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Ten special powers (dasabala) of Lord Gautama Buddha
Lord Gautama Buddha being a Samma Sambuddha, having realised the four Noble Truths by his own effort with no assistance from any teacher, is believed to have possessed several supernormal knowledge. Patisambhidāmagga, the twelfth of the fifteen books of the collection of the Buddha’s minor discourses (Khuddaka Nikāya) which is believed to have been composed by Arahant Sāriputta, the chief disciple of the Buddha, contains a detailed description of the knowledge that the Buddha had possessed. It has a list of seventy-three different knowledge which includes both mundane and supra-mundane knowledge. Out of them, there is six special super normal knowledge that only a fully enlightened Sammā Sambuddha such as Lord Gautama can possess. They are:
1. Knowledge of the maturity levels of the five spiritual faculties (indriya paropariyatte nāna)
2. Knowledge of the dispositions and underlying tendencies of beings (āsayānusaya nāna)
3. Knowledge of the twin miracle (yamakapātihāra nāna)
4. Knowledge of the attainment of great compassion (mahā karunāsamāpattiya nāna)
5. Knowledge of Omniscience (sabbannuta nāna)
6. Knowledge of un-obstructiveness (anāvarana nāna)
Buddha’s declaration of the ten special powers
As recorded in the Mahā Sīhanāda sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya (collection of the Buddha’s middle-length discourses), at one time the Buddha was staying in a forest near a city called Vesāli. At that time, a certain man called Sunakkhatta who had been a monk before and had even served the Buddha as the Buddha’s attendant, had been talking to the people in Vesāli disparaging and denouncing the Buddha. He has been saying to them that the Buddha lacked any superhuman states or qualities of a liberated saint, the Buddha was merely teaching what he has thought out, and that the Buddha’s teaching was only for the complete ending of suffering. One morning, Arahant Sāriputta, who was one of the two chief disciples of the Buddha, went to Vesāli for the day’s alms round. While on the alms round, Arahant Sāriputta overheard Sunakkhatta addressing a group of people saying: “The recluse Gotama has neither the superhuman states nor the distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones.”
On his return from the alms round, Arahant Sāriputta went to see the Buddha and reported the disparaging words that Sunakkhatta had been saying. The Buddha responded by saying that Sunakkhatta was speaking out of malice and that he did not know the Buddha’s true state. Then the Buddha gave a sermon which is recorded as the Mahā Sīhanāda Sutta. In that discourse, the Buddha spoke about the ten special powers of the Tathagata, four kinds of intrepidity, knowledge of the eight assemblies, four kinds of birth, the five destinies and the Nibbana, and the austerities of the Buddha aspirant (Bodhisatta). In this discourse as well as in several other discourses, the Buddha has used the term “Tathāgata” to refer to himself and the previous Buddhas.
The ten special powers (dasabala) of the Buddha (Tathāgata)
The first special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to know and understand as it actually is, why and how the possible is possible and why and how the impossible is impossible. The Buddha knows and understands the underlying causes and conditions that will determine whether it is possible or impossible for something to happen. This is the power of the possible and the impossible.
The second special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to know and understand as it actually is, the results of volitional actions (kamma), performed by anyone in the past, the present and the future, in detail, with reasons and in the exact way. This is the power of knowing the retribution of volitional actions.
The third special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to know and understand as it actually is, how the birth of any sentient being takes place and what causes and conditions lead to that particular birth. The Buddha is aware of all the paths leading to the birth of any sentient being in the four worlds of suffering, human world or the celestial worlds.
The fourth special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to know and understand as it actually is, the world with it’s many and different elements (dhātu). Here, the elements may refer to the five aggregates of clinging (form or matter (rūpa), feeling or sensation (vedanā), perception (saññā), mental formation (sankhāra) and consciousness (viññāna), the six sense bases (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and the mind), the six sense objects (visual objects, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and ideas), and the six types of sense consciousness (eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness and mind consciousness) etc.
The fifth special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to know and understand as it actually is, the diversity of beings with regard to their emotions, desires and behaviour. With that understanding, the Buddha is able to deliver the teaching to them so that the listeners will be able to understand it to their best advantage.
The sixth special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to know and understand as it actually is, the disposition of the spiritual faculties of other beings. The five spiritual faculties are: Faith (saddhā), effort (viriya), mindfulness (sati), concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā). This helps the Buddha to know their potential to understand and practise the teaching.
The seventh special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to know and understand as it actually is, the exact nature of deep mental absorptions or Jhana, various types of concentrations, liberations, and meditative attainments. The Buddha also knows the reasons for the deterioration of those meditative states and how to develop them again in the exact way.
The eighth special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to recollect many kinds of his past births. That is: one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births, many eons of the world contracting, many eons of the world expanding, many eons of the world contracting and expanding. The Buddha remembers: ‘There, I was so named, such was my clan, I looked like this, such was my food, such was my experience of pleasure and pain, such was my life span, passing away from there, I was reborn somewhere else. There too, I was so named, such was my clan, I looked like this, such was my food, such was my experience of pleasure and pain, such was my life span, passing away from there, I was reborn here’. Thus the Buddha is able to recollect many kinds of his past births, with features and details. Though others could also develop this power through meditation, the Buddha’s ability surpasses them with regard to the extent that the Buddha is able to look back into the past lives.
