While modern science is only just beginning to explore the existence of telepathy through experiments, and European psychical researchers began collecting reports of it in just the late 1800s—this phenomenon is far from new. In fact, anecdotal reports of it appear throughout history, across vastly different cultures, spanning literally thousands of years into the past. Let’s take a look at some of these ancient anecdotes, some of which may be older than recorded history…
PS: These ancient reports are just for telepathic communication. I haven’t done enough research to find some for telepathic control (the other type of telepathy). So, if you have any, please contact me so we can add it to the digital library! Remember this work is ideally a group effort, and putting it together for the psychical researchers and knowledge-seekers of the future, is our duty!
Australian Aboriginal Shamans — Ancient Australia (~65,000 ya)
In the Australian Aboriginal tribes, one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth, going back roughly 70,000 years, the Aboriginal shamans—known as karadji, and sometimes called “clever men” or “medicine men”— have a secret tradition where of training to develop and use “occult” “super-sensory” abilities (Elkin, 1994, p. xxv, 4, 9). The anthropologist Adolphus Peter Elkin, based on fieldwork across several regions of Australia, describes this secret tradition in his book “Aboriginal Men of High Degree.”
“They also possess, in many cases, occult powers: they can commune with the dead [mediumship]; they see spirits fly through the air and do the same themselves [astral projection]; they go up to the sky; they practice telepathy and mass hypnotism; and they gain knowledge by psychic means of what occurs at a distance [extrasensory perception]. Such are the claims and beliefs.” - Dr. Adolphus Peter Elkin (Elkin, 1994, p. xxv)
Among these reported abilities is telepathic communication. Dr. Elkin gives a striking example of this with a shaman named Willidjungo, who claimed that he could directly perceive into another person’s mind:
“Sometimes . . I am sitting with a man and I look at his head and I can say to him, ‘You think so and so’. The man says, ‘How do you know that?’ And I say, ‘I can see inside your mind’.” (Elkin, 1994, pp. 47-48).
Considering that Australian Aboriginal culture stretches back tens of thousands of years, reports like this could trace back to the oldest reports of telepathy.
Hinduism – Ancient India (~200 BCE, 2,200 ya)
In Hinduism, reports of abilities sounding a lot like telepathic communication appear in some of the ancient yogic texts.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali—written around 200 BCE as a practical guide to the yoga of mastering the mind for self-realization (”Raja yoga”)—describe various “siddhis,” or extraordinary abilities said to attainable by one-pointed meditative absorption (“samyana”) on a thought in one’s mind.
One of these abilities is telepathic communication. The text even mentions how to attain this knowledge, claiming that by performing meditative absorption on the features of someone else’s body (basically by imagining all of their distinguishing features deeply, to the point of meditative absorption on them), you can know the mental images of others:
“By samyama on the distinguishing signs of others’ bodies, knowledge of their mental images is obtained. But this does not include support in the person’s mind [such as the motive behind the thought, etc.], as that is not the object of samyama.” - Yoga Sutras (3.19-20)
It’s described in much younger texts as well.
For example, in the Bhagavata Purana—a text written around 800 CE as part of the yoga of loving devotion or worship (”Bakhti yoga”), specifically towards Hindu gods Vishnu and Krishna. It is mentioned in passing, as the ability to “know the minds of others” (”para-citta-ādi-abhijñatā”).
Buddhism – Ancient India (~25 BCE, ~2,000 ya)
In the Pali Suttas—teachings preserved in the Pali language, believed to have been passed down through oral tradition from the mouth of Buddha and first written down around 25 BCE—telepathic communication is mentioned as one of the “supernormal knowledges” (”chaļabhiññā”), extrasensory abilities frequently attributed to the Buddha and some of his disciples.
Buddha and his disciples — some of which were attributed psychic powers.
Within these supernormal knowledges, telepathic communication is called “the penetrating knowledge of the mind/heart” (”ceto-pariya-ñāṇa”). (Thera and Hecke, p. 87) (Sutta-Central) (Pali Dictionary). One of the earliest and most foundational Buddhist texts, the “Samaññaphala Sutta” (”The Fruit of Contemplative Life”), explicitly describes it like this:
“When his mind is thus concentrated, pure and bright, unblemished, free from defects, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to the knowledge of encompassing the minds (of others). He understands the minds of other beings and persons, having encompassed them with his own mind.” — Samaññaphala Sutta (p. 32)
The Pali texts also contain stories or reports of the Buddha’s disciplies using this ability. For example, Moggallāna, one of Buddha’s foremost disciplies, is reported to have used it to peer into the minds of an assemblage of monks:
“Once on an Uposatha day, the Buddha sat silently in front of the assembly of monks. At each watch of the night Ānanda requested him to recite the code of monastic discipline, the Pātimokkha, but the Buddha remained silent. Finally, when dawn came, he only said: “This assembly is impure.” Thereupon Moggallāna surveyed with his mind the entire assembly and saw one monk sitting there who was “immoral, wicked, of impure and suspect behaviour, …rotten within, lustful and corrupt.” He went up to him and told him to leave three times. When the monk did not move even after the third request, Moggallāna took him by the arm, led him out of the hall, and bolted the door. Then he begged the Exalted One to recite the Pātimokkha, as the assembly was now pure again . . . Then the Venerable Vaṅgisa, the foremost poet in the Sangha, realizing what had taken place, rose from his seat, and in the Buddha’s presence praised Moggallāna in verse: . . . Moggallāna, great in spiritual power, Encompassed their minds with his own, And searching (he came to see) their minds: Fully released, without acquisitions!’” — Great Disciples of the Buddha (Thera and Hacke, p. 93)
13th century sculpture of Moggallāna, one of Buddha’s foremost disciplies, reported to have used telepathy to peer into the minds of an assemblage of monks. Sculpture located at Daihō’onji Temple, Kyoto, Japan. Work by Kaikei, from Cultural Heritage Digital Content Download Function, (CC BY 4.0).
Judaism — (~800 BCE, 2,800 ya)
In Judaism, prophetic figures of the Hebrew Bible—often called “seers,” are described as possessing abilities that resemble telepathic communication.
One example appears in the story of Samuel in First Book of Samuel (chapter 9), a text traditionally dated to around 800 BCE. In the story, Saul loses several donkeys, and goes in search for Samuel, a revered prophet. When Saul finally meets him, Samuel immediately speaks about the missing donkeys, despite Saul never having mentioned them. In fact, he even explicitly claims to be able to tell Saul exactly what he was thinking. A “seer” indeed!
Saul in search of his lost donkeys, finding Samuel the “seer,” who (without having been told about the donkeys) tells him that he shouldn’t be worried about his donkeys because they were found.
“Samuel replied to Saul, “I am the seer! Go up in front of me to the high place! Today you will eat with me and in the morning I will send you away. I will tell you everything that you are thinking. Don’t be concerned about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found.” — 1 Samuel 9:19-20 (New English Translation, Biblegateway)
Christianity — (~90 CE, 1,900 ya)
In Christianity, the Gospel of Matthew—written around 90 CE—contains several passages in which Jesus is reported to know the thoughts of those around him. The text repeatedly introduces Jesus’s responses to others with phrases such as “Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said…” One example is in Matthew. 9:4:
“Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” — Matthew 9:4 (English Standard Version, Biblegateway)
