Psychic Power^[1]

Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.

[299]

[1] Thus have I heard:

Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Sāvatthī,
at Jeta Grove,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.

There the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks."

"Yes, lord," they replied,
and the Exalted One said:

'Verily, monks, that a monk,
without the peace of concentration
in high degree,
without attaining to calm,
without winning one-pointedness,
shall have part in the many psychic powers:

■

That being one,
he becomes many;
being many,
he becomes one;
he becomes visible or invisible;
goes without let
through walls,
through fences,
through mountains,
as if they were but air;
he dives in and out of the earth,
as if it were but water;
he walks on water
without parting it,
as if it were earth;
he travels cross-legged through the air,
as a bird on the wing;
he handles and strokes the moon and the sun,
though they be so powerful and strong;
he scales the heights of the world
even in this body -

that cannot be;

■

That with the celestial means of hearing,
purified and surpassing that of men,
he hears sounds
both of devas and mankind,
both far and near -

that cannot be;

■

That by mind compassing mind he knows
the thoughts of other beings,
other persons;
he knows the passionate mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
he knows the malignant mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
he knows the infatuated mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
he knows the congested mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
he knows the diffuse mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
he knows the lofty mind as such,
the low mind as such;
he knows the better mind as such,
the inferior mind as such;
he knows the controlled mind as such,
the uncontrolled as such;
he knows the liberated mind as such,
the mind not freed as such -

that cannot be;

■

That he remembers previous lives,
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 he calls to mind
each detail and circumstance
of my many previous dwellings -

that cannot be;

■

That with the celestial eye,
purified and surpassing that of men,
he sees beings faring on
and being reborn,
some low,
some lofty,
some beautiful,
some ugly,
some happy,
some miserable;
he sees 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,
he sees beings faring on
and being reborn,
some low,
some lofty,
some beautiful,
some ugly,
some happy,
some miserable;
he sees them pass
according to their works -

that cannot be;

■

That by destroying the cankers
enters and abides
in the canker-free mind-emancipation,
insight-emancipation,
realizing this here and now
entirely by his own knowledge.

that cannot be.

But, monks, that a monk,
with the peace of concentration
in high degree,
with attaining to calm,
with winning one-pointedness,
shall have part in the many psychic powers:

■

that can be;

■

That with the celestial means of hearing,
purified and surpassing that of men,
he hears sounds
both of devas and mankind,
both far and near -

that can be;

■

that can be;

■

that can be;

■

that can be;

■

That by destroying the cankers
enters and abides
in the canker-free mind-emancipation,
insight-emancipation,
realizing this here and now
entirely by his own knowledge.

that can be."

^[1] The Uddāna omits.

Aṇguttara Nikāya Chakka Nipāta VII. Devatā Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings The Book of the Sixes Chapter VII: The Devas

Sutta 70

Samādhi Suttaṃ

Psychic Power[1]

Aṇguttara Nikāya
Chakka Nipāta
VII. Devatā Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Sixes
Chapter VII: The Devas

Psychic Power^[1]