of purity is required for the next step: reaching liber-
ating insight.
As happens frequently in the Buddhist canon, a
number of sermons present mindfulness itself or, more
precisely, the applications of mindfulness as the way
to liberation. Some of these sermons have smrtyupas-
thanaor satipatthanain their title, and distinguish four
applications of mindfulness: (1) on the body; (2) on
feelings; (3) on the mind; (4) on the dharmas. The Pali
Satipatthana-sutta of theMajjhima Nikayamakes the
highest promises to those who practice mindfulness:
“If anyone should develop these four applications of
mindfulness in such a way for seven days, one of two
fruits could be expected for him: either final knowl-
edge here and now, or if there is a trace of clinging left,
non-return.”
Mindfulness also figures in the noble eightfold path,
at the seventh place, just before meditative concentra-
tion (samadhi). This position agrees with the account
found in the standard description of the path to liber-
ation, where mindfulness is a precondition for and an
accompaniment of the four stages of dhyana.
No doubt as a result of subsequent attempts to or-
ganize the received teachings of the Buddha, mindful-
ness came to be incorporated in various lists. It is, for
example, the first of the seven “members of enlight-
enment” (bodhyan ̇ga). However, the list of seven mem-
bers of enlightenment is itself an item in a longer list
that altogether contains thirty-seven so-called aids to
enlightenment (bodhipaksyadharma). The artificial na-
ture of this enumeration can be seen from the fact that
this long list also, and separately, contains the four ap-
plications of mindfulness, plus mindfulness as in-
cluded in the five faculties (indriya), in the five forces
(bala), and in the noble eightfold path. That is to say,
mindfulness by itself accounts for eight of the thirty-
seven aids to enlightenment.
See also:Dhyana (Trance State); Meditation
Bibliography
Bronkhorst, Johannes. “Dharma and Abhidharma.” Bulletin of
the School of Oriental and African Studies48 (1985): 305–320.
Gyatso, Janet, ed. In the Mirror of Memory: Reflections on Mind-
fulness and Remembrance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.
JOHANNESBRONKHORSTMIRACLESThe English word miracle(from the Latin miraculum,
meaning “object of wonder”) has traditionally been
used in a Christian context to refer to an extraordinary
event that cannot have been brought about by human
power alone or by the ordinary workings of nature and
hence must be ascribed to the intervention of God. For
most Christian theologians, only God can perform
miracles; the function of saints, in heaven close to God,
is to act as intermediaries on behalf of a supplicant to
request a miracle from God. Hence, according to a
strict Christian interpretation of the word, there are no
miracles in the Buddhist tradition. A looser definition
of the term, however, harking back to its original
meaning as “object of wonder,” allows miracles to be
understood as extraordinary events that, because they
cannot be explained by ordinary human powers or the
everyday functioning of nature, evoke a sense of won-
der. This looser definition proves useful to describe a
wide variety of phenomena, including omens and
other extraordinary changes in the natural world, acts
of the Buddha and his disciples, and supernormal pow-
ers acquired through MEDITATION—all common
throughout Buddhist literature.Miracles in the life of the Buddha
Paradigmatic miracles occur in accounts of the life of
the Buddha, well-known wherever Buddhism is prac-
ticed. Although there is much diversity in detail, ac-
counts of the Buddha’s birth generally describe it as a
marvelous event, different in almost every way from
an ordinary birth. The Buddha was conceived in a
dream in which his mother saw a white elephant en-
ter her womb, an event accompanied by earthquakes
and other auspicious omens. Unlike other women in
ancient India who gave birth sitting down, the Bud-
dha’s mother gave birth standing up, the infant emerg-
ing not from the womb, but from his mother’s right
side, causing her no pain. At birth the infant was
bathed by streams of water that fell from the sky, af-
ter which he immediately took seven steps and de-
clared in a loud voice, “I am the chief in the world.”
Later, as the child matures, marvelous events ac-
company him throughout his life as he receives the as-
sistance of gods who through various devices help him
to pursue his fated life as a seeker of truth. At the mo-
ment when S ́akyamuni is enlightened and becomes a
buddha, the earth shakes, the heavens resound with the
sound of drums, and flowers fall from the sky. As aMIRACLES