Eye on religion: miracles in the Chinese Buddhist tradition.

Books on Buddhism for general readers rarely mention miracles. Instead, the emphasis is usually on the life of the Buddha, his teachings, and the monastic order, the so-called “Three Treasures.” This is a heritage left by the European scholars who first became interested in Buddhism in the 19 century. Take the example of T.W. Rhys Davids, who founded the Pali Text Society in 1886 in England, and his wife Caroline A.F. Rhys Davids, who was its president. Steeped in Enlightenment values, they favored the Theravada Buddhist tradition, which has been practiced in Sri Lanka and southeast Asia, and its canonical language is Pali. They presented Buddhism as primarily a rational and ethical teaching, sharing similarities with Protestant Christianity. In contrast, they gave short shrift to the Mahayana Buddhist tradition of Tibet and East Asia because of its emphasis on the buddhas and bodhisattvas, who act as saviors for the faithful. They put more emphasis on Buddhist ethics than its rich mythology. But this is contrary to what Buddhists themselves believe. The life of Buddha is full of miracles. Eight events isolated from his life are called “great” miracles. They are his birth, enlightenment, first sermon, passing away or nirvana, as well as four other events at which he showed his supernatural powers to demonstrate the truth of his teaching. The places where the eight events took place came to be celebrated as the eight pilgrimage sites. For instance, in Lumbini, it is said that he emerged from under his mother’s right side instead of the normal birth channel. The infant immediately took seven steps and declared, “I am born for enlightenment for the benefit of the world; this is my last birth in the world.” Two streams of water–one hot and one cold–poured forth from the sky and fell on his head. The earth trembled and from the cloudless sky a shower perfumed with sandalwood, along with blue and red lotuses, fell. At Bodhgaya, during the night before his enlightenment, there was the famous story of Buddha’s defeat of Mara, the Buddhist Satan. When Mara’s demonic army attacked the Buddha, the rocks, trees, and axes that were discharged rose into the sky and remained suspended in midair. When a blazing log as large as a mountain was hurled at the Buddha, as soon as it was thrown, it hung suspended in the sky and burst into a hundred fragments through his magical power. Another group of miracles performed by the Buddha concern his teaching career. In India, there was a long tradition of gauging someone’s spiritual level by the supernormal powers (siddhi) he possessed. To make the audience willing to listen to him and thus benefiting from the Dharma, the Buddha found it necessary to exhibit his powers. Famous disciples were often recruited as a result of the demonstration. For instance, at Śravasti, he defeated the leaders of six heretical sects in front of the king in debate. To celebrate his victory, he performed the Twin Miracle or the Miracle of the Pairs. He levitated into the air, producing alternating streams of water and fire from different parts of his body. He also created multiple images of himself and had them preach the Dharma. These miracles were frequently depicted in stupas or memorial mounds. Belief in miracles has similarly been an integral part of the lives of devotees in other parts of the Buddhist world. I would use examples from the Chinese Buddhist tradition. Here, instead of using miracles to demonstrate the extraordinary nature of the Buddha as we read above, writers of the miracle stories are more interested in testifying to the efficacy of Buddhist deities in saving humankind from suffering. I begin with a story recorded by a Buddhist writer about 1500 years ago. Fu Liang, 374–426, the compiler of this earliest collection of seven miracle stories about the Buddhist savior deity known as Guanyin or Kuangshiyin (as the name appears in the story below), came from the elite educated class. He served as a government official, reaching the position of president of the Department of the Affairs of State under Liu Song. (420– 479). He was a scholar of Confucian classics, but like many of his contemporaries, he was also attracted to Buddhism, which was introduced into China some three hundred years earlier from India: