Part 13 - The Six Asādhāraṇa Ñāṇa

Summary: The Six Kinds of Knowledge which are solely within The Province of The Buddha ().

There are six kinds of knowledge which are possessed only by the Buddha and are not found in Paccekabuddhas or disciples, namely:

(i) Indriyaparopariyatta-ñāṇa

Knowledge that discusses the readiness or otherwise of an individual to understand the Truth. By this special knowledge, the Buddha decides such and such a being has his faculties ripe enough to gain enlightenment and is due for liberation. (Here, Indriya (Faculties) means, faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom, five factors in all.)

(ii) Āsayānusayan-ñāṇa

Knowledge that discuss the natural bent and latent proclivities of individuals. (Ref: original text at pp 597 on the Lokavidu attribute of the Buddha.) The term āsayānusaya, a compound may be rendered as “the seed-germ of an individual’s mental makeup.” By this special knowledge, the Buddha knows discriminately that such and such a being has such natural bent of mind, such latent potential for defilements that are dominant in his mental makeup.

It was due to the possession of the above two special knowledges that the Buddha could deliver the right message to the right-hearer. Even the Venerable Sāriputta, being not endowed with these special knowledges, could not know the state of readiness of his hearers to receive the message, i.e. about the ripeness or otherwise of the mental makeup of his hearers, with the result that his discourses, in a few occasions, fell flat on the hearers.

(iii) Yamakapātihāriya-ñāṇa

Knowledge that can bring out the Twin Miracle. On four occasions the Buddha employed this special knowledge, namely:

(a) At the Tree of Enlightenment, to clear away the doubt and conceit in the minds of devas and Brahmās; (b) On His first visit to Kapilavatthu, to behumble His kinsmen, the Sakyas; (c) At Sāvatthi, near the miraculous mango tree that grew and bore fruit on the same day it was planted by Kanda, the gardener, to behumble the followers of other faiths; (d) On the occasion of the congregation concerning Pāthikaputta.

(iv) Mahākaruṇāsamāpatti-ñāṇa

Knowledge consisting of the Buddha-compassion on seeing the multitude struggling in the stormy ocean of saṃsāra. He has great compassion on all beings that are living in the world which is like a burning prison. The knowledge that enables the Buddha to attend His compassionate mind on those beings, is associated with dwelling in the jhānic state Mahākaruṇāsamāpatti. At every night and every dawn, the Buddha enters into this jhānic absorption that consists of 2.4 million crores of thoughts.

(v) Sabbaññutā-ñāṇa

Knowledge that comprehends all knowable things. The Buddha is called the All-knowing Buddha on account of this special knowledge, which is also called Samanta cakkhu. For details about this Buddha-knowledge refer to Patisambhidā magga.

(vi) Anāvaraṇa-ñāṇa

This knowledge is defined as, “Natthi āvaraṃ etassāti anāvaram——There is nothing that can stand in the way of the arising of this Buddha knowledge.” This unhampered special Knowledge of the Buddha is an essential feature of sabbaññutā ñāṇa. It is called Anāvaraṇa-ñāṇa in the same sense as saddhā (conviction), vīriya (effort), sati (mindfulness), samādhi (concentration) and paññā (wisdom) are called Indriya (faculties) because they are the controlling factors, each in its own way, and also called bala (powers) because they overpower their respective opponents, viz. lack of conviction, sloth, negligence, distraction and bewilderment.

(These are the Six Asādhāraṇa-ñāṇa.)