must be collected together, and examined one by one, when it will be perceived. It is exceedingly small, and scarcely to be discerned, as it is not connected with either pleasure or pain. When the mind is thus cleansed by upékshá it becomes exceedingly pure. There is also that which is called tatramadyastópékshá; it is like the moon; wédanápékshá is like the night; witarka and wichára are like the sun. When the sun shines, the beams of the moon do not appear, but they appear at night. In like manner, when witarka and wichára are in existence there can be no tatramadyastópékshá; but when they are done away with, it becomes apparent. According to the system of the brahmans the fifth dhyána is to be entered; but according to Budhism it is to be avoided (as it leads only to attainments that are of inferior excellence, and sets aside the present reception of nirwána.) There was a priest called Káladéwala who entered the fifth dhyana, and he was afterwards born in one of the arúpa-brahma-lókas. After the accomplishment of the dhyanas, the Budhists seek to enter the paths. There are some bridges that are formed of a single tree; and there are others so broad and strong, that a number of loaded waggons placed abreast can pass over at one time. In like manner, there is a difference in the attainments of the sráwakas, and it is ruled by the manner in which they exercise the dhyánas. The state of mind that is produced by the exercise of the dhyánas is called parikarmma; and according to its character will be the power of the divine eyes that will be received, as they will be more or less clear, strong, extensive in the circle of their vision, and permanent in their existence. Unless there be the forming of the parikarmma, the power of the divine eyes will be lost; in which case there must again be the exercise of the dhyánas, as at first. They who practice the dhyánas have the power to visit the brahmalókas, and it is only by them that the power is received. When the prince Sidhártta was under the tree at the festival of the plough, free from wastu-káma and klésha-kama, as well as from rága, dwésa, and móha, but still under the influence of witarka and wichára, and having also the príti and sepa that arise from wiwéka, he exercised the first dhyána. Then, having overcome witarka and wichára, and arrived at tranquillity of mind, and having the priti and sepa that arise from samádhi, he exercised the second dhyána. Then overcoming all regard for príti, he received upékshá, smirti, and sampajána; and with these endowments of the rahats he exercised the third dhyana. Last of all, having become free from sepa, dukha, and sowrmanasya, but retaining upėkshá, smirti, and párisudhi, he exercised the fourth dhyána.* At the time that the déwa Sekra paid his first visit to Budha, the sage was performing dhyána, so that the déwa was not permitted to see him. On his second visit he reminded Budha of the circumstance, who said that, though he was not seen, he heard the sound of the déwa's chariot wheels. Now when a person is performing dhyána, he could not hear though a conch were to be blown close to him. How then, it may be asked, could Budha hear the sound of Sekra's chariot? The answer is this, that before commencing the exercise, he had appointed to return to consciousness at the moment the chariot was passing. The supernatural effects that are here represented as being produced through the influence of abstract meditation, are said, in other instances, to arise from the possession of príti, or joy. There is one kind of príti that is called udwéga. The priest Maha Tissa resided at the wihára of Panágal. It was his custom to worship at the dágoba belonging to this temple, and on a certain festival he looked towards the place where the principal relics were deposited, thinking thus within himself: " In former periods many priests and religious persons assembled here that they might worship;" and as he was in the act of making this reflection, he received the power of udwéga-príti, by which he was enabled to rise into the air, and pass at once to the sacred place. Near the Girikanda wihára there was a village called Wattakála, in which resided a respectable woman who was an upásikáwa devotee. One evening, when her parents were about to go to the wihára to hear bana, they said to her, "On account of your present situation it will not be proper for you to accompany us to the wihára; we will go alone, and hear bana, and whatever benefit we receive we will impart to you." Though exceedingly desirous to hear bana, as she could not disobey her parents she remained at home. As the wihára could be distinguished from the court-yard of the house, she looked towards it, and seeing the lights of the festival, and the people in the act of worship, whilst at the same time she could hear the voices of the priests, she thought within herself, "They who can thus be present at the festival are blessed." By this reflection udwéga-príti was formed in her mind, and in an instant she began to ascend into * This paragraph is taken from Turnour's Mahawanso, and the one following it from the Pújáwaluja. The rest of the information contained in the prepreceding parts of this chapter is taken from the Wisudhi Margga Sanné and Milinda Prasna. the sky, so that she arrived at the wihára before her parents, who, when they entered and saw her, asked how she had come, and she replied, that "she had come through the sky." And when they further asked how she had thus exercised the power of a rahat, she said, “I only know that I did not remain any longer in the same place after I felt the joy; I know nothing more.”