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Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 5.2

In Detail

Vitthatasutta — Sekhabalavagga — the first chapter of the Fives

Setting
None stated; the discourse continues from AN 5.1, whose setting at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove is understood to hold
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
The same five named again, then each defined in turn by a short fixed formula, closing with the same injunction to train as AN 5.1
Length
~3 minutes to read
Northern parallel
The individual definitions — especially the nine-quality recollection of the Buddha — are pan-canonical formulas found across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — five short definitions, one of them a formula already met elsewhere in this series

Why this discourse

AN 5.1 named five powers and said nothing about what any of them meant. This discourse keeps the promise its own title makes: vitthata, in detail. Each of the five gets one paragraph, in the same order, closed by the same phrase — this is called the power of — four times over before the pattern breaks for wisdom. Read next to AN 5.1, the pair shows a working method the collection uses repeatedly: state a list bare, then state it again with the content filled in.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

Faith is recollecting the Buddha’s nine qualities; conscience and prudence are shame and dread at bad conduct, worded identically apart from the one term that names each; energy is effort aimed at giving up the unskillful and taking up the skillful; wisdom here is specifically insight into arising and passing away.

Faith, defined by its object

The power of faith is not defined as a feeling of confidence in general. It is defined as recollecting a fixed list: the Realized 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. Nine epithets, recited as a unit.

This exact formula, buddhānussati, already has its own glossary entry at AN 1.296–305, where it is one of ten objects of recollection. What is worth adding here is what AN 5.2 does with it: faith is not left as an undefined mood but is tied to a specific, memorizable object, so that “having faith” becomes something a person can check — do I hold these nine in mind, or not — rather than something only felt.

Conscience and prudence, worded as a matched pair

The two definitions are built from the same sentence with one word changed. Both concern kāyaduccarita, vacīduccarita, manoduccarita — bad conduct by body, speech, and mind — and both concern acquiring any bad, unskillful qualities. The only difference between them on the page is hirīyati versus ottappati: is conscientious about, is prudent regarding.

AN 5.1’s guide already pointed to AN 2.9 for the fuller distinction between the two — shame that looks inward against dread that looks outward. This discourse does not draw that distinction itself; it simply gives both the identical scope and lets the reader supply, from what was already established, why one word is not simply a synonym for the other.

Energy, defined by direction

The power of energy is not effort in the abstract. It has a stated direction: roused up for giving up unskillful qualities and embracing skillful qualities. The formula then adds three intensifiers — strong, staunchly vigorous, not slacking off — but the direction comes first in the sentence and does the defining work. A person could work very hard at the wrong thing; this definition rules that reading out before it can arise.

Wisdom, defined narrowly

Of the five, wisdom gets the most restrictive definition. It is not learning, or cleverness, or doctrinal knowledge. It is specifically the wisdom of arising and passing away which is noble, penetrative, and leads to the complete ending of suffering — insight into how conditioned things come to be and cease, aimed in one direction only.

This narrowing matters for how to read the rest of the chapter. When later discourses in the Fives speak of a mendicant being ‘witless’ or ‘wise’, the specific insight named here is the standard the word is quietly measured against, not general intelligence.

What the chapter does with this now

Having filled in all five, the discourse closes with the identical injunction AN 5.1 used: train so as to have them. From here the chapter turns to consequences — what happens, in this life and the next, to a mendicant who has these five or lacks them — which is where AN 5.3 begins.

Key terms

buddhānussati — “recollection of the Buddha” — the nine-quality formula that defines the power of faith here, already given its own entry at AN 1.296–305.
hirībalaṁ — “power of conscience” — shame at bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, and at acquiring unskillful qualities generally.
ottappabalaṁ — “power of prudence” — worded identically to conscience apart from the one verb; the outward-facing partner AN 2.9 calls its co-protector of the world.
āraddhavīriya — “energy roused up” — effort defined by its direction, toward giving up the unskillful and taking up the skillful, before its intensity is even mentioned.
udayatthagāminī paññā — “wisdom leading to arising and passing away” — the specific, narrow sense of wisdom this discourse uses: insight, not learning or cleverness.

The text

The discourse in full: the five named again, then each defined in turn, closing with the same injunction to train. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

The five, named again

§1“Mendicants, there are these five powers of a trainee. What five? The powers of faith, conscience, prudence, energy, and wisdom.

The power of faith

§2And what is the power of faith? 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.’ This is called the power of faith.

The power of conscience

§3And what is the power of conscience? It’s when a noble disciple has a conscience. They’re conscientious about bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, and conscientious about having any bad, unskillful qualities. This is called the power of conscience.

The power of prudence

§4And what is the power of prudence? It’s when a noble disciple is prudent. They’re prudent when it comes to bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind, and prudent when it comes to acquiring any bad, unskillful qualities. This is called the power of prudence.

The power of energy

§5And what is the power of energy? It’s when a noble disciple lives 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. This is called the power of energy.

The power of wisdom

§6And what is the power of wisdom? It’s when a noble disciple is wise. They have the wisdom of arising and passing away which is noble, penetrative, and leads to the complete ending of suffering. This is called the power of wisdom. These are the five powers of a trainee.

The injunction

§7So you should train like this: ‘We will have the trainee’s powers of faith, conscience, prudence, energy, and wisdom.’ That’s how you should train.”

· · ·

Self-check quiz

Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 10
How does AN 5.2 define the power of faith?
Correct: B. The same buddhānussati formula already glossed at AN 1.296–305.
Question 2 of 10
What single word changes between the definitions of conscience and prudence?
Correct: B. Both concern bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, and unskillful qualities generally.
Question 3 of 10
Where was the fuller distinction between conscience and prudence already drawn in this series?
Correct: B. AN 5.2 gives both definitions identical scope and leaves the distinction to what was already established.
Question 4 of 10
How does the discourse define the power of energy?
Correct: B. Direction comes first in the sentence and does the defining work.
Question 5 of 10
How is the power of wisdom defined here?
Correct: C. A narrow, specific sense of wisdom — not cleverness in general.
Question 6 of 10
Why does the guide say this narrow definition of wisdom matters for reading the rest of the chapter?
Correct: B. The standard set here is the quiet measure for later discourses in the chapter.
Question 7 of 10
How many discrete qualities make up the buddhānussati formula used to define faith?
Correct: C. Perfected, fully awakened, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the world, supreme guide, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed.
Question 8 of 10
What does AN 5.2 close with?
Correct: B. The pair of discourses share the same closing formula, not only the same list.
Question 9 of 10
What working method do AN 5.1 and AN 5.2 together demonstrate?
Correct: A. A method this reading guide flags because it recurs across the collection.
Question 10 of 10
What does the chapter turn to once both AN 5.1 and AN 5.2 have established the list?
Correct: B. Beginning at AN 5.3, the very next discourse.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousAN 5.1 · In Brief