A Conversation About Buddhism
Author: Anup Poudyal
Publisher: The Middle Way Publications
Edition: Authorised Machine-Accessible Edition
Section: Chapter 25
Chapter Title: Five Factors of Striving
Pāli Title: Pañca Padhāniyaṅgā
Copyright: © 2026 Anup Poudyal. All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER TEXT

Chapter 25: Five Factors of Striving Pañca Padhāniyaṅgā

There are moments on the path when practice becomes deeply personal, even though the teaching itself is not. A practitioner begins to notice differences. One person seems to progress quickly, another struggles despite sincere effort. Someone hears a teaching once and understands deeply, while another studies for years and remains uncertain. Without intending to, comparison arises. Questions follow naturally: Why them and not me? What am I missing? Is awakening a matter of talent, effort, or something unseen?

These concerns are not modern doubts. They appeared during the Buddha’s own lifetime, among people who practised directly under his guidance. The early discourses preserve several occasions where such questions surfaced, revealing that uncertainty about progress is not a failure of practice but a predictable stage within it. The Buddha did not dismiss these concerns, nor did he answer them with encouragement alone. Instead, he redirected attention away from personal comparison toward the conditions that shape development.

One of the clearest treatments of this issue appears in a dialogue involving Prince Bodhi. The setting is not a meditation hall or forest retreat, but a royal residence, reminding us that the Dhamma unfolded within ordinary human environments shaped by status, expectation, and ambition. The prince’s inquiry opens a deeper investigation: why do teachings that are equally available produce unequal results?

Rather than offering reassurance or metaphysical explanations, the Buddha responds with careful observation. Progress on the path, he explains, does not depend on identity, social position, or even sincerity alone. It depends on specific qualities that determine how practice is undertaken and sus-

tained. These qualities later come to be known as the Five Factors of Striving. In this chapter, we will follow the discourse closely, not as abstract

doctrine, but as a mirror held up to practice itself. The aim is not to measure progress, but to understand the conditions under which awakening becomes possible. Let us begin by looking at the relevant portion of the discourse.

Majjhima Nikāya 85 With Prince Bodhi

English translation by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0 public domain), from SuttaCentral

Prince Bodhi said to the Buddha, ‘Sir, when a mendicant has the Realized One as trainer, how long would it take for them to realise the supreme end of the spiritual path in this very life?’

‘Well then, prince, I’ll ask you about this in return, and you can answer as you like. What do you think, prince? Are you skilled in the art of wielding a hooked goad while riding an elephant?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘What do you think, prince? Suppose a man were to come along thinking, “Prince Bodhi knows the art of wielding a hooked goad while riding an elephant. I’ll train in that art under him.” If he’s faithless, he wouldn’t achieve what he could with faith. If he’s unhealthy, he wouldn’t achieve what he could with good health. If he’s devious or deceitful, he wouldn’t achieve what he could with honesty and integrity. If he’s lazy, he wouldn’t achieve what he could with energy. If he’s stupid, he wouldn’t achieve what he could with wisdom. What do you think, prince? Could that man still train under you in the art of wielding a hooked goad while riding an elephant?’

‘Sir, if he had even a single one of these factors he couldn’t train under me, let alone all five.’

‘What do you think, prince? Suppose a man were to come along thinking, “Prince Bodhi knows the art of wielding a hooked goad while riding an elephant. I’ll train in that art under him.” If he’s faithful, he’d achieve

what he could with faith. If he’s healthy, he’d achieve what he could with good health. If he’s honest and has integrity, he’d achieve what he could with honesty and integrity. If he’s energetic, he’d achieve what he could with energy. If he’s wise, he’d achieve what he could with wisdom. What do you think, prince? Could that man still train under you in the art of wielding a hooked goad while riding an elephant?’

‘Sir, if he had even a single one of these factors he could train under me, let alone all five.’

‘In the same way, prince, there are these five factors that support meditation. What five? It’s when a noble disciple has faith in the Realized One’s awakening: “That Blessed One is perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide for those fit for training, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed.” They are rarely ill or unwell. Their stomach digests well, being neither too hot nor too cold, but just right, and fit for meditation. They’re not devious or deceitful. They reveal themselves honestly to the Teacher or sensible spiritual companions. They live with energy roused up for giving up unskillful qualities and embracing skillful qualities. They’re strong, staunchly vigorous, not slacking off when it comes to developing skillful qualities. They’re wise. They have the wisdom of arising and passing away which is noble, penetrative, and leads to the complete ending of suffering. These are the five factors that support meditation.

