Aṇguttara Nikāya
Pañcaka Nipāta
VII: Saññā Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fives
VII: Thoughts
Sutta 68
Dutiya Iddhi-Pāda Suttaṃ
Psychic Power (b)
Translated by E. M. Hare
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1] Thus have I heard:
Once the Exalted One dwelt near Sāvatthī;
and there he addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
'Yes, lord,' they replied;
and the Exalted One said:
"Monks, before I became enlightened,
while I was still a bodhisat
without complete enlightenment,
I made five qualities become,
I made an increase in five qualities.
What five?
Monks, herein I made become the psychic power
which embraces desire-to-do,
combined with concentration and resolution;
I made become the psychic power
which embraces energy,
combined with concentration and resolution;
I made become the psychic power
which embraces thought,
combined with concentration and resolution;
I made become the psychic power
which embraces investigation,
combined with concentration and resolution;
and fifthly I made become,
just exertion.[1]
§
Monks, when I had made these qualities become,
made an increase in them,
I bent the mind
to realize by psychic knowledge
whatever is realizable by psychic knowledge,
and I became an eyewitness
in every case
whatever the range might be.
■
Did I wish:[2]
"I would experience psychic power
in manifold modes -
Being one,
I would become many;
being many,
I would become one;
I would become visible or invisible;
I would go without let
through walls,
through fences,
through mountains,
as if they were but air;
I would dive in and out of the earth,
as if it were but water;
I would walk on water
without parting it,
as if it were earth;
I would travel cross-legged through the air,
as a bird on the wing;
I would handle and stroke the moon and the sun,
though they be so powerful and strong;
I would scale the heights of the world
even in this body" -
I became an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may have been.
■
Did I wish:
"With the celestial means of hearing,
purified and surpassing that of men,
I would hear sounds
both of devas and mankind,
both far and near" -
I became an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may have been.
■
Did I wish:
"I would compass
and know with my mind
the thoughts of other beings,
other persons;
I would know the passionate mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the malignant mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the infatuated mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the congested mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the diffuse mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the lofty mind as such,
the low mind as such;
a would know the better mind as such,
the inferior mind as such;
I would know the controlled mind as such,
the uncontrolled as such;
I would know the liberated mind as such,
the mind not freed as such" -
I became an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may have been.
■
Did I wish:
"I would call to mind
many a previous dwelling,
that is to say,
one birth,
two births,
three births,
four, five,
ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty,
a hundred births,
a thousand births,
a hundred thousand births,
many an aeon of progression,
many an aeon of destruction,
many an aeon of both progression and destruction;
that in each,
such was my name,
such my clan,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of happiness and ill,
such my span of life;
that faring on thence
I arose there,
when such was my name,
such my clan,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of happiness and ill,
such my span of life;
faring on thence
I arose here;
thus I would call to mind
each detail and circumstance
of my many previous dwellings" -
I became an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may have been.
■
Did I wish:
"With the celestial eye,
purified and surpassing that of men,
I would see beings faring on
and being reborn,
some low,
some lofty,
some beautiful,
some ugly,
some happy,
some miserable;
I would see them pass
according to their works;
thus these worthies
were given over to evil ways
in deed,
word
and thought,
defamers of the Ariyans,
holders of wrong views,
reaping the reward accordingly,
such, on the breaking up of the body after death,
were reborn in hell,
the wayward way,
the ill way,
the abyss,
hell;
or,
those acted rightly
in deed,
word
and thought,
they were no defamers of the Ariyans,
but held right vews
and reaped their reward accordingly,
such, on the breaking up of the body after death,
were reborn in heaven,
that happy place of bliss;
thus, with the celestial eye,
purified and surpassing that of men,
I would see beings faring on
and being reborn,
some low,
some lofty,
some beautiful,
some ugly,
some happy,
some miserable;
I would see them pass
according to their works" -
I became an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may have been.
■
Did I wish:
"Having destroyed the cankers,
I would enter
and abide in
the emancipation of the mind,
in the emancipation of insight,
which is free of the cankers,
having realized that state
by my own knowledge
even in this very llfe -
I became an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may have been.
[1] The text repeats. [Ed.: Completed here.]
[2] The text abbreviates; Cf. above, § 23. [Ed.: Completed here.]
