Tagged: Sāmaññaphala Sutta
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Bucknell - The Buddhist Path to Liberation (1984)
1In his analysis, Rod Bucknell argues that the Noble Eightfold Path is an incomplete representation of the Buddhist course to liberation, as it omits the crucial final stages of "right insight" (sammā-ñāṇa) and "right liberation" (sammā-vimutti). By comparing the Eightfold Path with four other, similar lists of stages found in the Tipiṭaka, including a more comprehensive "tenfold path," he demonstrates that they all describe a consistent, sequential practice where morality (sīla) and concentration (samādhi) are followed by the development of insight. Bucknell refutes the common interpretation that insight is covered by "right view" (the first stage), positing that this is merely a preliminary understanding, whereas true liberating insight is an advanced practice undertaken only after mastering concentration. He concludes that the Eightfold Path is not the definitive summary of Gotama's teaching but one of many versions, and possibly a simplified one that omits the most advanced meditative stages.
Clough - The higher knowledges in the Pāli Nikāyas and Vinaya (2010)
2In 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.