Ep. 160 – The Five Iddhis

Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein explores the Buddha’s concept of the Five Iddhis, which are the five elements of the teachings we need to bring to completion in order to truly awaken our hearts and minds.

“This Iddhi of psychic power is inferior to the Iddhi of understanding. When the Buddha was asked what the true miracle was, he said the real miracle is the awakening of people’s minds, it’s not the flying through the air or the diving in the earth, it’s the awakening of the mind, the awakening of the heart.” – Joseph Goldstein

In this episode, Joseph shares his insight into:

• The Sanskrit term, Iddhi, which refers to the particular power of something, bringing to completion a particular situation
• The difference between psychic Iddhis and Iddhis of understanding and insight
• The Buddha’s concept of the Five Iddhis, which are five elements of the teachings we need to fulfill to truly awaken our hearts and minds: fulfillment of special knowledge of the Dhamma; coming to a full understanding of the truth of suffering; bringing to completion the abandoning of the causes of suffering; the fulfillment of coming to the end of suffering; and the development of the path of practice
• The Buddha’s concept of the four Iddhipadas, which are characteristics that are the road to success in our practice: zeal, effort, love of the Dhamma, and inquiry.

This dharma talk from October 9, 1989, was originally published on Dharma Seed.

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