Belief in the Supernatural is Not Dhamma. - Buddha and his dhamma,

:: 1. Belief in the Supernatural is Not Dhamma. ::
1. Whenever any phenomenon occurs, humanity is always wanting to know how it has happened, what is the cause of it. 
2. Sometimes cause and the effect are so proximate and so close that it is not difficult to account for the occurrence of the event. 
3. But often-times the effect is so far away from the cause for the effect is not accountable. Apparently there appears to be no cause for it.
 4. Then the question arises: How has this event occurred?
 5. The commonest answer is that the occurrence of the event is due to some supernatural cause which is often called a miracle. 
6. The Buddha's predecessors gave very different answers to this question. 
7. Pakauda Katyana denied that there was a cause for every event. Events, he said, occurred independently. 
8. Makhali Ghosal admitted that an event must have a cause. But he preached that the cause is not to be found in human agency but is to be sought in nature, necessity, inherent laws of things, predestination or the like.
9. The Buddha repelled these doctrines. He maintained that not only every event has a cause but the cause is the result of some human action or natural law. 
10. His contention against the doctrine of Time, Nature, Necessity, etc., being the cause of the occurrence of an event, was this. 
11. If Time, Nature, Necessity, etc., be the sole cause of the occurrence of an event, then who are we ? 
12. Is man merely a puppet in the hands of Time, Nature, Chance, Gods, Fate, Necessity ? 
13. What is the use of man's existence if he is not free ? What is the se of man's intelligence if he continues to believe in supernatural causes ? 
14. If man is free, then every event must be the result of man's action or of an act of Nature. There cannot be any event which is supernatural in its origin. 
15. It may be that man is not able to discover the real cause of the occurrence of an event. But if he has intelligence he is bound one day to discover it. 
16. In repudiating supernaturalism the Buddha had three objects. 
17. His first object was to lead man to the path of rationalism. 18. His second object was to free man to go in search of truth. 
19. His third object was to remove the most potent source of superstition, the result of which is to kill the spirit of inquiry. 
20. This is called the law of Kamma or Causation. 
21. This doctrine of Kamma and Causation is the most central doctrine in Buddhism. It preaches Rationalism and Buddhism is nothing if not rationalism. 
22. That is why worship of the supernatural is Not—Dhamma.