dibbacakkhu

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
Post Reply
thecap
Posts: 96
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:19 am
Location: Germany

dibbacakkhu

Post by thecap »

Hi friends

The Buddha had dibbacakkhu, but I see only Hindu folks actually talk about it.

Is there any sutta regarding this, and if not, why?
Last edited by thecap on Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27839
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings thecap,

What is it? I don't recognise the term.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
thecap
Posts: 96
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:19 am
Location: Germany

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by thecap »

Hi Retro

Here's a quote from Great Disciples of the Buddha by Nyanaponika Thera: "The Venerable Anuruddha's spiritual path is marked by two prominent features: first, his mastery of the devine eye [...] The divine eye (dibbacakkhu) is so called because it is similar to the vision of the devas, which is capable of seeing objects at remote distances, behind barriers and in different dimensions of existence."
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27839
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings thecap,

It's definitely in the Visuddhimagga.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
thecap
Posts: 96
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:19 am
Location: Germany

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by thecap »

Thanks Retro. Do you have a link to an online version of the Visuddhimagga?

The Tipitaka seems to have only this: http://www.google.de/search?q=site%3Aac ... ivine+eye"

The people who composed it apparently used interpolation.
User avatar
Ben
Posts: 18438
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by Ben »

As far as I am aware, no online edition of the Vissudhimagga exists.
Kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
Element

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by Element »

The suttas have many teachings about the divine eye, such as MN 4 and MN 119. Many monks have divine eye. For a fee, I could tell you of some. ;)
I work with a woman who has divine eye & ear. Too bad she is a Christian missionary.
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma:
"Monks, for one in whom mindfulness immersed in the body is cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, & well-undertaken, ten benefits can be expected. Which ten?

[6] "He hears — by means of the divine ear-element, purified & surpassing the human — both kinds of sounds: divine & human, whether near or far.

[9] "He sees — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma:
User avatar
Ceisiwr
Posts: 22286
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:36 am
Location: Wales

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by Ceisiwr »

Dont think there is an online version of the Visuddhimagga but i know you can get it from amazon, thats where i got mine.

Metta
“The teacher willed that this world appear to me
as impermanent, unstable, insubstantial.
Mind, let me leap into the victor’s teaching,
carry me over the great flood, so hard to pass.”
rowyourboat
Posts: 1952
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2009 5:29 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by rowyourboat »

A few instances I can remember from the suttas (sorry dont have links)
Ven Moggallana seeing suffering pretas while walking up a mountain
Ven Moggallana (and other monks) visiting deva worlds
Ven Anuruddha (and other mokns) conversing with devas in this world
The Buddha seeing people who needed his instructions
Dibba cackku as an outcome of satipattana practice- ven anuruddha, -as a result of first foundation (kayagatasatisutta)
With Metta

Karuna
Mudita
& Upekkha
User avatar
abhaya
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 10:50 pm

Re: dibbacakkhu

Post by abhaya »

SN n.3 Pgs.1397-1398
Spk distinguishes the different types of "eyes" referred to in the canon. These are first divided into two general classes: the eye of knowledge (ñāṇacakkhu) and the physical eye (maṃsacakkhu).

The eye of knowledge (ñāṇacakkhu) is fivefold:
(i) the Buddha eye (buddhacakkhu), the knowledge of the inclinations and underlying tendencies of beings, and the knowledge
of the degree of maturity of their spiritual faculties;

(ii) the Dhamma eye (dhammacakkhu), the knowledge of the three lower paths and fruits;

(iii) the universal eye (samantacakkhu), the Buddha's knowledge of omniscience;

(iv) the divine eye (dibbacakkhu), the knowledge arisen by suffusion of light (which sees the passing away and rebirth of beings);
MN 4 p.106 mentions:
With the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, I saw beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate. I understood how beings pass on according to their actions thus: "These worthy beings who were ill-conducted in body, speech, and mind, revilers of noble ones, wrong in their views, giving effect to wrong view in their actions, on the dissolution of the body, after death, have reappeared in a state of deprivation, in a bad destination, in perdition, even in hell; but these worthy beings who were well-conducted in body, speech, and mind, not revilers of noble ones, right in their views, giving effect to right view in their actions, on the dissolution of the body, after death, have reappeared in a good destination, even in the heavenly world.' Thus with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, I saw beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and I understood how beings pass on according to their actions. (for more info look-up Abhiññā: the divine-eye is one of 6 higher- powers)

The physical eye is twofold:
(i) the composite eye (sasambhāracakkhu), the physical eyeball;

(ii) the sensitive eye (pasādacakkhu),i.e., the sensitive substance in the visual apparatus that responds to forms (perhaps the retina and optic nerve).

Here (SN 35.1) the Blessed One speaks of the sensitive eye as the "eye base." The ear, etc., should be similarly understood. Mind (mano) is the mind of the three planes, which is the domain of exploration with insight (tebhūmakasammasanacāracitta).

For the commentarial treatment of the sense bases, see Vism 444--46 (Ppn 14:36-53 Pgs.489-495). Hamilton challenges the commentarial classification of the first five sense bases under the rūpakkhandha, arguing from the fact that the standard definition of the form aggregate in the suttas does not include them. In her view, the sense faculties are powers of perception partaking of both material and mental characteristics and thus unclassifiable exclusively under rūpa (Identity and Experience, pp. [Puggalapaññatti: part of the Abhidhamma] 14-22). By the same logic, however, it might be argued that the five external sense bases should not be assigned to the rūpakkhandha, for again the suttas do not place them there. The plain fact is that the correlations between the khandhas, āyatanas, and dhātus are not made explicit in the Nikāyas at all, but only in the Abhidhamma Pitaka, which classifies both the first five internal and external sense bases under rūpa. The five faculties and four sense objects (excluding the tactile object) are categorized as "derivative form" (upādā rūpa), i.e., form derived from the four primary elements; the tactile object is classified under three of the primary elements: earth (hardness or softness), heat (hotness or coolness), and air (pressure and motion). The suttas themselves do not enumerate the types of derivative form, and the Abhidhamma texts seem to be filling in this lacuna.
those interested in attaining a copy of the Vism: Google: free dhamma books

Rev. Abhaya Ratana
Post Reply