Rebuke
on transcendental power
According to the Amitabha Sutra, the 'long brow' Arhat was one of the sixteen top disciples of the Buddha. He was an Arhat of full accomplishment. Once, he exhibited his great transcendental powers and earned the devotees' cheers and admiration. In a bout of excitement, he said:" Do you think rising to the sky incredible? I can easily demonstrate it to you."
So saying, he jumped up and glided in the sky performing all sorts of incredible tricks. The devotees were stunned.
When the Buddha learnt about this, he was very unhappy at his show of superhuman abilities. He summoned the elder and admonished:" The Buddhism I teach is to move and influence people with morality, to save them with compassion, and not to mesmerise them. Now that you have wrongly used your transcendental powers to gain respect from the devotees, you will have to undergo more torment on earth until further merits are accrued. You must repent to redeem this bad deed before you can enter into Nirvana."
[ Although the elder was already a great Arhat, his physical body could not enter ultimate Nirvana. From this story, we know that Buddhism does not advocate emphasis on transcendental powers, but on morality, compassion and wisdom.]
