The special rūpa which is indriya

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[Tam B] Ajahn, last time you were talking about indriya, can you explain a little bit about that?

[A. Sujin] Would Khun Sarah just talk a little bit about the meaning of the word indriya in English, what's that.

[Sarah] Indriya is like the leader, usually in English is translated as faculty, it's the leader in its own function.

[A. Sujin] And when we understand the reality which is indriya we can understand the meaning of indriya because it's not just the word. So, how many realities are indriya?

[Sarah] 22 indriya, 22 leading faculties.

[A. Sujin] So, when we understand [them] one by one we can understand more about the meaning of indriya. For example, shall we talk about just one at a time, one by one, what is the first one?

[Sarah] The first one is the eye base, the cakkāyatana, cakkhu, the eye sense.

[A. Sujin] So we can see that, as there is a reality which is conditioned to arise to experience, it cannot arise without conditions, so, one condition, the main one, the indriya, is the rūpa which is [more] special than the other rūpas because it can be that [on] which the object can impinge upon. And what is the special rūpa which can condition that which arises and sees? So now we are talking about a rūpa which is different from other rūpas, when there is no seeing it's just like ordinary rūpa conditioned by kamma. [Cakkhindriya is] only there when there is seeing, it's that which is the base for seeing to arise. So, among all, without that rūpa that which sees now could not see at all. The importance of that rūpa is stressed, as it is the main faculty of seeing. And citta itself which sees is also indriya because it sees the object which can be seen which impinges on the eye base, otherwise there would be no world of sight or whatever appears as different colors and different things, shapes and forms. So, even rūpa is different by its own characteristic and conditions, no doubt now at moment of seeing what rūpa is indriya. And at moment of hearing what rūpa is indriya, without that one there could not be anything heard at all. So, we're talking about the rūpas now which are indriya, so, how many rūpas now are indriya?

[Tam B] The eye sense, ear sense, tongue sense, nose sense and body sense...

[A. Sujin] Little by little, one by one, see. The five indriyas for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, are there more than these which are also indriyas, but not as moment of seeing, hearing, smelling...

[Sarah] The other rūpas that are indriyas, the masculinity, the femininity rūpas and one more, jivitindriya rūpa.

[A. Sujin] So now we understand the meaning of indriya, without it what appears just couldn't be different, like masculinity and femininity.

[Tam B] And the heart base, is it indriya?

[A. Sujin] No, it is the rūpa which is conditioned by kamma, right? To be the source or the birthplace of citta which is not [one of] the ten (cittas arising at the five sense bases). So, we can count how many indriyas, so that we can understand whether hadayarūpa is indriya or not. So now, how many of them? How many have we talked about already?

[Sarah] The five, eye sense, ear sense, nose tongue body sense, the femininity, the masculinity and the jivitindriya only.

[A. Sujin] So now it's time to understand the truth of it as it is, not just remembering and trying to know the number. For example, if we learn to understand the rūpa which is indriya, we can understand what's that which makes [itself] known as man and woman. There must be another rūpa which is there, which has made [itself] known as different sexes. And even it looks so similar, but actually one is there with jivitindriya and the other without it, [it] can be known.

But that also depends on remembering too, for example, even it's a picture or a drawing we can still tell whether it's man or woman, even there's no masculinity or femininity at all there. That's why there is just only one rūpa which can be seen, while the others cannot be seen at all, no matter what reality is there, it cannot be seen. Nāma, rūpa; citta, cetasikas, among all of them, only one rūpa can be seen, and the femininity cannot be seen, masculinity cannot be seen either. But what conditions the idea of people and things, different men and women? It is that which arises with each group of kamma[ja-rūpa] (produced by kamma), which conditions what the living being is, as femininity or masculinity. And the others or the rest are the nāma, not the rūpa.

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Video image: Northern Gate pillar, Sanchi Great Stupa