12 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 



highly efficacious.* In a similar manner among Northern 

 Buddhists the six-syllabled sentence : " Om rnani padme 

 hum "" Reverence to the jewel in the lotus. Amen" is 

 used as a charm against the sixfold course of transmigration. 

 The Jewel may mean Avalokitesvara, the patron saint of 

 Tibet, fabled to have sprung from a lotus, or it may contain a 

 double-entendre an occult allusion to the Sankhya Purusha 

 and Prakriti, or to the Linga and Yoni of Saivism, as 

 symbolising the generative force of Nature. No other prayer- 

 formula in the world is repeated so often. 



Other mystical syllables (such as sam, yam, ram, lam) are 

 supposed to contain some occult virtue. 



The third requisite posture would appear to us a some- 

 what trivial aid to the union of the human spirit with the 

 divine ; but with Hindus it is an important auxiliary, fraught 

 with great benefit to the Yogi. 



The alleged reason is that certain sitting postures (asana) 

 and cramping of the lower limbs are peculiarly efficacious 

 in producing bodily quietude and preventing restlessness. 

 Some of the postures have curious names, for example : 

 Padmasana, "the lotus posture"; virasana, "the heroic 

 posture " ; sinhasana, " the lion posture " ; kurmasaiia, 

 "the tortoise posture"; kukkutasana, "the cock posture"; 

 dhanur-asana, ' ' bow posture " ; mayurasana, " peacock pos- 

 ture." In the first the right foot is placed on the left thigh, 

 and the left on the right thigh. 



In short, the idea is that compression of the lower 

 limbs, in such a way as to prevent the possibility of the 

 slightest movement, is most important as a preparation for 

 complete abstraction of soul. 



Then, as another aid, particular twistings (called mudra) of 

 the upper limbs of the arms, hands, and fingers are enjoined. 



In Europe violent movements of the limbs are practised 

 by devotees with the view of uniting the human spirit with 

 the Divine. Those who have seen the whirling and " howl- 

 ing " dervishes of Cairo can testify to this. The fainting fits 

 which result from their violent exertions, inspirations, expi- 

 rations, and utterances of the name of God are believed to 

 be ecstatic states in which such union is effected. 



The fourth requisite regulation and suppression of the 

 breath is perhaps the one of all the eight which it is most 

 difficult for Europeans to understand or appreciate ; yet with 

 Hindus it is all-important (being called Hatha-vidya). Nor 

 are the ideas connected with it wholly unknown in Europe. 



* See iny Brahmanism and Hiiuliiitm (John Murray), p. 105. 



