From a 'Dhamma Wheel' message board discussion: My reply to the question 'Where is iddhi?'.
URL to that discussion: https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=34673
Re: Where is iddhi?
Post by samsarictravelling » Wed Jun 26, 2019 10:38 pm
Antaradhana wrote: ↑I give three sources for examples of supernatural happenings:Wed Jun 26, 2019 4:36 pmFrom the Canon, as well as from non-Buddhist (Hindu) sources, numerous evidences of iddhi can be seen. Numerous ascetics who followed various teachings demonstrated iddhi earlier. Has anyone seen iddhi in our time? Maybe humanity was crushed in mental strength, degraded in this area?
1) I remember it has one example of (alleged) reading of mind, as well as other supernatural stuff:
Venerable Acariya Mun Bhuridatta Thera – Spiritual Biography, by Ajahn Maha Boowa Nyanasampanno
https://www.amaravati.org/dhamma-books/ ... biography/
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2) Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo's autobiography:
The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee, by Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo (Phra Suddhidhammaransi Gambhiramedhacariya), translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Translator’s Foreword
...
Some readers will be taken aback by the amount of space Ajaan Lee gives to signs,
portents, and other supranatural events. Things of this sort tend to be downplayed in the
laundered versions of Theravada Buddhism usually presented in the West—in which the
Buddha often comes off as a Bertrand Russell or Fritz Perls in robes—and admittedly they
are not the essence of what the Buddha had to teach. Still, they are an area that many people
encounter when they explore the mind and where they often go astray for lack of reliable
guidance. Ajaan Lee had a great deal of experience in this area and many useful lessons to
teach. He shows by example which sorts of experiences to treat simply as curiosities, which
to take seriously, and how to test the experiences that seem to have important messages.
...
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
(Geoffrey DeGraff)
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An example from the autobiography of a supernatural happening on page 42:
After a moment or so there was a rustling sound up in the top of the tree. I looked up
and saw that a nest of large red ants had broken open. This was because there was a vine
wrapped around the nest. I had sat down on the base of the vine, and so now red ants were
spilling out onto my mat, swarming all over me, biting in earnest.
I sat right up. They were all over my legs. I made up my mind to spread thoughts of good
will, dedicating the merit to all living beings and making a vow: ‘Since becoming ordained,
I’ve never even thought of killing or harming a living being. If in a previous lifetime I’ve ever
eaten or harmed any of you all, then go ahead and bite me until you’ve had your fill. But if
I’ve never harmed you, then let’s call an end to this. Don’t bite me at all.’
Having made my vow, I sat in meditation. My mind was still—absolutely silent. The
rustling sound of the ants disappeared. Not a one of them bit me. I really felt amazed at the
Dhamma. Opening my eyes, I found them swarming in huge numbers in a line around the
edge of the mat.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/index.html
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3)The Hindu yogi Paramhansa Yogananda's autobiography has many instances of supernatural happenings:
Autobiography of a Yogi
http://www.yoganandafortheworld.com/ori ... of-a-yogi/
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Please excuse me if I do not reply to any reply.
samsarictravelling
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