Miracles and superhuman powers in South Asian Buddhist literature

Abstract

Scholars have long been aware of the presence of marvelous events in Buddhist literature. While it is now more fashionable to speak about them, some still hesitate to use the word miracle in reference to Buddhism. Paying attention to how Buddhists defined their own terms, this dissertation argues that the concept of the miracle is appropriate to use in translating specific Buddhist terminology. The present study examines the narrative and scholastic language Buddhists used to denote and classify various types of miracles and superhuman powers. Texts selected for analysis (preserved in Pāli and Sanskrit, but also in Tibetan and Chinese) span the history of South Asian Buddhist literature from the earliest extant canonical collections to narratives, commentaries, and scholastic treatises composed centuries later, covering a period from roughly the 2nd century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E. Buddhist typologies of miracles and superhuman powers distinguish between miracles and magic in order to argue for the unique authority and supreme holiness of the Buddha, and by extension, the superiority of his most exalted disciples, teachings and institutions. Though Buddhists debated the efficacy and meaning of displaying superhuman powers, they agreed that more than mere marvels or magic shows, miraculous displays of superhuman knowledge and power have religious significance. They generate faith among those who witness or hear accounts of them and lead people to achieve freedom from suffering. Despite the theological intent behind the traditional Buddhist separation of magic and miracles, some South Asian Buddhist scriptures and treatises suggest that Buddhist miracles are ultimately neither: they are not simply techniques of power, nor are they the manifestation of a transcendent power beyond the natural order of things. Collapsing the dichotomy between miracles and magic, these scriptures invoke the metaphor of the Buddha as the greatest magician, who manipulates reality because magical illusion is itself a metaphor for the nature of reality. Thus, Buddhist miracles are exhibitions of techniques connected to the spiritual accomplishments of Buddhas, Arhats and Bodhisattvas, but at the same time, they become expressions of a truth that is not merely technical or mundane, but ultimately beyond ordinary conception.

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