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Full Idea
When the young Brahmin threw her two lotuses, they stood suspended in the air. This was one of the miracles by which the Buddhas impress people, to make them listen to the truth.
Gist of Idea
The Buddha made flowers float in the air, to impress people, and make them listen
Source
Mahavastu (The Great Event [c.200], I.231-9)
Book Ref
'Buddhist Scriptures', ed/tr. Conze,Edward [Penguin 1959], p.23
A Reaction
Presumably this is the reason that Jesus did miracles. It is hard to spot the truth among the myriad of lies, if there is no supporting miracle to give authority to the speaker.
| 20716 | False prophets will perform wonders to deceive even the elect [Mark] |
| 5974 | People report seeing through rocks, or over the horizon, or impossibly small works [Plutarch] |
| 7902 | The Buddha made flowers float in the air, to impress people, and make them listen [Mahavastu] |
| 4827 | Priests reject as heretics anyone who tries to understand miracles in a natural way [Spinoza] |
| 4868 | Trying to prove God's existence through miracles is proving the obscure by the more obscure [Spinoza] |
| 12571 | If miracles aim at producing belief, it is plausible that their events are very unusual [Locke] |
| 5030 | Miracles are extraordinary operations by God, but are nevertheless part of his design [Leibniz] |
| 12909 | Everything, even miracles, belongs to order [Leibniz] |
| 12784 | Allow no more miracles than are necessary [Leibniz] |
| 2227 | A miracle violates laws which have been established by continuous unchanging experience, so should be ignored [Hume] |
| 2228 | All experience must be against a supposed miracle, or it wouldn't be called 'a miracle' [Hume] |
| 2229 | To establish a miracle the falseness of the evidence must be a greater miracle than the claimed miraculous event [Hume] |
| 7636 | It can't be more rational to believe in natural laws than miracles if the laws are not rational [Ishaq on Hume] |