The Book of the Fives

Five powers of a trainee.

Five powers of a trainee, explained.

Suffering in this life and the next.

Five qualities determine rebirth.

Reasons to criticize a mendicant who disrobes, or praise one who remains.

Loss of foundational qualities leads to decline.

The Buddha looks after mendicants like a nurse looks after a child until they’ve grown up.

A mendicant with five bad qualities fails in the Dharma.

A disrespectful mendicant with five bad qualities fails in the Dharma.

A mendicant with five bad qualities can’t grow in the Dharma.

The five powers of a Realized One.

Of the five powers, wisdom is chief.

The five powers in brief.

The five powers explained in detail.

Where to look for the five powers.

Wisdom is the chief of the five powers.

By practicing but not teaching, one practices for one’s own good.

By teaching but not practicing, one practices for the good of others.

By neither teaching nor practicing, one doesn’t practice for anyone’ good.

By both teaching and practicing, one practice for everyone’s good.

If your basic practice is not there, you can’t go higher.

If your basic practice is not there, you can’t go higher.

The hindrances are like the corruptions in gold.

Dharmas starting with morality naturally evolve to freedom.

Right view leads to freedom when supported by five factors.

Occasions when one can experience liberation.

Develop measureless convergence of mind and five knowledges intuitively arise.

Five kinds of noble right convergence, including similes.

The benefits of walking meditation.

The Buddha tells Venerable Nāgita how he dislikes noisy crowds, and wishes never to become famous.

Princess Sumanā asks the Buddha about the karmic results of generosity, when other qualities are equal.

Princess Cundī asks the Buddha about the best kind of confidence.

Uggaha invites the Buddha for a meal, and asks him to advise his daughters, who are about to be married.

The Buddha teaches General Sīha the benefits of giving which he can see for himself in this life, and those in the next life, which he must take on faith.

Five benefits of generosity for lay people.

Gifts at the right time, in an appropriate way. The verses are the classic kāladāna blessing.

Give and you shall receive. The verses are a classic blessing, beginning with Āyudo balado dhīro.

When someone is a donor, they reap the benefits of association with the Saṅgha.

Reasons why parents want to have children.

How a virtuous family head is like a great tree in the mountains.

The legitimate purposes of wealth.

A good person brings many blessings to their family.

You don’t get good things by praying for them, but by how you live.

If you give the best, you get the best.

When offerings are used for deep meditation, the merit multiplies enormously.

Kinds of spiritual success, in brief.

Kinds of spiritual wealth, in detail.

A wise person reflects on their nature, so they do not suffer when struck by loss.

When King Pasenadi learns of the death of his beloved Queen Mallikā, the Buddha consoles him.

Depressed by the death of Queen Bhaddā, King Muṇḍa of Rājagaha neglects his duties, and broods by the side of his beloved’s corpse. Venerable Nārada eases his grief.

The five hindrances weaken wisdom like side-channels weaken a river’s flow.

The five hindrances are entirely unwholesome.

Conditions that help meditation progress smoothly.

Times that are supportive for meditation practice.

A mother and son, though ordained as monk and nun, have sexual relations. The Buddha launches a powerful attack on the dangers of sex.

A monk, dissatisfied with monastic life, seeks support from his mentor.

Topics that are worthy regularly reflecting on, whether as a lay person or renunciant.

When some wild young men show deep respect for the Buddha, a family elder is astonished.

Things that are hard to find in someone who has gone forth when old.

Things that are hard to find in someone who has gone forth when old.

Five meditations are very beneficial.

Five meditations lead to the deathless.

Noble growth for a male disciple.

Noble growth for a female disciple.

Qualifications for taking part in a discussion on Dharma.

Qualifications for sharing Dharma.

The four bases of psychic power, together with energy, lead to awakening.

The Buddha developed the bases for psychic power, which lead to his awakening.

Five meditations that lead to disillusionment with the world.

Five meditations that lead to the end of defilements.

Five meditations lead to freedom. The Buddha supplies five similes, which subtly illustrate five aspects of awakening.

Five meditations lead to freedom. The Buddha supplies five similes, which subtly illustrate five aspects of awakening.

The difference between someone who merely studies the letter of the Dharma, and someone who truly lives by it.

