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As you focus more strongly on the radiance of the mind, the power that comes from letting go of all preoccupations enables the mind to stand alone. You're like a person who has climbed to the top of a mountain and has the right to see in all directions. The mind's dwelling — the breath, which supports the mind's freedom — is in a heightened state, so the mind is able to see all things fashioned (sankhara) clearly in terms of the Dhamma: as properties (dhatu), khandhas, and sense media (ayatana). Just as a person who has taken a camera up in an airplane can take pictures of practically everything below, so a person who has reached this stage (lokavidu) can see the world and the Dhamma as they truly are.
In addition, awareness of another sort, in the area of the mind — called liberating insight, or the skill of release — also appears. The elements or properties of the body acquire potency (kaya-siddhi); the mind, resilient power. When you want knowledge of the world or the Dhamma, focus the mind heavily and forcefully on the breath. As the concentrated power of the mind strikes the pure element, intuitive knowledge will spring up in that element, just as the needle of a record player, as it strikes a record, will give rise to sounds. Once your mindfulness is focused on a pure object, then if you want images, images will appear; if sounds, sounds will arise, whether near or far, matters of the world or the Dhamma, concerning yourself or others, past, present or future — whatever you want to know. As you focus down, think of what you want to know, and it will appear. This is ñana — intuitive sensitivity capable of knowing past, present and future — an important level of awareness that you can know only for yourself. The elements are like radio waves going through the air. If your mind and mindfulness are strong, and your skills highly developed, you can use those elements to put yourself in touch with the entire world, so that knowledge can arise within you.
When you have mastered the fourth jhana, it can act as the basis for eight skills:
1. Vipassana-ñana: clear intuitive insight into mental and physical phenomena as they arise, remain and disband. This is a special sort of insight, coming solely from training the mind. It can occur in two ways: (a) knowing without ever having thought of the matter; and (b) knowing from having thought of the matter — but not after a great deal of thought, as in the case of ordinary knowledge. Think for an instant and it immediately becomes clear — just as a piece of cotton wool soaked in gasoline, when you hold a match to it, bursts immediately into flame. The intuition and insight here are that fast, and so differ from ordinary discernment.
2. Manomayiddhi: the ability to use the mind to influence events.
3. Iddhividhi: the ability to display supra-normal powers, e.g., creating images in certain instances that certain groups of people will be able to see.
4. Dibbasota: the ability to hear distant sounds.
5. Cetopariya-ñana: the ability to know the level — good or evil, high or low — of other people's minds.
6. Pubbenivasanussati-ñana: the ability to remember previous lifetimes. (If you attain this skill, you'll no longer have to wonder as to whether death is followed by annihilation or rebirth.)
7. Dibbacakkhu: the ability to see gross and subtle images, both near and far.
8. Asavakkhaya-ñana: the ability to reduce and eliminate the effluents of defilement in the heart.
These eight skills come exclusively from the centering the mind, which is why I have written this condensed guide to concentration and jhana, based on the technique of keeping the breath in mind. If you aspire to the good that can come from these things, you should turn your attention to training your own heart and mind.
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