At one time, when he was first awakened, the Buddha was staying in Uruvelā at the goatherd’s banyan tree on the bank of the Nerañjarā River.
Then as he was in private retreat this thought came to his mind, “When these five faculties are developed and cultivated they have freedom from death as their objective, destination, and culmination. What five? The faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom. When these five faculties are developed and cultivated they have freedom from death as their objective, destination, and culmination.”
Then the divinity Sahampati knew the Buddha’s train of thought. As easily as a strong person would extend or contract their arm, he vanished from the realm of divinity and reappeared in front of the Buddha. He arranged his robe over one shoulder, raised his cupped palms toward the Buddha, and said:
“That’s so true, Blessed One! That’s so true, Holy One! When these five faculties are developed and cultivated they have freedom from death as their objective, destination, and culmination. What five? The faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom. When these five faculties are developed and cultivated they have freedom from death as their objective, destination, and culmination.
Once upon a time, sir, I lived the spiritual life under the fully awakened Buddha Kassapa. There they knew me as the mendicant Sahaka. Because of developing and cultivating these same five faculties I lost desire for sensual pleasures. When my body broke up, after death, I was reborn in a good place, in the realm of divinity. There they know me as the divinity Sahampati.
That’s so true, Blessed One! That’s so true, Holy One! I know and see how when these five faculties are developed and cultivated they have freedom from death as their objective, destination, and culmination.”