Suttas that are wrong

Discussion
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Hi, what do you think about Suttas that are about metaphysical topics that are clearly wrong?
Could they all be later inventions?
For example the power to touch the sun and moon.
All the best

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My hypothesis is that the supranormal powers are done using the astral body, not the physical body.

You’ll note that the pericope of the supranormal powers comes just after the pericope of the mind-made body.

Both the description of the mind-made body (e.g. ‘This is the sword, this is the scabbard. The sword is one thing, the scabbard another, but the sword has been drawn out from the scabbard.’) and of the supernatural powers (going through walls and solid objects, flying, space travel etc) are very common in the astral projection (OBEs) literature and communities.

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The Buddha spoke in metaphors quite a bit, a phenomenon that has been analyzed in the scholarly literature in the field of Buddhist Studies.

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@Metaphor: Would you mind linking to some of your favorite literature on the topic? Thanks!

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Here are a few:

https://www.amazon.com/Yog-ara-Buddhist-Theory-Metaphor/dp/0190664398/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=buddhism+metaphors&qid=1576112463&s=books&sr=1-7
https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Vision-Metaphor-Visionary-Routledge/dp/0700714898/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=buddhism+metaphors&qid=1576112463&s=books&sr=1-4
https://www.amazon.com/Metaphor-Literalism-Buddhism-Doctrinal-History-ebook/dp/B000PTYMW8/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=buddhism+metaphors&qid=1576112463&s=books&sr=1-3

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10926480701528287

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/462706?journalCode=hr

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There was a discussion about the flat earth and the seven suns already and you will find Buddhist apologists for literally anything. We cannot attribute everything to metaphors though. Take for example SN 51.22:

Ananda: “But do you have personal experience of going to the Brahmā realm by psychic power with this body made up of the four primary elements?”
Buddha: “I do, Ānanda.”

The Brahma realm is located beyond the moon and the sun. So the Buddha flew into the sky, passing moon and sun, and reaching brahmaloka with the physical body. Or he beamed himself up


Or if you look at the cyclical universe in some late suttas it’s actually less of a big bang scenario as we are used to think now (e.g. DN 24). Rather the world dissolves (loko saáčƒvaáč­áč­ati) and restarts (loko vivaáč­áč­ati). It doesn’t ‘contract’ and ‘expand’ as B.Sujato translates. B.Bodhi is much closer with his ‘dissolution’ and ‘evolution’.

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Either one flew or more advanced just vanishing here and appearing in brahmaloka .

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