Steve Katona:
Regarding my last post on needing a slap up side the head: I have not responded to anyone individually but have read all the replies several times and put the comments/suggestions/observations into the mix. The point is not that I want or don't want to have validation for my rejection of all things supernatural. The point is that I cannot take seriously (perhaps reject would be closer to candid) any practice that starts or depends on a belief and appeal to some thing no more real or provable than Jesus, Mary, and Joseph or the virgin birth or the bodily ascension out of the atmosphere of a human being.
One thing I would point out is that its possible you're misunderstanding the role, in Vajrayana (for the sake of argument let's call it Tibetan Vajrayana since that's all I'm familiar with, and it's generally considered a pretty authentic reproduction of the older Indian Vajrayana) of what you call "the supernatural". Allow me to shed some light on a few trends. Hopefully you may find these allow you to more easily accept the legitimacy of such traditions:
First and foremost, a distinction must be made between lay practice and the practice of "seekers". For clarity, those of us at DhO fall into the latter - people actively seeking enlightenment, actively meditating, etc. Among the layity in Tibet, it is true, religious practice generally consists of not much more than turning "prayer wheels" while reciting the Manipadme mantra, the occasional fasting ritual or visualization ritual, and pilgrimages to holy sites. The main role of the layity in Tibetan Buddhism is to support the monastic community through charity (Tibetan monks don't beg). Besides this, their day-to-day religious practices, its true, basically focuses on the cult of Avalokitesvara, or Padmasambhava (who was actually a real historical figure, but obviously has accrued much apocryphal legend since his life in the 8th century). The people who engage in such practices, however, aren't really seeking enlightenment in any real way - their just trying to generate merit and practice a lifestyle that accords with the Dharma. The monks are supported financially because they are seen as doing the "hard work" or preserving traditions and practices that bring great spiritual benefit to all of Tibet. Among the layity, Buddhist beleifs exist side-by-side with cults of local protective divinities, who often are believed to reside in particular mountains, streams, valleys, or even specific bushes.
However, we're mostly concerned with the use of the supernatural in the practice of the "seekers" - those who have renounced wordly life and embarked on the path of the Bodhisattva, bound to seek enlightenment for the sake of all beings. It sounds like you may think that these people are trying to find Enlightenment simply by "asking for it" through devotional practices directed towards supernatural beings, who are supposed to then "bestow it" through magical forces, but this is not the case. The practitioner or the Vajrayana devotes himself not to any supernatural agent, but to his teacher. The reason is that the teacher, who has a deep understanding of enlightenment and of the Dharma, knows how to find the subtle psychological issues inside the practitioner's mind that is blocking his path to Enlightenment. The esoteric practices, then, are tailored to each individual, in order to free him from whatever might be hindering his practice, psychologically; naturally, this can't be done by the practitioner to himself, but it must come from someone much more learned and insightful (the teacher) who is able to see just what the practitioner needs and then give it to him. Lobsang P Lhalungpa says of the Vajrayana:
The fulfillment of a seeker's higher aspirations is not so much dependent on accumulating knowledge as on overcoming mental obstacles and gaining insight into the truth in oneself. For this, the guidance of an experienced teacher is a practical necessity. The role of a teacher in an esoteric path of self-tramsformation through meditation and action, such as Vajrayana, is even more important, because it is only after the initiatory empowerment and elucidating instructions and guidance have been given that the disciple can settle himself in the work ... In general, the Vajrayana training which Milarepa underwent seeks to respond to the varied psychological factors in different individuals and lead aspirants toward higher consciousness. It is thus a process of self-transformation.
Here is Carl Jung on the supernatural in Tibetan Buddhism:
Not only the "wrathful" but also the "peaceful" deities are conceived as sangsaric projections of the human psyche, an idea that seems all too obvious to the enlightened European, because it reminds him of his own banal simplifications. But though the European can easily explain away these deities as projections, he would be quite incapable of positing them at the same time as real. The Bardo Thodol can do that, because, in certain of its most essential metaphysical premises, it has the enlightened as well as the unenlightened European at a disadvantage. The ever-present, unspoken assumption of the Bardo Thodol is the anti-nominal character of all metaphysical assertions, and also the idea of the qualitative difference of the various levels of consciousness and of the metaphysical realities conditioned by them. The background of this unusual book is not the niggardly European "either-or," but a magnificently affirmative "both-and." This statement may appear objectionable to the Western philosopher, for the West loves clarity and unambiguity; consequently, one philosopher clings to the position, "God is," while another clings equally fervently to the negation, "God is not."
Furthermore, the Tibetan masters who ask for large sums of money for their teaching can also be seen as fitting into this method of preparing the would-be practitioner psychologically for his journey: if a man is not yet willing to part with large amounts of his worldly possesions for the sake of the Dharma, then he does not yet posses the dedication and single-minded will that is necessary to find True Enlightenment (also remember that in the Mahayana, generally, Nirvana and Enlightenment are different - the first is the cessation of suffering, but the latter is the further understanding of the universe to the point where one can use this knowledge to benefit innumerable beings throughout the universe).
If you're intrested in the role of the supernatural within spiritual traditions of self-transformation, I recommend you immerse yourself in the collected works of Jung, who wrote much on the use of symbolism and psychology in religion.