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The corpus record — Pali

balaṁ

Bala

neuter strength power, force DN.ii.73 ; AN.i.244 ; Thag.188 ; Dhp.109 (one of the 4 blessings, viz. āyu, vaṇṇa, sukha, bala; cp Dhp-a.ii.239 ); Pv.i.5#12 (= kāya-bala Pv-a.30 ); Pv.i.7#6 Vv-a.4 (iddhi˚); Pv-a.71 (id.), Pv-a.82 (kamma˚) ■ Of cases used as adv. balasā (instr.) is mentioned by Trenckne

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Where it lives

  • Dhammapada 6 · 11.42/10k
  • Sutta Nipata 7 · 3.47/10k
  • Udana 6 · 2.99/10k
  • Digha Nikaya 20 · 1.39/10k
  • Itivuttaka 1 · 0.86/10k

What it meant — PTS Pali–English Dictionary

1. Bَلَ

neuter

  1. strength power, force DN.ii.73; AN.i.244; Thag.188; Dhp.109 (one of the 4 blessings, viz. āyu, vaṇṇa, sukha, bala; cp Dhp-a.ii.239); Pv.i.5#12 (= kāya-bala Pv-a.30); Pv.i.7#6 Vv-a.4 (iddhi˚); Pv-a.71 (id.), Pv-a.82 (kamma˚)
    ■ Of cases used as adv. balasā (instr.) is mentioned by Trenckner at Mil.430 (notes), cp. Prk. balasā (Pischel, Gr. § 364) yathā balaṃ according to one’s power, i.e. as much as possible Pv-a.1, Pv-a.54. The compound form of bala in conn with kṛ; is balī˚; e.g. dubbalīkaraṇa making weak MN.iii.4; Pp.59, Pp.68; -karaṇin id. DN.iii.183
    ■ adj. bala strong Ja.v.268, abala weak Snp.770, Snp.1120, dubbala id SN.i.222; Ja.ii.154; Mnd.12; Pv-a.55; compar. ˚tara MN.i.244, nt. n. abalaṃ weakness SN.i.222.
  2. an army military force Mhvs.25, Mhvs.57; Snp-a.357. See compounds below.

Eight balāni or strong points are 1 of young children (ruṇṇa-balaṃ). 2 of womanhood (kodha˚) 3 of robbers (āvudha˚). 4 of kings (issariya˚) 5 of fools (ujjhatti˚). 6 of wise men (nijjhatti˚) 7 of the deeply learned (paṭisankhāna˚). 8 of samaṇas & brāhmaṇas (khanti˚) AN.iv.223 (where used as adj. -˚ strong in…); cp. Snp.212, Snp.623
■ Five balāni of women are: rūpabalaṃ, bhoga˚, ñāti˚, putta˚, sīla˚ SN.iv.246–SN.iv.248.
■ The five-fold force (balaṃ pañca-vidhaṃ of a king Ja.v.120, Ja.v.121 consists of bāhābalaṃ strength of arms, bhoga˚ of wealth, amacca˚ of counsellors, abhijacca˚ of high birth, paññā˚ the force of wisdom.
■ In the religious sense five balāni or powers are commonly enumerated: saddhābalaṃ, viriya˚, sati˚, samādhi˚, paññā˚ AN.iii.12; DN.ii.120; MN.ii.12, MN.iii.296; SN.iii.96, SN.iii.153 SN.iv.366, SN.v.219, SN.v.249; Pts.ii.56, Pts.ii.86, Pts.ii.166, Pts.ii.174, Pts.ii.223; Pts.ii.84 Pts.ii.133, Pts.ii.168 etc. They correspond to the 5 ind

2. Bāla

adjective

  1. ignorant (often with ref. to ignorance in a moral sense, of the common people, the puthujjana) foolish (as contrasted with paṇḍita cp. the Bālapaṇḍita-sutta MN.iii.163 sq.; DN.ii.305 sq.; Vism.499 and contrasts at Snp.578; Dhp.63, Dhp.64; Pv.iv.3#32; Dhs.1300), lacking in reason, devoid of the power to think & act right. In the latter sense sometimes coupled with; andha (spiritually blind), as andhabāla stupid ignorant, mentally dull, e.g. at Dhp-a.i.143; Dhp-a.ii.89; Pv-a.254
    ■ A fanciful etym. of b. at Kp-a.124 is “balanti ananti ti bālā.” Other refs.: DN.i.59, DN.i.108; SN.i.23; AN.i.59, AN.i.68, AN.i.84; AN.ii.51, AN.ii.180; Snp.199, Snp.259, Snp.318, Snp.578, Snp.879; Iti.68; Dhp.28, Dhp.60 sq., Dhp.71 sq., Dhp.206 sq., Dhp.330; Ja.i.124 (lola greedy-foolish); Ja.v.366 (bālo āmaka-pakkaṃ va); Vv.83#5; Pv.i.8#2; Pv.iv.1#29; Pp.33; Mnd.163, Mnd.286 sq., Mnd.290; Snp-a.509 (= aviddasu); Pv-a.193. Compar. bālatara Ja.iii.278, Ja.iii.279; Vv-a.326.
  2. young, new; newly risen (of the sun): -ātāpa the morning sun DN-a.i.287; Dhp-a.i.164; Mhbv.25; ˚vasanta “early spring” (= Citramāsa), Name of the first one of the 4 summer months (gimha-māsā) Kp-a.192; -suriya the newly risen sun Ja.v.284; Pv-a.137, Pv-a.211.
  3. a child; in wider application meaning a youth under 16 years of age (cp. Abhp.251) DN-a.i.134. Cp. bālaka.
  • -nakkhatta Name of a certain “feast of fools,” i.e. carnival Dhp-a.i.256.
  • -saṅgatacārin one who keeps company with a fool Dhp.207.

cp. Sk. bāla (rarely Vedic, more freq. in Epic & Classical Sk.); its orig. meaning is “young, unable to speak,” cp. Lat. infans, hence “like a child, childish infantile”

In the wild

6 of 40 attestations shown.

Pali text and translations from SuttaCentral (Bilara), dedicated to the public domain (CC0). PTS Pali–English Dictionary entries, public domain.