After describing these three supernatural powers, the Buddha goes on to describe the ten powers of the Tathagata which allow him to understand and express the true nature of reality to all sentient beings.

 “Sariputta, the Tathagata has these ten Tathagata’s powers, possessing which he claims the herd-leaders’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. What are the ten?

(1) “Here, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible. And that is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, pp. 165 – 166)

According to the Bahudhatuka Sutta in the Middle Length Discourses, this means that the Buddha knows for certain that it is not possible that the enlightened can mistakenly believe that contingent phenomena are permanent, ultimately pleasurable, and possessed of a fixed identity; while it is possible that those who are unenlightened might do so.

The Buddha also knows that it is not possible for those who are enlightened to commit such heinous acts as killing their mother, killing their father, killing an arhat, shedding the blood of a Tathagata, or causing a schism in the Sangha; while it is possible for the unenlightened to do so.

The Buddha also knows that while it is possible for a single buddha or wheel-turning king to appear on any given world, it is not possible for there to be more than one on any given world. This point seems to be based upon the idea that it would be redundant for there to be more than one buddha; while a supreme ruler of a single world is by definition the only one.

The Buddha also knows that while it is impossible for a woman to become a buddha, or a wheel-turning king, or a Sakra (aka Indra), or a Brahma, or a Mara (these last being the thunder god, the creator god, and the devil respectively), it is possible for a man to become one of these five types of beings. This point does not seem to square with the Buddha’s earlier position that buddhahood transcends such categorizing. It also introduces a male chauvinism that seems to go against the egalitarian nature of the rest of the Buddha’s teachings. These assertions may or may not have been the actual views of Shakyamuni Buddha, but they seem to have less to do with the Buddha’s insight than with the biases of Vedic culture at the time of the Buddha.

Finally, the Buddha knows that it is possible for good actions to lead to good results and even to the heavenly realms, while it is impossible that bad actions will do so; conversely, it is possible for bad actions to lead to bad results and even to hell, while it is impossible for good actions to do so. This last part is based upon the buddha’s direct perception of the workings of the law of cause and effect.

(2) “Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the results of actions undertaken, past, future, and present, with possibilities and with causes. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, p. 166)

The gist of this power is that the Buddha has seen for himself that people reap what they sow. According to the Kukkuravatika Sutta in the Middle Length Discourses the Buddha taught that there are dark actions with dark results, bright actions with bright results, actions that are dark and bright with corresponding results, and finally actions that are neither-dark-nor-bright with corresponding results.

Dark actions and their results refer to the bodily karma of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; the verbal karma of lying, divisive speech, abusive speech, and irresponsible speech; and the mental karma of greed, anger, and ignorance. Altogether these are the ten courses of unwholesome action. Dark results refer to painful rebirths in the hell realm, as a hungry ghost, or as an animal.

Bright actions refer to those who perform the ten courses wholesome action which means refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, abusive speech, irresponsible speech, greed, anger, and ignorance. More positively, one could say that the ten courses of wholesome action consist of acts of loving-kindness, generosity, chastity, truthfulness, peace-making, kind words, responsible speech, living a simple life, showing compassion even to enemies, and cultivating wisdom. Bright results refer to pleasant rebirths in the heavenly realms.

Actions that are mixed could refer to either the conglomeration of dark and bright actions, or to actions that are performed with mixed motives. The result of such actions is rebirth in the realms of the fighting demons (asura), the human realm, and the lowest of the heavenly realms.

Finally, actions that are neither-dark-nor-bright refer to those actions performed by one who no longer clings to results. This describes the actions of a Buddha and the actions of the arhats who are both freed from the chain of birth-and-death and are no longer bound to a future birth.

In the Culakammavibhanga Sutta of the Middle Length Discourses the Buddha describes certain specific acts and their results in terms of both the human realm and other possible rebirths. Those who are violent and murderous will end up in a realm of suffering or at the very least be reborn as a person with a very short life. Those who like to harm others will be reborn in a lower realm or as a person who must suffer from bad health. Those who are angry easily provoked will be reborn in a realm of suffering or as an ugly person. Those who are envious will be reborn in a realm of suffering or as a person of no influence. Those who are stingy will be reborn in a realm of suffering or will be suffer from poverty in the human realm. Those who are arrogant will be reborn into a realm of suffering or as a low-born person. Those who do not seek out wisdom will be born into a realm of suffering or as a person with little intelligence.

