A. Modern scientists teach that every generation of men is heir to the consequences of the virtues and the vices of the preceding generation, not in the mass, as such, but in every individual case. Every one of us, according to Buddhism, gets a birth which represents the causes generated by him in an antecedent birth. This is the idea of Karma. 362. Q. _What say the Vāsettha Sutta about the causation in Nature?_ A. It says: "The world exists by cause; all things exist by cause, all beings are bound by cause." 363. Q. _Does Buddhism teach the unchangeableness of the visible universe; our earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms?_ A. No. It teaches that all are constantly changing, and all must disappear in course of time. 364. Q. _Never to reappear?_ A. Not so: the principle of evolution, guided by Karma, individual and collective, will evolve another universe with its contents, as our universe was evolved out of the Ākāsha. 365. Q. _Does Buddhism admit that man has in his nature any latent powers for the production of phenomena commonly called "miracles"?_ A. Yes; but they are natural, not supernatural. They may be developed by a certain system which is laid down in our sacred books, the Visuddhi Mārga for instance. 366. Q. _What is this branch of science called?_ A. The Pālī name is Iddhi-vidhanānā. 367. Q. _How many kinds are there?_ A. Two: _Bāhira_, _i.e._, one in which the phenomena-working power may be temporarily obtained by ascetic practices and also by resort to drugs, the recitation of _mantras_ (charms), or other extraneous aids; and _Sasaniks_, that in which the power in question is acquired by interior self-development, and covers all and more than the phenomena of _Laukika Iddhī_. 368. Q. _What class of men enjoy these powers?_ A. They gradually develop in one which pursues a certain course of ascetic practice called _Dhyāna_. 369. Q. Can this Iddhi power be lost?[1] A. The _Bāhira_ can be lost, but the _Sasanika_ never, when once acquired. _Lokottara_ knowledge once obtained is never lost, and it is by this knowledge _only_ that the absolute condition of Nirvāna is known by the Arhat. And this knowledge can be got by following the noble life of the Eightfold Path. 370. Q. _Had Buddha the Lokottara Iddhī?_ A. Yes, in perfection. 371. Q. _And his disciples also had it?_ A. Yes, some but not all equally; the capacity for acquiring these occult powers varies with the individual. 372. Q. _Give examples?_ A. Of all the disciples of the Buddha, Mogallāna was possessed of the most extraordinary powers for making phenomena, while Ānanda could develop none during the twenty-five years in which he was the personal and intimate disciple of the Buddha himself. Later he did, as the Buddha had foretold he would. 373. Q. _Does a man acquire these powers suddenly or gradually?_