SIR MON1ER MONIER- WILLIAMS, li 



say, ( Who may this be who thus speaks ? a man or a god ? ' 

 Then, having instructed, incited, quickened and gladdened 

 them with religious discourse, I would vanish away. But they 

 knew me not even when I vanished away ; and would say, 

 ' Who may this be who has thus vanished away ? a man, or 

 a god ?' " (Mahd-parinibbdna-sutta, iii. 22.) 



Such passages in the early literature afford an interesting 

 exemplification of the growth of supernatural and mystical 

 ideas, and account for the ultimate association of the Northern 

 Buddhistic system, with Saivism, demonology, magic, and 

 various spiritual phenomena connected with what has been 

 called "Esoteric Buddhism." 



These ideas, however, originated in India, and we may 

 now proceed to trace their development in the later Yoga or 

 "aphorisms of the Yoga philosophy," composed by Patanjali, 

 to which I have already referred. 



In that work eight requisites of Yoga are enumerated 

 (ii. 29) ; namely, 1, abstaining from five evil acts (yama) ; 2, 

 performing five positive duties (niyama) ; 3, settling the 

 limbs in certain postures (asana) ; 4, regulating and sup- 

 pressing the breath (pranayama) ; 5, withdrawing the senses 

 from their objects (pratyahara) ; 6, fixing the thinking faculty 

 (dharana) ; 7, internal self-contemplation (dhyana) ; 8, trance- 

 like self-concentration (samadhi). 



These eight are indispensable requisites for the gaining of 

 Patanjalr's summum bonum the complete abstraction or 

 isolation (kaivalya) of the soul in its own essence and for 

 the acquirement of supernatural faculties. 



Taking now these eight requisites of Yoga in order, we may 

 observe, with regard to the first, that the five evil acts to be 

 avoided correspond to the five commandments in Buddhism, 

 viz., "kill not," "steal not," "commit no impurity," 

 "lie not." The fifth alone, "abstain from all worldly enjoy- 

 ments," is different, the Buddhist fifth prohibition being 

 "drink no strong drink." 



With regard to the second requisite, the five positive 

 duties are self-purification, both external and internal (both 

 called sauca) ; the practice of contentment (santosha) ; bodily 

 mortification (tapas) muttering of prayers, or repetition 

 of mystical syllables (svadhyaya, or japa), and contemplation 

 of the Supreme Being. 



The various processes of bodily mortification and austerities 

 have been already described. 



As to the muttering of prayers, the repetition of mystic 

 syllables such as Oru (a symbol for the Triad of Gods), or 

 of" any favourite deity's name, is held among Hindus to be 



