Chapter 27: The Miracle at Sravasti｜Buddha’s Display of Supernatural Powers

While teaching in Sravasti, the Buddha faced challenges from rival teachers. To dispel doubt, he performed a great miracle: multiplying his body into countless forms, radiating light across the sky. This event became famous as the Miracle at Sravasti.

Gandharan Representations

In Gandharan reliefs, the miracle is depicted in visually striking ways:

• Multiple Buddha images — a central seated Buddha surrounded by smaller Buddhas, symbolizing limitless emanations.
• Flames and light — carved flame-like patterns around his body represent rays of light bursting forth.
• Floating Buddha — in some reliefs, the Buddha appears elevated on a lotus, emphasizing his transcendence.
• Disciples and challengers — figures such as Ananda and Kasyapa appear below, alongside astonished ascetics and laypeople.

Art Meets Devotion

The Miracle at Sravasti highlights the superhuman qualities of the Buddha. Gandharan sculptors used repetition, symmetry, and naturalistic details to transform a religious narrative into an awe-inspiring visual spectacle.

This theme, blending Greco-Roman realism with Buddhist cosmology, conveyed not only belief but also experience—viewers were meant to feel the overwhelming presence of the Buddha’s power.

Significance

The episode underscores the Buddha’s role not merely as an enlightened sage but as a cosmic teacher. In Gandhara and beyond, the Sravasti miracle became a powerful iconographic motif, later influencing Indian cave paintings and East Asian Buddhist art.