The difference between someone who merely studies the letter of the Dharma, and someone who truly lives by it.

Some warriors, like some monks, falter before the threat of battle, while others emerge victorious.

Some warriors, like some monks, are killed or injured in battle, while others emerge victorious.

The dangers of living in a wilderness among wild beasts and so on.

The uncertainties of life may prevent your practice.

When the teachers and leaders of the Saṅgha are not well practiced, their weakness will be passed down the generations.

The Saṅgha may forsake the simple life and indulge in luxuries.

Senior mendicants with strong defilements are disliked.

Senior mendicants with strong defilements are disliked.

Senior mendicants who are manipulative and opportunistic are disliked.

Qualities making a senior mendicant liked or disliked.

A senior mendicant with no endurance is disliked.

A senior mendicant is liked if they can analyze and explain the Dharma well, and if they are helpful in the monastery.

A senior mendicant with morality, learning, who is a good speaker and successful meditator is liked.

Even if a senior mendicant has many good qualities, they can still lead people astray if they have wrong view.

Even if a mendicant is a trainee, they won’t progress if they don’t focus on practice. In brief.

Even if a mendicant is a trainee, they won’t progress if they don’t focus on practice. In detail.

Five spiritual accomplishments culminating in wisdom.

Five spiritual accomplishments culminating in freedom.

When people are asked whether they are enlightened, they might answer for different reasons.

Living comfortably by practicing meditation.

Supported by five factors, including four aspects of textual analysis, one will soon realize the unshakable.

Supported by five factors, one who practices mindfulness of breathing will soon realize the unshakable.

Supported by five factors, one who practices mindfulness of breathing will soon realize the unshakable.

Supported by five factors, one who practices mindfulness of breathing will soon realize the unshakable.

A lion is always respectful when it kills. So too when the Buddha teaches he always respects his audience.

Kakudha, Venerable Moggallāna’s lay supporter, having recently passed away, returned to warn him about Devadatta’s fall. The Buddha analyses different kinds of teacher.

Five factors in which a trainee is assured.

Five reasons why even a good mendicant might be suspected of bad behavior.

Five tricks used by thieves to hide, and similar tricks used by bad mendicants.

Five qualities of the most refined type of ascetic.

Five ways in which a mendicant can live comfortably with their spiritual companions.

The Buddha explains to Ānanda five ways in which a mendicant can live comfortably with their spiritual companions.

Five factors of a worthy mendicant.

Five factors of a worthy mendicant.

Five factors by which a mendicant covers all the directions.

Five factors that show whether a mendicant is ready to live in the wilderness.

Five qualities that endear a mendicant who visits families.

Five factors to be observed by a companion who follows on alms-round; this would typically be a novice or junior mendicant.

To enter samādhi, a mendicant must be able to endure sense impacts.

Five qualities to instill in recently ordained mendicants.

Five good and five bad qualities that determine a nun’s destiny after death.

Five good and five bad qualities that determine a nun’s destiny after death.

Five good and five bad qualities that determine a nun’s destiny after death.

Five good and five bad qualities that determine a nun’s destiny after death.

Five good and five bad qualities that determine a nun’s destiny after death.

Five good and five bad qualities that determine a nun’s destiny after death.

Five meditations recommended for sick mendicants.

Five meditations that lead to perfection or non-return.

Five qualities that make a patient hard to nurse.

Five requirements that a carer or nurse should meet before looking after a patient.

Things that assist or impede longevity.

Things that assist or impede longevity.

Five factors that show whether a mendicant is ready to live apart from the Sangha.

Things that make an ascetic happy or unhappy.

Five deeds that condemn the perpetrator to hell.

Worldly or moral losses and their consequences.

Five qualities by which a wheel-turning monarch rules justly, and five corresponding qualities by which the Buddha rolls the Wheel of Dhamma.

Five qualities by which a wheel-turning monarch’s son rules justly, and five corresponding qualities by which Sāriputta keeps rolling the Wheel of Dhamma.

Even a wheel-turning monarch has a king, as does the Buddha.

A king always lives in his own realm, and so does a mendicant whose mind is freed.

A king’s son aspires to kingship, as a mendicant aspires to awakening.

