{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn51.21/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn51.21","id":"suttacentral_sn51.21","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn51.21/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"At S\u0101vatth\u012b. \u201cMendicants, before my awakening\u2014when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening\u2014I thought: \u2018What\u2019s the path and practice for developing the bases of psychic power?\u2019 Then it occurred to me: \u2018It\u2019s when a mendicant develops the basis of psychic power that has immersion due to enthusiasm, and active effort. They think: \u201cMy enthusiasm won\u2019t be too lax or too tense. And it\u2019ll be neither constricted internally nor scattered externally.\u201d And they meditate perceiving before and behind: as before, so behind; as behind, 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 unenveloped heart, they develop a mind that\u2019s full of radiance. They develop the basis of psychic power that has immersion due to energy \u2026 mental development \u2026 inquiry, and active effort. They think: \u201cMy inquiry won\u2019t be too lax or too tense. And it\u2019ll be neither constricted internally nor scattered externally.\u201d And they meditate perceiving before and behind: as before, so behind; as behind, 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 unenveloped heart, they develop a mind that\u2019s full of radiance.\u2019 When the four bases of psychic power have been developed and cultivated in this way, a mendicant wields the many kinds of psychic power: multiplying themselves and becoming one again \u2026 controlling the body as far as the realm of divinity. When the four bases of psychic power have been developed and cultivated in this way, they realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom. And they live having realized it with their own insight in this very life due to the ending of defilements.\u201d (The six direct knowledges should be told in full.)","title":"The Path","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":310}