Dragons are called Naga’s in Sanskrit language. If we read the Buddhist scriptures, we will read about Dragons. And if we read the biographies of great monks – we will hear about their encounters with dragons. In Theravadan Buddhism,...

Dragons are called Naga’s in Sanskrit language. If we read the Buddhist scriptures, we will read about Dragons. And if we read the biographies of great monks – we will hear about their encounters with dragons.

In Theravadan Buddhism, there are Paritta chants to the Nagas for protection.

In Mahayana Buddhism, for example in Chapter 12 of The Lotus Sutra, it talks about Long Nu (in Chinese this translates as Dragon girl or Dragon maiden), who was the daughter of the Dragon King Sagara, who was praised by the wisest of the Bodhisattvas – Manjushri, who was trying to teach the Buddha’s wisest disciple, Shariputra, who didn’t believe that women could become Buddhas. So she said, “Oh, you don’t think I can become a Buddha? I’ll become a Buddha in front of your eyes right now to show you how it’s done!”

“There is the daughter of the n?ga king S?gara who is only eight years old. She is wise; her faculties are sharp; and she also well knows all the faculties and deeds of sentient beings. She has attained the power of recollection.[note 1] She preserves all the profound secret treasures of the Buddhas, enters deep in meditation, and is well capable of discerning all dharmas. She instantly produced the thought of enlightenment (Skt. bodhicitta) and has attained the stage of nonretrogression. She has unhindered eloquence and thinks of sentient beings with as much compassion as if they were her own children. Her virtues are perfect. Her thoughts and explanations are subtle and extensive, merciful, and compassionate. She has a harmonious mind and has attained enlightenment.”

Chapter 12 Saddharma Pundarika Sutra

So the Dragon maiden offers a pearl to the Buddha, who accepts it. And she instantly transforms into a perfected male Bodhisattva who has attained complete enlightenment!

So we can see that even an 8 year old girl can achieve instant Buddhahood BUT she is no ordinary being. For the rest of us, we are not so special as this Dragon maiden – so it’s nowhere near as easy for us!

And Nagarjuna (Dragon Tree), who lived around 400 years after the Buddha, was supposed to have memorized the Avatamsaka Sutra (the King of Kings of Sutras) from the Dragon’s Palace under the sea, as it was given to the Dragon King to protect.

Now when we read these stories, we think that they are abstract fairytales.

So do dragons really exist?

Here’s one real life dragon video:

Gwan Yin Bodhisattva is often depicted as riding on a Dragon. So this video is supposedly taken above Gwan Yin’s Temple.

Now some of you may think:

It’s lights being shone and projected upwards from down below! – But then, you should see beams of light rays going upwards. These lights look like they’re weaving in and out of the clouds. Plus it’s hard to make lights move like that. It’s planes! – If it were planes, they could easily crash into one another like that. It’s a bunch of drones! – If that were so, you’d hear the buzzing noise of multiple drones It’s UFO’s! But since when did UFO’s move like a serpent? It’s CGI! – The movement is too natural to be CGI – you can’t fake the natural movement like that

Notice:

It moves like a serpent – in an undulating motion – like a sine wave, slithering in and out, weaving it’s wave in and out of the clouds It moves back and forth in an infinity shape At 1:16 you can see it’s tail The lights seem to correspond to where the vertetebrae are joined They are not individual lights but you can also see a faint line of light connecting the brighter dots of light – the body of the dragon The people recording on the ground are commenting that it’s a dragon and are telling everyone around to come and have a look

Here’s another cool real life dragon video:

So in contrast to dragons of western folklore which breathe fire – in reality, dragons control the rain.

Here’s Master Hsuan Hua’s personal encounter with dragons:

Today I will tell you about something I personally experienced.It is the story of some dragons who took refuge with me. When I was in Dung Bei (Manchuria), I had a disciple called Gwo Shun. After following me for less than one year, he became quite advanced in his skill. He could enter samadhi and was able to know all about cause and effect and the principles governing the past, present, and future. Later, he built a small hut twenty feet by twenty feet and requested me to bless it.

Adjacent to his hut was a dragon temple. When I went to visit him, I brought along four more of my disciples to stay together with him in his small hut for a while. One night a certain state manifested. Two of the four disciples, who had opened their Five Eyes, were able to see it. They said they could see ten dragons who had come seeking to take refuge. I said, “How can I possibly give them refuge when my talents aren’t even up to theirs?” But the two disciples insisted that the dragons were kneeling down and requesting refuge.

At that particular time there had been no rain for quite a long time and the land was suffering from drought. The area of Harbin, where we were, has a very arid climate. So I made a bargain with the dragons that I would accept them as refuge disciples only if they would bring rain to the local area; otherwise, I wouldn’t. They replied that they were capable of making rain, but they first had to get permission from the Jade Emperor (Lord God). I told them to inform God that in that area of Harbin there was a monk who would give them refuge only if they brought rain to a fourteen-mile radius around the hut.

The next day, although the weather had been quite dry for a long time, it rained in a fourteen mile radius around Gwo Shun’s hut, just as I had specified. The following day I performed the Triple Refuge ceremony for those dragons and named the two leaders “Quickly Crossing Over,” and “Quickly Cultivating.” By that I meant that they were to cross over all the dragon kings and their retinues, which they are still doing. Gwo Shun named his hut “Dragon-rain Hut” to commemorate the occasion.

From that day on, wherever I went, there was always enough water for every need. That has been a response from those dragons. And today at the Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, the dragon kings came here to cool off the weather for us with a little bit of rain.

http://www.gbm-online.com/online/dharma/rain.html

Ajahn Mun also encountered a dragon when he was staying in a cave and doing walking meditation, you can read his encounter on page 252 here.

And the 6th Patriarch Hui Neng of Chan Buddhism had a spiritual battle with a dragon at Nanhua Monastery in China:

One of the most colorful episodes in Huineng lore concerns his confrontation with a dragon that lived in a pond in front of Baolin temple. The dragon was particularly large and fierce, emerging regularly from the watery depths to create havoc and instill fear in the populace. Fearlessly, the Master taunted the beast for its weakness at only being unable to appear in a large as opposed to smaller form. At once the dragon disappeared only to re-emerge in small form and so show the monk his powers. Unimpressed, the Master challenged the monster to show its courage by entering his bowl. When it did so, the Master quickly scooped the dragon up, took him into the Buddha Hall, and preached dharma to it until it shed its body and departed.

Source: https://iep.utm.edu/huineng/

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