The Buddha's perspective on miracles and supernatural powers.

The Kevaddha Sutta (Digha Nikaya II) states:

 

"One day someone suggested to the Buddha that some of his great disciples perform miracles such as walking on water, flying through the air, passing through cliffs, etc., to attract the masses and increase the faith of his followers."

 

The Buddha then asked the man:

 

"Now, layperson, after witnessing such miracles, some people might believe, but others might say, 'What's so strange about that? There's some kind of magic that can do that.' Is the latter possible?"

 

The other person replied:

 

- Venerable Buddha, it is possible.

 

The Buddha said:

 

Therefore, it's pointless to put on those performances."

 

Then the Buddha told the man that there are three kinds of supernatural powers: 1. Transfiguration, the ability to perform miracles such as flying through the air, walking on water, passing through rocks, shapeshifting, invisibility, etc. 2. Mind-reading, the ability to know the thoughts and intentions of others. 3. Teaching, the ability to guide people from delusion to enlightenment, from bad to good, from suffering to peace, to build up people, to build a good life, to help ordinary people become sages.

 

Supernatural powers and miracles such as shapeshifting and mind-reading not only fail to bring many benefits to the user but can also cause much harm when the user has malicious intentions, exploiting these powers to satisfy their greed and hatred, such as harming others to seize their wealth, serving or assisting evil people, or harming others out of revenge. For those who have not yet overcome the afflictions of greed, hatred, ignorance, and pride (or in other words, those still possessing the six desires and seven emotions), the misuse of supernatural powers to satisfy their ego and selfish desires is very likely to occur.

 

Everyone knows that the Buddha possessed many supernatural abilities and miracles, as he used them in several special cases, as recorded in Buddhist scriptures. However, in many instances, the Buddha showed disdain for miracles and supernatural powers, because they lead to delusion, blindness, and madness. Clinging to them hinders enlightenment, liberation from suffering, and the attainment of Nirvana. Supernatural powers cannot bring peace and happiness, nor can they liberate people from the suffering of human life. Supernatural powers are merely the result of spiritual cultivation, something anyone can achieve, even those practicing evil or heterodox doctrines. Supernatural powers are not a standard for judging a person's character, moral virtues, or the level of their spiritual practice and enlightenment.

 

According to the Buddha, only compassion and wisdom can bring peace and happiness to people, and only through miraculous teaching can others gain awareness and cultivate themselves to attain compassion and wisdom.

 

The scriptures recount that once, a heretic demonstrated his supernatural ability to walk on water from one bank to the other of the Ganges River and challenged the Buddha to do the same. The Buddha calmly asked the heretic how long he had practiced to achieve such a feat. The heretic replied that it had taken him thirty years of practice to acquire the ability to fly on water. The Buddha smiled and said, "I only need three cents for a ferry to cross to the other side of the Ganges."

 

To spend thirty years of arduous training just to cross a river without a boat, when you could do the same with just a few coins, is utterly pointless! Indeed, miraculous powers are no match for wisdom. Miraculous powers can make people blindly obsessed and infatuated.

 

That's a matter of supernatural powers and miracles. But what about the mysteries of all living things, the mysteries of the world, the mysteries of the universe? The Majjhima Nikaya records the case of a monk named Malunkyaputta who asked the Buddha:

 

- Venerable Buddha, up until now, you have never clearly explained, you have set aside and rejected theories concerning the following viewpoints: Is this world eternal? Is this world limited or infinite? Is life force (the energy of life) one with this physical body, or are life force and the physical body two different things? After death, will the Tathagata (Buddha) continue to exist or cease to exist? Or will he both continue to exist and cease to exist?

 

The Buddha replied:

 

"Just as a man is struck by a poisoned arrow, and when a physician tries to remove it, he quickly stops him, saying, 'I will not let anyone remove this arrow until I know clearly and fully the details about the person who shot me, about the nature of the arrow...' He will die before he knows these things. Similarly, if you keep questioning, you will die before your questions are answered."

 

According to the Buddha, there's no need to question or investigate unnecessary things. What's essential is finding ways to bring peace and happiness to oneself, the community, society, and all living beings. Human life is fragile and short; time shouldn't be wasted. We must utilize our lives for valuable and meaningful activities, not waste time and effort simply to satisfy curiosity.

 

It is not easy for sentient beings to have the opportunity to be born as humans; we must know how to seize that opportunity to cultivate merit, blessings, and especially wisdom, investing in peace and happiness in the present and the future.

 

Furthermore, there are things that everyone understands, knows, and believes without being told. Just as first and second graders cannot possibly understand spatial geometry, algebra, or calculus, no matter how the math professor explains it, they will still not understand. The only way is to learn gradually, from low to high, expanding their understanding each day. Similarly, an ordinary person without scientific knowledge or spiritual understanding cannot believe that beyond this world (Earth) there are countless other worlds (planets, fixed stars, celestial bodies, and objects in the universe) and life in many forms in the vast universe; nor can they believe that fundamental particles possess both wave and particle properties (known as the wave-particle duality of matter), and that we cannot precisely determine their trajectories, no matter how scientists explain or prove it. It is difficult to convince them of the uncertainty of microscopic particles.

 

There are still countless mysteries surrounding humanity, the world, and the universe. Human history spans millions of years, yet we have only acquired the meager knowledge we have today. A human life is only a few decades long; to try to know everything about the universe and all things within our limited abilities is impossible. If we simply sit and try to answer our questions and satisfy our curiosity without learning, practicing, and discovering true happiness in life, we will waste our entire lives and still not be able to resolve all our doubts and questions. This is without even considering frivolous, inappropriate (or untrue, or unreasonable) questions, those born from imagination, not real, not close to the truth; and those arising from erroneous reasoning and judgment.

 

 

The Buddha once said: “Monks, what the Tathagata teaches is like a handful of leaves, while what the Tathagata does not teach is like all the leaves in the forest” (Samyutta Nikaya). And in the Udana Sutta, the Buddha declared: “Monks, just as the water of the ocean has only one taste, the salty taste of salt, so the teachings of the Tathagata have only one taste, the taste of liberation from suffering.”

 

The things that the Buddha taught, like a handful of leaves, are his teachings; while the things that the Buddha did not teach, like leaves in the forest, are what he realized and knew. The Buddha only taught sentient beings what was necessary for a peaceful and happy life, free from suffering, and did not teach useless things that only satisfied curiosity (the desire to learn and know new things), nor did he teach anything that satisfied human greed, because human greed is endless and can never be satisfied.