Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourses 50.1–12

Sloping East, Etc.

Balādisutta — Gaṅgāpeyyālavagga

Setting
Not given — matching this book's own recurring bare structure
Speakers
The Buddha (implied)
Form
The five powers defined in full, then a river simile, twelve discourses merged into a single bilara-data file
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Significance
★★★★☆ — opens a new saṃyutta whose own five qualities are identical to SN 48's own five faculties, named differently

Why this discourse

This discourse opens the Balasaṁyutta (“Linked Discourses on the Powers”), a saṃyutta this project has not yet treated in its own right. Its own five powers — faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom — are the identical five qualities this project has already worked through in full at SN 48 as the five faculties (indriya): the same qualities, named “powers” (bala) rather than “faculties” in this classic doctrinal pairing.

Reading guide

Five faculties, five powers, one set of qualities

As general canonical background, confirmed by direct comparison with this project's own SN 48: the traditional distinction between indriya (“faculty”) and bala (“power”) is not a difference in content but in function — the same five qualities (faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, wisdom) are called faculties while still developing and powers once they become unshakable by their own opposites.

A formula met four times, now for the powers

Confirmed by direct comparison, this vagga's own river simile is identical in structure to SN 45.91-102 (there for the eightfold path), SN 48.71-82 (five faculties), and SN 49.1-12 (four right efforts), now reused for the five powers — the fourth quality set this project has now met this exact formula applied to.

A single continuous file, unlike SN 49.1-12's own structure

This project's own observation: unlike SN 49.1-12, which gave its own full worked example followed by a separate cross-reference sentence for the remaining discourses, this file runs its own worked example straight through to its own closing colophon (“Gaṅgāpeyyālavaggo paṭhamo”) and uddāna, with no distinct cross-reference sentence of its own — confirmed by direct reading, not assumed uniform with SN 49's own opening structure.

Key terms

pañca balāni — “the five powers” — this saṃyutta's own governing subject, identical to the five faculties already met throughout SN 48
saddhābalaṁ, vīriyabalaṁ, satibalaṁ, samādhibalaṁ, paññābalaṁ — the five powers named individually: faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom
gaṅgā nadī pācīnaninnā pācīnapoṇā pācīnapabbhārā — “the Ganges river slants, slopes, and inclines to the east” — the identical simile already met three times before, at SN 45.91-102, SN 48.71-82, and SN 49.1-12
vivekanissitaṁ virāganissitaṁ nirodhanissitaṁ vossaggapariṇāmiṁ — “relying on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, ripening as letting go” — the closing formula for each power's own development
Gaṅgāpeyyālavaggo paṭhamo — “the Ganges Abbreviated-Texts chapter, the first” — this file's own closing colophon, confirming this as SN 50's own first vagga

The text

Every genuinely translated fragment given in the consulted English source. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, there are these five powers. What five? The powers of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom. These are the five powers. The Ganges river slants, slopes, and inclines to the east. In the same way, a mendicant who develops and cultivates the five powers slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment. And how does a mendicant who develops the five powers slant, slope, and incline to extinguishment? It’s when a mendicant develops the powers of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. That’s how a mendicant who develops and cultivates the five powers slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment.”

UddānaSix on slanting to the east, and six on slanting to the ocean; these two sixes make twelve, and that’s how this chapter is recited.

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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
How do the five powers relate to the five faculties this project already met at SN 48?
Correct: A. A classic doctrinal pairing: same content, different function-based names.
Question 2 of 3
How many times has this project now met this exact river-simile formula, including this discourse?
Correct: A. Reused across four different quality sets: eightfold path, five faculties, four right efforts, five powers.
Question 3 of 3
How does this file's own structure differ from SN 49.1-12's own opening?
Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading, not assumed uniform with SN 49's own structure.
Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

Further reading

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