Has anyone seen any meditation master demonstrating abhinna or supernatural powers?

I just looked up "Abhinna" in Google, and eventually found this page. I'm the American from Florida that has the Jhana8.com site. My name is Vern Lovic. I am not Buddhist or any other religion. I have no agenda, except to further the idea that meditation without religion can lead to Jhana states and possibly Abhinna...

I won't go through a huge history about what happened with me. In short, I read some meditation books in the late 1990's. I wasn't looking for a religion to be attached to the meditation, so I thought - why not just pull the essence from the Vipassana and other books? Pull out all the religious fluff and sit and look at the breath... and see what happened.

What happened was that Jhanas came without me having known in advance about them. I had no idea what a first Jhana was, and then there it was... I had no idea what to do when the amazing light grew in my mind... I had no teacher, I had no authority. So, I just did what I did with everything - note it, and let it go. When it didn't go - I watched it. It was the same with all the Jhanas, which occurred in sequence one after another exactly as the Buddha described.

If it was an incredible state, I was sometimes attached to it, and couldn't let it go. It disappeared until another time when it arose, and I could let it happen, observe with the mind until it either disappeared, moved into something else (another Jhana or experience), or I somehow lost focus and snapped out of the Jhanas.

Anyway, there is a lot of information about my experience at the jhana8.com site. I chose .com because everyone chooses .com, not for any specific reason. I sell my two meditation books on the site. I also mention that if someone doesn't have the money, I will send it to them for free.

Abhinna seemed to occur to me in a few different ways. I was already experiencing the fourth Jhana regularly during sitting meditation, and then on a few occasions some weird things happened that appeared to be the Divine Eye, and mind-penetrating knowledge.

Here is one experience that I am open to believing it could be the Divine Eye Abhinna... http://www.jhana8.com/what-is-abhinna/my-divine-eye-experience/

I understand people disbelieving a person can get into and through the Jhanas in under a year. I think it is available to so many more people than are currently experiencing it. I think that because I didn't know what the Jhanas were, and that they were important to Buddhists - and not being Buddhist - they were not important to me, I could let them go so easily - as if they were nothing. They really were nothing more than just another experience as I meditated. There were many strange things that went on prior to Jhanas, so to me they were just another bunch of experiences. They were cool, they were amazing, but so too were some other experiences.

I think that Buddhist monks, and other Buddhist practitioners have a much more difficult time of ever stumbling upon Jhana because they are aiming for them. They are so strongly attached to the idea of experiencing Jhana that they make it the main goal. As you may know, when you are attached to something, to some experience, during meditation, it just goes... it doesn't stay any longer. The experience stops, and you're left looking at yourself like - oops!

So, when monks first creep up on Jhana, they are already ecstatic about it. Emotion, attachment engages, and there goes Jhana - bye-bye! lol.

Anyway, so, I just wanted to comment a bit about Jhana and Abhinnas because I saw a reference to me above in the comments. I have lived in Thailand now for 12 yrs. I have reached a point where I don't meditate at all... but some changes have taken place even after I stopped meditating. It seems to me that once the process really starts - say, maybe by the time you start experiencing the fourth Jhana - it kind of keeps going, regardless whether you're going to keep meditating, or not. I like to say, it has its way with you...

There are 2 audio files you can listen to to hear about my path - I think they are on the about page on that jhana8 site.

Ok, cheers, and best of life to everyone... VJL

In Thailand we have many teachers and students with abinna abilities. It isnt something we talk about much but we use the seeing other's minds ability to help students recognize mental phenomena for mindfulness for insight. To get them on the right track.

We also use the ability to see beings after their death to reassure survivors and/or help deceased relatives of students.

Books like Venerable Ācariya Mun Bhūridatta Thera by Ajaan Mahā Boowa Ñānasampanno has accounts of such situations in modern times.

Though not result of Abhinna I have seen monks with a glowing halo around their heads.

Yes, John Chang or Dynamo Jack

Dynamo Jack has mastered the practice of Qi Gong through years of practice involving Meditation, Isolation and intense Concentration. Jack is an advocate for Eastern medicine and Holistic approaches to healing. He was able to create an Electric current from his stomach. Jack has been filmed lighting a Newspaper using energy created by his own body, emanating from his hands. Jack is believed to have Psychic and Paranormal powers. Jack has had a Mystic teacher, Liau Tsu-Tong, who helped him become a guru. He was trained in the MoPai, an Esoteric part of the Mo Tzu School of Thought.

Here is the link1 link2 where he is shown catching bullets, burning papers with his bare hands, giving electric shocks to people who touch him and he explained how he is doing this with Qi, so this is not some black magic.

I have heard that there are. But they don't demonstrate publicly of course. The people close to them know. But might have heard @Sansayan, such powers is not the desired outcome of the practice, but rather a side effect. But anyone can achieve them if they wish.

Yes. John Chang in this video demonstrates fire. The book "The Magus of Java" explains his spiritual journey and teachings.

I would recommend reading that but there are many correlations between Buddhism and Taoism that should be learned before reading into such anecdotal books. I would recommend Bill Bodri and Master Nan's material to study this non-denominational topic further because the Buddha chose not to emphasize this inferior achievement (of physical transformation). Having an understanding of this topic in this day and age can serve to dis-enchant you from the physical side of things so you can obsess over what truly matters: bodhi.

Maybe , maybe not

It is possible to achieve those things , but when a person achieves it , his mind has developed to a very high level. So there is no need or desire in his mind. Thus , he do not need to show off his powers . And there are people who can send their minds to different places and see whats going on . Specially in India and Sri Lanka. If you want to see how they have achieved it you can go to those countries and learn from a teacher ,you can't learn those things by reading books. Must learn from a person who has practical knowledge ,but in the process you will loose all your desires and needs , and you won't use your abilities even if you have them. So it is impossible for other people to even believe that those people exist.

So ,

Maybe , maybe not...

Sansayan: the short answer to your question is yes, I have. A Sri Lankan monk who is now deceased for some years now, Ven Anandamaitreya, definitely had acquired it. There is nothing unique to this period of time, in its essence. Every generation in the past had always thought of their time as "modern". The problem is that those who have achieved any abhinna always seem to be extremely reluctant to talk about it or even to let people know they have acquired it. The reasons are manifold. It is only if you know the person extremely well and is trusted implicitly that you may come to know of it. One exception may be an American now living in Florida, who claims to have achieved a couple of abhinnas. Of course, he also claims to have acquired the four mundane material jhanas in the course of a few months. So, form your own opinions about him. But he has a website which you can visit. It is www.jhana8.com. "Meditation without religion" is apparently what this site is about. It has also expanded to provide "courses" in meditation. The .com extension is also what gives the game away.

So, the above is an attempt to answer your question. But now, I would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to state that acquisition of abhinnas is immaterial to achieving wisdom and enlightenment. They can be achieved with exceptional achievement in absorption-concentration. They can, in fact, be a distraction and detract from the real goal: bodhi, as Ahmed says above, which may be one reason Lord Buddha did not emphasize them. The path of jhana, both material and immaterial jhanas are the path of the samathayanaka. The vipassanayanaka can also achieve enlightenment and he may not even have acquired a single jhana, let alone abhinna. Abhinnas are a side show.

Best Wishes

Pradip

It is not desirable to answer such questions because inevitably some smart cookie will debate every example by offering counter examples of parlor magicians who can do the same.

As the Kevatta Sutta states, the real magic is in the bringing of peace, happiness and goodness to the hearts and minds of people.

It is a magic that cannot be argued against.