Relics, Buddha Images, Scriptures & Buddhist Tradition
ปาฏิหาริย์พุทธทั่วโลก: ที่มีหลักฐานวิทยาศาสตร์ (5 ปรากฏการณ์)
Summary
The five are: relic crystals in the ashes, the unburnt heart of the Vietnamese monk in 1963, thukdam where doctors confirm death but the body does not decay, sokushinbutsu or self-mummified monks in Japan, and the rainbow body.
The evidence differs case by case — some have photographs and contemporary witnesses, some have been studied by Western researchers.
The question left open is how to hold these, between faith and reason.
Key points
The five do not carry equal evidence
Ranking them by evidential strength matters more than accepting or rejecting the set.
In some cases the body is still there
Sokushinbutsu in Japan is checkable in the most literal sense.
A physical explanation does not dispose of the case
Even with a mechanism, the question remains why it happens to these people.
Faith and reason need not be a choice
The posture offered is to look at the evidence as it stands, without rushing either way.