"Bases Of Psychic Power" Study & Practice Series: Intro(1/7)

I studied and practiced with the "Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power" for about four months of daily practice. These Roads To Power are desire, persistence, intent and discernment. Most of this seven-part podcast series are my considerations, questions, experiences, explorations, suggestions, interpretations and practices from working with this sutta. Part 1 is an introduction; the key encapsulation paragraph; and a translation

Transcript

Hold this and welcome to this podcast series on the four bases of power.

I'm Josh Dippold and you're listening to an integrating presence podcast.

So I've already recorded all the other episodes and sections of this series without editing it yet.

And now I'm doing the introduction and more than likely I'm just going to read what I wrote here,

Kind of scripted,

But this will be pretty much the only section like that except for reading the actual suit itself,

Obviously.

I might deviate a little bit from this,

So we'll see.

So one reason this blog post and podcast series came about could likely be due to my meditation practice becoming stale and now provides an outlet for a somewhat more advanced level where details are dived into.

If and when exploring the Sutta on your own,

It's recommended to drop the intricate,

Sometimes tedious language I go into here to the fullest extent possible.

It's important to remember my intent here of placing plenty under a spiritual microscope to merely visit such modes of deconstruction and analysis for study and formal practice possibilities,

Not as a general normalized mode of living.

And while I go into my neat,

Minute details pertaining to the Sutta,

Please keep in mind it's likely more helpful not to keep considering the Sutta in isolation,

But within the broader context of the Buddha's other teachings.

While I reference some non-Buddhist material,

Most everything in this blog post and podcast episodes are solely my effort to relate considerations,

Questions,

Experiences,

Explorations,

Suggestions,

Interpretations,

And practices involved and associated with the Sutta.

They are not entirely the same thing as the actual experiences and phenomena that inspired them,

Only my interpretation of them in language.

In other words,

Our interpretation of experience is not the same thing as experience itself.

A significant portion of the Iripada,

Vibhanga Sutta,

And analysis of the bases of power mention so-called psychic powers,

Which in today's postmodern world,

I observe a polarity of either garnering dismissal,

Jokes,

And relegation to comic book movies in the scientific western world,

Or on the other end,

Looked upon with fear and trepidation by detractors or obsessed about by the power-hungry.

As long as precepts and ethics are involved,

It is okay to empower ourselves this way.

Just as the Buddha taught in this Sutta,

Especially since he says,

This is how these four bases of power,

When developed and pursued,

Are of great fruit and great benefit.

Ethics are required before proceeding as this material gives zero allowance for its ill-use.

For background,

I have been exposed to some esoteric teachings about quote-unquote psychic powers,

But no formal training from a book or teacher.

For well over four months,

I worked with,

Studied,

And practiced with this Sutta,

With formal practice consisting of about 80 minutes a day,

Including allotting the full 80 minutes to each of the 32 parts within this Sutta.

Perhaps this could be the equivalent to a month-long retreat or a two-week intensive retreat.

Some of the more esoteric insights,

Correlations,

And comparisons came upon the first read,

But the nitty-gritty details came piecemeal each day and day after day,

Session after session.

I even did a doodle to encapsulate some of the practices and approaches and wrote down one translation of the entire Sutta longhand,

Expanding it out by adding the redundant standard textual omissions in the text also included here.

I'll present this via seven categories.

Number one,

This introduction,

Along with the key encapsulation,

Our encoding,

Our summary paragraph of the whole Sutta,

Which includes and weaves in the four powers,

Then a reading of one of two translations for the Sutta.

Number two,

Unpacking of the hindrances,

And the other of the two translations for the Sutta.

Number three,

A type of situational awareness.

Number four,

32 parts of the body.

Number five,

Perceptions of night,

Daytime,

And light.

Number six,

Quote-unquote psychic powers,

Practice combinations and miscellany.

And seven,

Summary,

Findings,

Observations,

And comparisons.

The plan is to release these about a month apart from each other in seven different podcasts with each one ranging from maybe,

Oh,

I don't know,

30 minutes on the short end to an hour and a half on the longer end.

