So you think he experienced the abhiññā and nibbanna phenomenally only?
As for retrocogniton, it is recollection of previous experience (which I suppose may require ESP but I can't really say for sure, it may be more related to memory). As for seeing beings pass away and be reborn I suppose it's a matter of extra-sensory perception and so I guess it does have some sort of noumenal component in so far as the Buddha was tapping into something out there to perceive. As for flying around and whatnot, I think it was added in to the suttas later (or it's figurative) but I suppose it's conceivable that either people really can fly around or that the Buddha was crazy, although I can't accept the last idea seeing as I think he was awakened and all. As for knowing the mind states of others, the suttas aren't talking about reading thoughts (at least usually as far as I know), they're talking about knowing whether a mind is greedy or not, in samadhi or not, etc. and most of this could be picked up by having an awesome ability to read body language although I suppose some ESP may be required when this doesn't suffice. So I suppose the abhinna are a bit more than mere sights, sounds, smells, taste, tactile sensations, (ordinary mental phenomena) although they are in the end just a higher level of mental phenomena.
I don't think nibbana is something out there, it isn't some noumena existing outside of the destruction of passion, aversion, delusion, craving etc.. Nibbana is just a word that describes this destruction of fermentations and the unexcelled sublime state of peace that results. It's also the end of any more rebirth and so at death the six senses grow cold right there. Nana put it well in another thread:
Given the definition given in SN 38.1, SN 43.1-44, and Abhidhamma Vibhaṅga 184, I would say that it's a designation (paññatti, prajñapti) referring to the elimination of passion, aggression, and delusion. Or with regard to the four paths (stream-entry, etc.), a designation referring to the elimination of fetters terminated by each path. This is similar to the Sautrāntika interpretation.
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 74&start=0
So you think ultimate reality, or nibbana as the Buddha called it, happens noumenally and phenomenally?
If you're not going for consistency, then I suppose there's some sense to this.
I think ultimate reality is a rather silly idea considering the fact that one can never escape experience, our world is always phenomenological, it consists of experience, speaking of stuff outside of phenomena, i.e. appearances/experience, is talking about ideas, which also are part of experience. No inconsistency here.
Also, the idea of experiencing noumena is contradictory if we're going by Leibniz here.
So nibbana is wholly phenomenal (in the sense that nibbana isn't something hanging out waiting to be cognized through ESP) while the abhinna have some aspect of "out there-ness" that one taps into with ESP.
Also, only the sixth abhinna, the destruction of the asavas and realization of nibbana is necessary to put an end to dukkha. Hence my first statement stands that for the purposes of putting an end to dukkha, searching "out there" is unnecessary.
"I don't envision a single thing that, when developed & cultivated, leads to such great benefit as the mind. The mind, when developed & cultivated, leads to great benefit."
"I don't envision a single thing that, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about such suffering & stress as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about suffering & stress."