On the contrary, those who do the opposite will be reborn into the more pleasant realms within the six worlds, such as the human or heavenly realms, and their human rebirths will have the appropriate benefits. Those who are kind and gentle and who do not kill others will have long lives. Those who do not harm others will be blessed with good health. Those who are patient will be blessed with good looks. Those who are not envious will be receive opportunities to attain influence. Those who are generous will be blessed with wealth. Those who are not arrogant will be born into a noble family. Finally, those who cultivate wisdom will be blessed with intelligence.

The constant refrain of this sutta is that people are responsible for their actions and that they are the creators of their own destiny. In fact, beings are composed of the fruits of their actions, but this will be taken up in another sections. The Buddha says:

“Beings are owners of their actions, student, heirs of their actions; they originate from their actions, are bound to their actions, have their actions as their refuge. It is action that distinguishes beings as inferior or superior.” (Ibid, p. 1053)

 One last teaching in relation to the Buddha’s direct knowledge of the results of actions that is important to cover is the Mahakammavibhanga Sutta of the Middle Length Discourses wherein the Buddha explains that the unfolding of actions and their results is not always a simple and straightforward affair. Again, the Buddha explains the outcome of cause and effect in terms of the ten wholesome and ten unwholesome courses of action as explained above. According to the Buddha, some who perform the ten unwholesome acts are reborn in the lower realms and some may be reborn in the higher realms. Conversely, some who perform the ten wholesome acts are reborn in the higher realms while some may be reborn in the lower realms. That some good and bad actions seem incapable of bringing about corresponding results in the next lifetime while other good and bad actions do seem capable of bringing about such results is stated by the Buddha as follows:

“Thus, Ananda, there is action that is incapable [of good result] and appears incapable; there is action that is incapable [of good result] and appears capable; there is action that is capable [of good result] and appears capable; and there is action that is capable [of good result] and appears incapable.” (Ibid, p. 1065)

The Buddha explains that this is because the fruition of one’s do not always occur immediately or even in the next lifetime. One’s self-created destiny must be understood within the context of all of one’s actions and not just a select few. In fact, even the causes of just one lifetime may be offset by the causal consequences from countless previous lifetimes which have yet to come to fruition. This is a very frightening revelation, because most of us do not have the power to remember our previous lifetimes, let alone the causes that we have set in motion which have yet to bear fruit. This means that a seemingly evil person may have good fortune or a pleasant rebirth due to past good deeds, while a seemingly good person may suffer great misfortune or even an painful rebirth due to bad actions done in the past. Nevertheless, the Buddha does insist that wholesome actions will have pleasant results eventually. The same holds for unwholesome actions. Whether in this lifetime, the next lifetime, or some future lifetime, one will always reap what one has sown.

Without the vast and comprehensive vision and insight of Buddhahood, the Buddha warns that those who have a limited ability causal conditions of those who have died may jump to the wrong conclusions about the workings of cause and effect. They may think that wholesome actions always lead to a pleasant rebirth in the next lifetime whereas unwholesome actions always lead to a painful rebirth. Conversely, they might think that unwholesome actions could lead to pleasant rebirths or that wholesome actions could lead to painful rebirths. Because they only see a little and do not realize that the causes and consequences of countless lifetimes are involved, they totally misunderstand the workings of cause and effect either oversimplify it or negate it. This is why the direct knowledge and comprehensive insight of the Buddha is so important when it comes to properly understanding the workings of cause and effect.

The one thing that can directly impact the nature of one’s next rebirth regardless of one’s past actions, whether known or unknown, is whether one has right views or wrong views at the moment of death. This is important, because one who holds wrong views will negate even the good that they have done, whereas those who hold right views will be able to repent their past evil and renounce the clinging for results which keeps us trapped within the world of birth and death. Therefore, the Buddha knew that people should not rely on simply being good if they wish to have a pleasant rebirth, because their underlying motives might be selfish and unwholesome, and the limited good performed in one lifetime may not be enough to offset the consequences of unwholesome deeds from the past. Conversely, while one should not indulge in unwholesome acts, one need not despair of either past or present unwholesome activities if one is able to sincerely repent of them and cultivate right views.

