Miracles in Buddhism

Mus Zibii

Mus Zibii

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I've been looking on the net for some resource describing all the various miracles Buddha was suppose to have... done, or witnessed. Miracles or wonderous things seem to be at odds in some interpretations of Buddhism, and I blame that for my inability to find anything on the net. But I was curious about the myths and their origins and meanings.

I've heard something about a monkey with honey, and the taming of an elephant, but that's the extent of my knowledge. Also, Buddha's wonderous conception and birth - I know about that.

Can anyone help me out?
 
Ah*nda'll,

all prophets were human beings...
keeping that in mind, if you believe that we are the same decaying organisms as them, if you believe well enough, you yourself could be performing the so called miracles.

people could made-up things, as in islam it is believed that Mohammed seperated the moon into two half, and also there is one called 'mirac', a miracle which he visited Allah in His own place and got orders from him personally. (physically, voicely, or matterly dont really know) maybe one can enlighten us in somewhere.

Buddha ? well... been to lots of far east asian countries and stayed with lots of locals, no one seemed to be interested in the miracles he had performed (if theres any that is, except taming the animals quite easily).

So to make the short story shorter, miracles for me are the most untrustable matters of whole religion concept, and not to be trusted by any means. (but my fav. is Jesus's filling the fishbowls, fair enough for the good man.)




"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground: the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left."
 
Namaste Mus Zibii,


thank you for the post.

there are three miracles, if you will, that the Buddha performed.. though there was only one that he actually called "wonderous".

he had the ability to read the minds of other sentient beings.

he had the ability to appear in multiple places at once.

he had the ability to correctly transmit the Dharma.

only the ability to correctly transmit the Dharma did the Buddha consider to be a "wonderous" miracle.

the ability to read minds was something that was a known property of a certain Greek charm... whilst the ability to appear in multiple places was a known property of a Persian spell. the Buddha whilst acknowledging that these powers manifested, completely dismissed them as trivial. the only one worth persuing was the proper transmission of the Dharma.

the sources for these "feats" are found in the Suttas and Sutras themselves... however, they are not given any real importance in the tradition.

it's a bit long.. however, the Lotus Sutra contains some examples of mundane miracles... such as heaven raining down flowers and the Buddhas light opening all 18,000 Buddha worlds etc...

http://hjem.get2net.dk/civet-cat/mahayana-writings/lotus-sutra.htm
 
As far as the "miracles" of the Buddha's conception and birth etc are concerned, the story as given in the Pali sources is given as a prelude to the Buddha's attitude himself. (Majjhima Nikaya 123, Digha Nikaya 14) Following his disciple Ananda's relating of the various astounding events surrounding the Buddha's birth and of how the whole world system shook and quaked and trembled...."I remember them as wonderful and marvellous qualities of the Blessed One" says Ananda........the Buddha responds....."That being so Ananda, remember also this as a wonderful and marvellous quality of the Blessed One. His feelings of pleasure, pain or equanimity are known to him as they arise, known to him as they are present, known to him as they subside........so with his perceptions, his thoughts........" The Buddha seemed to value control and understanding of mental processes and states of mind rather than any perceived miracles relating to his birth.

There is also the story of his meeting with someone at the river crossing, who demonstrated the result of his meditations by walking across the water. The Buddha seemed unimpressed, by remarking that "the ferry only cost a penny"
Not quite sure where this story comes from..............!

Also in Zen there is the story of the man who tries to impress the Zen master by floating about in the sky in the lotus position........"See the miracles of my religion" he exclaims. The Master is unimpressed....."the miracles of my religion are greater". To which the man then makes motions with his hand in the air.......and words appear on a rock face a hundred yards away! "See the miracles of my religion!" he cries again. Once again the master is unimpressed.........."the miracles of my religion are greater" The man then demands of the master......."Show me the miracles of your religion". To which the Master responds........"My miracles are these. When I'm hungry I eat, when I'm tired I sleep. When I'm happy I laugh, when I'm sad I cry"

I think there are many miracle stories told within the Jataka tales...i.e stories of the Buddha's previous lives as a Bodhisattva but I am not over familiar with them.
 
There is also the story of his meeting with someone at the river crossing, who demonstrated the result of his meditations by walking across the water. The Buddha seemed unimpressed, by remarking that "the ferry only cost a penny"
Not quite sure where this story comes from..............!
Click to expand...
When I was searching the net, I found that one, but no source for it. It seemed awfully related to Christianity. But anyway, that's the thing. I can't find the sources for the various miracles.
 
Namaste Mus Zibii


thank you for the post.

hmm.. i'm not sure why you can't find the sources, as the sources are the Suttas and Sutras themselves.

for instance...

