There is no one anywhere who has control over the world. Many people feel that one or more gods are in charge, but none of them are. Many others feel that humans are, or should be, in charge, but we aren’t either, and never will be. This world is created by natural...
I like to close the topic of gods and miracles in Buddhism with the story of Sāriputta’s final days.[1] Sāriputta was the Buddha’s top disciple. He passed into final nirvana a few months before the Buddha. One day, during the final year of the Buddha’s...
(Context: In Buddhism, the gods are merely our friends.) The religion Brahmanism predates the Buddha. The Buddha was born into a culture in which a certain group of priests, the Brahmans, believed in and worshiped Brahmā as the Creator God, and they were in the...
The early Buddhist relationship with the gods is very much unlike that in any religious tradition. Typically, a religion is built around the worship of one or more gods, and they almost always take the central and highest place in that religion. In early...
(Context: Why Buddhist monastics are not allowed to perform miracles in public.) The story of Devadatta illustrates how developing psychic powers in your meditation does not necessarily do anything to help you to attain enlightenment. Buddhism is primarily...