* There is another miraculous energy, called Sacha Kiriya, which can be exercised either by the laic or the priest; but it is the most efficient when accompanied by bháwaná. A recitation is made of acts of merit done either in this or some former birth, and by the power of this merit, when the recitation is truthfully made, the effect intended to be produced takes place, however wonderful its character may be. The word sacha signifies true; and kiriyang, an action; but in this particular instance sacha appears to be regarded as equivalent to merit. The exercise is nearly allied to the mantra of the Hindus, in the power of which the Budhists believe; but although the word mantra is frequently met with in their writings, I do not remember an instance in which it is used in reference to the sacha kiriya. Its potency may be learnt from the following legends. There was an upásaka devotee in Ceylon, whose mother was sick. As the flesh of a hare boiled was prescribed for her, the son went to a field and caught one in a trap; but when the animal cried out, he thought within himself, "Why should one life be saved by the destruction of another?" and set it free. When he went home, and told the family what he had done, his brother derided him; but he went to his mother and said, “I have never knowingly taken the life of any creature whatever, from my childhood until now; by the power of this sacha kiriya may you be healed." In an instant her sickness was removed. There was a priest, Maha Mitta, whose mother was afflicted with a boil. Of this she sent her daughter to inform her son, that he might recommend some remedy. The priest replied, “I do not understand the virtue of roots, but I possess a power that is greater: I have never, since I entered the priesthood, broken the precepts; by this sacha kiriya may my mother be healed." At that moment the boil dried up and fell off.† In the fourth year of the reign of Asóka, as this king was one day conversing with his nobles, he said, "If I had lived in the same age as Budha, I would have offered to him the whole of Jambudwípa; had I been king of the déwas, I would have offered to him the whole of the heavens; but I was born at an after period, and mine eyes have not beheld him; is there any one now in existence who has seen the divine sage?" The nobles replied, "It is now 221 years since the dissolution of Gótama; it is not possible, therefore, that there can be any human being now alive who has seen him; but in the Manjarika world there is the nága Maha Kála, who has been in existence from the beginning of the kalpa, and seen four supreme Budhas; and he possesses the power of making a form appear, exactly like that of the lord of the three worlds." The king, on hearing this, caused a golden fetter to be made; and when he received it he said, " By virtue of this sacha kiriya, my firm faith in the three gems, may this golden fetter proceed to the residence of the naga Maha Kála, and bring to my presence the nága king.” So saying, he threw the fetter to the ground, that it might fulfil his command. In an instant the fetter proceeded to the nága world, through a cleft that was formed in the earth, and fell at the feet of Maha Kála. The nága looked to see what was the cause of its appearance; and when he perceived the faith and power of the king, he hastened to the world of men, attended by 10,000 other nágas; and the king made an offering to him of flowers and lights. When this was concluded, Asóka said, "I am wishful to see the form of Budha; now cause a representation of the sage to appear." But the nága replied, "I am yet under the influence of evil desire; Budha was free from all impurity. I am under the power of error; he was allwise. I am inferior; he was supreme. I am finite; he was infinite. There are equals to me; to him there is no equal. then, can I cause an adequate representation of him to appear? But at the persuasion of those present he caused an image of Kakusanda Budha to appear, forty cubits high, surrounded by 40,000 rahats, to whom the king offered worship and gifts, saying, that the wish of his heart was now accomplished. There then appeared an image of Kónágama Budha, thirty cubits high, surrounded by 30,000 rahats; and afterwards an image of Kásyapa Budha, twenty cubits high, accompanied by 20,000 rahats. When the image of Gótama Budha appeared, eighteen cubits high, seated near the bó-tree, as when he had conquered Mára, the king and his 16,000 queens How, looked on in wonder, and made an offering to him of the whole of his dominions.* When Gótama Bódhisat was born in a former age, as Sáma, son of the hermit Dukhula, he rendered every assistance to his parents, who had become blind when he was sixteen years of age. It happened that, as he one day went for water to the river, the king of Benares, Piliyaka, entered the forest to hunt, and as Sáma after ascending from the river was, as usual, surrounded by deer, the king let fly an arrow, which struck Sáma just as he was placing the vessel to his shoulder. Feeling that he was wounded, he turned his face towards the spot where his parents dwelt, and said, "I have no enemy in this forest; I bear no enmity to any one;" though, at the same time, he vomited blood from his mouth. Thus he reflected, "I have omitted the exercise of maitrí-bháwaná, and some one has sent against me an arrow; for what reason it can be I cannot tell, as my flesh is of no use, neither my skin; I must therefore make enquiry." After saying this to himself, he called out, "Who is it that has shot me?" and when he learnt that it was the king, he related his history to the monarch, and said that his greatest grief arose from the thought that his blind parents would now have no one to support them, and would perish. But when the king perceived the intensity of his grief, he promised that he would resign his kingdom, and himself become the slave of his parents, rendering unto them all needful assistance in the stead of their son. Soon afterwards Sáma fell down senseless from the loss of blood; but a déwi, who in the seventh birth previous to the present was his mother, having perceived that if she went to the spot important consequences would ensue from her interposition, left the déwa-loka, and remaining in the air near the king, without being visible, entreated him to go to the pansal and minister to the wants of the blind parents of Sáma. The king was obedient, and and went to the place, where he informed the hermit and his wife that their son was slain. On hearing of his death they uttered loud lamentations, and requested to be taken to the place where he had fallen. They were therefore brought to it, when the mother, or placing her hand upon his breast, perceived that it was warm; at which she rejoiced greatly, as she knew by this token that he was not dead. She therefore resolved upon repeating a sacha-kiriya for his restoration, and said, "If this Sáma has in any previous period * Sadharmmálankáré. |