༺ Pali Canon Anthology ༻

Magic

“SN 42.13 Pātaliya Sutta: To Pātaliya”

A headman, Pātaliya, asks if the Buddha knows magic. He replies that yes he does. Pātaliya says “then the Buddha is a magician”. The Buddha then explains through a series of questions that because you know something it doesn’t mean that you are a practitioner of that thing. He tells him how he understands the hindrances, wrong views and how to practice correctly.