This power is actually one of the most outstanding of all the powers of the Buddha. The other powers could even be viewed as different aspects of this power. While this power may seem to imply the simple ability to know that good causes have good effect while bad actions have bad effects over the course of many lifetimes, it is actually leads to some very complex and subtle insights into the nature of the human condition as the above three suttas reveal. Through this power, the Buddha is able to see the universal laws which bring about the self-creation of destiny, character, personality, and even physical features and social standing. Beyond that, the Buddha is able to see that mere ethics or morality are not enough to secure liberation from suffering. Far from merely envisioning a universe of intractable moral laws, the Buddha actually sees where one must affirm wholesome courses of action and then transcend even the pleasant results of those actions. The Buddha saw that even more fundamental than our actions and their consequences are the views which motivate our actions and cause us to either act without regard for consequences or to act with full awareness of the chains of cause and effect. Ultimately, the Buddha envisions a universe where even morality must be transcended for the sake of liberation from suffering. In other words, even good results must not be renounced if one is to achieve liberation from suffering.

(3) “Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the ways leading to all destinations. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, p. 166)

This power specifically gives the Buddha the ability to know which actions will lead to each of the six worlds which compose samsara. These are the realms of the hells, hungry ghosts, animals, fighting demons, human beings, and the heavens. The principle is that one will be reborn in the realm and among those beings with whom one has an affinity due to the nature of one’s thoughts, words, and deeds. The Buddha also knows which actions will lead to the liberation of nirvana. The six worlds and the nature of nirvana will all be discussed in greater detail in other chapters.

(4) “Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the world with its many and different elements. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, p. 166)

This power is the knowledge of the elements which compose the world that we live in and their implications regarding our freedom and liberation. These elements are also the basis for Abhidharma analysis and are the building blocks of the Buddhist worldview and cosmology. They are enumerated in the Bahudhatuka Sutta of the Middle Length Discourses. The first set of elements are the eighteen elements of the six sense bases of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; the six sense objects of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects; and the six sense consciousnesses corresponding to each of the six senses. Awareness of these eighteen elements enables one to realize that our experience of the world is actually a conglomeration of many factors coming together, with no one element taking precedence over the others. This will be discussed further in another chapter.

The Buddha is also aware of the six elements of earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness. The first four of these are symbolic of the forces of solidity, cohesion, temperature, and movement. Again, awareness of these elements leads to the insight that this world is composed of many disparate elements which must come together interdependently in order to form the world of our experience.

The Buddha is also aware of the elements of our subjective experience of the world which can be categorized as physical pleasure and pain; mental joy and grief; and equanimity and ignorance.

The Buddha is also aware of the elements which compose human motivation: sensual desire, renunciation, ill will, non-ill will, cruelty, and non-cruelty. Knowledge of these various motivations are indispensable in discerning the right intentions that one must cultivate in order to escape from suffering and achieve liberation. Renunciation, non-ill will, and non-cruelty are, in fact, the intentions which compose the path of right thought on the eightfold path.

The Buddha is also aware of the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness; and furthermore, is aware of the unsatisfactory nature of all three. These three realms are the three basic divisions of Buddhist cosmology and will be dealt with in more detail in another chapter.

Finally, the Buddha is aware of the conditioned and the unconditioned. The conditioned refers to all contingent phenomena which arise through causes and conditions and are therefore impermanent, unsatisfactory, and without a self. The unconditioned refers to nirvana.

(5) “Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is how beings have different inclinations. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, p. 166)

The Buddha is also aware of the different levels of spiritual maturity that different individuals may or may not have reached. Some are high-minded and some are low-minded. He knows what people are interested in and what they may or may not be ready to hear. With this in mind, the Buddha is able to tailor his teachings to match the inclinations of those he teaches.

(6) “Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the disposition of the faculties of other beings, other persons. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, p. 166)

This refers to the faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom which will be discussed in another chapter. In short, in order to attain liberation, individuals must cultivate these five faculties. This power is the Buddha’s ability to ascertain the abilities of any particular individual in regard to these faculties and their level of development.

(7) “Again, the Tathagata understands as it actually is the defilement, the cleansing, and the emergence in regard to the dhyanas, liberations, concentrations, and attainments. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, p. 166)

The dhyanas are the four increasingly refined states of mind which are attained through concentration on one of forty different subjects for meditation as enumerated by Buddhaghosa in the Visuddhimagga. The first dhyana is a state free of sensuality and the five hindrances of lust, ill will, sloth/torpor, restlessness/worry, and doubt. It is positively characterized by applied and sustained thought in regard to the subject of meditation. Rapture and pleasure accompany this state as well. The second dhyana leaves behind applied and sustained thought but retains rapture and pleasure. Self-confidence and singleness of mind arise in this state. In the third dhyana, rapture fades away but pleasure remains and the meditator pleasantly abides in equanimity and mindfulness. In the fourth dhyana there is pure mindfulness. The attainments are nine states which include the first four dhyanas. After the attainment of pure awareness in the fourth dhyana one can then leave behind all material considerations and successively abide in the awareness of infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and then the state of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. Beyond even that the meditator who has destroyed all taints (in other words an arhat) can attain the state wherein all feeling and perception ceases. (Ibid, pp. 250-251) The eight liberations consist of seeing form internally, seeing form externally, resolving to see only the beautiful, and the last five of the nine attainments from the perception of infinite space to the total cessation of feeling and perception. (Ibid, pp. 638-639)

