Saturday, September 10, 2011

"Master of the Divine Eye" (Anuruddha)

Hellmuth Hecker (Dhammikaweb.com), Wisdom Quarterly


Anuruddha Master of the Divine Eye
The Buddha’s father, King Suddhodana, had a brother who had five children. His name was Prince Amitodana. Among those was Ananda, who later became the Buddha’s faithful attendant who with his super memory preserved the sutras, and Mahanama, heir to the Sakyan throne. A third brother was Anuruddha.

Among those who were pre-eminent in a particular skill was Ven. Anuruddha. He was praised by the Buddha for being "foremost in developing the divine eye." The divine eye (dibba-cakkhu) is the ability to see beyond the range of the physical eye.



In Anuruddha’s case it extended to a thousandfold world system, which might perhaps be [the equivalent of] a galaxy in modern astronomy. This faculty can be obtained by one who has reached the fourth meditative absorption (jhāna) who then takes this [foundation in extreme concentration] as the basis for further development as described in The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga).

The divine eye is of a mundane or worldly character (the world being the world system not merely this planet). It can be obtained by an unliberated, unenlightened worldling (puthujjana) as well as by those on the four stages of emancipation. Anuruddha attained it before he became fully enlightened. Read (Download)

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