Buddhist Magic

It is useful first to make a distinction between beseeching a deity for services and someone personally working with supernatural powers. The first one is prayer, the second one is magic.

Since the beginning Buddhism has the path of magic as a way to liberation. These are the four bases of power (i/rddhipada), and the resultant six superknowledges (abhinna/abhijna).

The way to attain the superknowledges through concentration (AN 5.28). The four bases of power are factors to be aware of in meditation as they help one's concentration to be stable (SN 51.20). There is a five-factored concentration - four absorptions and reflection of the body and mind - used first, then a mind-made body created, after which one performs miraculous feats (DN 2, 11, 12).

There is another teaching, specifically about using supernatural or psychic power to manipulate physical objects by using the four elements inherent in them (AN 6.41). Once a junior monk has shown his powers to a layman by conjuring a storm and later setting on fire a pile of grass without burning his robes, saying that even a novice can do these things in the Buddha's community (SN 41.4).

While there are several stories that show the magical abilities of the Buddha and the disciples, when the actual method is described it becomes clear that what is meant is a meditation technique to attain liberation. So the stories should not be considered as reports of real events, but either as a way of expressing events from the perspective of those who experienced it, or it is an educational story with colourful elements. Some modern Zen teachers also mention the point where a practitioner attains magical powers (Seung Sahn: The Compass of Zen p. 294-298. Daehaeng Sunim: No River To Cross, p. 62-63) on the path of practice, as it is the realisation of the freedom of mind. On the other hand, Zen has also been critical of believing that supernormal powers are the real thing to be a buddha. Linji says,

"You say, ‘A buddha has six supernatural powers. This is miraculous!’ All the gods, immortals, asuras, and mighty pretas also have supernatural powers—must they be considered buddhas? Followers of the Way, make no mistake! For instance, when Asura fought against Indra and was routed in battle he led his entire throng, to the number of eighty-four thousand, into the tube in a fiber of a lotus root to hide. Wasn’t he then a sage? Such supernatural powers as these I have just mentioned are all reward powers or dependent powers.
Those are not the six supernatural powers of a buddha, which are entering the world of color yet not being deluded by color; entering the world of sound yet not being deluded by sound; entering the world of odor yet not being deluded by odor; entering the world of taste yet not being deluded by taste; entering the world of touch yet not being deluded by touch; entering the world of dharmas yet not being deluded by dharmas. Therefore, when it is realized that these six—color, sound, odor, taste, touch, and dharmas— are all empty forms, they cannot bind the man of the Way, dependent upon nothing. Constituted though he is of the seepage of the five skandhas, he has the supernatural power of walking upon the earth."
(Record of Linji, XVIII, p. 19-20, tr. Sasaki)

Also, Zhiyan, the second patriarch of the Huayan school, writes in his Ten Mysterious Gates (Entry into the Inconceivable, p. 136) that while the miraculous elements in the Avatamsaka Sutra are believed by the followers of the Great Vehicle to by displays of psychic powers, according to his Unitary Vehicle it is the representation of dependent origination, the interpenetration and interdependence of phenomena.

So it seems that magic in Buddhism is about internal qualities, about taming and mastering the mind, and not shows of illusionists. But when it is misunderstood as worldly power or entertainment, one is reminded not to follow that path and to reconsider his understanding.