Chapter XV: Mythology in Hinduism and Buddhism (4)

[Footnote 680: For the later Yoga see further Book V. I have recently received A. Avalon, _The Serpent Power_, from which it appears that the danger of the process lies in the fact that as Kundalinî ascends, the lower parts of the body which she leaves become cold. The preliminary note on Yoga in Grieraon and Barnett's Lallâ-Vâkyâni (_Asiat. Soc.'s Monographs_, vol. XVII. 1920) contains much valuable information, but both works arrived too late for me to make use of them.]

[Footnote 681: Maj. Nik. 36 and 85, but not in 26.]

[Footnote 682: Dig. Nik. 2. For the methods of Buddhist meditation, the reader may consult the "Manual of a Mystic," edited (1896) and translated (1916) by the _Pali Text Society_. But he will not find it easy reading.]

[Footnote 683: See Ang. Nik. 1. 20 for a long list of the various kinds of meditation. A conspectus of the system of meditation is given in Seidenstücker, _Pali-Buddhismus_, pp. 344-356.]

[Footnote 684: Dig. Nik. XXII. _ad. in._]

[Footnote 685: Dig. Nik. I. 21-26.]

[Footnote 686: See, for instance, Dig. Nik. II. 75. Sometimes five Jhânas are enumerated. This means that reasoning and investigation are eliminated successively and not simultaneously, so that an additional stage is created.]

[Footnote 687: See _Dhamma-Sangani_; Mrs Rhys Davids' translation, pp. 45-6 and notes. Also _Journal of Pali Text Society_, 1885, p. 32, for meaning of the difficult word Ekodibhâva.]

[Footnote 688: _E.g._ Maj. Nik. 77; Ang. Nik. 1. XX. 63.]

[Footnote 689: Hardy, _Eastern Monachism_, pp. 252 ff.]

[Footnote 690: But also without shape, colour or outward appearance, so this statement must not be taken too literally.]

[Footnote 691: Such procedure has not received much countenance in Christian mysticism but the contemplation of a burnished pewter dish and of running water induced ecstasy in Jacob Boehme and Ignatius Loyola respectively. See Underhill, _Mysticism_, p. 69.]

[Footnote 692: Maj. Nik. 62 end.]

[Footnote 693: The analysis means to analyze all things as consisting alike of the four elements. The one perception is the perception that all nourishment is impure.]

[Footnote 694: See Dig. Nik. 13 and Rhys Davids' introduction to it. In spite of their name, they seem to be purely Buddhist and have not been found in Brahmanic literature. The four states are characterized respectively by love, sympathy with sorrow, sympathy with joy, and equanimity.]

[Footnote 695: Dig. Nik. XIII. 76.]

[Footnote 696: Dig. Nik. XVII. 2-4.]

[Footnote 697: Christian mystics also, such as St Angela and St Theresa, had "formless visions." See Underhill, _Myst._ pp. 338 ff.]

[Footnote 698: Attha vimokkhâ. See Mahâparinib. sut. in Rhys Davids' _Dialogues of the Buddha,_ II. 119.]

[Footnote 699: Akiñcaññâyatanam.]

[Footnote 700: Nevasaññânâsaññâyatanam.]

[Footnote 701: Saññavedâyita nirodhasamâpatti. The Buddha when dying (Dig. XVI. V. 8, 9) passes through this state, but does not go from it to Parinibbâna. This perhaps means that it was regarded as a purification of the mind, but not on the direct road to the final goal.]

[Footnote 702: See Maj. Nik. 43. But the point of the discussion seems to be not so much special commendation of this form of trance as an explanation of its origin, namely that it, like other mental states, is bound to ensue when certain preliminary conditions both moral and intellectual have been realized. See also Sam. Nik. XXXVI. ii. 5. See for examples of this cataleptic form of Samâdhi Max Müller's _Life of Ramakrishna_, pp. 49,59, etc. Christian mystics (_e.g._ St Catharine of Siena and St Theresa) were also subject to deathlike trances lasting for hours and St Theresa is said once to have been in this condition for some days.]

[Footnote 703: Maj. Nik. 86.]

[Footnote 704: This is known to European mystics, particularly Suso. St Francis of Assisi, St Catharine of Siena and Richard Rolle are also cited. See Underhill. _Mysticism_, p. 332.]

[Footnote 705: Christian visions of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise are another instance of the divine eye, which thinks it can see the whole scheme of things.]

[Footnote 706: Tales about such powers, are still very common in the East, for instance the Chinese story (in the _Liao Chai_) of the man who learnt from a Taoist how to walk through a wall but failed ignominiously when he tried to give an exhibition to his family. Educated Chinese seem to think there is something in the story and say that he failed because his motives were bad.]