‘When a mendicant with these five factors that support meditation has the Realized One as trainer, they could realise the supreme end of the spiritual path in seven years. Let alone seven years, they could realise the supreme end of the spiritual path in six years, or as little as one year.* Let alone one year, when a mendicant with these five factors that support meditation has the Realized One as trainer, they could realise the supreme end of the spiritual path in seven months, or as little as one day. Let alone one day, when a mendicant with these five factors that support meditation has the Realized One as trainer, they could be instructed at dusk and achieve distinction at daybreak, or be instructed at daybreak and achieve distinction at dusk.’

What Can We Draw From This Discourse?

Prince Bodhi asks how long awakening might take under different conditions, but the Buddha redirects attention towards the conditions that make training effective. The important question becomes less about how long awakening takes and more about what needs to be present for progress to occur.

1. Awakening Is Presented as Skilled Training

The elephant goad analogy is significant. Training an elephant was a demanding technical discipline requiring precision, composure, and sustained instruction under a skilled teacher. It was not learned casually or through inspiration alone.

By choosing this comparison, the Buddha places awakening in the same category: a refined human capacity developed through disciplined training. Liberation is therefore neither accidental nor dependent on inspiration alone. It is learnable, but only when the necessary conditions are present.

Practice is thus reframed. The question is no longer, ‘How long will it take?’ but rather, ‘Are the conditions for training being cultivated?’

2. The Path Requires Development Across Multiple Domains

The five supporting factors described are not random virtues. Each stabilises a different dimension of practice:

1. Faith gives direction and the willingness to train.

2. Physical well-being provides the endurance needed to continue.

3. Honesty and integrity create the conditions for genuine learning.

4. Energy gives practice the vitality to deepen beyond its familiar limits.

5. Wisdom makes direct seeing possible and guides practice towards freedom.

Together, these factors span ethical conduct, psychological maturity, physical balance, meditation, and insight. Awakening is shown to depend on the integration of the whole person rather than excellence in meditation alone. Training succeeds when these dimensions support one another.

3. Practice Begins from Workable Conditions

The discourse does not present awakening as an all-or-nothing achievement reserved for those who already have fully developed qualities. Training becomes possible whenever supportive qualities exist in workable degrees.

Through the analogy of technical instruction, Prince Bodhi explains that learning can proceed when essential qualities are present, while their complete absence makes training ineffective. The Buddha adopts this structure to illuminate spiritual development. Faith, health, honesty, energy, and wisdom are not rewards gained after practice; they are the conditions that allow practice to function in the first place.

Development, therefore, begins not from completion but from sufficiency. Practitioners progress even while feeling unfinished because growth starts from workable conditions, not perfect ones. As these qualities strengthen, training deepens naturally.

4. Each Person Advances Through Different Strengths

The Buddha’s example contains a subtler insight. He does not say that progress depends on possessing all five qualities equally. Instead, he explains that once training has begun, a student achieves what can be achieved through whichever condition becomes most active and supportive. One may progress through faith when confidence becomes steady, through health when the body supports endurance, through honesty when integrity stabilises learning, through energy when effort becomes sustained, or through wisdom when discernment deepens.

The path, therefore, does not impose a single starting point. Different practitioners may enter training with different strengths, and their progress then unfolds according to how these conditions develop during practice. Comparison becomes unnecessary, because development is conditional rather than uniform. The discourse quietly answers why individuals advance differently under the same teaching: awakening unfolds through conditions already present within a person, strengthened through practice rather than created all at once.

5. Alignment Matters More Than Intensity

Alongside encouragement, the discourse also carries a quiet warning. Just as supportive qualities enable training, opposing tendencies can obstruct it. The tradition later preserves figures such as Devadatta as reminders that ability, effort, or even meditative attainment alone are insufficient when integrity and wisdom are lacking. Progress depends not only on intensity, but also on the development of supporting qualities and the weakening of the hindrances.

Understood in this way, the path becomes both realistic and demanding. Liberation is neither accidental nor reserved for the extraordinary. It

becomes accessible whenever the supporting conditions are cultivated and protected.

6. Time Is Secondary to Conditions

The range, extending from years to a single day, is not a promise of rapid attainment nor a demand for extreme effort. It demonstrates variability. When conditions are mature, insight may arise quickly; when they are weak, development takes longer. The determining factor is not the calendar, but preparation.

The discourse, therefore, removes both impatience and discouragement. Practice is neither a race nor an impossibility. It is the steady cultivation of causes whose results unfold when conditions are ready.