Clairvoyance in Buddhism

 Buddhism is purely based on Karma and its effects. As you sow, so you will reap. You will be able to see this universal rule being applied to all living beings if you have a heavenly eye, the others can say it Clairvoyance.

Clairvoyance: See the Passing Away and Re-appearance of Beings

The Buddhas said in the discourse of the fruits of contemplative life:

"With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to knowledge of the passing away and re-appearance of beings.

He sees — by means of the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human — beings passing away and re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance with their kamma:

'These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell.

But these beings — who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, and mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.'

Thus — by means of the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human — he sees beings passing away and re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.

Just as if there were a tall building in the central square [of a town], and a man with good eyesight standing on top of it were to see people entering a house, leaving it, walking along the street, and sitting in the central square.

The thought would occur to him, 'These people are entering a house, leaving it, walking along the streets, and sitting in the central square.' In the same way — with his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability — the monk directs and inclines it to knowledge of the passing away and re-appearance of beings.

He sees — by means of the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human — beings passing away and re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance with their kamma..."

So this is super clairvoyance, we can say!

Reincarnation in Buddhism

Buddhism denies the idea of eternal happiness in heaven and eternal suffering in hell. Rather it says that eternity is a wrong view possessed by most of the people on earth. It says that a being after that can arise in this world or another worlds depending on his deeds. And he will keep taking birth in different worlds continuously until he will be able to eradicate the craving- craving for sensual pleasure, craving for existence and also craving for non-existence.

Recollection of Past Lives

But how can we be so sure about that? How could we know about our past lives? Well, the Buddha said it explicitly that a concentrated mind can remember its past lives. In the discourse of the fruits of contemplative life, the Buddha said:

"With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to knowledge of the recollection of past lives (lit: previous homes).

He recollects his manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two births, three births, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one hundred, one thousand, one hundred thousand, many aeons of cosmic contraction, many aeons of cosmic expansion, many aeons of cosmic contraction and expansion, [recollecting], 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. 

Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life. 

Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus he recollects his manifold past lives in their modes and details. Just as if a man were to go from his home village to another village, and then from that village to yet another village, and then from that village back to his home village. 

The thought would occur to him, 'I went from my home village to that village over there. There I stood in such a way, sat in such a way, talked in such a way, and remained silent in such a way. From that village I went to that village over there, and there I stood in such a way, sat in such a way, talked in such a way, and remained silent in such a way. From that village I came back home.' 

In the same way — with his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability — the monk directs and inclines it to knowledge of the recollection of past lives. He recollects his manifold past lives... in their modes and details."

Thus ability to recollect the past lives is surely a supernatural power!

Mind Reading in Buddhism:

Mind reading

In Buddhism, the Buddha proclaims that any person, with properly concentrated mind can have a power of mind reading. It is simply the byproduct of meditation. As the Buddha says in the Discourse of the Fruits of Contemplative Life:

"With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to knowledge of the awareness of other beings. 

He knows the awareness of other beings, other individuals, having encompassed it with his own awareness. He discerns a mind with passion as a mind with passion, and a mind without passion as a mind without passion. He discerns a mind with aversion as a mind with aversion, and a mind without aversion as a mind without aversion.

He discerns a mind with delusion as a mind with delusion, and a mind without delusion as a mind without delusion. He discerns a restricted mind as a restricted mind, and a scattered mind as a scattered mind. He discerns an enlarged mind as an enlarged mind, and an unenlarged mind as an unenlarged mind. 

He discerns an excelled mind [one that is not at the most excellent level] as an excelled mind, and an unexcelled mind as an unexcelled mind. He discerns a concentrated mind as a concentrated mind, and an unconcentrated mind as an unconcentrated mind. He discerns a released mind as a released mind, and an unreleased mind as an unreleased mind.

Just as if a young woman — or man — fond of ornaments, examining the reflection of her own face in a bright mirror or a bowl of clear water would know 'blemished' if it were blemished, or 'unblemished' if it were not. In the same way — with his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability — the monk directs and inclines it to knowledge of the awareness of other beings. 

He knows the awareness of other beings, other individuals, having encompassed it with his own awareness. He discerns a mind with passion as a mind with passion, and a mind without passion as a mind without passion... a released mind as a released mind, and an unreleased mind as an unreleased mind."

Thus I have found the Buddha's words really encouraging. You can read the full discourse in this link:
http://buddhism.sansayan.com/tipitaka/sp/dn/dns2.php

Supernatural power: Clairaudience in Buddhism

Buddha mentioned thousands of times in His various discourses about supernatural powers, which are just the byproduct of highly concentrated mind. One of these supernatural powers is clairaudience. In the discourse of the fruits of contemplative life, the Buddha said:

"With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the divine ear-element. He hears — by means of the divine ear-element, purified and surpassing the human — both kinds of sounds: divine and human, whether near or far. 

Just as if a man traveling along a highway were to hear the sounds of kettledrums, small drums, conchs, cymbals, and tom-toms. He would know, 'That is the sound of kettledrums, that is the sound of small drums, that is the sound of conchs, that is the sound of cymbals, and that is the sound of tom-toms.' 

In the same way — with his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability — the monk directs and inclines it to the divine ear-element. He hears — by means of the divine ear-element, purified and surpassing the human — both kinds of sounds: divine and human, whether near or far."

Surely it requires a concentrated mind that comes only from Meditation.

Supernatural power in Buddhism

The fruit of Contemplative life: Nibbana

             It is hard to live a contemplative life as a Buddhist monk following strictly the monastic rules. It is harder to remain constantly engaged in meditation. It is the hardest thing to achieve the ultimate salvation Nibbana.

For the ordinary people like us, it is difficult to leave our home to become a monk. But to attain Nibbana in this very life, you must be a monk to practice meditation without any hindrance. Through meditation will come Nibbana. 

So what should we, the ordinary people do? Well, we must follow five precepts (To abstain from killing, stealing, adulterating, lying and drinking alcohol or drugs). This lifestyle will give fruit in attaining Nibbana in afterlife.

The fruit of Meditation: Supernatural Powers

              Supernatural power is a natural by-product of meditation. But to achieve it, you will have to be a controller of your own mind. Your ability to control your mind should be such that, your focus of concentration remains on a point as long as you wish, but you know, it's too hard for ordinary people to keep their mind on a single matter even for two seconds! So you need to meditate.

What are these super powers?

           In the Discourse of the Fruits of Contemplative life, the Buddha said, 

With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the modes of supernatural powers. He wields manifold supernatural powers.
Having been one he becomes many; having been many he becomes one.
He appears. He vanishes.
He goes unimpeded through walls, ramparts, and mountains as if through space.
He dives in and out of the earth as if it were water.
He walks on water without sinking as if it were dry land.
Sitting cross-legged he flies through the air like a winged bird.
With his hand he touches and strokes even the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful.
He exercises influence with his body even as far as the Brahma worlds.


Just as a skilled potter or his assistant could craft from well-prepared clay whatever kind of pottery vessel he likes, or as a skilled ivory-carver or his assistant could craft from well-prepared ivory any kind of ivory-work he likes, or as a skilled goldsmith or his assistant could craft from well-prepared gold any kind of gold article he likes; in the same way — with his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability — the monk directs and inclines it to the modes of supranormal powers... He exercises influence with his body even as far as the Brahma worlds.
 "This, too, great king, is a fruit of the contemplative life, visible here and now, more excellent than the previous ones and more sublime."
The super powers described here are hard to achieve. For this you have to follow rigorous meditation practice as prescribed by Buddha.