(8) “Again, the Tathagata recollects his manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births, many aeons of world-contraction, many aeons of world-exapansion: `There I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared elsewhere; and there too I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared here.’ Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past lives. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, p. 166)

This is also the fourth of the six supernatural powers gained through meditative concentration, so it is not exclusive to the Buddha. In modern times, the ability to recollect past lives has been claimed by psychics like Edgar Cayce, young children who claim to have memories of their previous lifetime who were studied by Dr. Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia, and also the many patients of past life regression therapy which uses hypnosis to recall past life memories. Shakyamuni Buddha’s power to recall past lives is on a much different level however. The Buddha did not just have faint recollections of one or two past lives in childhood or with the help of hypnosis. The Buddha claimed to have consciously recalled the details of countless past lives going back to the beginningless past. In fact, this was part of what enabled him to fully apprehend the law of cause and effect. Some have doubted that the Buddha actually taught rebirth as anything other than a metaphor or a concession to folk religion. However, according to the Buddha himself, not only did he recollect all his past lives, but he considered it one of the powers possessed by all Buddhas, and it was through such an ability that he was able to realize the law of cause and effect – the very cornerstone of his teachings.

(9) “Again, with the divine eye, which is purified and surpasses the human, the Tathagata sees beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, fair and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate. I understood how beings pass 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 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. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, p. 166)

This is the fifth of the six supernatural powers attained through meditative concentration. In some ways, it corresponds to the psychic ability known as clairvoyance. However, this power seems to be much more than simply the ability to see things that would normally be out of visual range. This power enables the Buddha to see into all realms of becoming, and furthermore to see where and how the various beings within those realms are being reborn. Through this power, the Buddha can actually observe the present workings of the law of cause and effect in the lives of all beings and not just in his own life.

(10) “Again, by realising for himself with direct knowledge, the Tathagata here and now enters upon and abides in the deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom that are taintless with the destruction of the taints. That too is a Tathagata’s power that the Tathagata has, by virtue of which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma.

“The Tathagata has these ten Tathagata’s powers, possessing which he claims the herd-leader’s place, roars his lion’s roar in the assemblies, and sets rolling the Wheel of Brahma. (Ibid, pp. 166-167)

This is the last of the six supernatural powers. It is available only to those who have attained sufficient insight to break through the taints which keep sentient beings trapped within the cycle of birth and death. This power is the one whereby the Buddha actually knows that he is free and no longer bound by suffering or its causes. It is this power which the Buddha wishes to show others how to cultivate for themselves. All of the other powers and abilities are subordinate to this one.

Having expounded these various powers and abilities the Buddha then strongly warns against the view that the Buddha is merely a speculative philosopher. He even insists that one who holds such a view will end up in hell.

“Sariputta, when I know and see thus, should anyone say of me: `The recluse Gotama does not have any superhuman states, any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones. The recluse Gotama teaches a Dhamma [merely] hammered out by reasoning, following his own line of inquiry as it occurs to him’ – unless he abandons that assertion and that state of mind and relinquishes that view, then as [surely as if he had been] carried off and put there he will wind up in hell. Just as a monk possessed of virtue, concentration, and wisdom would here and now enjoy final knowledge, so it will happen in this case, I say, that unless he abandons that assertion and that state of mind and relinquishes that view, then as [surely as if he had been] carried off and put there he will wind up in hell. (Ibid, p. 167)

Why should thinking that the Buddha’s teachings were the result of mere reasoning be so serious an act that one will fall into hell for it? It is because such an assertion is a slander against the Buddha, a misrepresentation and even a denial of the very nature of the Buddha. The Buddha is one who is “awake” and who has seen the truth about life for himself. Rejecting the Buddha’s claim is therefore a rejection of the one person who is actually “telling it like it is.” Labeling the Buddha a speculative philosopher and his teachings as mere opinions, as Sunakkhatta is doing, is to dismiss the one person who actually does know what he is talking about. It is therefore a denial of truth itself. This turning away from the truth is what leads to delusion, self-deception, and ultimately to hell.