The ninth special power: The Buddha has the ability and the mental power to see with the divine eye, which is purified and superhuman, the sentient beings passing away and being reborn inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. The Buddha understands how sentient beings are reborn according to their volitional actions: ‘These beings who engaged in bodily, verbal and mental misconduct, reviled the noble ones, had wrong view and acted based on wrong view, with the breakup of the body, after death, have been reborn in the plane of misery, in a bad destination, in the lower world, in hell. But these beings who engaged in good bodily, verbal and mental conduct, who did not revile the noble ones, held right view, and acted based on right view, with the breakup of the body, after death, have been reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world’. Thus the Buddha has the special power to see sentient beings passing away and being reborn inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place according to their volitional actions (kamma).
The tenth special power: With the destruction of all mental defilements, the Buddha has realized for himself, with direct knowledge, with no assistance from any teacher, in this very life, undefiled liberation of mind (ceto vimutti) and liberation by wisdom (paññā vimutti), and having entered upon it, he remains in it.
Wouldn’t that be a contradiction if we apply the logic of Kamma bhava? For instance, let’s consider a person who has a 700-year-old human bhava. In this bhava, he gets shot and injured on the ground, leading to significant blood loss. He then sees his attacker and develops a strong hatred, desiring revenge and the destruction of his attacker. If he dies with this thought in mind, it’s evident that he has cultivated the Kamma Bhava of a being of the Nirayas. Can this Kamma Bhava become an Uppatti Bhava?
All right! Is it correct to say that when we engage in harmful actions such as killing and stealing, we negatively impact the duration of our bhava? I am specifically referring to individuals below the Sotāpanna Anugāmi stage.
Sir Lal, does this mean that a human bhava can last for millions of years in certain periods? If we assume the human lifespan is a million years in some Kappa, then we can be born with a human body a very large number of times.
Kamma Vipāka can be active during Kappas or even Maha Kappas. Sometimes it takes the merits of another person to thwart a harsh Vipāka. Losaka Thera had prevented an arahant from eating during the time of Lord Buddha Kassapa. As a result of this action, he was born several times as a hungry Preta. Even when he became an arahant, he had difficulty feeding himself. Food would disappear! Venerable Arahant Sariputta had to hold his bowl for him to eat. On the same day, Venerable Arahant Losaka Thera entered Parinibbāna. See Losaka Tissa Thera.
See also the story of Venerable Bakula Thero. This is an example of Kusala Kamma which gives fruits of Maha Kappas later. He cured Lord Buddha Anomadassi from an illness. During the Sasana of Lord Gautama Buddha, he was declared the healthiest disciple. He never fell ill in his last life and he attained Parinibbāna at 160 years of age. Yet it is a good deed that goes back thousands of Maha Kappas.
I’m not sure but, when I did Vipassana in Thailand we talked about the Uppacara samadhi stage (approach concentration). It is a stage before Jhanas and an ideal state to attain magga phala.
- Read this Les Dangers de Samadhi. Please translate it into English.
I found a story that supports Sir Lal’s point.
Story of Kukkuṭamitta the Hunter
“Friends, Kukkuṭamitta’s wife (a merchant’s daughter) had attained sotāpatti-phala while being a young woman and living still with her parents. Thereafter she followed the hunter to his home and had seven sons. Asked by her husband to bring the bow, the arrow, the spear, the stake, or the net, she would bring them to him. The hunter on his part would carry those weapons given by his sotāpanna wife and would commit the evil deed of taking life for long, day after day. How is it, friends? Do those sotāpanna individuals, the Noble Ones, too commit such a crime?”
Thereupon the Buddha said:
“Monks, the Noble Ones, sotāpannas, never commit such a crime as killing. The hunter’s wife brings him such weapons as a bow and arrow because she was mindful of her duty, the duty that the wife must obey her husband’s word. She had no intention to make the hunter go to the forest with the weapons in his hand for the evil act of taking life she had not the slightest idea of that sort.
- Kukkuṭamitta’s wife attained the Sotāpanna stage when she was still a young girl living with her parents. One day, she fell in love with a hunter and ran away with him, and they had 7 children. Her husband attempted to kill Lord Buddha, but she intervened, saying “Don’t kill my father.” Eventually, her whole family became Sotāpanna after listening to discourses. This story is further proof that jhanas are not necessary to attain magga phala. It also indicates that a sotāpanna can have a desire for sensual pleasures and contribute to unwholesome actions. Notably, she even took care of the arrows that her husband used, although not for pleasure, but out of marital obligation. A sotāpanna will never take pleasure in contributing to an unwholesome action.
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I think a sotāpanna can find himself in this kind of situation. He or she may do so because he or she is forced to feed his or her family to survive.
Venerable Amadassana Thero explained this in one of his sermons.