A king’s son aspires to be a viceroy, as a mendicant aspires to awakening.

Five people who sleep little.

Even a clumsy royal elephant is considered to be a royal elephant, and so too even a clumsy mendicant is still a mendicant.

A royal elephant who can’t endure sense impacts is unfit, and so too a mendicant.

A royal elephant with five factors is fit, and so too a mendicant.

Five people susceptible to various flaws.

Those who violate moral precepts may regret it or may not.

The Licchavis discuss the greatest treasures in the world. The Buddha, criticizing them for their fixation on sensual pleasures, suggests spiritual treasures.

Five meditations that train a mendicant to shift their perception at will.

Reasons one is cast down to hell or raised to heaven.

Don’t befriend a mendicant with five qualities; look instead for the five opposites.

Good and bad ways of offering gifts.

The way a good person gives gifts and the outcome.

A mendicant who has found only temporary freedom may decline for five reasons.

A mendicant who has found only temporary freedom may decline for five reasons.

Qualities that prevent one who is listening to the teaching from understanding.

Qualities that prevent one who is listening to the teaching from understanding.

Qualities that prevent one who is listening to the teaching from understanding.

Things that lead to the decline or the prosperity of the Dhamma.

Things that lead to the decline or the prosperity of the Dhamma.

Things that lead to the decline or the prosperity of the Dhamma.

Certain topics are inappropriate to discuss with certain kinds of people.

Confidence or lack thereof in mendicants is due to their practice.

When told Venerable Udāyī is teaching, the Buddha defines five factors that a Dhamma teacher should establish in themselves.

Five things that are hard to dispel once they have arisen.

Five reflections to help eliminate resentment, in brief.

Five reflections to help eliminate resentment, an explanation by Sāriputta.

Qualifications for a mendicant to hold a Dhamma discussion.

Qualifications for a mendicant to share their way of life.

Sāriputta explains five reasons for asking a question, and the reason he asks a question.

Udāyī refuses to believe Sāriputta’s description of the achievements of an accomplished meditator. The Buddha dismisses Udāyī’s foolishness, and outlines the reasons senior mendicants should be respected.

Factors that a mendicant should establish in themselves before accusing another.

Lack of ethics prevents the attaining of samādhi, wisdom, and freedom.

Ānanda asks Sāriputta to explain what it means to be quick-witted, but Sāriputta gets Ānanda to explain it himself.

Ānanda asks Bhaddaji about the best sense objects, and corrects his answer.

Confidence or lack thereof in layfolk is due to their precepts.

Confidence or lack thereof in layfolk is due to their precepts.

Reasons one is cast down to hell or raised to heaven.

Breaking of precepts is a threat and a danger.

An outcaste is not born, but they make themselves an outcaste by their behavior.

The Buddha encourages Anāthapiṇḍika to not rest short with generosity, but to practice meditation too.

Five kinds of trade that are wrong livelihood.

Kings do not punish people for keeping precepts.

Qualities possessing which a lay person may claim to be a stream-enterer.

The Buddha tells of the layman Gavesī in the time of Buddha Kassapa, and how he went forth with all his followers.

Different reasons why someone might dwell in the wilderness.

Different reasons why someone might wear rag robes.

Different reasons why someone might dwell at the root of a tree.

Different reasons why someone might dwell in a charnel ground.

Different reasons why someone might dwell in the open air.

Different reasons why someone might never lie down.

Different reasons why someone might sleep wherever a mat is laid down.

Different reasons why someone might eat once per day.

Different reasons why someone might refuse food offered late.

Different reasons why someone might eat only from their bowl.

Ancient traditions of the brahmins that are these days only seen among dogs.

The brahmin Doṇa accuses the Buddha of not respecting brahmins, so the Buddha responds by analyzing the different kinds of brahmin.

Saṅgārava the brahmin asks why memorized hymns are sometimes clear to the mind and sometimes not. The Buddha answers with the five hindrances.

The brahmins Kāraṇapālī and Piṅgiyānī extol the good qualities of the Buddha.

During a visit by the Licchavis, the brahmin Piṅgiyānī utters a verse in praise of the Buddha.

Before his awakening, the bodhisatta had five great dreams that foretold profound aspects of his awakening and dispensation.

