify the mind and lead to liberation.

Improper attention promotes the hindrances; proper attention promotes the awakening factors.

The awakening factors lead to growth and non-decline.

Hindrances sully the mind, awakening factors purify it.

Listening to the teaching, the hindrances are given up and the awakening factors developed.

As some large trees with small seeds will overgrow and ruin other trees, so the hindrances overgrow and ruin the mind.

The hindrances cause blindness, the awakening factors cause vision.

Anyone who abandons the three kinds of discrimination does so due to the awakening factors.

As the Wheel-turning Monarch manifests seven treasures, the Realized One manifests the seven awakening factors.

The awakening factors crush Māra’s army.

A stupid person has not developed the awakening factors.

A wise person has developed the awakening factors.

A person who has not developed the awakening factors is called “poor”.

A person who has developed the awakening factors is called “prosperous”.

As the dawn precedes the sunrise, so too good friendship precedes the awakening factors.

No internal factor helps the awakening factors so much as proper attention.

No external factor helps the awakening factors so much as good friendship.

The Buddha spells out in detail the factors that nourish the hindrances, and those that nourish the awakening factors.

Some wanderers tell some Buddhist mendicants that they, too, teach the five hindrances and the seven awakening factors, so what is the difference? The Buddha explains by giving a detailed analytical treatment that he says is beyond the scope of the wanderers.

Which awakening factors should be developed when the mind is tired, and which when it is energetic? And what is always useful?

Some wanderers tell some Buddhist mendicants that they, too, teach the five hindrances and the four Brahmā meditations, so what is the difference? The Buddha explains the detailed connection between the Brahmā meditations and the awakening factors, which taken together lead to liberation.

The brahmin Saṅgārava asks why sometimes verses stay in memory while other times they don’t. The Buddha replies that it is due to the presence of either the hindrances or the awakening factors. He gives a set of similes illustrating each of the hindrances with different bowls of water.

Prince Abhaya reports Pūraṇa Kassapa’s view that there is no cause for ignorance or knowledge, and asks the Buddha’s opinion. The Buddha replies that the cause of ignorance is the hindrances, and the cause of knowledge is the awakening factors.

A series of passages on the benefits of meditating on a skeleton. Some editions treat the sections as separate suttas.