But given a current understanding,

One can basically approach the Sutta by training,

Developing,

Cultivating,

And using the four adhipata,

Desire,

Persistence,

Intent,

And discernment via the 32 parts of the body,

Including substances,

Parts,

Sections,

Regions,

Et cetera.

Also inhabiting a type of situational awareness and variations on inverse perceptions of night and day,

Daylight separately and woven together.

I find perhaps at the core of the Sutta,

An analysis of and instructions for the training,

Development,

And use of will deconstructed into the four adhipata,

Which are chanda,

Often translated as desire,

Enthusiasm,

Purpose.

Second one is virya,

Persistence,

Energy,

Effort,

Maybe will are common translations.

Chitta,

Intent,

Translated as intent,

Consciousness,

Knowing mind,

Mental development,

Devoting mind to,

And heart mind.

Number four,

Vimansa,

Investigation,

Inquiry,

Discernment,

Discrimination,

Interest,

Intelligent curiosity,

Or perhaps a new contribution from me,

Or maybe this goes for chanda as well,

Balanced and helpful enthrallment or fascination,

I don't know,

You decide.

Also for vimansa,

I've heard it talked about as feedback and fine tuning,

Adjustment and learning from doing.

So after daily meditation for a few years,

The power and origin of manifested phenomena,

Seemingly sourcing from intent became apparent for me.

So I use intent as an entry point into the adhipata for certain types of meditation.

Sometimes I hold an awareness and intent,

Sometimes multi-layered,

Without importance placed on what will or won't happen,

Other than fixing attention and awareness on it.

Since there is already a seeing and knowing of the power and importance of intent,

And with conviction of the fabrication of the important,

Of the selected intent,

Desire is then allowed to fuel this conviction,

Importance,

Power,

Seeing and knowing.

At the same time,

If there's any kind of obsessive,

Compulsive,

And addictive energy,

It can be transformed into the wholesome desire to persist in staying with the chosen intention as meditation object.

Intent comes in to quickly and sharply see,

Then drop each and every arising other than the aforementioned,

At least ideally anyway.

However one approaches the adhipatas,

I suggest exploring and developing all four,

Especially building concentration with them before diving into the sutta.

One newer note that didn't make it into the other recordings,

And it hasn't been written into the script here,

Is on the psychic powers.

So there was this curiosity,

And I'm getting ahead of myself here for this series,

But there's a portion of the sutta that is about recalling one's previous lives.

If this is possible by some,

And there's been plenty of scientific research on this,

Why is this considered a psychic power?

By that I mean,

If some can do it,

Why can't more do it?

What makes those who can remember these more able to do so than many people?

What is stopping the mass of the population from doing this?

And then if they were able to,

Or we are able to,

Mass society remember previous lifetimes more often,

Then would these really be considered psychic powers?

It would seem like a natural faculty at that point,

So it'd be more commonplace and wouldn't be considered that big a deal anymore.

It's also translated as supra-normal powers.

But I wonder why it's not normal,

If it's possible to do,

And what's in the way of this,

How it got like that,

And why,

And who benefits from it being like this?

So that's just a taste of some of the deeper dives that go into this sutta with this podcast series.

So back now to the script,

Continuing with another technical note on how this series is structured.

Audio recordings for some sections contain two recordings.

The first one,

More spontaneous without referencing notes,

And the second one consults notes.

So there may be some overlap and redundancies,

Ideally important ones worth the repetitions.

So as I mentioned before this first part,

There's this key encapsulation,

Encoding or summary paragraph of the whole sutta,

Which includes and weaves in the four powers.

And once this is kind of ingrained in mind,

The whole thing can be kind of seen and unpacked from this paragraph.

Once one gets to that stage of mastery with this,

Which honestly it seems like could take quite a few lifetimes for some,

Probably for me as well,

As you'll see with the rest of the sutta and with the rest of my work with it.

