The Classification of the Powers and Their Groumds

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

[1][pts][upal] I hear tell:

Once upon a time The Lucky Man,
Sāvātthi-town revisiting,
Anāthapiṇḍika's Jetavana sporting ground.

"Four, Beggars, are the powers.^[1]

What four?

The power of wisdom,^[2]
the power of energy,^[3]
the power of bamelessness,^[4]
the power of friendliness.^[5]

■

And what, beggars, is
the power of wisdom?

Whatever thing is unskillful,
reckoned^[6] unskillful,
whatsoever thing is skillful,^[7]
reckoned skillful,
whatsoever thing is blameable^[8]
reckoned blameable,
whatsoever thing is blameless
reckoned blameless,
whatsoever thing is dark^[9]
reckoned dark,
whatsoever thing is bright^[10]
reckoned bright,
whatsoever thing should not be practiced^[11]
reckoned as not to be practiced
whatsoever thing should be practiced
reckoned as to be practiced
whatsoever thing is not aristocratic^[12]
reckoned as not aristocratic
whatsoever thing is aristocratic
reckoned as aristocratic
— these things become clearly seen and
understood
through wisdom.

This, beggars, is called
'the power of wisdom'.

■

And what, beggars, is
the power of energy?

Whatever thing is unskillful,
reckoned unskillful,
whatsoever thing is blameable
reckoned blameable,
whatsoever thing is dark
reckoned dark,
whatsoever thing should not be practiced
reckoned as not to be practiced
whatsoever thing is not aristocratic
reckoned as not aristocratic
— taking up the fight
against these manifold things
undertaking the generation of resolve
striving
exerting energy
to let them go —
whatever thing is skillful,
reckoned skillful,
whatsoever thing is blameless
reckoned blameless,
whatsoever thing is bright
reckoned bright,
whatsoever thing should be practiced
reckoned as to be practiced
whatsoever thing is aristocratic
reckoned as aristocratic
— taking up the struggle
to achieve these manifold things
undertaking the generation of resolve
striving
exerting energy
to get them
this, beggars, is called
'the power of energy'.

■

And what, beggars, is
the power of bamelessness?

Here, beggars, the student of the aristocrats
has got blameless deeds of body,
has got blameless deeds of speech,
has got blameless deeds of mind.

This, beggars, is called
'the power of blamelessness'.

■

And what, beggars, is
the power of friendliness?

There are, beggars,
four grounds of friendliness:

Giving,
kind speech,
useful behavior,
equality.

This, beggars, is
the best of gifts,
that is to say,
the gift of Dhamma.

This, beggars, is
the best of kind speech,
that is to say,
discussing the profitability of Dhamma
again and again
with the attentive listener.

This, beggars, is
the best of useful behaviors,
that is to say,
the rousing,
setting up,
establishment,
of those without faith,
in the attainment of faith;
the rousing,
setting up,
establishment,
of those without ethics,
in the attainment of ethics;
the rousing,
setting up,
establishment,
of those without generosity,
in the attainment of generosity;
the rousing,
setting up,
establishment,
of those without wisdom,
in the attainment of wisdom

This, beggars, is
the best of equalities,
that is to say,
the equality of
streamwinners with streamwinners,
the equality of
once-returners with once-returners,
the equality of
non-returners with non-returners,
the equality of
arahants with arahants.

This, beggars, is called
'the power of friendliness'.

These then, beggars, are
'the four powers.'"

"When, beggars, these four powers are attained
by the student of the aristocrats
he has altogether undercut^[13]
five fears.

What five?

The fear of
having no means of livlihood,^[14]
the fear of obscurity,^[15]
the fear that is
timmidity among assembled groups,
the fear of death,
the fear of a bad rebirth.

As to these then, beggars,
the student of the aristocrats
thinks over the matter
this way:

'I have no fear of
the fear of
having no means of livlihood.

Why should I have fear of
the fear of
having no means of livlihood?

There are my four powers: