Monday, March 21, 2011
Miraculous "Talking" Buddha Statues in KL
Recently there is an interesting news report on miraculous Buddha statues at the Puxian Buddhist Centre in KL, Malaysia being seen "talking and blinking". As we can see in the above video, the report is true, but unfortunately the centre has become a circus as a result of the big hoo ha.
Master Yongjia said in the Song of Enlightenment:
"Who is without thought, who is without birth?
If it is truly the Unborn then there is nothing that is not born;
Summon a wooden robot and ask of it,
'Apply yourself to seeking Buddhahood, when will you achieve it?'"
Buddhas of bronze and wood are not the real Buddha, nor can they attain Buddhahood. They are inanimate objects and only appear to blink and talk as a result of the devotees' cultivation efforts there. Like the moon's reflection in the water, one should not be deceived by the reflection and should directly look at the moon itself. What ordinary people call miracles are merely ripples in a still autumn pool. Has the full autumn moon even moved one bit? Enough! Be quiet. The more you speak, the more confused will they become. Shut your eyes, shut your mouth! Perhaps you will realize how to see without seeing and talk without talking. All of you deserve to be struck with a baseball bat. Pah!
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21 comments:
To me, this is more of a con job by snake oil sales man than power of Dhamma. Actually, I am quite sad that so many people (mostly Buddhists) believe it was Buddha manifesting miracle.
We can buy blinking and lips moving Buddha statue from China.
The video is too shaky. If you put a clear video recorder / stable one in front, it would be more convincing. Other than that, I'll call it an illusion caused by shaky camera videos at a very crowded place.
i think this is the robotic model from JAPAN.Please don't fool by these foolish act and WAYNE this time i'm quite disappointed with u cause u believe this.
The five gates (skandhars) have nothing to do with our Buddha nature. Therefore, if one tries to make himself/herself blind or deaf, still it would not help him/her advance closer to enlightenment.
It is due to our dualistic perception that we perceive animate and inanimate thing. In reality, there is neither. It's just a vast emptiness, brightness...from which all things come. This "thing" is merely called the Buddha.
Therefore, the real miracle is the ability of the buddha mind to awaken itself under its own effort. But this, one cannot show to others. Only he himself experiences it and knows it.
So, look within, hear within, but do not talk within!
This is really absurd. If one has the normal intelligence of a human being, questions will pop up.
Questions such as:
1) Why are the lips and eyes movement so mechanical? Answer is obvious.
2) Why is the statue put behind glass displays? If I ever had a talking Buddha statue, I'll hide it for fear that it'll be stolen, as temples are rather public places. Putting behind glass displays also does prevent prying investigative eyes to a certain degree.
When such a "Buddhist" temple allows such a circus parade, isn't it obvious that the more people who came for such "hoo-ha", the more alms money the temple will collect?
This is con men at work. And stupid people rush for it. So sad, when everyone is this world is getting proper education, it had not increase their intelligence a single bit.
This is not the results of the devotees cultivation efforts,this is the cultivation of their 'GREED',and as BUDDHA said there is no medicine for this and only through cultivation of our own mind only can cure this.
I wear a amulet. Do I believe the amulet has special power that make me rich, powerful and invincible? Nope. I don't.
But the amulet reminds me of the virtues of Buddha. It reminds me of Dhamma. It reminds me of Sangha.
Acid and base are the two opposite ends of the same scale, the pH scale that is used to measure acidity of substance. So, that means being a base is being much less acid, and being acid is much less of a base. It is essentially the same stuff (class, group)!
Like the two ends of the same chp stick.
Similarly, Intelligence and stupidity are the opposite ends of the same scale, IQ scale. Someone with high IQ score is called being intelligent. Low IQ score is called being stupid. But they both, high IQ and low IQ, are essentially the same thing, thinking functionality. The IQ scale is just a way of measuring/characterizing human's thinking capacity. High IQ may indicate the capacity of thinking more or harder; and low IQ may indicate the opposite. However, as far as thinking is concerned, it has nothing to do with enlightenment.
It has nothing to do with the awakening ability of the mind.
One must trike to use thinking functionality in the same way one use a handtool. Take it out when it is needed, and put it away when it is done effortlessly. If one can reach this state, then he/she will know the meaning of "nowhere attached". Otherwise, he/she is still in the speculative thinking mode.
And as one keeps on thinking, then it may take FOREVER for him to attain awakening. Why? Because to think is to be in dualistic mode of mind. And the nature of Nirvana is nondualistic.
Therefore, it is absolutely nothing wrong with believing that the statue can "talk"! This is the same thing when the Fifth patriach HungRen told the crowd of monk that all of them should memorize Shenxiu's stanza to heart, so that they may earn some kungde for their next life. If anything helps reduce egotistical thinking, it is not so bad; it's ok.
In the kalama sutta, the Buddha advised us to investigate to find the truth. Its better not to pass adverse remarks on what we do not know especially when it has something to do with the Buddha. I dare say this because I have seen buddhist miracles that is unbeliebale and hard to explained to those who have not seen. In one of the buddhist sutta, a conversation betweena a turtle and a fishe in the ocean is a good example. In my opinion, if others think they are smarter, let it be - they are the losers.
I believe its a deva manifestation for the devotees to have greater faith(saddha)in the Buddha. Critising what one do not know is not a wise action.
Are miracles real? Are they archaic notions of events that could be explained by science? Or are they allegories for wider concepts? In Buddhism, miracles are all of the above. Three devout students of Buddhism, Glenn Wallis, Judy Lief, and Ari Goldfield, all believe that miracles are real, although today's miraculous events might not be as easily understood as those in religious legends. People living in ancient times may have been more comfortable with the supernatural as a part of reality, while a modern, scientific mindset may not allow for an understanding of miracles.
Read “Do you believe in miracles”:
http://glennwallis.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/BDH_Fall08_Miracles-2.pdf
/prophecy/kuan-yin.shtml
1. Myanmar - The miracle of Kyaik Tiyo - the golden rock
The miracle of Kyaik Tiyo is the golden rock, a huge boulder, maybe 40 or 50 feet in diameter, perched on top of a sheer cliff, at the very top of a tall mountain, in such a way that it has been just about to roll off for maybe the last hundred thousand years.
The story is that some of the Buddha’s hairs are contained inside of the rock and that the rock remains in place be the power of the Buddha. Once upon a time, there were some non-Buddhists tried to push the rock off the cliff in order to undermine people’s faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, but they were turned into monkeys. That’ll show them! In an inspiring, hopefully not foolhardy, display of faith, there is now a nunnery directly below the rock, exactly at the point of first bounce.
http://bhikkhucintita.wordpress.com/home/venerable-cintita/burmese-miracle-stories/
2. Sri Lanka - Buddha statues emit rays of light
Thousands flocked to temples in Sri Lanka in early August 2006 after media reports that “miracle rays” could be seen emanating from statues of the Buddha. As news of the extraordinary phenomenon spread, traffic was held up throughout the capital city of Colombo and its suburbs as large numbers of people visited temples and roadside Buddha statues.
http://www.einterface.net/gamini/buddhist.html
3. Myanmar - A "miracle" of multi-coloured light beams appearing from a Buddhist monastery."
"Burmese religious pilgrims flocked by the thousands at the weekend to Nyaunglaybin township, 160 kilometres north of Rangoon, to witness a "miracle" of multi-coloured light beams appearing from a Buddhist monastery." ( Source: DPA, Germany, March 1997 )
Residents of Nyaunglaybin say the light beams have been occurring since March 9, and has drawn increasingly large crowds to the small town.
At the centre of the phenomenon is a Buddhist monk named Sayadew.
http://www.drbongs.com/index/news-app/story.81/index.php
4. Japan - Image of Maitreya Buddha Emanates Light
According to tradition the next Buddha will be the Bodhisattva Maitreya. In 1987 images of Maitreya began appearing in the home of Mr and Mrs Yajima in Nagano City, Japan. One of the images not only emanates a rainbow-coloured light but even changes its appearance. On 4 July 1987, an image of the Bodhisattva, emanating rainbow-coloured light, was discovered on the bathroom window in the house of Mr and Mrs Yajima in Nagano City, Japan. Mr Yajima first noticed the strange patterns on the window while he was taking a bath.
Rainbow colours emanate from the head and body of the 48-cm-high figure on the glass. The image has a patterned, silver-coloured crown on its head. On its neck, there are two strings of prayer beads. The image is standing on a lotus, and is holding a small round-faced girl.
http://miracles.mcn.org/m-image.html
5. Korea - Miraculous Flowers Sprout On Gold Statue In South Korea - Kuan Yin, The bodhisattva
"Flowers that bloom only once every 3,000 years are budding on the head of a sacred Buddhist statue."
Buddhist priests in South Korea "say the legendary flowers blossoming on the forehead of Kuan Yin the Compassionate" only appear "when the 'Sage King of the Future' (also known as Maitreya, the future Buddha--J.T.) comes into the world," which one Buddhist leader called, "a delight that gives joy beyond description."
http://globalpsychics.com/enlightening-you/prophecy/kuan-yin.shtml
For those who thinks and that the Buddha statues really do speak because of some manifestation of powers by Devas or other external powers, a food for thought. If the Buddha statue in this small house-made temple can blink and speak, then those in Bodhgaya, Thailand, Old China's temple, Sri Lanka tooth relic temple, should be able to talk, walk, run and eat with you guys. What makes this place so special, that even the Buddha statue in Bodhgaya cant do?
If you refer to the suttas, the Buddha said, do not believe in what you see, do not believe in what you were told, so all these needs investigation. According to Buddha's teaching, the Buddha did not advocate the show of supernatural powers and instead encouraged us to develop and cultivate our mind only.
For those who believe, have you done any investigation to confirm this matter? If you did not, then you should not says that you believe in so and criticize the other's opinion. We should always look at the mirror before commenting on other ppl.
It’s naive to think that just because a Buddha statue can blink and speak, then those in other places should be able to do the same.
The Buddha’s Kalama sutta advised people to investigate and not to accept or reject what they have heard or seen, but most readers of this blog has already criticise, mock and condemn an unexpected special occurrence related to Buddhism.
The Buddha himself performs miracles on many occasions but did not encourage the use of miracles to attract followers to his teachings. Nevertheless, the Buddha did not say that any miraculous occurrences related to Buddhism should be mocked or condemned.
Mocking or criticising a special occurrence that happened unexpectedly in a Buddhist temple is akin to hurling an accusation that some people in the Buddhist temple are cheats and liars.
Such action is not in line with the noble eight fold paths such as Right Speech and Right Thought.
What if the special occurrences is true; will one who made accusation without a basis be able to swallow his or words?
“Right speech, harmlessness, Restraint in speaking ill of others, Moderation in food, at peace in remoteness and solitude, Devotion to higher meditation. This is the teaching of the Buddhas.” - Dhammapada 185
Can anyone tell me what is the benefit this buddha statue being able to speak, and blink his eyes?
Can anyone come out with a logic explanation on the reason of this action and what cause will it produce?
To me, it will only produce negative result (in the context of promoting superstitious arguement). It is also naive to think that it is alright and possible for this buddha statue to move, and not the rest, without arosing any reason of doubt.
If the accusation is true, then we should be provided a clear copy of the video and not the one we are seeing. I;ve seen a video where a boddhisatva was blinking and tears are coming out from her eye. But the camera quality, is exactly the same one we can watch from here.
Not trying to be a sceptic, but if we are not able to rightly determine something; then we should not be accepting it, by pure faith and lack of further review. The word condemnation to reflect the non-acceptance of this is too strong, and should be termed as non-believer. Until such incident can be proved to be positive and towards the good side, then the non-believer will be a believer.
It’s not about the benefits but rather an occurrence that may have some significant for the Buddhist faith.
Special occurrence defies all logics and is not something easily explainable and the causes are due to reasons not easily ascertainable.
It will produce negative results in the mind of those who think they are intelligent and think they know everything when they are not sure how I can happen.
The video recording was not planned and was done by a group of TV technicians, but by devotees using hand phone cameras as and when the occurrences took place. As such it’s naive to question the perfection and technical aspects of the recording.
There is no need to believe whether the occurrences is real or fake, but it is important to respect an occurrences related to the Buddha that was reported and highlight for the information of the mass.
If one did not believe about its authenticity, and if one is a follower of the Buddha dhamma, it’s better to give due respect in the name of the Buddha dhamma.
Based on the 4 Brahma Viharas, it’s better to rejoice and be delighted that such occurrence is related to the Buddha.
Hm very interesting....
I agree that we should rejoice on hearing special occurances related to the Buddhist faith. As a follower of the Buddha dhamma, it doesn't cause anything to give moral support. Saying bad things might bring bad kamma to those who think negatively about event that may be meaningful and auspicious. Let's us give support to future occurances related to the Buddha as a first, then, second investigate and third - accept or reject based on the result of investigation. Rejoice is better then animousity.
when strange things occured related to Buddha, its better not to make any comments. The best thing to do is to understand that it is something we don't know - whether real or fake. As a buddhist, we just practise sympathic joy or Mudita based on the teachings of the Buddha. There is nothing to lose in sharing such loving thoughts but much to gain because it is meritorious.
"There are visible and invisible beings or spirits in the same way as there are visible and invisible lights.
Buddhism does not deny the existence of good and evil spirits. There are visible and invisible beings or spirits in the same way as there are visible and invisible lights. We need special instruments to see the invisible light and we need a special sense to see the invisible beings. One cannot deny the existence of such spirits just because one is unable to see them with one's naked eyes. Theses spirits are also subject to birth and death. They are not going to stay permanently in the spirit form. They too exist in the same world where we live."
"What Buddhists Believe."
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera
Well, why don't you witness it for yourself. I would like to. Since, it can be purchase. Please show proof of seller rather than saying it without any grounds. We were all thought to see things with an open mind in Dharma.Please don't jump into conclusion easily.
Wayne, tks for sharing.
Simon Teow
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