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Sir Lal:The statement, ” Hattakha Brahma is superior to Lord Buddha in the sense that he does not have a dense body and is not subject to illness and physical pain” is not appropriate, even though it is true that Brhamas don’t feel physical pain. No one is superior to the Buddha.
Me: Of course, in the 3 Lokas, no being can be compared to the Supreme Lord Buddha. I wanted to speak about certain aspects, particularly on a physical level. In the Mahāsakuludāyisutta, he explicitly stated that there are disciples who surpass him in physical aspects such as the dhutaṅgas. He explained to Anariyas that he is not revered and honoured by physical prowess but by 5 things. The first is his perfect virtue, which surpasses all beings. The second is his perfect knowledge of the world through direct experience. The third is his infinite wisdom. The fourth is his perfect knowledge of the 4 noble truths and his ability to teach it satisfactorily. The last quality is his ability to teach Sathipattana, the 4 Jhānas, the 4 arupavacara samapatti, the Iddhis powers, the Kasinas, the path to Pannavimutta and Cetovimutta, etc. This is an excellent sutta, and I invite everyone to read it.
- Thanks, Taryal! Mara Devaputta is part of the Kāma loka just like us humans. He adores sensual pleasures and wants to keep beings in these worlds. He can make his body denser with his Iddhis powers. The Brahmas of the Rupa Lokas must make their bodies dense when they visit the Kāma Loka. It is impossible for a human or a deva who does not have jhanas to see them. See Hattakha sutta. The arupas Brahmas cannot be seen by anyone except Lord Buddha and are completely detached from the two lower lokas.
- The main point I want to make is that higher beings who possess iddhi powers can put themselves on the level of lower beings. Hattakha Brahma is superior to Lord Buddha in the sense that he does not have a dense body and is not subject to illness and physical pain. He also does not have a deformed Sanna linked to Kāma loka (taste of sugar, vision of beautiful women and hideous people). He only has the Rūpa and the Arupa Sanna. Mara Devaputta thought he could tempt the Venerable Arahant Vijaya Theri. He is willing to go into lower pleasures to distract others from the Dhamma. His powers only work on those below the Sotāpanna Anugāmi stage who have strong attractions for Kāma Ragā.
Thank you for the information, sir. I haven’t had a good look at this section yet. I didn’t know that the Nikayas had deep meanings in their names. I also thought they just meant volumes and speeches. We learn something new every day!
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Thank you, Sir !! These are important concepts that develop our understanding of the Dhamma. I have to take the time to master them.
Thank you very much for these detailed explanations, Sir. These are concepts that I must take the time to read carefully to master. Thank you very much 🙏🏿.
- Kamma bhava encompasses all 3 Bhavas (Kama, Rupa and Arupa). Kama bhava corresponds to the bhavas of the 11 realms of Kāma loka.
Thank you for this clarification, sir.
- I now understand more clearly what Lord Buddha meant by “it is extremely rare to grasp and hold human bhava”. Even though one can be reborn as a human several times within one bhava, the majority of people develop Kamma bhava, which leads to Uppatti Bhava of the 4 apayas during their Jathī (They commit Anantariyas Papa Kammas and hold destructive mental states). This is why when we are puthujunas, we must be very careful with our states of mind. When one becomes a Sotāpanna, the Kamma Bhava, which leads to the Uppatti Bhava of the 4 apayas, is eliminated.
- When one becomes a Sakadāgāmi, the Kamma Bhava, which leads to the Uppatti Bhava corresponding to the realms below the deva realms, is eliminated.
- When one becomes an anagami, the Kamma bhava which leads to the Uppatti Bhava corresponding to the Kāma loka is eliminated.
- When one becomes an arahant, one will experience Kamma bhava but it will not generate any Uppatti Bhava which leads to the 31 realms. All Kamma Bhava is destroyed during Parinibbāna.
This world is infinitely complex and vast. Even yogis have developed Iddhi powers to see if it is possible to reach the end of this universe. See the story of the yogi Rohitassa. Rohitassa wanted to know the end of the universe by travelling, he only stopped to take care of his body and maintained himself with Iddhi powers. Rohitassa died due to his lifespan and he ended up being reborn in a Deva world. Lord Buddha told him that it is impossible to see the end of this universe while travelling with Iddhi powers. However, it is possible to achieve this end by becoming an arahant.
The end of the world can never
Gamanena na pattabbo,
be reached by traveling.
lokassanto kudācanaṁ;
But without reaching the end of the world,
Na ca appatvā lokantaṁ,
there’s no release from suffering.
dukkhā atthi pamocanaṁ.
So an intelligent person, understanding the world,
Tasmā have lokavidū sumedho,
has completed the spiritual journey, and gone to the end of the world.
Lokantagū vusitabrahmacariyo;
A calm one, knowing the end of the world,
Lokassa antaṁ samitāvi ñatvā,
does not long for this world or the next.”
Nāsīsatī lokamimaṁ parañcā”ti.
- Knowing that the universe is infinitely large. There will always be many worlds that are beyond our reach. Only a Lord Buddha is capable of knowing about each of these worlds.
