No Pali title given in the source, marked only by a tilde — Rāgapeyyāla, the twenty-ninth and final 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
AN 5.303–305's structure, with the classic five faculties as the development list
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The five faculties (indriya) are foundational across all Buddhist traditions; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — short, and worth distinguishing carefully from a formula this book has used before
Why this discourse
A formula that sounds familiar but genuinely is not. This discourse's development list is faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom — the more widely known version of the five faculties. It is easy to mistake this for the sekhabala that opened this book at AN 5.1, but that formula, and every recurrence of it since, substitutes conscience and prudence for mindfulness and immersion. This is a different list, appearing under this exact wording for the first time in this project.
Reading guide
A name that invites confusion
This discourse's five items — saddhindriya, vīriyindriya, satindriya, samādhindriya, paññindriya — are the faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom, the version of this formula most commonly cited across Buddhist traditions generally.
Not the book's own recurring variant
This book's own formula, first stated at AN 5.1 as the sekhabala and repeated as the tathāgatabala at AN 5.11 and again at AN 5.204, substitutes conscience (hiri) and prudence (ottappa) for mindfulness and immersion. AN 5.204 itself already flagged this as ‘a different formula from the more famous five bala’ — a difference this discourse's own wording now confirms directly, since it uses the terms AN 5.204 said this book does not use.
Genuinely new material, this late in the book
This exact five-item combination — with mindfulness and immersion rather than conscience and prudence — does not appear anywhere earlier in this project's coverage of the Fives. Its first full appearance, under this precise wording, is here, four discourses before the book's very last page.
Faculties, and powers to follow
This discourse names the five as indriya, faculties; AN 5.307, immediately next, restates the identical five under the bala, powers, framing — the same faculty/power distinction this book has drawn before, now applied to this different underlying list.
What follows
AN 5.307 supplies this chapter's fifth and final individually stated development list: the same five qualities once more, named this time as powers.
Key terms
saddhindriya, vīriyindriya, satindriya, samādhindriya, paññindriya — the faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom — the widely known version of this formula, distinct from this book's own recurring variant.
sekhabala — “powers of a trainee”, this book's own formula from AN 5.1: faith, conscience, prudence, energy, wisdom — substituting conscience and prudence for this discourse's mindfulness and immersion.
sati, samādhi — mindfulness and immersion — the two items that distinguish this discourse's list from the sekhabala/tathāgatabala formula used elsewhere in this book.
hiri, ottappa — conscience and prudence — the two items this book's own recurring formula uses in place of this discourse's mindfulness and immersion.
rāgassa abhiññāya — “for insight into greed” — the identical frame shared by all five opening discourses of this chapter.
The text
The discourse in full: the five faculties, reframed as what should be developed for insight into greed. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Five things to develop, for insight into greed
§1“For insight into greed, five things should be developed. What five? The faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom. For insight into greed, these five things should be developed.”
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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
What five items does this discourse name as its development list?
Correct: A. The widely known version of the five faculties.
Question 2 of 10
Is this the same formula that opened this book at AN 5.1?
Correct: A. Easy to mistake for one another, but genuinely different lists.
Question 3 of 10
Where did this book already flag the distinction this discourse now confirms?
Correct: A. AN 5.204's own guide names the distinction directly.
Question 4 of 10
What two items does this discourse's list include that this book's own recurring formula does not?
Correct: A. The book's own formula substitutes conscience and prudence for these two.
Question 5 of 10
How does the guide describe this discourse's appearance this late in the book?
Correct: A. Its first full appearance under this precise wording is here.
Question 6 of 10
What term does this discourse use for the five qualities?
Correct: A. AN 5.307, next, restates the same list as bala, powers.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'hiri' and 'ottappa' mean, and where do they appear in this book?
Correct: A. First named at AN 5.1, and recurring at AN 5.11 and AN 5.204.
Question 8 of 10
What frame does this discourse share with AN 5.303–305?
Correct: A. Unchanged across all five opening discourses of this chapter.
Question 9 of 10
What does AN 5.307 do with this same five-item formula next?
Correct: A. This chapter's fifth and final individually stated development list.
Question 10 of 10
What is this discourse's overall form?
Correct: A. Identical opening and closing formula, differing only in content.
