The ninth path-formulation names the five powers — faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom, the identical five qualities SN 43.9's own immediately preceding discourse named as faculties — closing this vagga's own pair of discourses built on one shared list of five under two different collective terms.
Reading guide
The same five qualities, a second name
“Pañca balāni” — “the five powers” — names the identical five qualities SN 43.8 called faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom, confirmed by direct comparison of both discourses' own root Pali rather than assumed from the two terms' shared numbering.
A conventional distinction this discourse does not draw
Elsewhere in the tradition, “faculty” (indriya) and “power” (bala) are sometimes distinguished by degree — the same quality present but still subject to its own opposite as a faculty, unshakeable by its own opposite once matured into a power — but this discourse itself offers no such gloss, simply repeating the five under the second name.
Key terms
pañca balāni — “the five powers” — the identical five qualities SN 43.8 named as faculties, under a second collective term
saddhābalaṁ — “the power of faith” — the first of the five, presupposed rather than spelled out in this discourse's own text
paññābalaṁ — “the power of wisdom” — the fifth and last, likewise presupposed here
asaṅkhatagāmimaggo — “the path that leads to the unconditioned” — the question this discourse opens directly on
navamaṁ — “ninth” — this vagga's own internal count-marker, left untranslated in the root
The text
The complete discourse, as genuinely translated — this vagga's own compressed form. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“And what is the path that leads to the unconditioned? The five powers. …”
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Self-check quiz
3 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 3
What does this discourse name as "the path that leads to the unconditioned"?
Correct: A. The five powers — the identical five qualities SN 43.8 called faculties, under a second collective term.
Question 2 of 3
How does this reading guide describe the conventional distinction sometimes drawn between "faculty" and "power"?
Correct: A. A conventional gloss found elsewhere in the tradition, not something this particular discourse's own compressed text offers.
Question 3 of 3
This vagga's discourses SN 43.8 and SN 43.9 both list the same how-many qualities?
Correct: A. Faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom, named as faculties in SN 43.8 and as powers here.
