In certain religions, a man's miraculous performance can help
him to become a saint. But in Buddhism, miracles can be a
hindrance for a person to attain sainthood, which is a gradual
personal attainment and individual concern. Each person
himself must work for his sainthood through self-purification and
no one else can make another person a saint.
The Buddha says that a person can gain miraculous power without
gaining spiritual power. He teaches us that if we first gain
spiritual power, then we automatically receive the miraculous or
psychic powers too. But if we develop miraculous powers without
spiritual development, then we are in danger. We can misuse this
power for worldly gain. There are many who have deviated from the
right path by using their miraculous powers without having any
spiritual development. Many people who are supposed to have
obtained some miraculous powers succumbed to the vain glory of
obtaining some worldly gain.
Many so-called
miracles talked about by people are merely imaginations and
hallucinations created by their own minds due to a lack of
understanding of things as they truly are. All these
miracles remain as miracles as long as people fail to know what
these powers really are.
Many psychic powers were attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha,
but he did not
consider these important. To him, the
greatest miracle was to explain the Truth and make a man
realise it. As a teacher with deep compassion, he was
moved by human suffering and determined to free men from
its fetters by a rational system of thought and way of
life.
When we study Buddhism, we are studying ourselves,
the nature of our own minds. Instead of focusing on some
supreme being, Buddhism emphasizes more practical matters, such as
how to lead our lives, how to integrate our minds and how to keep
our everyday lives peaceful and healthy. In other
words, Buddhism always accentuates experiential knowledge-wisdom
rather than some dogmatic view.
The human mind instinctively seeks happiness. East, Westtheres no
difference; everybodys doing the same thing.How buddhism do
that?Well by making us Rediscover our
true nature.What is this true
nature of ours?It is Our buddha
nature.The nature of loving-kindness and Compassion
We do good not because we can use this as a
bargain to go to heaven.
We do good not because we are afraid of being punished to
hell.
We do good because this is what we are.
We do good because we are happy to do so
We do good because we have loving-kindness and
Compassion
This is what we really are and Buddha has certainly made us realise
that.
According to
the Buddha, the miracle of realisation is
a real miracle. When a murderer, thief, terrorist,
drunkard, or adulterer is made to realise that what he had been
doing is wrong and gives up his bad, immoral and harmful way of
life, this change can be regarded as a miracle. The change
for the better arising from an understanding of Dharma is the
highest miracle that any man can perform.
