Reading guide
A question posed directly, breaking from the bare declarative pattern
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse departs from the bare declarative form used throughout most of this vagga — it opens with a mendicant's own narrative approach and direct question, matching the form this project met earlier at SN 48.18's own discourse, though the two ask about different things.
A new qualifying phrase: leading to peace, leading to awakening
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse's own answer defines “accomplished in the faculties” through a phrase not used in the earlier discourses of this vagga: each faculty must be developed “upasamagāmiṁ sambodhagāmiṁ” (“leading to peace, leading to awakening”) — naming the faculties' own proper orientation, not their degree of completion as the earlier scales did.
Direction, not degree -- a different axis of measurement
This project's own direct comparison confirms this discourse measures the faculties along a genuinely DIFFERENT axis than SN 48.12-18: those earlier discourses distinguished levels by HOW MUCH of the faculties one has; this discourse instead asks whether the faculties, however much one has, are being developed in the RIGHT DIRECTION.
Key terms
The text
§1 — the mendicant's own questionThen a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, they speak of someone who is ‘accomplished in the faculties’. How is someone accomplished in the faculties defined?”
§2 — the Buddha's own answer“Mendicant, it’s when a mendicant develops the faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom that lead to peace and awakening. This is how someone who is accomplished in the faculties is defined.”
Self-check quiz
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