The Buddhist Path to Enlightenment (study)
by Dr Kala Acharya | 2016 | 118,883 words
This page relates ‘The Fourfold Psychic Power (Introduction)’ of the study on the Buddhist path to enlightenment. The Buddha was born in the Lumbini grove near the present-day border of India and Nepal in the 6th century B.C. He had achieved enlightenment at the age of thirty–five under the ‘Bodhi-tree’ at Buddha-Gaya. This study investigates the teachings after his Enlightenment which the Buddha decided to teach ‘out of compassion for beings’.
3.2. The Fourfold Psychic Power (Introduction)
[Full title: The Fourfold Psychic Power (cattāro iddhipāda; Sanskrit: ṛddipāda)—Introduction]
There are the four psychic powers (cattāro iddhipāda, Skt. ṛddhipāda); namely,
- psychic power of desire (chadiddhipāda, S. chanda),
- psychic power of effort (vīriyiddhipāda, S. vīrya),
- psychic power of consciousness (cittiddhipāda, S. citta) and
- psychic power of investigation (vimaṃsiddhipāda, S. mīmāṃsā).
The Apāra sutta in Saṃyutta Nikāya a brief definition of four psychic powers following:
Bhikkhus, there are these four psychic powers, when cultivated and often developed, lead to going from the near shore to the far shore. What are four?
Here, bhikkhus, a monk develops the basis for spiritual power that is accomplished in concentration due to the desire (chanada) and the forces of exertion.
He develops the basis for spiritual power that is accomplished in concentration due to effort (vīriya) and the forces of exertion.
He develops the basis for spiritual power that is accomplished in concentration due to mind (citta) and the forces of exertion.
He develops the basis for spiritual power that is accomplished in concentration due to investigation (vīmaṃsa) and the forces of exertion.
These, bhikkhus are the four psychic powers, when cultivated and often developed, lead to going from the near shore to the far shore.[1]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
SN 51.1/V: p. 254