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abhiññā {pi}


Pāḷi; √ abhiñña
gender:
type:
alt. sp.: IPA: əbʰɪɲɲə, Velthuis: abhi~n~naa, readable: abhinnyaa, simple: abhinna
translation ~:
skr.:
khmer: អភិញា
thai: อภิญฺญา
sinhal.: අභිඤ්ඤා
burm.: အဘိညာ
appears:



abhinnyaa.jpg

[dic] abhiññā (abhinna)

abhiññā: Description welcome. Info can be removed after imput.

ATI Glossary

abhiññā: Intuitive powers that come from the practice of concentration: the ability to display psychic powers, clairvoyance, clairaudience, the ability to know the thoughts of others, recollection of past lifetimes, and the knowledge that does away with mental effluents (see āsava).

 

Buddhist Dictionary

by late Ven. Nyanalokita Thera:

abhiññā: The 6 'higher powers', or supernormal knowledge's, consist of 5 mundane (see lokiya) powers attainable through the utmost perfection in mental concentration (see samādhi) and one supermundane (see lokuttara) power attainable through penetrating insight (see vipassanā), i.e. extinction of all cankers (āsavakkhaya; see āsava), in other words, realization of Arahatship or Holiness. They are: (1) magical powers (iddhi-vidha), (2) divine ear (dibba-sota), (3) penetration of the minds of others (ceto-pariya-ñāṇa), (4) remembrance of former existences (pubbe-nivāsānussati), (5) divine eye (dibba-cakkhu), (6) extinction of all cankers (āsavakkhaya).

The stereotype text met with in all the 4 Sutta-collections (e.g. DN 34; MN 4, MN 6, MN 77; AN 3.99; AN 5.23; SN 15.9 and Puggalapaññatti 271, 239) is as follows:

(1) “Now, O Bhikkhus, the monk enjoys the various magical powers (iddhi-vidha), such as being one he becomes manifold, and having become manifold he again becomes one. He appears and disappears. Without being obstructed he passes through walls and mountains, just as if through the air. In the earth he dives and rises up again, just as if in the water. He walks on water without sinking, just as if on the earth. Cross-legged he floats through the air, just like a winged bird.

With his hand he touches the sun and moon, these so mighty ones, so powerful ones. Even up to the Brahma-world he has mastery over his body.

(2) “With the divine ear (dibba-sota) he hears sounds both heavenly and human, far and near.

(3) “He knows the minds of other beings (parassa-ceto-pariya-ñāṇa), of other persons, by penetrating them with his own mind. He knows the greedy mind as greedy and the not-greedy one as not greedy; knows the hating mind as hating and the not-hating one as not hating; knows the deluded mind as deluded and the not-deluded one as not deluded; knows the shrunken mind and the distracted one, the developed mind and the undeveloped one, the surpassable mind and the unsurpassable one, the concentrated mind and the unconcentrated one, the freed mind and the unfreed one.

(4) “He remembers manifold former existences (pubbe-nivāsānussati), such as one birth, two, three, four and five births …. hundred thousand births; remembers many formations and dissolutions of worlds: 'There I was, such name I had …. and vanishing from there I entered into existence somewhere else …. and vanishing from there I again reappeared here.' Thus he remembers, always together with the marks and peculiarities, many a former existence.

(5) “With the divine eye (dibba-cakkhu = yathā-kammūpaga-ñāṇa or cutūpapāta-ñāṇa), the pure one, he sees beings vanishing and reappearing, low and noble ones, beautiful and ugly ones, sees how beings are reappearing according to their deeds (see kamma): 'These beings, indeed, followed evil ways in bodily actions, words and thoughts, insulted the noble ones, held evil views, and according to their evil views they acted. At the dissolution of their body, after death, they have appeared in lower worlds, in painful states of existence, in the world of suffering, in hell. Those other beings, however, are endowed with good action …. have appeared in happy state of existence, in a heavenly world.

(6) “Through the extinction of all cankers (āsavakkhaya) even in this very life he enters into the possession of deliverance of mind, deliverance through wisdom, after having himself understood and realized it.”

4-6 appear frequently under the name of the 'threefold (Higher) Knowledge' (see te-vijjā). They are, however, not a necessary condition for the attainment of sainthood (Arahatta), i.e. of the sixth abhiññā.

Visuddhi Magga XI-XIII gives a detailed explanation of the 5 mundane higher powers, together with the method of attaining them.

In connection with the 4 kinds of progress (see paṭipadā), abhiññā means the 'comprehension' achieved on attainment of the Paths and Fruitions.

 

PTS Dictionary

by the Pali Text Society:

 

Glossary Thanissaro

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Illustrated Glossary of Pāli Terms

by Ven. Varado Maha Thera:

abhiññā: (main article see: abhijānāti)

Illustration: abhiññā, transcendent insight

There are ascetics and Brahmanists conducting and applying themselves rightly in the world who, having realised this world and the world hereafter for themselves through transcendent insight, make them known to others.

atthi loke samaṇabrāhmaṇā sammaggatā sammāpaṭipannā ye imañca lokaṁ parañca lokaṁ sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā pavedentī ti. (MN iii 72)

I claim to have reached the consummation and perfection of transcendent insight into profound truths not heard before

pubbāhaṁ bhikkhave ananussutesu dhammesu abhiññāvosānapāramippatto paṭijānāmi. (AN iii 9)

Bhikkhus, I explain the teaching with transcendent insight, not without transcendent insight.

abhiññāyā'haṁ bhikkhave dhammaṁ desemi no anabhiññāya. (AN i 276)

Illustration: abhiññā, supernormal attainments

One might just as well think that a bull elephant seven or seven and a half cubits could be hidden by a palm leaf as think that my six supernormal attainments could be eclipsed [by the Venerable Ānanda’s attainments].

Sattaratanaṁ vā so āvuso nāgaṁ aḍḍhaṭṭharatanaṁ vā tālapattikāya chādetabbaṁ maññeyya yo me cha abhiññā chādetabbaṁ maññeyyā ti. (SN ii 217)

Six supernormal attainments (cha abhiññā)

  • 1) various kinds of psychic power (anekavihitaṁ iddhividhaṁ).
  • 2) divine ear (dibbasotadhātu): hearing the voices of devas and men, whether far or near.
  • 3) knowledge of the minds of other persons, by encompassing their minds with one’s own (cetopariyañāṇaṁ)
  • 4) the final knowledge: the knowledge through recalling of past lives pubbenivāsānussati ñāṇaṁ vijjā
  • 5) the final knowledge: the knowledge of the transmigration of beings (sattānaṁ cutūpapāte ñāṇaṁ vijjā), and discerning how beings fare according to their deeds (yathākammūpage satte pajānāti).
  • 6) the final knowledge: the knowledge of the destruction of perceptually obscuring states (āsavānaṁ khaye ñāṇaṁ vijjā) (SN ii 212-4).

Comment:

Bodhi says: ‘This is one of the rare texts in the Nikāyas where the word abhiññā is used collectively to designate the six higher knowledges.’

 

Glossary various Teacher

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See also

Suttas and Dhammadesanā

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Add a reference here or in the list.

 

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en/dictionary/abhiññā.1569058867.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/09/21 11:41 by Johann