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Do buddhist believe in supernatural powers?
hi
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with a single swipe of his hand... he can start a 3000 year old religion with a word from his mouth..he has unnatural strength and endurance..his brain can probably register things at a faster rate than we can, making him seem supernaturally fast..
It only seems to be supernatural because of our point of view. We, as human beings, are limited in our abilities to comprehend and do things so we put labels like magic and supernatural on such things that are outside of our current level of understanding.
To answer your question directly - no.
To elaborate a bit more - the only issue is ignorance. Most of us have not yet reached the full human potential and when we do, we will find all of these things to be 'natural'.
I believe levitation is possible and when we all realize it, we can put a stop to the need to fly around in big, heavy energy consuming aircraft. That is, if we still feel the need to be somewhere else.
The correct answer probably is that some do, many wonder, and some don’t.
Buddhists are a lot of different people.
This Buddhist is skeptical and demands proof.
All Buddhists would probably agree that “supernatural powers” – if they are possible and if they are attained through deep concentration - are merely a by-product; not the goal.
Sorry...
Buddhists do not 'believe' anything.
There are some traditions which regard such matters as part of spiritual progress, which may be interpreted as a physical phenomenon, or a psychological one. That's up to them.
Not all traditions ascribe to such matters, and some even dismiss them as imaginary and irrelevant.
In any case they are not a destination, they are an occurrence along the way. they are not to be clung to, and are merely part of the parcel, not the whole package.
I personally do not consider such matters important, and pay no attention to them, although if others do, I respect their right to do so, and will not argue against them.
Buddhists are encourage to test and validate all things for themselves, and to examine and scrutinise whatever presents itself.
Not my bag, my scene or my concern.
Hope that answers your question.
I think it is probably normal for Yogins and Yoginis to experience things which stretch our limited laws of coincidence. In the Kagyu (or Whispered) Tradition we are taught to treat these things as neither good nor bad, to let them pass, and keep our eyes and minds on the goal or focus. If these experiences are significant then they'll continue, if not they'll pass. Treat them like rain, or hot or cold weather, summer or winter, or life and death. They are still part of the mundane as they still involve dualities.
Best Regards,
WK
=========================
It will be good if I live to wake tomorrow morning,
I've practise when I can,
So if death finds me tonight,
So be it,
We know not when it comes,
Practise, practise, practise,
Nirvana is a common buddhist belief.
http://buddhism.about.com/od/abuddhistglossary/g/nirvanadef.htm
What I think is interesting about the information found at this link is this:
"In the culture in which the historical Buddha lived and taught, it was understood that fire "burns" and becomes visible when it is attached to fuel, and it stops burning and becomes invisible when it is "released" from fuel. The fire, it was thought, was not annihilated but transformed. "
It really illustrates just how fallible ancient ideas were/are (all ideas actually). Question everything, blind faith leads to error and ignorance. This includes Buddhism.
I don't think any traditions actually believe in physical flying - that is, actually physically levitating, flapping your arms a bit and saving the air fare to Florida.
nope.
.
Why do you even want to know?
The whole point is, are they conducive to your practice? That is, does knowing about them actually do anything to help you understand the 4 Noble Truths, study the Eightfold Path and observe the wisdom of the 5 precepts?
If Yes, in what way?
The Buddha stated quite clearly:
"I come to teach about the origin of suffering and the cessation of suffering."
Supernatural powers have nothing to do with that, and nor do they advance your progress.
They may even prove to be a big, fat, flapping hindrance.
Drop it, leave them and study a bit first.
Of what beneficial use is it to you, to have an answer?
More Buddhists read other people’s minds, remember past (dramatic) lives and predict who’s going to be on the phone.
Part of the explanation could be that a failed attempt to fly is hard to ignore.
The other stuff is much more open to cognitive bias.
(That is ignoring failure and blowing up apparent success, or simply have a notion and count that as a success without checking it at all.)
"war on drugs" by bill hicks makes reference to this.
An analogy to their belief would be that a torch beam is always present, but invisible while the torch is off.
It's not a big deal, or shouldn't be, bill. I'm sorry your threads tend to get treated dismissively, on the rare occasion you do post an OP. As someone said earlier, it's not so much a question of belief as it is experiencing. But the Tibetan gov't has always relied on a State Oracle (clairvoyant), for example. Spells and magic filtered into Tibetan Buddhist tradition from medieval India, according to scholars, and likely from Inner Asian shamanism, as well. And I recall one of our members, Vincenzi, quoted Pali scripture that says supernatural powers come at a certain stage of practice. As for the question, of what practical use are these? Are you kidding? Clairvoyance is of tremendous praactical use to people, as is communication with the deceased (very comforting to the bereaved). Just a few examples.
And BTW, prayer has been demonstrated to work, in studies by Larry Dossey, MD, and others. Prayers are a type of spell. Therefore, spells work. We don't know exactly how they work, but Dossey has a couple of books out on the subject of the healing effects of prayer.