Chapter XVIII: Part V: Buddhism and Science

325. Q. _Has Buddhism any right to be considered a scientific religion, or may it be classified as a "revealed" one?_

A. Most emphatically it is not a revealed religion. The Buddha did not so preach, nor is it so understood. On the contrary, he gave it out as the statement of eternal truths, which his predecessors had taught like himself.

326. Q. _Repeat again the name of the Sutta, in which the Buddha tells us not to believe in an alleged revelation without testing it by one's reason and experience?_

A. The K[=a]l[=a]ma Sutta, of the Anguthara Nik[=a]ya.

327. Q. _Do Buddhists accept the theory that everything has been formed out of nothing by a Creator?_

A. The Buddha taught that two things are causeless, _viz._, [=A]k[=a]sha, and Nirv[=a]na. Everything has come ont of [=A]k[=a]sha, in obedience to a law of motion inherent in it, and, after a certain existence, passes away. Nothing ever came out of nothing. We do not believe in miracles; hence we deny creation, and cannot conceive of a creation of something out of nothing. Nothing organic is eternal. Everything is in a state of constant flux, and undergoing change and reformation, keeping up the continuity according to the law of evolution.

328. Q. _Is Buddhism opposed to education, and to the study of science?_

A. Quite the contrary: in the _Sig[=a]low[=a]da Sutta_ in a discourse preached by the Buddha, He specified as one of the duties of a teacher that he should give his pupils "instruction in science and lore". The Buddha's higher teachings are for the enlightened, the wise, and the thoughtful.

329. Q. _Can you show any further endorsement of Buddhism by science?_

A. The Buddha's doctrine teaches that there were many progenitors of the human race; also that there is a principle of differentiation among men; certain individuals have a greater capacity for the rapid attainment of Wisdom and arrival at Nirv[=a]na than others.

330. Q. _Any other?_

A. Buddhism supports the teaching of the indestructibility of force.

331. Q. _Should Buddhism be called a chart of science or a code of morals?_

A. Properly speaking, a pure moral philosophy, a system of ethics and transcendental metaphysics. It is so eminently practical that the Buddha kept silent when Malunka asked about the origin of things.

332. Q. _Why did he do that?_

A. Because he thought that our chief aim should be to see things as they exist around us and try to make them better, not to waste time in intellectual speculations.

333. Q. _What do Buddhists say is the reason for the occasional birth of very good and wise children of bad parents, and that of very bad ones of good parents?_

A. It is because of the respective Karmas of children and parents; each may have deserved that such unusual relationships should be formed in the present birth.

334. Q. _Is anything said about the body of the Buddha giving out a bright light?_

A. Yes, there was a divine radiance sent forth from within by the power of his holiness.

335. Q. _What is it called in P[=a]l[=i]?_

A. Buddharansi, the Buddha rays.

336. Q. _How many colours could be seen in it?_

A. Six, linked in pairs.

337. Q. _Their names?_

A. N[=i]la, Pita, Lohita, Avadata, Mangast[=a], Prabhasvra.

338. Q. _Did other persons emit such shining light?_

A. Yes, all Arhats did and, in fact, the light shines stronger and brighter in proportion to the spiritual development of the person.

339. Q. _Where do we see these colours represented?_

A. In all vih[=a]ras where there are painted images of the Buddha. They are also seen in the stripes of the Buddhist Flag, first made in Ceylon but now widely adopted throughout Buddhist countries.

340. Q. _In which discourse does the Buddha himself speak of this shining about him?_

A. In the _Mah[=a]-Parinibbana Sutt[=a]_, [=A]nanda his favourite disciple, noticing the great splendour which came from his Master's body, the Buddha said that on two occasions this extraordinary shining occurs, (_a_) just after a Tath[=a]gat[=a] gains the supreme insight, and (_b_) on the night when he passes finally away.

341. Q. _Where do we read of this great brightness being emitted from the body of another Buddha?_

A. In the story of Sumedha and Dip[=a]nk[=a]ra Buddha, found in the _Nid[=a]nakath[=a]_ of the _J[=a]taka_ book, or story of the reincarnations of the Bodhisattva Siddh[=a]rtha Gautama.

342. Q. _How is it described?_

A. As a halo of a fathom's depth.

343. Q. _What do the Hindus call it?_

A. _Tejas_; its extended radiance they call Pr[=a]k[=a]sha.

344. Q. _What do Europeans call it now?_

A. The human aura.

345. Q. _What great scientist has proved the existence of this aura by carefully conducted experiments?_

A. The Baron Von Reichenbach. His experiments are fully described in his _Researches_, published in 1844-5. Dr. Baraduc, of Paris, has, quite recently, photographed this light.

