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AN 4.77 — Acintita Sutta: Unconjecturable

translated from the Pāli by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

"There are these four unconjecturables that are not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about them. Which four?

"The Buddha-range of the Buddhas[1] is an unconjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.

"The jhana-range of a person in jhana...[2]

"The [precise working out of the] results of kamma...

"Conjecture about [the origin, etc., of] the world is an unconjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.

"These are the four unconjecturables that are not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about them."

Notes

1.
I.e., the range of powers a Buddha develops as a result of becoming a Buddha.
2.
I.e., the range of powers that one may obtain while absorbed in jhana.
Copyright © 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page (“Acintita Sutta: Unconjecturable”, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013.