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Concept
Abhijñā
Summary
Abhijñā (अभिज्ञा; Pali pronunciation: abhiññā; མངོན་ཤེས mngon shes; ) is a Buddhist term generally translated as "direct knowledge", "higher knowledge" or "supernormal knowledge." In Buddhism, such special knowledge is obtained through virtuous living and meditation. The attainment of the four jhanas, or meditative absorptions, are considered a prerequisite for their attainment. In terms of specifically enumerated knowledges, these include mundane extra-sensory abilities (such as seeing past lives and various supranormal powers like levitation) as well as the supramundane, meaning the extinction of all mental intoxicants (āsava).
In Pali literature, abhiññā refers to both the direct apprehension of dhamma (translated below as "states" and "qualities") as well as to specialized super-normal capabilities.
In SN 45.159, the Buddha describes "higher knowledge" (abhiññā) as a corollary to the pursuit of the Noble Eightfold Path:
[A] monk who cultivates the Noble Eightfold Path, who assiduously practices the Noble Eightfold Path, comprehends with higher knowledge those states that are to be so comprehended, abandons with higher knowledge those states that are to be so abandoned, comes to experience with higher knowledge those states that are to be so experienced, and cultivates with higher knowledge those states that are to be so cultivated.
What, monks, are the states to be comprehended with higher knowledge?They are the five groups of clinging. Which five? The body-group, the feeling-group, the perception-group, the mental-formation group, the consciousness-group...
What, monks, are the states to be abandoned with higher knowledge?They are ignorance and the desire for [further] becoming.
And what, monks, are the states to be experienced with higher knowledge?They are knowledge and liberation.
And what, monk, are the states to be cultivated with higher knowledge?They are calm and insight.
Such direct knowledge, according to the Buddha, is obscured by desire and passion (chanda-rāga):
Monks, any desire-passion with regard to the eye is a defilement of the mind.
Official source
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