What did the Buddha teach about magic and fortune telling?
He considered such practices as fortune telling, wearing magic charms for protection, fixing lucky sites for building and fixing lucky days to be useless superstitions and he expressly forbid his disciples to practice such things. He called all these things ‘low arts’. He says; ‘Whereas some religious men, while living of food provided by the faithful, make their living by such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood as palmistry, divining by signs, interpreting dreams… bringing good or bad luck… picking the lucky site for a building, the monk Gotama refrains from such low arts, such wrong means of livelihood.’ D.I,9-12 [Back to Top] QUESTION: Then why do people sometimes practice such things and believe in them? ANSWER: Because of greed, fear and ignorance. As soon as people understand the Buddha’s teachings they realize that a pure heart can protect them much better than bits of paper, scraps of metal and a few chanted words and they no longer rely on such things. In the teachings o
