iddhipāda
Bases of success
[ id-dee-PAA-da ]
Seeing it in life
The four iddhipādas are dominant factors that, when developed, lead to success in concentration and the supernormal powers.
In short
Chanda, viriya, citta, vīmaṃsā — four bases of spiritual power.
The analysis
Four bases of success are enumerated — chanda (wish, desire-to-act), viriya (energy), citta (determined focus), vīmaṃsā (investigation applied to the task) — any one of which can serve as the dominant factor that, when sufficiently developed, leads to mastery in a given undertaking, traditionally including the supernormal powers described in the texts. Each iddhipāda names a different personality-type entry point.
Where it sits
Iddhipāda shares factors with the broader faculty and enlightenment-factor schemes, but is organized specifically around what drives sustained mastery of a skill or practice, making it a more practically oriented framework.
Recognizing which of the four tends to actually sustain one's own effort on a difficult project — wanting it enough, pushing through with energy, sheer determined focus, or genuine curiosity about how it works — is a practical, personal application of the iddhipāda scheme.
Commonly mistaken for
Literal magical powers as the point of the teaching. While traditionally associated with supernormal abilities, the four bases function as a general framework for sustained mastery of any undertaking.
Four equally necessary components required together. Any one of the four, sufficiently developed, is described as capable of serving as the dominant driving factor.
Iddhipāda Saṃyutta (SN 51); Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha VII.
Related terms