excerpt from
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html
(includes full instructions)
"Monks, for one in whom mindfulness immersed in the body is
cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a
basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, &
well-undertaken, ten benefits can be expected. Which ten?
[1] "He conquers displeasure & delight, and displeasure does
not conquer him. He remains victorious over any displeasure that
has arisen.
[2] "He conquers fear & dread, and fear & dread do not
conquer him. He remains victorious over any fear & dread that
have arisen.
[3] "He is resistant to cold, heat, hunger, thirst, the touch of
gadflies & mosquitoes, wind & sun & creeping things; to
abusive, hurtful language; he is the sort that can endure bodily
feelings that, when they arise, are painful, sharp, stabbing,
fierce, distasteful, disagreeable, deadly.
[4] "He can attain at will, without trouble or difficulty, the
four jhanas — heightened mental states providing a pleasant abiding
in the here & now.
[5] "He wields manifold supranormal powers. Having been one he
becomes many; having been many he becomes one. He appears. He
vanishes. He goes unimpeded through walls, ramparts, &
mountains as if through space. He dives in & out of the earth
as if it were water. He walks on water without sinking as if it
were dry land. Sitting crosslegged he flies through the air like a
winged bird. With his hand he touches & strokes even the sun
& moon, so mighty & powerful. He exercises influence with
his body even as far as the Brahma worlds.
[6] "He hears — by means of the divine ear-element, purified
& surpassing the human — both kinds of sounds: divine &
human, whether near or far.
[7] "He knows the awareness of other beings, other individuals,
having encompassed it with his own awareness. He discerns a mind
with passion as a mind with passion, and a mind without passion as
a mind without passion. He discerns a mind with aversion as a mind
with aversion, and a mind without aversion as a mind without
aversion. He discerns a mind with delusion as a mind with delusion,
and a mind without delusion as a mind without delusion. He discerns
a restricted mind as a restricted mind, and a scattered mind as a
scattered mind. He discerns an enlarged mind as an enlarged mind,
and an unenlarged mind as an unenlarged mind. He discerns an
excelled mind [1] as an excelled mind, and
an unexcelled mind as an unexcelled mind. He discerns a
concentrated mind as a concentrated mind, and an unconcentrated
mind as an unconcentrated mind. He discerns a released mind as a
released mind, and an unreleased mind as an unreleased mind.
[8] "He recollects his manifold past lives (lit: previous
homes), i.e., one birth, two births, three births, four, five, ten,
twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one hundred, one thousand, one
hundred thousand, many aeons of cosmic contraction, many aeons of
cosmic expansion, many aeons of cosmic contraction & expansion,
[recollecting], 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan,
had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of
pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from
that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged
to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my
experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing
away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus he remembers his
manifold past lives in their modes & details.
[9] "He sees — by means of the divine eye, purified &
surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing, and
he discerns how they are inferior & superior, beautiful &
ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma:
'These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech,
& mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and
undertook actions under the influence of wrong views — with the
break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of
deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But
these beings — who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech,
& mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views
and undertook actions under the influence of right views — with the
break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good
destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus — by means of the divine
eye, purified & surpassing the human — he sees beings passing
away & re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior
& superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate
in accordance with their kamma.
[10] "Through the ending of the mental effluents, he remains in
the effluent-free awareness-release & discernment-release,
having known and made them manifest for himself right in the here
& now.
"Monks, for one in whom mindfulness immersed in the body is
cultivated, developed, pursued, handed the reins and taken as a
basis, given a grounding, steadied, consolidated, &
well-undertaken, these ten benefits can be expected."
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks
delighted in the Blessed One's words.