Paracittajñāna

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paracittajñāna [alt cetoparyāyābhijñāna] (P. ceto-pariya-ñāṇa; T. gzhan gyi sems she pa; C. taxintong) is translated as "knowledge of others minds," etc. It means the ability to know when another person is greedy, not greedy, angry, not angry, etc.

Paracittajñāna is identified as:[1][2]

  • one of five types of mundane supernatural powers (abhijñā)

The Buddhist Dictionary provides the following quote for the Pali suttas:

He knows the minds of other beings (parassa ceto-pariya-ñāṇa), of other persons, by penetrating them with his own mind. He knows the greedy mind as greedy and the non-greedy one as not greedy; knows the hating mind as hating and the non-hating one as not hating; knows the deluded mind as deluded and the non-deluded one as not deluded; knows the shrunken mind and the distracted one, the developed mind and the “undeveloped one, the surpassable mind and the unsurpassable one, the concentrated mind and the unconcentrated one, the freed mind and the unfreed one.[2]

Further reading:

Notes

  1. Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. paracittajñāna.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Nyanatiloka Thera 2019, s.v. abhiññā.

Sources