Tagged: Pāli Nikāyas
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Clough - The higher knowledges in the Pāli Nikāyas and Vinaya (2010)
1In early Buddhist texts like the Pāli Nikāyas and Vinaya, the *abhiññās* or "higher knowledges" are an integral, though often overlooked, component of the path to liberation. These extraordinary abilities, attained in advanced states of meditation, typically include five mundane powers - supernormal feats (iddhi), divine ear, mind-reading, recollection of past lives, and the divine eye. A sixth, supermundane knowledge—the destruction of the mental defilements (āsavakkhayañāna) — is uniquely Buddhist and constitutes enlightenment itself. Although the Buddha expressed wariness about their pursuit and display, and they were not always considered essential for liberation, the abhiññās served crucial pedagogical, epistemological, and soteriological functions. They acted as signs of meditative progress, tools for teaching, and, most importantly, as a means to experientially verify core Buddhist doctrines like kamma, rebirth, and the Four Noble Truths, with the final three knowledges being central to the traditional account of the Buddha's own awakening.
Smith - Was the Buddha an Anti-Realist (2015)
2This article argues against the view that the Buddha was an anti-realist, a position supported by scholars like Alex Wynne and Noa Ronkin who interpret apophatic passages in early texts, particularly the *Atthakavagga*, as a rejection of a mind-independent reality. The author contends that such interpretations take verses out of their broader, more cataphatic context, and that enigmatic statements about perception (*saññā*), views (*diṭṭhi*), and consciousness are better understood as psychological critiques of clinging and descriptions of jhānic meditation states rather than as metaphysical claims about an ineffable or constructed reality. In contrast, the author suggests the Buddha propounded an incomplete or "inchoate" metaphysics with realist leanings, pointing to the concept of contact (*phassa*) which implies distinct mental and physical entities, the assertion of the body's greater stability than the mind, and the objective truth-status of core doctrines like the Four Noble Truths. Ultimately, the Buddha's philosophy is presented as primarily ethical and soteriological, employing a pragmatic, non-foundationalist approach with a realist framework sufficient to ground his teachings on compassion and the path to ending suffering.