Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Without immersion that is peaceful, refined, tranquil, and unified, none of the six higher knowledges can be attained; with such immersion, all six become possible.
The six higher knowledges, named in full
The list running through this discourse is the standard chaḷabhiññā: psychic power (multiplying oneself, passing through walls, walking on water, touching the sun and moon); clairaudience; reading others' minds; recollecting past lives; clairvoyance into how beings pass on according to their deeds; and the undefiled freedom of heart and wisdom through the ending of defilements — the only one of the six that marks full awakening rather than an extraordinary capacity.
One cause, not six separate ones
Unlike AN 6.65 and 6.66's six independent blocking items, or AN 6.67 and 6.68's multi-link chains, this discourse names a single precondition — immersion — and simply repeats it as the requirement behind each of the six results in turn. The structure is closer to one cause radiating into six effects than to a chain or a list of equals.
Five worldly powers, and one that is not
The discourse's own sixth item stands apart from the first five: where psychic power, clairaudience, mind-reading, past-life recollection, and clairvoyance are extraordinary capacities a mind might in principle misuse, the ending of defilements is described elsewhere in this literature as available only to one already free of greed, hatred, and delusion. Grouping it as a sixth item alongside five feats risks obscuring that it alone marks liberation rather than power.
Why 'peaceful, refined, tranquil, and unified'
The discourse's opening qualifies immersion with four terms rather than naming it bare, distinguishing the kind of concentration meant here from any merely one-pointed absorption that might lack the settled quality these four words together describe.
Key terms
The text
Without immersion
§1“Mendicants, it is quite impossible that a mendicant without immersion that is peaceful, refined, tranquil, and unified will wield the many kinds of psychic power: multiplying themselves and becoming one again; materializing and dematerializing; going unobstructed through a wall, a rampart, or a mountain as if through space; diving in and out of the earth as if it were water; walking on water as if it were earth; flying cross-legged through the sky like a bird; touching and stroking with the hand the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful. They control the body as far as the realm of divinity. It’s impossible that with clairaudience that is purified and superhuman, they’ll hear both kinds of sounds, human and heavenly, whether near or far. It’s impossible that they’ll understand the minds of other beings and individuals, having encompassed them with their own mind, understanding mind with greed as ‘mind with greed’ … and freed mind as ‘freed mind’. It’s impossible that they’ll recollect many kinds of past lives, with features and details. It’s impossible that with clairvoyance that is purified and surpasses the human, they’ll understand how sentient beings pass on according to their deeds. It’s impossible that they’ll realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life, and live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements.
With immersion
§2But it’s quite possible that a mendicant who has immersion that is peaceful, refined, tranquil, and unified will wield the many kinds of psychic power … It’s possible that with clairaudience that is purified and superhuman, they’ll hear both kinds of sounds … It’s possible that they’ll understand the minds of other beings … It’s possible that they’ll recollect many kinds of past lives, with features and details. It’s possible that with clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, they’ll understand how sentient beings pass on according to their deeds. It’s possible that they’ll realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life, and live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements.”
Self-check quiz
Nine questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.