Reflection and Meditation as Powers

We ask to understand. We sit still to know things directly and awaken (DBM/InsightLA).

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The "power of reflection" (patisankhāna-bala) or contemplation is one thing, and the "power of mental development" (bhāvanā-bala) or cultivation is another. About these two powers (bala) it is said in A. II, 10:

It's time to reflect: What have I done?

"What, O meditators, is the power of reflection? O meditators, if someone thinks, 'Unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts really bears unwelcome fruits both in this life as well as in the life to come' and, as a result of this consideration, one abandons unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts, follows a skillful course of conduct, and keeps one's heart/mind pure, this, O meditators, is the power of reflection.

Now it is time for stillness, body breathing

"What, O meditators, is the power of mental development (meditation, mental cultivation)? O meditators, if a meditator develops the [Seven] Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga), bent on seclusion, on letting go, on cessation, culminating in liberation [following awakening, enlightenment], namely:

1. mindfulness,
2. investigation,
3. energy,
4. rapture,
5. tranquility,
6. stillness, and
7. equanimity,

this, O meditators, is the power of mental development."

• Ven. Nyanatiloka (formerly Anton Gueth) Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Doctrines and Terms (palikanon.com) edited and updated translation by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, June 2024