So here it is,

The paragraph,

This first translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu,

Quote,

There is the case where a monk develops the base of power endowed with concentration founded on desire and the fabrications of exertion thinking.

This desire of mine will be neither overly sluggish nor overly active,

Neither inwardly constricted nor outwardly scattered.

He keeps perceiving what is in front and behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind.

What is behind is the same as what is in front.

What is below is the same as what is above.

What is above is the same as what is below.

He dwells by night as by day and by day as by night.

By means of an awareness,

Thus open and unhampered,

He develops a brightened mind.

Are translated this way by Bhante Sujato,

Quote,

Mendicants,

When the four bases of psychic power are developed and cultivated,

They are very fruitful and beneficial.

How so?

It's when a mendicant develops the basis of psychic power that has immersion due to enthusiasm and active effort.

They think my enthusiasm won't be too lax or too tense,

And it will be neither constricted internally nor scattered externally.

And they meditate perceiving continuity as before,

So after,

As after,

So before.

As below,

So above,

As above,

So below.

As by day,

So by night.

As by night,

So by day.

And so with an open and unveloped heart,

They develop a mind that's full of radiance.

So you'll see when I get into this,

That this is just dealing with Chanda translated as desire by Thanissaro Bhikkhu and enthusiasm by Bhante Sujato.

So it repeats for virya,

Citta,

Vimamsa,

Energy,

Intent,

Discernment,

Let's just say,

Respectively.

Just choosing a single translation for those.

So the other episodes in this series will go on to unpack in detail what this means and give thoughts and analysis on it,

As well as the actual rest of the sutta itself,

Which now here's a reading of one of the two translations for this sutta.

These four bases of power,

When developed and pursued,

Are of great fruit and great benefit.

And how are the four bases of power developed and pursued so as to be of great fruit and great benefit?

There is the case where a monk develops the base of power endowed with concentration founded on desire and the fabrications of exertion thinking.

This desire of mine will be neither overly sluggish nor overly active,

Neither inwardly constricted nor outwardly scattered.

He keeps perceiving what is in front and behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind.

What is behind is the same as what is in front.

What is below is the same as what is above.

What is above is the same as what is below.

He dwells by night as by day,

And by day as by night.

By means of an awareness thus open and unhampered,

He develops a brightened mind.

There is the case where a monk develops the base of power endowed with concentration founded on persistence and the fabrications of exertion thinking.

This persistence of mine will be neither overly sluggish nor overly active,

Neither inwardly constricted nor outwardly scattered.

He keeps perceiving what is in front and behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind.

What is behind is the same as what is in front.

What is below is the same as what is above.

What is above is the same as what is below.

He dwells by night as by day,

And by day as by night.

By means of an awareness thus open and unhampered,

He develops a brightened mind.

There is the case where a monk develops the base of power endowed with concentration founded on intent and the fabrications of exertion thinking.

This intent of mine will be neither overly sluggish nor overly active,

Neither inwardly constricted nor outwardly scattered.

He keeps perceiving what is in front and behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind.

What is behind is the same as what is in front.

What is below is the same as what is above.

What is above is the same as what is below.

He dwells by night as by day,

And by day as by night.

By means of an awareness thus open and unhampered,

He develops a brightened mind.

There is the case where a monk develops the base of power endowed with concentration founded on discrimination and the fabrications of exertion thinking.

This discrimination of mine will be neither overly sluggish nor overly active,

Neither inwardly constricted nor outwardly scattered.

He keeps perceiving what is in front and behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind.

What is behind is the same as what is in front.

What is below is the same as what is above.

What is above is the same as what is below.

He dwells by night as by day,

And by day as by night.

By means of an awareness thus open and unhampered,

He develops a brightened mind.

And how is desire overly sluggish?

Whatever desire is accompanied by laziness conjoined with laziness,

That is called overly sluggish desire.

And how is desire overly active?

Whatever desire is accompanied by restlessness conjoined with restlessness,

That is called overly active desire.

And how is desire inwardly constricted?