Weather forecasters remain ignorant of these five obstacles to rain.

Five factors of good speech.

When a renunciate visits a family, they make merit on five bases.

Five kinds of escape, showing how different aspects of suffering are escaped by different practices.

Things that lead to the long-lasting of the Dhamma after the Buddha’s death.

Five benefits of listening to the teaching.

Factors that make a thoroughbred worthy of a king.

Five spiritual powers.

Five kinds of emotional barrenness that can affect mendicants.

Five kinds of emotional shackle that can affect mendicants.

The five health benefits of eating porridge.

The five health problems of not cleaning one’s teeth with chew sticks.

Why you shouldn’t recite Dhamma in an overly drawn-out singing style.

Why you shouldn’t fall asleep unmindfully.

Why a mendicant shouldn’t speak ill of their spiritual companions.

Why a mendicant shouldn’t start arguments.

Five drawbacks of failure in morality, and the corresponding benefits of the reverse.

Five drawbacks for a person who talks a lot, and the corresponding benefits of the reverse.

Five drawbacks of intolerance, and the corresponding benefits of the reverse.

Five drawbacks of intolerance, and the corresponding benefits of the reverse.

Five drawbacks of uninspiring conduct, and the corresponding benefits of the reverse.

Five drawbacks of uninspiring conduct, and the corresponding benefits of the reverse.

Five drawbacks of sitting around a fire.

Five drawbacks of the city of Madhura.

For five reasons, a mendicant should wander a reasonable amount, not aimlessly.

For five reasons, a mendicant should wander a reasonable amount, not aimlessly.

For five reasons, a mendicant should stay in a monastery a reasonable length of time, not excessively.

For five reasons, a mendicant should stay in a monastery a reasonable length of time, not excessively.

A mendicant who visits families risks the following five problems.

A mendicant who visits families risks the following five problems.

Five drawbacks of riches, and five benefits.

Five drawbacks for families who eat overly late, and five benefits of eating at a reasonable hour.

Five ways a woman is like a black snake.

Five ways a woman is like a black snake.

Reasons a resident mendicant is admirable, and the reverse.

Reasons a resident mendicant is admirable.

Reasons a resident mendicant beautifies a monastery.

Reasons a resident mendicant helps a monastery.

How a mendicant shows compassion to lay folk.

Reasons a resident mendicant is cast down to hell or raised to heaven.

Reasons a resident mendicant is cast down to hell or raised to heaven.

Reasons a resident mendicant is cast down to hell or raised to heaven.

Reasons a resident mendicant is cast down to hell or raised to heaven.

Reasons a resident mendicant is cast down to hell or raised to heaven.

Drawbacks of bad conduct, and the reverse.

Drawbacks of bad bodily conduct, and the reverse.

Drawbacks of bad verbal conduct, and the reverse.

Drawbacks of bad mental conduct, and the reverse.

Drawbacks of bad conduct, and the reverse.

Drawbacks of bad bodily conduct, and the reverse.

Drawbacks of bad verbal conduct, and the reverse.

Drawbacks of bad mental conduct, and the reverse.

Why a person may have the same defects as a charnel ground.

Placing faith in an individual is dangerous for five reasons.

Qualifications for one who should give an ordination.

Qualifications for one who should give dependence.

Qualifications for one who should have a novice as attendant.

Material and spiritual stinginess.

Getting rid of the five kinds of stinginess.

Give up stinginess to enter the first absorption.

Give up stinginess to enter the absorptions and higher attainments.

Give up stinginess to enter the first absorption.

Give up stinginess to enter the absorptions and higher attainments.

Qualities of one who is appointed to assign meals.

Qualities of one who is appointed to assign lodgings, and other monastery responsibilities.

Why a monk is cast down to hell or raised up to heaven.

Why a nun, etc. is cast down to hell or raised up to heaven.

Why an ājīvaka ascetic is cast down to hell or raised up to heaven.

Why various ascetics are cast down to hell or raised up to heaven.

Develop insight into greed starting with ugliness.

Develop insight into greed starting with impermanence.

Develop insight into greed starting with impermanence.

Develop insight into greed through the faculties.

Develop insight into greed through the powers.

Develop complete undestanding, etc., of greed.