This is, once again, one of those questions that requires some clarification before an answer can be given. And even then, the answer will come with caveats. First, for Buddhists, the concept of \u2018miracle\u2019 wouldn\u2019t involve the intervention of a Creator God. If we were to use the term for Buddhists, we would make clear that what some Buddhists might consider \u2018miracles\u2019 could also be called \u2018supernormal\u2019, as opposed to \u2018supernatural\u2019. \u00a0This is because Buddhist cosmology does not split the natural realm of humans from a supernatural one; instead six (sometimes five) realms of being are described which include gods, titans, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell denizens.<\/p>\n
While one doesn\u2019t\u00a0normally encounter beings from other realms (except animals, of course) in day to day life, a realized being such as the Buddha indeed could encounter such beings and, according to Pali scriptures, regularly did, leading to one of his titles being, \u201cteacher of gods and men.\u201d<\/p>\n
So the cosmos is a bit more fluid. Spirits, sometimes pleasant, sometimes demonic in nature, could appear at any time. Are these miracles? I\u2019d lean toward saying no. They are supernormal from a Buddhist view, and probably supernatural, or just superstitious from a Westerner\u2019s point of view. As these two (Buddhist vs Western) viewpoints intersected over the past two hundred years or so, the belief in supernormal generally lost out to a more naturalistic worldview. However, that\u2019s not to say that no modern Buddhists\u00a0believe in the supernormal.<\/p>\n
So, that brings us to this week\u2019s \u201cThe Story of God\u201d (airing May 8 on National Geographic).<\/strong> Morgan Freeman begins as he has so often, with a personal story about surviving severe pneumonia in his teens. Was it youthful vigor, some luck, and modern medicine that saved him? Or was it God\/a miracle?<\/p>\n We hear the story of\u00a0Alcides Moreno, a window washer who plunged 47 stories in NY City and survived<\/a> to tell the tale. Usually 10 stories is not survivable. Falling 47 stories and surviving, barely: the only word that could fully describe him for many was \u201cMiracle.\u201d When asked about this, Alcides has difficulty though. This is because his younger brother was with him in the fall, and he died on impact. Pondering the event, Freeman asks if there is some entity that makes the choice \u2013 one brother and not the other \u2013 or \u201cdo we live with randomness just pure mindless randomness?<\/p>\n Freeman\u2019s next visit is to a Jewish family in Jerusalem celebrating Passover<\/a>. There he meets Rabbi Maya Leibovich<\/a>, Israel\u2019s first native-born female rabbi. There, rather than taking the Bible as a literal book of history, Rabbi Leibovich tells us that \u201cthe Bible is a book of ideas. The question is, what can we learn from it? What can we take into our own life?\u201d<\/p>\n Our Buddhist content this week\u00a0begins with a quick segment of footage showing Buddhists in Hong Kong who light incense before a statue of Guanyin, \u201cwho they hope will grant them medical cures, a spouse, or good grades.\u201d<\/p>\n The science segment brings us to Danny Oppenheimer<\/a>, a psychology professor who says many of our so called \u201cmiracles\u201d are just random chance. Freeman suggests that something happening only about 1 in a billion times (or having 1 in a billion odds) is what he\u2019d classify as a miracle. Oppenheimer flips six\u00a0cards from a deck, explaining that THIS set of six only comes up about one in 14 billion times, thus making it even rarer than a 1 in a billion scenario. Is it a miracle, or just another random assortment that we can\u00a0give meaning to<\/em> as special?<\/p>\n Spanning a long history of Roman religion, Freeman takes us from ancient Mithraism to modern Catholicism before consulting a Taoist fate calculator and traveling to Cairo\u2019s\u00a0Qalawun complex<\/a>, a hospital founded in the 1280s.<\/p>\n We are then taken to Tom Renfro a physician and cancer survivor who attributes his recovery to his faith and the prayers of his community. You can see his story on youtube here:<\/p>\n