About This Answer
Venerable Ajahn Dtun is asked whether meditation can lead to unusual abilities such as seeing or hearing devas and other beings that ordinary people cannot perceive. He acknowledges that such abilities are possible and notes that forms of refined concentration and psychic knowledge existed even before the Buddha’s dispensation.
However, Ajahn Dtun is careful to place these abilities in their proper position. They are not the goal of Buddhist practice. A meditator may develop unusual perception, knowledge of certain phenomena, or refined states of concentration, but these do not by themselves extinguish greed, anger, delusion, or the causes of suffering. In fact, attachment to special experiences can become another obstacle if the mind begins to identify with what it sees or hears.
He compares the situation to a student whose real purpose is to complete a course of study but who spends large amounts of time pursuing an additional activity. The extra skill may be possible and even impressive, yet it can slow progress toward the main objective. In the same way, deliberately chasing psychic powers can consume the energy that should be directed toward liberation.
Ajahn Dtun also distinguishes different aspirations. Someone cultivating the long path of a Bodhisatta may develop capacities for helping beings over many lifetimes, while a disciple aiming directly for release follows the path toward Nibbāna without making special powers the focus. The question is therefore not simply whether such phenomena exist, but what the practitioner’s true objective is. Buddhist meditation is ultimately judged by whether it reduces attachment and leads the heart beyond suffering.
For meditators, the instruction is deliberately practical. Progress depends on repeated training rather than a perfect technique performed once. Establish a workable object, keep returning when the mind moves, and use the calm that develops as a support for mindfulness and wisdom. This teaching is relevant to Buddhist meditation, samādhi, mindfulness, insight practice, the Thai Forest Tradition and anyone trying to make formal practice carry over into ordinary daily life.
The value of the answer is its simplicity: do not turn the teaching into another object of speculation. Apply it, observe the result in the heart, and continue strengthening whatever qualities are still weak. Over time, repeated practice makes the difference between a principle we merely agree with and a Dhamma that actually changes how we respond to experience.