Superknowledges 2 – 6
71 Following in the Buddha's Footsteps
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Volume 4 Following in the Buddha's Footsteps 
Oct 17, 2025 Part of an ongoing series of teachings based on the book Following in the Buddha's Footsteps, the fourth volume in The Library of Wisdom and Compassion series by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron.
- Divine ear or clearaudience
- Understanding the minds of others
- Recollection of past lives
- How meditators cultivate recollecting past lives
- Divine eye or clairvoyance
- Knowing the death and birth of sentient beings
- Destruction of pollutants
- Liberation by mind and liberation by wisdom
71 Superknowledges 2 – 6 (download)
Contemplation points
- Describe clairaudience (the divine ear). What are people with this superknowledge able to do? What are some of the benefits to the Buddhist practitioner to have such a power?
- The third superknowledge is understanding the minds of others. What does it mean to be able to do this? Imagine having this superknowledge. How might it better enable you to benefit others?
- The fourth superknowledge is recollection of past lives. What is the benefit of having this superknowledge? Why is it so essential to accumulate merit and cultivate great internal strength to be able to bear the weight of this superknowledge? Even though you may not be able to recall your own past lives now, how can you use the world around you to purify actions done in previous lives?
- The fifth superknowledge is the divine eye (clairvoyance). What does this superknowledge give meditators access to? What would having this power be like? Why does having this awareness lead to generating compassion?
- What does it mean that we are just “karmic bubbles?” Spend some time really contemplating this. How do we use this awareness to fuel our own spiritual practice? How do we use this awareness to benefit others?
- The sixth superknowledge is the destruction of the pollutants. What types of beings have this power? What are they able to do and know?
Venerable Thubten Chodron
Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.
