Question

Steve mentioned the Buddha's wife, Yasodhara, had great psychic powers. What are psychic powers? Is it true that we do not try to develop these? Sometimes we seem to know each others thoughts, is that psychic or just because we are so similar?

Answer

Psychic powers are paranormal abilities. Some of them include: the ability to heal others from a great distance, the ability to fly, and the ability to read other people's minds. Some of these things we don't actually need, because we have technology to do it for us. We don't have to waste our time trying to develop these powers. Instead we can devote most of our time to trying to purify the mind. If psychic powers come as a result of a purified mind that's different.

As to sometimes knowing each others thoughts, when we develop in our practice, we may become quite perceptive. As we understand our own mind and how our own mind works, then we can often understand others a lot easier as well.

2010 January day 18

with Steve

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.