A single named power, stated to override a different party's own fivefold list
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
A rough counterpart may exist in the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (T99), though this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — the sharpest reversal in Balavagga so far, worth reading carefully against SN 37.25–27
Why this discourse
Where SN 37.25–27 described what a lady's own five powers achieve, this discourse turns to the husband's side: “by means of one power,” it states, a man lives having mastered a lady — the power of authority (issariyabala). When a lady is overpowered by this single power, the discourse states plainly, none of her own five — attractiveness, wealth, relatives, children, ethical behavior — avails her. Read alongside the escalating triptych just finished, this discourse names the one structural condition the text presents as capable of undoing everything that triptych described: not a personal quality the wife might lack, but a formal position of authority the husband holds. This reading guide presents the claim as this saṃyutta itself frames it — a diagnostic statement about a social hierarchy the text assumes, not an endorsement offered without context.
Reading guide
A single power, named for the first time
Issariyabala — “the power of authority, lordship” — belongs to the husband, not the wife, and appears nowhere in SN 37.25–27's own fivefold list; this discourse introduces it specifically to override that list.
What the reversal does and doesn't claim
The discourse states that authority overrides attractiveness, wealth, relatives, children, and ethical behavior when a lady is mastered by it — a statement about the relative weight of formal social position against personal qualities, framed here as a fact about the society the text describes rather than as instruction to any listener.
A structural counterweight, not a contradiction
SN 37.25–27 and this discourse are not inconsistent with each other: the earlier triptych describes what a lady's own five powers can achieve when nothing overrides them, and this discourse names the one condition — found on the husband's side, not the wife's — capable of doing exactly that.
Key terms
issariyabalena — “by the power of authority, lordship” — this discourse's own single named power, held by the husband rather than the wife
mātugāmaṁ abhibhuyya vattati — “lives having mastered a lady” — here applied to the husband, mirroring SN 37.27's own identical verb applied to the wife
neva... tāyati — “does not avail her” — repeated five times, once for each of the powers this discourse names as overridden
bhikkhave — “mendicants” — the Buddha's own address term, opening this discourse and every other discourse in this vagga
catutthaṁ — “fourth” — this discourse's own untranslated closing ordinal
The text
The complete discourse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, by means of one power a man lives having mastered a lady. By means of what one power? When a lady has been mastered by the power of authority, her powers of attractiveness, wealth, relatives, children, and ethical behavior do not avail her.”
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Self-check quiz
4 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 4
What single power does this discourse attribute to a man who masters a lady?
Correct: A. A power named here for the first time, held by the husband rather than the wife.
Question 2 of 4
What happens to a lady's own five powers when she is mastered by this authority?
Correct: A. "Neva... tāyati" repeated five times, once per power named in SN 37.25–27's own list.
Question 3 of 4
How does this reading guide characterize the relationship between this discourse and SN 37.25-27?
Correct: A. The earlier triptych describes what a lady's own powers achieve absent this one override; this discourse names that override.
Question 4 of 4
Whose side of the relationship does "issariyabala" belong to, according to this discourse?
Correct: A. A formal position of authority the husband holds, distinct from any of the wife's own five listed powers.
