What are
the Effects of the 4 Feet of Spiritual Force?
The Blessed Buddha once said: When a Bhikkhu develops the Feet of Force that is enriched with
concentrated desire, concentrated energy, concentrated thought &
concentrated investigation,
all constructed by effort, by thinking:
In this
way will my desire, energy, thinking and investigating neither
be too
slack nor too tense, it will neither be constricted internally
nor scattered externally, then he dwells experiencing both what is
in
front & what is behind, so above, so also below, so by day, so also
at
night! Therefore, with a mind that is all open & unrestricted, he
develops the dazzling bright mind, which is pervaded by luminosity...
When the 4 feet of suprahuman force have been developed, refined
and cultivated in exactly this way, the Bhikkhu possesses the various
kinds of suprahuman force: He understands other beings minds when
having encompassed them with his own mind. He understands a mind
with lust as a mind with lust; a mind without lust as a mind without
lust; a mind with hate as a mind with hate; a mind without hate as a
mind without hate; a mind with ignorance as a mind with ignorance;
a mind without ignorance as a mind beyond ignorance; a contracted
& lazy mind as contracted mind and a distracted mind as agitated &
distracted; an exalted mind as exalted into jhāna and an unexalted
mind as unexalted; a surpassable mind as a surpassable mind and an
unsurpassable mind as unsurpassable; a well concentrated mind as
a concentrated mind & an unconcentrated mind as unconcentrated;
a released mind as released and an unreleased mind as unreleased...
Source (edited extract): The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha.
Samyutta Nikāya. [V:265-66]
section 51: The 4 Forces: Thread 11: Shaking The Mansion.