[Footnote 707: Bernheim, _La Suggestion_, chap. I. Quand j'ai éloigné de son esprit la préoccupation que fait naître l'idée de magnétisme ... je lui dis "Regardez-moi bien et ne songez qu'à dormir. Vous allez sentir une lourdeur dans les paupières, une fatigue dans vos yeux: ils clignotent, ils vont se mouiller; la vue devient confuse: ils se ferment." Quelques sujets ferment les yeux et dorment immédiatement.... _C'est le sommeil par la suggestion, c'est l'image du sommeil_ que je suggère, que j'insinue dans le cerveau. Les passes, la fixation des yeux ou des doigts de l'opérateur, propres seulement à concentrer l'attention, ne sont pas absolument necéssaires.]

[Footnote 708: Thus in the drama Ratnâvalî a magician makes the characters see an imaginary conflagration of the palace and also a vision of heaven. His performance seems to be accepted as merely a remarkable piece of conjuring.]

[Footnote 709: Ang. Nik. xvi. 1. In spite of his magic power he could not prevent himself being murdered. The Milinda-Pañha explains this as the result of Karma, which is stronger than magic and everything else.]

[Footnote 710: _E.g._ Maj. Nik. 77. ]

[Footnote 711: Cullavag. v. 8.]

[Footnote 712: Dig. Nik. xi.]

[Footnote 713: Visuddhi Magga, xii. in Warren, _Buddhism in Translation_, pp. 315 ff.]

[Footnote 714: R.V. II. 12. 5.]

[Footnote 715: Yet Tennyson can say "And at their feet the crocus brake like fire," but in a mythological poem.]

[Footnote 716: Mahâv. V. i.]

[Footnote 717: E.g. Dig. Nik. XI. and Cullavag. V. 8.]

[Footnote 718: Even in the Upanishads the gods are not given a very high position. They are powerless against Brahman (e.g. Kena Up. 14-28) and are not naturally in possession of true knowledge, though they may acquire it (e.g. Chând. Up. VIII. 7).]

[Footnote 719: Dig. Nik. XI.]

[Footnote 720: Dig. Nik. I. chap. 2, 1-6. The radiant gods are the Abhassara, cf. Dhammap 200.]

[Footnote 721: Watters, II. p. 160.]

[Footnote 722: The legends of both Râma and Krishna occur in the _Book of Jâtakas_ in a somewhat altered form, nos. 641 and 454.]

[Footnote 723: Thus Helios the Sun passes into St Elias.]

[Footnote 724: He is often called Brahmâ Sahampati, a title of doubtful meaning and not found in Brahmanic writings. The Pitakas often speak of Brahmâs and worlds of Brahmâ in the plural, as if there were a whole class of Brahmâs. See especially the Suttas collected in book I, chap. vi. of the Samyutta-Nikâya where we even hear of Pacceka Brahmâs, apparently corresponding in some way to Pacceka Buddhas.]

[Footnote 725: Maj. Nik. 49. The meaning of the title Baka is not clear and may be ironical. Another ironical name is manopadosikâ (debauched in mind) invented as the title of a class of gods in Dig. Nik. I. and XX. The idea that sages can instruct the gods is anterior to Buddhism, See e.g. Brihad-Âr. Up. II. 5. 17, and ib. IV. 3. 33, and the parallel passage in the Tait. Chând. Kaush. Upanishads and Sat. Brâhmana for the idea that a Srotriya is equal to the highest deities.]

[Footnote 726: Six Manvantaras of the present Kalpa have elapsed and we are in the seventh.]

[Footnote 727: We are in the Kali or worst age of the present mahâyuga. The Kali lasts 432,000 years and began 3102 B.C.

In their number and in many other points of cosmography the various accounts differ greatly. The account given above is taken from the Vishnu Purâna, book II. but the details in it are not entirely consistent.]

[Footnote 728: The detailed formulation of this cosmography was naturally gradual but its chief features are known to the Nikâyas. Dig. Nik. XIV. 17 and 30 seem to imply the theory of spheres. For Heavens, see Maj. Nik. 49, Dig. Nik. XI. 68-79 and for Hells Sut. Nip. III. 10, Maj. Nik. 129. See too De la Vallée Poussin's article, _Cosmology Buddhist_, in _E.R.E._]

[Footnote 729: See for the Asuras Sam. Nik. I. xi. 1.]

[Footnote 730: See a Tibetan representation in Waddell's _Buddhism of Tibet_, p. 79.]

