Aṇguttara Nikāya
Pañcaka Nipāta
II: Bala Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fives
II: The Powers
Sutta 11
Tathāgata Bala Suttaṃ
Things Unheard Of
Translated by E. M. Hare
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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Once the Exalted One dwelt near Sāvatthī;
and there he addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
'Yes, lord,' they replied; and the Exalted One said:
"Monks, I claim to have reached supreme mastery
in things not heard of formerly.[1]
Monks,[2] for a Tathāgata
these are the five powers
of one who has won through to the truth,
possessed of which
a Tathāgata claims the chief place,
roars the lion's roar among the peoples
and sets rolling the Divine Wheel.
What five?
The power of faith,
the power of conscientiousness,
the power of the fear of blame,
the power of energy
and the power of insight.
Monks, for a Tathāgata
these are the five powers
of one who has won through to the truth,
possessed of which a Tathāgata claims the chief place,
roars the lion's roar among the peoples
and sets rolling the Divine Wheel.'
[1] Cf. M. ii, 211 for this phrase, suggestive, where it stands, of later insertion; Comy. for dhammā: things, glosses with catu-sacca-dhammā.
[2] This passage recurs at M. i, 69; S. ii, 27; A. ii, 9; v, 33, etc., where generally ten powers are referred to, and are totally different from these five. As a set these five do not appear to occur except in this Section; they are included in the Sevens; see A. iv, 3, also D. iii, 253. It is difficult to see how they are the powers of a Tathāgata. Comy. observes: Yathā tehi gantahbaṃ tath'eva gatāni pavattāni ñāṇabalāni. See Introduction.