Whatever desire is accompanied by sloth and drowsiness conjoined with sloth and drowsiness,

That is called inwardly restricted desire.

And how is desire outwardly scattered?

Whatever desire is stirred up by the five strands of sensuality outwardly dispersed and dissipated,

That is called outwardly scattered desire.

And how does a monk dwell perceiving what is in front and behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind,

And what is behind is the same as what is in front?

There is the case where a monk's perception of what is in front and behind is well in hand,

Well attended to,

Well considered,

Well tuned,

Penetrated by means of discernment.

This is how a monk keeps perceiving what is in front and behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind,

And what is behind is the same as what is in front.

And how does a monk dwell so that what is the same as what is above and what is above is the same as what is below?

There is the case where a monk reflects on this very body from the soles of the feet on up,

From the crown of the head on down,

Surrounded by skin full of various kinds of unclean things.

In this body there are head hairs,

Body hairs,

Nails,

Teeth,

Skin,

Flesh,

Tendons,

Bones,

Bone marrow,

Kidneys,

Heart,

Liver,

Pelora,

Spleen,

Lungs,

Large intestines,

Small intestines,

Gorge,

Feces,

Bile,

Phlegm,

Pus,

Blood,

Sweat,

Fat,

Tears,

Skin oil,

Saliva,

Mucus,

Fluid in the joints,

Urine.

This is how a monk dwells so that what is below is the same as what is above,

And what is above is the same as what is below.

And how does a monk dwell by night as by day,

And by day as by night?

There is the case where a monk at night develops the base of power endowed with concentration,

Founded on desire and the fabrications of exertion,

By means of the same modes,

Permutations,

And signs and themes that he uses by day,

And by day he develops the base of power endowed with concentration,

Founded on desire and the fabrications of exertion,

By means of the same modes,

And signs and themes that he uses by night.

This is how a monk dwells by night as by day,

And by day as by night.

And how does a monk,

By means of an awareness open and unhampered,

Develop a brightened mind?

There is the case where a monk has a perception of light,

The perception of daytime,

At any hour of the day,

Well in hand and well established.

This is how a monk,

By means of an awareness open and unhampered,

Develops a brightened mind.

And how does a monk dwell by night as by day,

And by day as by night?

There is the case where a monk at night develops the base of power endowed with concentration,

Founded on persistence and the fabrications of exertion,

By means of the same modes,

Permutations,

And signs and themes that he uses by day,

And by day he develops the base of power endowed with concentration,

Founded on persistence and the fabrications of exertion,

By means of the same modes,

And signs and themes that he uses by night.

This is how a monk dwells by night as by day,

And by day as by night.

And how does a monk,

By means of an awareness open and unhampered,

Develop a brightened mind?

There is the case where a monk has a perception of light,

The perception of daytime,

At any hour of the day,

Well in hand and well established.

This is how a monk,

By means of an awareness open and unhampered,

Develops a brightened mind.

And how does a monk dwell by night as by day,

And by day as by night?

There is the case where a monk at night develops the base of power endowed with concentration,

Founded on intent and the fabrications of exertion,

By means of the same modes,

Permutations,

And signs and themes that he uses by day,

And by day he develops the base of power endowed with concentration,

Founded on intent and the fabrications of exertion,

By means of the same modes,

And signs and themes that he uses by night.

This is how a monk dwells by night as by day,

And by day as by night.

And how does a monk,

By means of an awareness open and unhampered,

Develop a brightened mind?

There is the case where a monk has a perception of light,

The perception of daytime,

At any hour of the day,

Well in hand and well established.

This is how a monk,

By means of an awareness open and unhampered,

Develops a brightened mind.

And how does a monk dwell by night as by day,

And by day as by night?

There is the case where a monk at night develops the base of power endowed with concentration,

Founded on discrimination,

And the fabrications of exertion,

By means of the same modes,

Permutations,

And signs and themes that he uses by day,

And by day he develops the base of power endowed with concentration,

Founded on discrimination,

And the fabrications of exertion,

By means of the same modes,

And signs,

And themes that he uses by night.

