Buddhist Miracles as Depicted in the Mahayāna Scriptures in Southeast Buddhism

Abstract

The paper clarifies the Buddhist concept of miracles and shows the place of miracles in the Mahāyāna Buddhist teachings. Besides, the paper goes to depict and analyse Buddhist miracles as represented in Mahāyāna tradition. The Buddha and his disciples that perform most of the characteristics of miracles in Pāli canon can be found in the Mahāyāna sūtras. The factors of miracles are extremely important in Mahāyāna texts and the miracles become one of vital element of Mahāyāna scholastic literature. The miracle of teaching the Dharma in Mahāyāna literature is considered a means to be used against the magical powers of non-Buddhist religions as a philosophical means to convey the Mahāyāna thoughts that are not the cause leading to enlightenment but one of consequence of enlightenment`s fruit. There are many evidences in the Buddhist Pāli scriptures mention to the manifestation of miracles by the Buddha himself. Pāṭihāriya is an adjective that is comprised from pāṭi+hr (pāṭihāra) which derived from the Sanskrit prātihārya from root √prātihr means to juggle or conjure, special and wonder or miracle”. The term pāṭihāra is used in stock phrase “iddhipāṭihāriya, ādesanāpāṭihāriya and anusāsanipāṭihāriya” as the 3 marvels with characterise a Buddha with regard to his teaching i.e. superhuman power, mind reading, giving instruction. The research problems are the miracles in the context of Mahāyāna Sūtras and the using and performance miracles of the Buddha and Bodhisattva are depicted in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and the Lalitavistara sūtraas well as the philosophical significances of miracles in the Mahāyāna Scriptures in the comparison with Pāli suttas. This paper is a qualitative research that will follow the method of textual analysis and Buddhist cultural investigation and description of. It will also examine the textual material and cultural field from a critical and descriptive perspective. The data will be collected mainly from the primary sources, of both the Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions. The Mahāyāna texts will be chosen from the Mahāyāna tradition as well as the relevant books and articles written on this topic and other reading materials. Discussions about the subject in recent secondary scholarly literature will also be taken into account. The data thus collected will be organized and critically analyzed