Excavations at Jetavana, now Saheth
Finally Venerable Faxian and a fellow monk reached Jetavana monastery… but it had since become a deserted grove, with no one in the area. As they strolled deeper inwards, they met an old monk, who gave them illustrative details about how the Buddha once lived there. He even took them to tour the three hell holes – one of which a malicious girl who accused the Buddha of indecency entered. (See the story which inspired Dhammapada verse 176 at http://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=176). Next, they came to the Vihara Stupa of Debate, which was 60 feet in height, with its other side being an external path’s building.
Old Monk: We call that external path’s temple directly facing the Jetavana monastery ‘Shadow’. Their intention of building it was so to compete with the Buddha. As Jetavana monastery was built in the West, its shadow will naturally fall on the East. When the sun sets, Jetavana monastery will overshadow the external path’s temple. However, strangely, when the sun rises from the East, the shadow of the external path’s temple will move to the North, away from Jetavana monastery, never casting a shadow on Jetavana monastery.
Venerable Faxian: Oh, even the shadow knows how to tell the good from the evil!
Incredible, isn’t it? There are in fact many fantastic and miraculous stories of the Buddha. How do we tell which is for real and which is not? If one cannot generate enough faith to believe everything learnt, I say pick the lessons that one can learn from first. For example, in the story of Dhammapada verse 176, it is beyond imagination or physics that the Earth could open just the right size to swallow up a person while others around remain safe. But the lesson of is NOT about whether the Earth can swallow a person or not, but the verse itself –
“One who transgresses the Truth, and is given to lying, and who is unconcerned with the life hereafter, there is no evil that he dare not do.”
How do you verify with logic and science when the Buddha-to-be used the power of truth to make an alms bowl flow upstream? What about the Twin Miracles performed by him to pacify some arrogant folks? And what about his teleportation of the whole Sangha to the opposite bank of a river? We simply can’t. As much as Buddhism comprises of teachings of sound rationale, there are supernormal parts that are simply beyond our grasp. Of course, we can choose to ignore parts that don’t gel with our logic, but then, just how sound is our logic? Unless we are equally enlightened like the Buddha, we simply can’t say such miracles don’t exist at all.
A cosmologist remarked so: “Only about 5 percent of the universe is made of known matter; 25 percent is dark matter; 70 percent is made of dark energy, a repulsive force that operates over very long intergalactic distances. We don’t know anything about dark matter or dark energy. In other words, we don’t know what 95 percent of the universe is made of.” With our limited knowledge, technology and such, how are we able to just dismiss and discharge what we think is impossible? For instance, if one thinks the Earth is the only planet that has sentient beings in this entire universe, think again. Even many scientists are open to the possibility of alien life. What we don’t know we don’t know yet!
Last but not least, what do we learn from the Jetavana monastery’s Debating Vihara Stupa? Shadow is part of nature, and nature per se is truth. Truth will always prevail!
Above story is an excerpt from : 佛家高僧漫画全集 36 ：难行能行 － 法显法师
The historical record can also be found in 佛国记-法显法师著