Rafting Towards Relinquishment

To be successful at any endeavor, there are four basic things required. These constitute the list that is the topic of today's post: The Four Bases of Success. Note that this is a title for the list I found elsewhere, it's more literally "four bases of power" or even "four bases of superpowers" would probably do, because it's usually framed as a way to do that. But it also pops up in the list of the four strivings.

Before we get into it, some quick housekeeping, if you happen to be coming into this post without any context. I'm doing a series of posts exploring SN 48.10, which is an elaboration of the five spiritual faculties, traditionally translated as "faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom," in Buddhist Hybrid English. I've kept the first one as "faith", but chose "vigor" for the second. Still kind of deciding on the next three, but I'm liking "recollection", "stillness", and "discernment". Aaanyway, here's the list so far:

1. introduction
   
2. faith
   
3. vigor [1]
   
4. vigor [2] -- the four right strivings
   
5. vigor [3] -- strategies for the four right strivings
   
6. vigor [4] -- cultivating and keeping good qualities
   

I chose this particular sutta because of these embedded lists. There's a sort of meta-list called the 37 factors of awakening that pretty much covers most of the most important parts of Buddhist practice, but the lists are all interconnected, so if you pick one you end up with at least a few others. This list of the five spiritual faculties includes the four right strivings under vigor. And under the four right strivings? The four bases of success.

( And what four, O readers? )