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Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 7.3

Powers in Brief

Saṁkhittabalasutta — Dhanavagga — the first chapter of the Sevens

Setting
Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery; stated at the head of AN 7.1 and understood to hold across the chapter unless a fresh setting is given
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single seven-item list, named briefly, closing on verse — the shorter half of a brief/elaborated pair with AN 7.4
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The seven powers (bala) as a standard set closely paralleling the five spiritual faculties plus two further items recur throughout the Chinese Āgamas and Abhidharma literature; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief, naming seven terms without elaboration, closing on a memorable verse

Why this discourse

AN 7.3 names seven powers — faith, energy, conscience, prudence, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom — bare, with no explanation of any one term, closing on a verse that restates the list in poetic form and ends on the striking image of “liberation of the heart... like a lamp going out.” AN 7.4, immediately following, will spell out every term this discourse leaves unexplained.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

There are seven powers: faith, energy, conscience, prudence, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom, empowering an astute mendicant to live happily and examine the teaching with wisdom.

A brief half, deliberately withholding explanation

Unlike AN 7.4's fuller treatment, this discourse offers no definition for any of its seven terms — simply naming them, restating them in verse, and trusting the reader either to already know their meaning or to encounter the elaboration at the very next discourse.

Five familiar terms, plus two shared with the five faculties

Saddhā (faith), viriya (energy), sati (mindfulness), samādhi (immersion), and paññā (wisdom) are five of the standard five spiritual faculties (indriya) already met throughout this series; this list replaces the faculties' own internal completeness with two further items, hiri (conscience) and ottappa (prudence), producing seven powers rather than five faculties.

A closing image already familiar from this series

The verse's closing line, comparing the heart's liberation to “a lamp going out” (padīpasseva nibbānaṁ), uses the same root image, nibbāna as an extinguished flame, that has run throughout this collection's treatment of extinguishment since the Sixes.

Key terms

bala — “power” — this discourse's own term for its seven-item list, closely related to but distinct from the five spiritual faculties (indriya).
saddhā, vīriya, sati, samādhi, paññā — “faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, wisdom” — five of this list's seven items, matching the standard five spiritual faculties by name.
hiri, ottappa — “conscience, prudence” — the two further items distinguishing this seven-item list from the five-item faculties.
padīpasseva nibbānaṁ — “like a lamp going out” — the verse's closing image for the heart's liberation, the same extinguished-flame image recurring throughout this collection's treatment of nibbāna.
saṁkhitta, vitthata — “in brief, in detail” — the terms distinguishing this discourse from AN 7.4, its elaborated companion.

The text

The discourse in full: the seven powers named in brief, closing on verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

The setting

§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. … “Mendicants, there are these seven powers. What seven? The powers of faith, energy, conscience, prudence, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom. These are the seven powers.

The seven powers, named in brief

§2The powers are faith and energy, conscience and prudence, mindfulness and immersion, and wisdom as the seventh power. Empowered by these, an astute mendicant lives happily.

The closing verse

§3They should examine the teaching rationally, discerning the meaning with wisdom. The liberation of their heart is like a lamp going out.”

· · ·

Self-check quiz

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

Question 1 of 6
What seven powers does this discourse name?
Correct: B. Seven powers, five of which match the standard five spiritual faculties by name.
Question 2 of 6
How does this discourse treat its seven terms, unlike AN 7.4?
Correct: B. The shorter half of a brief/elaborated pair.
Question 3 of 6
How does this seven-item list relate to the five spiritual faculties (indriya)?
Correct: B. A closely related but numerically distinct set.
Question 4 of 6
What image closes this discourse's verse?
Correct: B. The same extinguished-flame image for nibbāna recurring throughout this collection.
Question 5 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 7.3?
Correct: A. A fresh full setting, restated after AN 7.2's bare formula.
Question 6 of 6
What does hiri mean?
Correct: B. One of the two items distinguishing this seven-item list from the five faculties.
Answered 0 of 6 · Correct 0

Further reading

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