Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Six powers — true knowledge of the possible and impossible, of karmic results, of the absorptions and their corruption or purification, of past lives, of beings' passing and rebirth, and of the ending of defilements — let the Realized One claim the foremost place and answer any question on these six matters, and every one of the six, the discourse insists, belongs only to those with immersion.
A declarative register, unlike most of this chapter
Where most of this chapter's discourses are dialogues — a mendicant's question, a householder's puzzle, senior mendicants debating — AN 6.64 is stated flatly in the first person with no interlocutor at all. The Buddha simply asserts what he possesses and what it enables, a register closer to declaration than exchange.
Six powers, then the same six restated as answerable
The discourse's structure repeats each of the six twice: first as a power the Buddha possesses, then, in a second pass, as a subject on which “if others come to the Realized One and ask questions… the Realized One answers them in whatever manner he has truly known it.” The doubling emphasizes that these are not merely private attainments but capacities specifically tested against outside questioning.
A shorter list than the canon's more familiar ten
Readers familiar with the ten tathāgatabala named more prominently elsewhere in the canon will notice this discourse states only six. The six named here overlap substantially with a subset of the fuller ten-power list — this discourse does not explain the difference in count, and this guide does not speculate about it beyond noting the variation exists.
One closing claim unifying all six
The discourse's final line makes a single, sweeping claim about all six powers together: “immersion is the path. No immersion is the wrong path.” Every one of the six specific knowledges named — from the possible and impossible to the ending of defilements — is said to be “for those with immersion, not for those without immersion,” a single unifying precondition closing a discourse otherwise built from six distinct items.
Key terms
The text
The six powers named
§1“Mendicants, the Realized One possesses six powers of a Realized One. With these he claims the bull’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and turns the divine wheel. What six? Firstly, the Realized One truly understands the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible. Since he truly understands this, this is a power of the Realized One. Relying on this he claims the bull’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and turns the divine wheel. Furthermore, the Realized One truly understands the result of deeds undertaken in the past, future, and present in terms of grounds and causes. Since he truly understands this, this is a power of the Realized One. … Furthermore, the Realized One truly understands corruption, cleansing, and emergence regarding the absorptions, liberations, immersions, and attainments. Since he truly understands this, this is a power of the Realized One. … Furthermore, the Realized One recollects many kinds of past lives. That is: one, two, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand rebirths; many eons of the world contracting, many eons of the world expanding, many eons of the world contracting and expanding. He remembers: ‘There, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn somewhere else. There, too, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn here.’ And so he recollects his many kinds of past lives, with features and details. Since he truly understands this, this is a power of the Realized One. … Furthermore, with clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, the Realized One sees sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. He understands how sentient beings pass on according to their deeds. Since he truly understands this, this is a power of the Realized One. … Furthermore, the Realized One has realized the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life. And he lives having realized it with his own insight due to the ending of defilements. Since he truly understands this, this is a power of the Realized One. Relying on this he claims the bull’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and turns the divine wheel. These are the six powers of a Realized One that the Realized One possesses. With these he claims the bull’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and turns the divine wheel.
The same six, restated as answerable to questioners
§2If others come to the Realized One and ask questions about his true knowledge of the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible, the Realized One answers them in whatever manner he has truly known it. If others come to the Realized One and ask questions about his true knowledge of the result of deeds undertaken in the past, future, and present in terms of grounds and causes, the Realized One answers them in whatever manner he has truly known it. If others come to the Realized One and ask questions about his true knowledge of corruption, cleansing, and emergence regarding the absorptions, liberations, immersions, and attainments, the Realized One answers them in whatever manner he has truly known it. If others come to the Realized One and ask questions about his true knowledge of recollection of past lives, the Realized One answers them in whatever manner he has truly known it. If others come to the Realized One and ask questions about his true knowledge of passing away and rebirth of sentient beings, the Realized One answers them in whatever manner he has truly known it. If others come to the Realized One and ask questions about his true knowledge of the ending of defilements, the Realized One answers them in whatever manner he has truly known it.
The closing claim: immersion is the path
§3And I say that true knowledge of the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible is for those with immersion, not for those without immersion. And true knowledge of the result of deeds undertaken in the past, future, and present in terms of grounds and causes is for those with immersion, not for those without immersion. And true knowledge of corruption, cleansing, and emergence regarding the absorptions, liberations, immersions, and attainments is for those with immersion, not for those without immersion. And true knowledge of the recollection of past lives is for those with immersion, not for those without immersion. And true knowledge of the passing away and rebirth of sentient beings is for those with immersion, not for those without immersion. And true knowledge of the ending of defilements is for those with immersion, not for those without immersion. And so, mendicants, immersion is the path. No immersion is the wrong path.”
Self-check quiz
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