"There are, monks, four powers. The power of wisdom, the power of energy, the power of an unblemished life, and the power of benevolence.
"And what, monks, is the power of wisdom? As to those things which are good and held to be good, bad and held to be so; blameless and blameworthy, and held to be so; dark and bright, and held to be so; fit or unfit to be practiced, and held to be so; which are worthy and unworthy of noble ones, and are held to be so — to see all these things clearly and to consider them well, this is called the power of wisdom.
"And what, monks, is the power of energy? As to those things that are bad, blameworthy, dark, unfit to be practiced, unworthy of noble ones, and which are held to be so — to rouse one's will, to make an effort and stir up one's energy for giving up all these things; and as to those things that are good, blameless, bright, fit to be practiced, worthy of noble ones, and which are held to be so — to rouse one's will, to make an effort and stir up one's energy for gaining all these things — this is called the power of energy.
"And what, monks, is the power of an unblemished life? Herein, monks, a noble disciple is unblemished in his deeds, unblemished in his words, unblemished in his thoughts. This is called the power of an unblemished life.
"And what, monks, is the power of benevolence? There are four ways of benevolence; by gifts, by friendly speech, by helpful acts and by bestowal of equity. This is the best of gifts: the gift of Dhamma. And this is the best of friendly speech: to teach again and again Dhamma to those who wish for it and who listen attentively. And this is the best of helpful acts: to arouse, instil and strengthen faith in the unbeliever; to arouse, instil and strengthen virtue in the immoral; to arouse, instil and strengthen generosity in the niggard; to arouse, instil and strengthen wisdom in the unwise. And this is the best bestowal of equity: if a stream-winner becomes equal to a stream-winner; a once-returner equal to a once-returner; a non-returner equal to a non-returner; and an arahant equal to an arahant. This, monks, is called the power of benevolence.
"And this (concludes) the four powers.
"Now, monks, a noble disciple endowed with these four powers has left behind five fears: the fear for his livelihood, the fear of disrepute, the fear of embarrassment in assemblies, the fear of death, and the fear of an unhappy future destiny.
"A noble disciple (thus endowed) will think: 'No fear do I have for my livelihood. Why should I have fear about it? Have I not the four powers of wisdom, energy, unblemished life and benevolence? It is one who is foolish and lazy, of blameworthy conduct in deeds, words and thoughts, and who has no benevolence — such a one might be in fear for his livelihood.
"'No fear do I have about disrepute or about embarrassment in assemblies, nor have I fear of death or of an unhappy future destiny. Why should I have these fears? Have I not the four powers of wisdom, energy, unblemished life and benevolence? It is one who is foolish and lazy, of blameworthy conduct in deeds, words and thoughts, and who has no benevolence — such a one might have all these fears.'
"Thus it should be understood, monks, that a noble disciple endowed with the four powers has left behind five fears."
"And what, monks, is the power of wisdom? As to those things which are good and held to be good, bad and held to be so; blameless and blameworthy, and held to be so; dark and bright, and held to be so; fit or unfit to be practiced, and held to be so; which are worthy and unworthy of noble ones, and are held to be so — to see all these things clearly and to consider them well, this is called the power of wisdom.
"And what, monks, is the power of energy? As to those things that are bad, blameworthy, dark, unfit to be practiced, unworthy of noble ones, and which are held to be so — to rouse one's will, to make an effort and stir up one's energy for giving up all these things; and as to those things that are good, blameless, bright, fit to be practiced, worthy of noble ones, and which are held to be so — to rouse one's will, to make an effort and stir up one's energy for gaining all these things — this is called the power of energy.
"And what, monks, is the power of an unblemished life? Herein, monks, a noble disciple is unblemished in his deeds, unblemished in his words, unblemished in his thoughts. This is called the power of an unblemished life.
"And what, monks, is the power of benevolence? There are four ways of benevolence; by gifts, by friendly speech, by helpful acts and by bestowal of equity. This is the best of gifts: the gift of Dhamma. And this is the best of friendly speech: to teach again and again Dhamma to those who wish for it and who listen attentively. And this is the best of helpful acts: to arouse, instil and strengthen faith in the unbeliever; to arouse, instil and strengthen virtue in the immoral; to arouse, instil and strengthen generosity in the niggard; to arouse, instil and strengthen wisdom in the unwise. And this is the best bestowal of equity: if a stream-winner becomes equal to a stream-winner; a once-returner equal to a once-returner; a non-returner equal to a non-returner; and an arahant equal to an arahant. This, monks, is called the power of benevolence.
"And this (concludes) the four powers.
"Now, monks, a noble disciple endowed with these four powers has left behind five fears: the fear for his livelihood, the fear of disrepute, the fear of embarrassment in assemblies, the fear of death, and the fear of an unhappy future destiny.
"A noble disciple (thus endowed) will think: 'No fear do I have for my livelihood. Why should I have fear about it? Have I not the four powers of wisdom, energy, unblemished life and benevolence? It is one who is foolish and lazy, of blameworthy conduct in deeds, words and thoughts, and who has no benevolence — such a one might be in fear for his livelihood.
"'No fear do I have about disrepute or about embarrassment in assemblies, nor have I fear of death or of an unhappy future destiny. Why should I have these fears? Have I not the four powers of wisdom, energy, unblemished life and benevolence? It is one who is foolish and lazy, of blameworthy conduct in deeds, words and thoughts, and who has no benevolence — such a one might have all these fears.'
"Thus it should be understood, monks, that a noble disciple endowed with the four powers has left behind five fears."
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