The Zen Story of Bankei
“Bankei was quietly teaching his followers when his talk was interrupted by a Shinshu priest who believed in miracles and thought that salvation came from repeating sacred words.
Bankei was unable to continue his discourse and asked the priest what he had to say. — ‘The founder of my religion,’ the priest boasted, ‘stood on one bank of a river with a writing brush in his hand. His disciple stood on the other bank with a sheet of paper. And through the air, across the river, the founder wrote the sacred name of Amida onto the paper. Can you perform such a miracle?’
— ‘No,’ said Bankei. ‘I can only perform small miracles. For example: when I am hungry, I eat; when I am thirsty, I drink; when I am offended, I forgive.'”
Very often, spirituality is confused with the display of extrasensory abilities. I used to make this mistake myself. Until I learned from experience that there are many people who possess clairvoyant abilities, who have healing energy flowing through their hands, and other wonder-inducing gifts, yet as human beings, they do not manifest love, wisdom, and humility—the most essential values for those on a spiritual path. Moreover, in some, I saw such great spiritual arrogance that I wanted to be as far away from them as possible.
Now I know that mature forms of spiritual self-awareness have nothing to do with performing miracles.
