English
"Does he, going with such an invisible body, go at the moment of arising of his resolve-mind, or at the moment of its abiding, or at the moment of its dissolution?" the elder says, "He goes at all three moments." "Does he himself go, or does he send a created image?" He does as he wishes. Here, however, his own going is what is meant. "Mind-made" means mind-made because it is created by the mind of resolve. "With unimpaired faculties" is said with reference to the form of the eye, ear, and so on. However, there is no sensitivity in a created form. "If the one with psychic power walks, the created image also walks there," and so on, all this is said with reference to a disciple's creation. Buddha's By this power, whatever the Blessed One does, that too he does. And by the will of the Blessed One, he does other things. And here, when that one with power, standing right here, sees forms with the divine eye, hears sounds with the divine ear element, knows minds with the knowledge of penetrating others' minds, by this much he does not control the body. And when he, standing right here, stands with that Brahma, converses, engages in discussion, by this much too he does not control the body. And when he resolves, "may it be near though far," and so on, by this much too he does not control the body. And when he goes to the Brahma-world with a visible or invisible body, by this much too he does not control the body. But when he creates a form in front of that Brahma, and so on, in the manner described, by this much he is said to control the body. The rest here is said to show the preliminary part of controlling the body. This, then, is the power of resolution. 398. Now, this is the distinction between transformation and mind-made. First, concerning transformation: "He abandons his natural appearance and displays the appearance of a youth, or the appearance of a nāga, or the appearance of a garuḍa, or the appearance of an asura, or the appearance of Indra, or the appearance of a deva, or the appearance of a Brahma, or the appearance of the ocean, or the appearance of a mountain, or the appearance of a lion, or the appearance of a tiger, or the appearance of a leopard, or he displays an elephant, or a horse, or a chariot, or foot soldiers, or various battle arrays" (Paṭisambhidāmagga 3.13). Among these, the appearance of a youth and so on, whatever he desires, that should be resolved upon. And by the one resolving, having risen from the jhāna that gives rise to supernormal powers, with one of the earth kasiṇa and so on as its object, his own appearance of a youth should be adverted to. Having adverted, at the end of the preparatory work, having re-entered and risen from jhāna, such a form "I will be a young boy," one should resolve. With the thought of resolution, he becomes a young boy, like Devadatta (Cūḷava. 333). This method applies everywhere. "He also shows an elephant," and so on— here it is said with reference to showing an elephant, etc., even externally. There, without resolving, "I will be an elephant," one should resolve, "Let there be an elephant." The same method applies to horses and so on. This is the power of transformation. 399. But one who wishes to create a mind-made body, having risen from the foundational jhāna, first attends to his body and resolves, in the manner stated, "Let it be hollow." It becomes hollow. Then, attending to another body within it, and having performed the preliminary work, he resolves, in the manner stated, "Let there be another body within it." He draws it out like a stalk from a muñja grass, like a sword from its sheath, like a snake from a basket. Therefore it is said: "Here, a bhikkhu creates from this body another body, having form, mind-made, complete in all its limbs and minor parts, not deficient in its faculties. Just as a man might draw out a stalk from a muñja grass, and he would think: 'This is the muñja grass, this is the stalk; the muñja grass is one thing, the stalk is another, yet the stalk has been drawn out from the muñja grass,'" and so on (Paṭi. Ma. 3.14). Here, these similes are stated to show that just as the stalk, etc., are similar to the muñja grass, etc., so too the mind-made form is similar to the one possessing psychic power. This is the power of mind-made creation. Thus, in the Visuddhimagga, composed for the joy of good people, The Description of Psychic Powers, The Twelfth Chapter. 