This is how a monk dwells by night as by day,

And by day as by night.

And how does a monk,

By means of an awareness open and unhampered,

Develop a brightened mind?

There is the case where a monk has a perception of light,

The perception of daytime,

At any hour of the day,

Well in hand and well established.

This is how a monk,

By means of an awareness open and unhampered,

Develops a brightened mind.

When a monk has thus developed and pursued the four bases of power,

He experiences manifold,

Supranormal powers.

Having been one,

He becomes many.

Having been many,

He becomes one.

He appears.

He vanishes.

He goes unimpeded through walls,

Ramparts,

And mountains,

As if through space.

He dives in and out of the earth as if it were water.

He walks on water without sinking,

As if it were dry land.

Sitting cross-legged,

He flies through the air like a winged bird.

With his hand he touches and strokes even the sun and moon,

So mighty and powerful.

He exercises influence with his body,

Even as far as the Brahman worlds.

He hears,

By means of the divine ear element,

Purified and surpassing the human,

Both kinds of sounds,

Divine and human,

Whether near or far.

He knows the awareness of other beings,

Other individuals,

Having encompassed it with his own awareness.

He discerns a mind with passion as a mind with passion,

And a mind without passion as a mind without passion.

He discerns a mind with aversion as a mind with aversion,

And a mind without aversion as a mind without aversion.

He discerns a mind with delusion as a mind with delusion,

And a mind without delusion as a mind without delusion.

He discerns a restricted mind as a restricted mind,

And a scattered mind as a scattered mind.

He discerns an enlarged mind as an enlarged mind,

And an unenlarged mind as an unenlarged mind.

He discerns a surpassed mind,

One that is not at the most excellent level,

As a surpassed mind,

And an unsurpassed mind as an unsurpassed mind.

He discerns a concentrated mind as a concentrated mind,

And an unconcentrated mind as an unconcentrated mind.

He discerns a released mind as a released mind,

And an unreleased mind as an unreleased mind.

He recollects his manifold past lives,

Literally previous homes,

That is,

One birth,

Two births,

Three births,

Four,

Five,

Ten,

Twenty,

Thirty,

Forty,

Fifty,

One hundred,

One thousand,

One hundred thousand,

Many eons of cosmic contraction,

Many eons of cosmic expansion,

Many eons of cosmic contraction and expansion,

Recollecting,

There I had such a name,

Belonged to such a clan,

Had such an appearance,

Such was my food,

Such was my experience of pleasure and pain,

Such the end of my life.

Passing away from that state,

I arose there.

There too I had such a name,

Belonged to such a clan,

Had such an appearance,

Such was my food,

Such my experience of pleasure and pain,

Such the end of my life.

Passing away from that state,

I arose here.

Thus he remembers his manifold past lives in their modes and details.

He sees by means of the divine eye,

Purified and surpassing the human,

Beings passing away and reappearing,

And he discerns how they are inferior,

Superior,

Beautiful and ugly,

Fortunate and unfortunate,

In accordance with their kamma.

These beings,

Who were endowed with bad conduct of body,

Speech and mind,

Who reviled the noble ones,

Held wrong views,

And undertook actions under the influence,

With the breakup of the body after death,

Being reappeared in a plane of deprivation,

A bad destination,

A lower realm,

Hell.

These beings,

Who were endowed with good conduct of body,

Speech and mind,

Who did not revile the nobles,

Who held right views,

And undertook actions under the influence of right views,

With the breakup of the body after death,

Having reappeared in a good destination,

A heavenly world.

Thus by means of the divine eye,

Purified and surpassing the human,

He sees beings passing away and reappearing,

And he discerns how they are inferior,

Superior,

Beautiful and ugly,

Fortunate and unfortunate,

In accordance with their kamma.

Through the ending of the influence,

He enters and remains in the affluent,

Free,

Awareness release and discernment release,

Having directly known and realized them for himself,

Right in the here and now.

This is how these four bases of power,

When developed and pursued,

Are of great fruit and great benefit.