Buddhism and the supernatural

Dear Haoqi

Do Buddhists believe in the supernatural world, i.e. ghosts and spirits?

Meijun

I believe so coz ghost or spirit is one of the six realms in the rebirth cycle. It does exist. Even if a person is dead, the soul will go thru' the "intermediate or interval period" where the soul will experience "in between period" between death and rebirth. It is a stage where it varies from 7 to 49 days, when the karma-body will certainly be reborn. Hmm... in my view, as long as a soul leaves his/her body, it will not have this "body" obstruction and hence, will naturally have 5 types of supernatural power. This is not something unnatural, by right human should have Buddha nature and because of our 5 defilements, we are being obstructed. Once these are remove, we will develop supernatural power.

Hmm... hope Haoqi will further enlighten us.

Regards
Jessie Tan

Dear Meijun & Jessie

Yes, Buddhists believe in the existence of other sentient beings such as ghosts. There are 6 realms of existence or 6 path of rebirth in saṃsāra, and they are the realms of

1. Gods (deva);
2. Demi-gods (asura);
3. Humans (manuṣa);
4. Animals (tiryak);
5. Hungry Ghost (preta); and
6. Hell denizens (naraka)

Ah Gong said, in fact, Hungry Ghost Festival held on the 7th month of the Lunar calendar has its origins in Buddhism, so Buddhists do believe in their existence.

As to the issue on soul, hmm...I shall get Ah Gong to answer you, but he is very busy lately (so busy that I have to entertain myself), so it may take some time before he answers…as far as I know, I heard him mentioned about anātman (no-self or no-soul), and this existence of self is denied in Buddhism…hmm…I must really get Ah Gong to tell me more once he has the time.

Cheers,
Haoqi