Reply To: Gandhabba and Bhava dasaka

#34755
Lal
Keymaster

Yes. The account of that man in the Tipitaka is astonishing.

However, there are several such accounts in the Tipitaka. One Arahant instantly transformed some things into gold.
– Another could form a flame on his fingertip to see in the dark. There are several interesting deeds that bhikkhu did according to that sutta. He could make accommodations for many visiting bhikkhus, who showed up unexpectedly just to test his abhinna powers.
– The story of Ven. Cūḷapanthaka is famous. He once made 1000 copies of himself and got them to clean up the temple grounds.
I have discussed some of these. See, for example, “Buddhahood Associated Controversies

Once one attains abhinna powers, manipulating “material objects” becomes quite easy, it seems. Maybe we should not spend too much time on such topics and focus on learning Dhamma concepts. But I wanted to illustrate that such seemingly miraculous deeds are perfectly consistent with science.