"Manjusri replied, "Noble sir, send them if you feel the time is right!" Thereupon the Licchavi Vimalakirti performed the miraculous feat of placing the entire assembly, replete with thrones, upon his right hand and then, having transported himself magically into the presence of the Buddha, placing it on the ground. He bowed down at the feet of the Buddha, circumambulated him to the right seven times with palms together, and withdrew to one side."

this feat, and many, many others, are detailed in a Sutra called the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra which you can read here:

http://hjem.get2net.dk/civet-cat/mahayana-writings/vimalakirti-nirdesa-sutra.htm
 
Shakyamuni Buddha is reported to have commited many miracles, however my personal favorite is that he could shoot fire out of his limbs.
 
Phil Alexander said:
Shakyamuni Buddha is reported to have commited many miracles, however my personal favorite is that he could shoot fire out of his limbs.
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Namaste Phil Alexander,

thank you for the post and welcome to the forum.

really.. fire you say... do you have a Sutta/Sutra cite for that? tis one of the ones that i've missed, it would seem :)
 
Study of miracle writings

About miracles, the way I see it, their importance is how good they are in confirming the believer or member of a religion in his attachment to his religion. And in a social context whether the members thus reinforced do more good to his immediate society and also the broader society of the world, than otherwise.

Vajradhara might ask me what I understand by 'good'.

'Good' should be understood as first that men can live with bread before anything else.

We will talk about other goods when people have adequacy of bread.

Once I had two apparently men from India, at my office door, with the idea of teaching me about yoga or something about meditation; yes, really guys from India, not your Western caucasian converts to Hindu meditation systems.

I say 'apparently' but on second thought they are certainly not caucasian for sure, even though people from India of the upper castes are according to my readings also of the caucasian races. Anyway, they are not white Westerners, but could be from Ceylon (Sri Lanka?) instead of India. But most likely from India because most meditation teachers from the East are from India -- one of their main exports to the West.

I courteously told them that I was very busy...

"That's the sad situation of man today, always busy with so many things, but. . . . " they reacted to my polite excuse not to be interested in their message whatever.

I thought I had been down that routine many times before. So I gently insisted that I would much prefer that they should try the other offices down the hall.

They left with a cordial thank you.

Why am I recalling this incident here?

I don’t know. Perhaps talk about miracles seems to resemble the drill of those two meditation missionaries.


I don’t have any objections against miracles, provided they are effective in making people more peaceable with their neighbors, and more fruitful in bringing the blessings of modern technology to the most number of mankind.


Now, there is another matter I want to bring up in regard to miracles in Buddhism.

In college with a religious order I learned about very scholarly groups among Catholic researchers, one of them the Bollandists, who are dedicated to the very demanding scrutiny of text sources and historical ‘devolutions’ of these sources, in order to detect where, when, how, from whom and how original and originally authentic are such literary records of miracles and miracle workers among Catholic holy men and women.

They are in effect what we might call today debunkers, working within their own religion, Vatican Roman Catholicism.

A number of saints and miracles have been debunked by these workers.

I want to ask the Buddhist enthusiasts here whether they know of such Buddhist scholars working on their Buddhist texts with all the rigor of scientific documentary examination.


Pachomius2000
 
Re: Study of miracle writings

To myself, miracles in religion in general always seem to represent metaphor at best, and sheer propaganda at worst. Isn't it the case that the miracles reported in Buddhism cannot be taken as literal events, but instead as cultural interpolations intended to help frame an otherwise rather mundane message?

A somewhat prevocative question, but well meant. :)
 
Namaste all,


this is one of the wonderful aspects of the Buddhist path, in my view.

Buddhism permits, almost insists, that one apply their own understanding to the teachings and come to their own conclusion about them.

if the teachings that relate extraordinary teachings helps ones practice, then accept them and practice. if these teachings hinder ones practice, abandon then and practice.

i don't think that i can emphasize this enough... the Buddhas teachings were given to a particular group of people, at a particular time to address a particular concern. thus, not all teachings are appropos for all beings.. if the teachings about miracles doesn't sit well... ignore it :)
 
I want to ask the Buddhist enthusiasts here whether they know of such Buddhist scholars working on their Buddhist texts with all the rigor of scientific documentary examination.
Click to expand...
Hi Susma,

I'm not buddhist, but I can give you a name of a buddhist who dedicated all her life to the study of buddhist texts.
Her name is Alexandra David Neel and she was born in a protestant French family. She did elaborated studies in philosophy and eastern languages. She had spent many years in Tibet where she had been initiated as buddhist. She wrote a lot of books. I would like to give you some samples, but they are in French and I'm not a linguist and I do not want to do an improper translation. She died as buddhist at 101 years old.

Alexa
 
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