Aṇguttara Nikāya
Pañcaka Nipāta
I: Sekha-Bala Vagga
The Book of Fives
Sutta 2
Sekha-Bala-Vitthata Suttaṃ
The Seeker's Allies
Analyzed Separately[1]
Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds
[1][pts][than][bodh] There are these five allies (Powers) of the seeker; what are these five?
The trust-ally,
the sense-of-shame-ally,
the fear-of-blame-ally,
the energy-ally,
the wisdom-ally.
And what, Beggars, is the trust-ally?
Here, Beggars, the student of the Aristocrats has trust.
He has trust in the awakening of the Tathāgata:
'Thus is the Bhagava, Arahant, Consummately-Self-Awakened, perfected in vision and conduct, The Welcome One, World-Knower, unsurpassable Dhamma-coach for man, teacher of gods and men, a Buddha, The Lucky Man.'[2]
This, Beggars, is the trust ally, so say I.
And what, Beggars, is the sense-of-shame-ally?
Here, Beggars, the student of the Aristocrats has sense-of-shame.
Sense-of-shame follows after injurious conduct of body, injurious conduct of speech, injurious conduct of mind.
Sense-of-shame follows after any bad, unskillful state he attains.
This, Beggars, is the sense-of-shame-ally, so say I.
And what, Beggars, is the fear-of-blame-ally?
Here, Beggars, the student of the Aristocrats has fear-of-blame.
Fear-of-blame follows after injurious conduct of body, injurious conduct of speech, injurious conduct of mind.
Fear-of-blame follows after any bad, unskillful state he attains.
This, Beggars, is the fear-of-blame-ally, so say I.
And what, Beggars, is the energy-ally?
Here, Beggars, the student of the Aristocrats is habitually energetic.
Letting go of unskillful things,
acquiring skillful things,
steadfastly pursuing progress,
not putting down the yoke of skillful things.
This, Beggars, is the energy-ally, so say I.
And what, Beggars, is the wisdom-ally?
Here, Beggars, the student of the Aristocrats has wisdom.
He is wise to comings and goings
having penetrated for himself
that consummate Aristocratic going to the end of pain.[3]
This, Beggars, is the wisdom-ally, so say I.
These, then, Beggars, are five allies of the seeker.
Wherefore, Beggars, train yourselves this way:
"We shall make live within us 'the trust-ally,' ally of seekers.
"We shall make live within us 'the sense-of-shame-ally,' ally of seekers.
"We shall make live within us 'the fear-of-blame-ally,' ally of seekers.
"We shall make live within us 'the energy-ally,' ally of seekers.
"We shall make live within us 'the wisdom-ally,' ally of seekers.
This is how you should train yourselves!
[1] Vitthāra: Split-stood-around; split up, stood up on their own, examined all-round.
[2] Bhk. Thanissaro (Wings to Awakening, pp 140): "Now what, monks, is the faculty of conviction? There is the case where a monk, a noble disciple, has conviction, is convinced of the Tathāgata's Awakening: 'Indeed, the Blessed One is worthy and rightly self-awakened, consummate in knowledge and conduct, well-gone, an expert with regard to the world, unexcelled as a trainer for those people fit to be tamed, the Teacher of divine and human beings, awakened, blessed.'"
Hare pp. 2: "Herein, monks, the Ariyan disciple has faith and believes in the enlightenment of the Tathāgata: Of a truth he is the Exalted One, arahant, fully enlightened, abounding in wisdom and right, the well-gone, the world-knower, the incomparable tamer of tamable men, the teacher of devas and men, the Buddha, the Exalted One."
[3] Since this is a series directed at the seeker, not the adept, I view this as intending "understanding the Magga", The Way: High Views; High Principles, High Talk, High Works, High Lifestyle, High Self-Control, High Mind, and High Getting High.
