Namely, the dreamlike nature of samsara "legalizes" the so-called "miracles" in Buddhism, for the content of a (karmic) dream has no rigid rules. "Miracles" are homogeneous to the essence of dreams.
Therefore, I also do not see any problems with the fact that Mount Sumeru was the content of the collective karmic dream at the time of Buddha , and today the content of the collective karmic dream is the so-called "scientific progress" and the "mythology" of Mount Sumeru., for dreaming is total, and its content is plastic and determined exclusively by the accumulated karma of living beings.
Pan-dreamlike nature
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Cause_and_Effect
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Re: Pan-dreamlike nature
Mount Sumeru is Indian medieval mythology, it's not part of the Buddha's original teachings.
This is shown by the fact that the myth exists in both Hindu and Jain teachings.
Recall that the Pali Cannon was written half a millenia after the Buddha's passing.
And there is a clear heirrachy of the recording of the Nikayas, the first 3 Nikayas being more authoritative; that is the Digha, Majjhimma and Samyutta Nikaya.
By the time we get to the Anguttarra Nikaya things have to be considered more carefully for authenticity.
There is no such teaching about mount Meru in the earlier agamas and many scholars have considered mount meru not an authentic teaching.
It served a purpose for people at the time to visualize their world in line with Indian mythology.
The Buddha's teaching on the 31 planes of becoming is his real teaching on cosmology, as well as his teaching of seeing aeons of cosmic expansion and contraction when recalling his past lives. This is aligned with some modern theories about cyclic universe.
Mount Sumeru does not appear in any of these early teachings and is a later addition from the medieval period by the canon compilers, placed deliberately in the 4th Nikaya compilation to be clear it is not a central or original teaching of the Buddha.
This is shown by the fact that the myth exists in both Hindu and Jain teachings.
Recall that the Pali Cannon was written half a millenia after the Buddha's passing.
And there is a clear heirrachy of the recording of the Nikayas, the first 3 Nikayas being more authoritative; that is the Digha, Majjhimma and Samyutta Nikaya.
By the time we get to the Anguttarra Nikaya things have to be considered more carefully for authenticity.
There is no such teaching about mount Meru in the earlier agamas and many scholars have considered mount meru not an authentic teaching.
It served a purpose for people at the time to visualize their world in line with Indian mythology.
The Buddha's teaching on the 31 planes of becoming is his real teaching on cosmology, as well as his teaching of seeing aeons of cosmic expansion and contraction when recalling his past lives. This is aligned with some modern theories about cyclic universe.
Mount Sumeru does not appear in any of these early teachings and is a later addition from the medieval period by the canon compilers, placed deliberately in the 4th Nikaya compilation to be clear it is not a central or original teaching of the Buddha.