Lzh Mi Bi Vb Pc 8Truthfully Announcing Superhuman Attainments
Pāli / Sanskrit:Bhūtārocana
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
Sutta on Truthfully Announcing Superhuman Attainments (Bhūtārocana)
Background
The Bhūtārocana Sutta belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon and presents one of the most basic ethical rules in the early Buddhist Sangha. The background for the arising of this rule concerns the issue of false claims about superhuman powers (abhiññā). This is not a sermon of spiritual instruction, but a Pācittiya regulation intended to protect the integrity of the Sangha and the training system.
The appearance of this rule reflects the fact that, even in the Buddha’s time, there were individuals who tried to boast of or counterfeit supernormal powers in order to gain profit, fame, or spread distorted teaching. Therefore, the Buddha laid down a strict rule: one must not publicly state or announce that one has attained such superhuman powers unless it is absolutely true.
Main Content
According to the principle of Bhūtārocana, a monastic must not lie about or counterfeit superhuman powers. These powers include psychic abilities (iddhisiddhi), the divine ear (dibbasota), knowledge of others’ minds (cetopariyañāṇa), and other faculties connected with extraordinary aspects of Buddhist practice.
This rule was issued with very deep meaning: not because such powers do not exist, but because they arise only as natural by-products for genuine practitioners. If anyone claims to possess such powers without truly possessing them, that is a very serious Pācittiya offense requiring public confession before the Sangha.
The core of the rule is to protect the ethics of truthfulness (sacca-brahmacariyā). That is why the title of the sutta has the meaning “truthful announcement of superhuman attainment”—the purpose is not to forbid superhuman powers, but to require absolute honesty if any announcement is made.
Practical Meaning
For practitioners today, Bhūtārocana is not only a legal rule but also a profound lesson in the authenticity of the path of practice.
🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.