13. Description of Higher Knowledges Discourse on the Divine Ear Element 400. Now the turn has come for the description of the divine ear element. There, in the case of the three higher knowledges that follow, the meaning of "when his mind is thus concentrated," and so on (Dī. Ni. 1.240 ff.), should be understood in the manner stated. However, we shall describe only the specific differences in each case. Here, regarding "with the divine ear element," it is called "divine" because it is like that of devas. For the ear of devas, produced by their good deeds, unobstructed by bile, phlegm, blood, etc., and free from defilements, is capable of perceiving objects even from afar, and is a divine faculty. It is the divine ear-element. And this ear-element of knowledge, produced by the power of this monk's energetic development, is likewise divine because it resembles the divine. Moreover, it is divine because it is obtained by means of a divine abiding, and because it itself is supported by a divine abiding. It is the ear-element in the sense of hearing and in the sense of being non-living. And it is the ear-element because it performs the function of the ear-element. By that divine ear-element. "Purified" means utterly pure, without defilement. "Surpassing human" means having surpassed the human sphere of operation by hearing sounds, having transcended and gone beyond the human flesh-ear element. "Hears both sounds" means hears two kinds of sounds. Which two? It is said to be divine and human, the sounds of gods and humans. By this, the limitation of locality should be understood. "Those far and near" means those sounds that are far, even in other world-systems, and those that are near, even the sounds of creatures clinging to one's own body, those he hears, it is said. By this, the non-limitation of locality should be understood. But how is this to be produced? That monk, having entered the jhana that is the basis for supernormal powers, and having emerged, should first, with a preparatory concentration mind, attend to a gross sound far away in the natural range of hearing, such as the sound of lions in the forest. In the monastery, the sound of a bell, the sound of a drum, the sound of a conch, the sound of chanting by young monks and novices chanting with all their might, the sound of ordinary conversation like "What, venerable sir? What, friend?", the sound of birds, the sound of wind, the sound of footsteps, the sizzling sound of boiling water, the rustling sound of palm leaves drying in the sun, the sound of ants and other insects – thus, from all gross sounds onwards, subtle sounds should be attended to in due order. By him, the sound-sign of sounds in the eastern direction should be attended to. In the western, northern, southern, lower, upper directions, in the south-eastern, south-western, north-western, north-eastern intermediate directions, the sound-sign of sounds should be attended to. The sound-sign of gross sounds and subtle sounds should be attended to. For him, those sounds become manifest even to the ordinary mind. But for the mind of preparatory concentration, they are exceedingly manifest. While thus attending to the sound-sign, with the thought 'Now the divine ear element will arise,' making one of those sounds the object, mind-door adverting arises. When that ceases, four or five impulsion moments occur, of which the first three or four are preparatory, access, adaptation, and change-of-lineage, belonging to the sense-sphere; and the fourth or fifth is the absorption consciousness, belonging to the fine-material sphere, of the fourth jhāna. The knowledge that arises there together with that absorption consciousness, this should be understood as the divine ear element. Thereafter, one is established in that ear. Making it strong, one should expand it by delimiting a space of one finger-breadth, thinking 'Within this space I hear a sound.' Then, by delimiting and expanding it by two finger-breadths, four finger-breadths, eight finger-breadths, a span, a cubit, and so on, through the inner chambers of palaces, their courtyards, monasteries, pasture villages, districts, and so forth, up to the world-system, or even beyond that, one should delimit and expand it. Thus, one who has attained this higher knowledge hears sounds within the space pervaded by the object of the base jhāna, even without re-entering the base jhāna, by means of the knowledge of higher perception. And hearing thus, even if there is a single clamor of conch, drum, and other sounds up to the Brahma-world, if there is a desire to distinguish them individually, one is able to distinguish, 'This is a conch sound, this is a drum sound.' The discourse on the divine ear element is concluded. Discourse on the Knowledge of Penetrating Minds 401. In the phrase 'for the knowledge of penetrating minds' in the 'Discourse on the Knowledge of Penetrating Minds,' 'pariyāti' means 'pariyaṃ,' which means 'it penetrates' or 'it delimits.' The penetration of mind is 'cetopariyaṃ.' And that knowledge which is the penetration of mind is 'cetopariyañāṇaṃ.' It is said to be 'for that purpose.' By 'other beings' is meant all beings apart from oneself. By 'other persons,' this too has the same meaning. According to the disposition of those to be trained... And by the variety of exposition, the diversity of expressions is made. "By mind, mind" means by one's own mind, their mind. "Knowing by encompassing" means having delimited, one knows in various ways, such as with lust, etc.