[Footnote 731: The question of whether the universe is infinite in space or not is according to the Pitakas one of those problems which cannot be answered.]

[Footnote 732: Dig. Nik. XXVII.]

[Footnote 733: Mâro pâpimâ. See especially Windisch, _Mâra and Buddha_, 1895, and Sam. Nik. I. iv.]

[Footnote 734: We sometimes hear of Mâras in the plural. Like Brahmâ he is sometimes a personality, sometimes the type of a class of gods. We also hear that he has obtained his present exalted though not virtuous post by his liberality in former births. Thus, like Sakka and other Buddhist Devas, Mâra is really an office held by successive occupants. He is said to be worshipped by some Tibetan sects. It is possible that the legends about Mâra and his daughters and about Krishna and the Gopîs may have a common origin for Mâra is called Kanha (the Prakrit equivalent of Krishna) in Sutta-Nipâta, 439.]

[Footnote 735: Ang. Nik. III. 35.]

[Footnote 736: This seems to be the correct doctrine, though it is hard to understand how the popular idea of continual torture is compatible with the performance of good deeds. The Kathâ-vatthu, XIII. 2, states that a man in purgatory can do good. See too Ang. Nik. 1. 19.]

[Footnote 737: But even the language of the Pitakas is not always quite correct on this point, for it represents evil-doers as falling down straight into hell.]

[Footnote 738: Khud. Path. 7. In this poem, the word Peta (Sk. Preta) seems to be used as equivalent to departed spirits, not necessarily implying that they are undergoing punishment. In the _Questions of Milinda_ (IV. 8. 29) the practice of making offerings on behalf of the dead is countenanced, and it is explained exactly what classes of dead profit by them. On the other hand the Kathâ-vatthu states that the dead do not benefit by gifts given in this world, but two sects, the Râjagirika and Siddhattika, are said by the commentary to hold the contrary view.]

[Footnote 739: See Max Müller's _Ramakrishna_, p. 40, for another instance.]

[Footnote 740: In a passage of the Mahâparinib. Sut. (III. 22) which is probably not very early the Buddha says that when he mixes with gods or men he takes the shape of his auditors, so that they do not know him.]

[Footnote 741: Sam. Nik. II. 3. 10. Sadevakassa lokassa aggo.]

[Footnote 742: E.g. in the Lotus Sutra.]

[Footnote 743: One hundred and eight marks on the sole of each foot are also enumerated in later writings.]

[Footnote 744: Artaxerxes Longimanus. Cf. the Russian princely name Dolgorouki. The Chinese also attribute forty-nine physical signs of perfection to Confucius, including long arms. See Doré, _Recherches sur les Superstitions en Chine_, vol. XIII. pp. 2-6.]

[Footnote 745: Though Brahmans are represented as experts in these marks, it seems likely that the idea of the Mahâpurusha was popular chiefly among the Kshatriyas, for in one form, at any rate, it teaches that a child of the warrior caste born with certain marks will become either a universal monarch or a great teacher of the truth. This notion must have been most distasteful to the priestly caste.]

[Footnote 746: See Dig. Nik. 3. The Lakkhana Suttanta (Dig. Nik. 30) contains a discussion of the marks.]

[Footnote 747: See Dik. Nig. 14, Mahâpadânasutta: Therag. 490; Sam. Nik. XII. 4-10.]

[Footnote 748: Maj. Nik. 50, Mâratajjaniyasuttam.]

[Footnote 749: Dig. Nik. 14.]

[Footnote 750: Maj. Nik. 123. See also Dig. Nik. 14.]

[Footnote 751: More literally that he knows exactly how his feelings, etc., arise, continue and pass away and is not swayed by wandering thoughts and desires.]

[Footnote 752: Three extra Buddhas are sometimes mentioned but are usually ignored because they did not, like the others, come into contact with Gotama in his previous births.]

[Footnote 753: E.g. Ang. Nik. III. 15 and the Mahâ-Sudassana Sutta (Dig. Nik. X.) in which the Buddha says he has been buried at Kusinâra no less than six times.]

[Footnote 754: Dig. Nik. XVI. v. 15.]

[Footnote 755: The two kinds of Buddhas are defined in the Puggala-Pannatti, IX. 1. For details about Pratyeka-Buddhas see De La Vallée Poussin's article in _E.R.E._]

[Footnote 756: Thus in Dig. Nik. XVI. 5. 12 they are declared worthy of a Dâgaba or funeral monument and Sam. Nik. III. 2. 10 declares the efficacy of alms given to them.]