346. Q. _Is this bright aura a miracle or a natural phenomenon?_

A. Natural. It has been proved that not only all human beings but animals, trees, plants and even stones have it.

347. Q. _What peculiarity has it in the case of a Buddha or an Arhat?_

A. It is immensely brighter and more extended than in cases of other beings and objects. It is the evidence of their superior development in the power of _Iddh[=i]_. The light has been seen coming from d[=a]gobas in Ceylon where relics of the Buddha are said to be enshrined.

348. Q. _Do people of other religions besides Buddhism and Hind[=u]ism also believe in this light?_

A. Yes, in all pictures of Christian artists this light is represented as shining about the bodies of their holy personages. The same belief is found to have existed in other religions.

349. Q. _What historical incident supports the modern theory of hypnotic suggestion?_

A. That of Chullapanthaka, as told in the P[=a]l[=i] Commentary on the _Dhammapada_, etc.

350. Q. _Give me the facts._

A. He was a bhikkhu who became an Arhat. On that very day the Buddha sent a messenger to call him. When the man reached the Vih[=a]ra, he saw three hundred bhikkhus in one group, each exactly like the others in every respect. On his asking which was Chullapanthaka, every one of the three hundred figures replied: "I am Chullapanthaka."

351. Q. _What did the messenger do?_

A. In his confusion he returned and reported to the Buddha.

352. Q. _What did the Buddha then tell him?_

A. To return to the vih[=a]ra and, if the same thing happened, to catch by the arm the _first_ figure who said he was Chullapanthaka and lead him to him. The Buddha knew that the new Arhat would make this display of his acquired power to impress illusionary pictures of himself upon the messenger.

353. Q. _What is this power of illusion called in P[=a]l[=i]?_

A. _Manomaya Iddh[=i]_.

354. Q. _Were the illusionary copies of the Arhat's person material? Were they composed of substance and could they have been felt and handled by the messenger?_

A. No; they were pictures impressed by his thought and trained will-power upon the messenger's mind.

355. Q. _To what would you compare them?_

A. To a man's reflection in a mirror, being exactly like him yet without solidity.

356. Q. _To make such an illusion on the messenger's mind, what was necessary?_

A. That Chullapanthaka should clearly conceive in his own mind his exact appearance, and then impress that, with as many duplicates or repetitions as he chose, upon the sensitive brain of the messenger.

357. Q. _What is this process now called?_

A. Hypnotic suggestion.

358. Q. _Could any third party have also seen these illusionary figures?_

A. That would depend on the will of the Arhat or hypnotiser.

359. Q. _What do you mean?_

A. Supposing that fifty or five hundred persons were there, instead of one, the Arhat could will that the illusion should be seen by all alike; or, if he chose, he could will that the messenger should be the only one to see them.

360. Q. _Is this branch of science well known in our day?_

A. Very well known; it is familiar to all students of mesmerism and hypnotism.

361. Q. _In what does our modern scientific belief support the theory of Karma, as taught in Buddhism?_

A. Modern scientists teach that every generation of men is heir to the consequences of the virtues and the vices of the preceding generation, not in the mass, as such, but in every individual case. Every one of us, according to Buddhism, gets a birth which represents the causes generated by him in an antecedent birth. This is the idea of Karma.

362. Q. _What say the V[=a]settha Sutta about the causation in Nature?_

A. It says: "The world exists by cause; all things exist by cause, all beings are bound by cause."

363. Q. _Does Buddhism teach the unchangeableness of the visible universe; our earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms?_

A. No. It teaches that all are constantly changing, and all must disappear in course of time.

364. Q. _Never to reappear?_

A. Not so: the principle of evolution, guided by Karma, individual and collective, will evolve another universe with its contents, as our universe was evolved out of the [=A]k[=a]sha.

365. Q. _Does Buddhism admit that man has in his nature any latent powers for the production of phenomena commonly called "miracles"?_

A. Yes; but they are natural, not supernatural. They may be developed by a certain system which is laid down in our sacred books, the Visuddhi M[=a]rga for instance.

366. Q. _What is this branch of science called?_

A. The P[=a]l[=i] name is Iddhi-vidhan[=a]n[=a].

367. Q. _How many kinds are there?_

A. Two: _B[=a]hira_, _i.e._, one in which the phenomena-working power may be temporarily obtained by ascetic practices and also by resort to drugs, the recitation of _mantras_ (charms), or other extraneous aids; and _Sasaniks_, that in which the power in question is acquired by interior self-development, and covers all and more than the phenomena of _Laukika Iddh[=i]_.

