He Who Attempts to Perform Miracles Has Not Understood the Doctrine

"An ordained disciple must not boast of any superhuman perfection. The disciple who with evil intent and from covetousness boasts of a superhuman perfection, be it celestial visions or miracles, is no longer a disciple of the Sakyamuni*.

"I forbid you, O bhikkhus**, to employ any spells or supplications, for they are useless, since the law of karma governs all things. He who attempts to perform miracles has not understood the doctrine of the Tathagata***."

---The Gospel of Buddha (1894), by Paul Carus---


*Sakya was Siddhartha's clan. Muni means sage. Sakyamuni is "Sage of the Sakyas," the Buddha.

**Monks.

**Tathagata can mean either "one who has thus gone" (tathā-gata) or "one who has thus come" (tathā-āgata); the Buddha.