368. Q. _What class of men enjoy these powers?_

A. They gradually develop in one which pursues a certain course of ascetic practice called _Dhy[=a]na_.

369. Q. Can this Iddhi power be lost?[1]

A. The _B[=a]hira_ can be lost, but the _Sasanika_ never, when once acquired. _Lokottara_ knowledge once obtained is never lost, and it is by this knowledge _only_ that the absolute condition of Nirv[=a]na is known by the Arhat. And this knowledge can be got by following the noble life of the Eightfold Path.

370. Q. _Had Buddha the Lokottara Iddh[=i]?_

A. Yes, in perfection.

371. Q. _And his disciples also had it?_

A. Yes, some but not all equally; the capacity for acquiring these occult powers varies with the individual.

372. Q. _Give examples?_

A. Of all the disciples of the Buddha, Mogall[=a]na was possessed of the most extraordinary powers for making phenomena, while [=A]nanda could develop none during the twenty-five years in which he was the personal and intimate disciple of the Buddha himself. Later he did, as the Buddha had foretold he would.

373. Q. _Does a man acquire these powers suddenly or gradually?_

A. Normally, they gradually develop themselves as the disciple progressively gains control over his lower nature in a series of births.[2]

374. Q. _Does Buddhism pretend that the miracle of raising those who are dead is possible?_

A. No. The Buddha teaches the contrary, in that beautiful story of Kis[=a] Gotami and the mustard-seed. But when a person only seems to be dead but is not actually so, resuscitation is possible.

375. Q. _Give me an idea of these successive stages of the Lokottara development in Iddh[=i]?_

A. There are six degrees attainable by Arhats; what is higher than them is to be reached only by a Buddha.

376. Q. _Describe the six stages or degrees?_

A. We may divide them into two groups, of three each. The first to include (1) Progressive retrospection, _viz._, a gradually acquired power to look backward in time towards the origin of things; (2) Progressive foresight, or power of prophecy; (3) Gradual extinction of desires and attachments to material things.

377. Q. _What would the second group include?_

A. The same faculties, but inimitably developed. Thus, the full Arhat possesses perfect retrospection, perfect foresight, and has absolutely extinguished the last trace of desire and selfish attractions.

378. Q. _What are the four means for obtaining Iddh[=i]?_

A. The will, its exertion, mental development, and discrimination between right and wrong.

379. Q. _Our Scriptures relate hundreds of instances of phenomena produced by Arhats: what did you say was the name of this faculty or power?_

A. _Iddh[=i] vidha_. One possessing this can, by manipulating the forces of Nature, produce any wonderful phenomenon, _i.e._, make any scientific experiment he chooses.

380. Q. _Did the Buddha encourage displays of phenomena?_

A. No; he expressly discouraged them as tending to create confusion in the minds of those who were not acquainted with the principles involved. They also tempt their possessors to show them merely to gratify idle curiosity and their own vanity. Moreover, similar phenomena can be shown by magicians and sorcerers learned in the _Laukika_, or the baser form of _Iddh[=i]_ science. All false pretensions to supernatural attainment by monks are among the unpardonable sins (_Tevijja Sutta_).

381. Q. _You spoke of a "deva" having appeared to the Prince Siddh[=a]rtha under a variety of forms; what do Buddhists believe respecting races of elemental invisible beings having relations with mankind?_

A. They believe that there are such beings who inhabit worlds or spheres of their own. The Buddhist doctrine is that, by interior self-development and conquest over his baser nature, the Arhat becomes superior to even the most formidable of the devas, and may subject and control the lower orders.

382. Q. _How many kinds of devas are there?_

A. Three: _K[=a]m[=a]v[=a]char[=a]_ (those who are still under the domination of the passions); _R[=u]p[=a]v[=a]char[=a]_ (a higher class, which still retain an individual form): _Ar[=a]p[=a]v[=a]char[=a]_ (the highest in degree of purification, who are devoid of material forms).

383. Q. _Should we fear any of them?_

A. He who is pure and compassionate in heart and of a courageous mind need fear nothing: no man, god, _brahmarakkhas_, demon or deva, can injure him, but some have power to torment the impure, as well as those who invite their approach.

[1] Sumangala Sthav[=i]ra explains to me that those transcendent powers are permanently possessed only by one who has subdued all the passions (_Klesa_), in other words, an Arhat. The powers may be developed by a bad man and used for doing evil things, but their activity is but brief, the rebellious passions again dominate the sorcerer, and he becomes at last their victim.

[2] When the powers suddenly show themselves, the inference is that the individual had developed himself in the next anterior birth. We do not believe in eccentric breaks in natural law.