SIR MONIEE MONIER- WILLIAMS. 15 



the acquisition of certain supernatural powers, of which the 

 following are most commonly enumerated : (1) Animan, <( the 

 faculty of reducing the body to the size of an atom " ; (2) 

 Mahiman, or Gariman, lc increasing the size or weight at will "; 

 (3) Laghiman, " making the body light at will " ; (4) Prapti, 

 " reaching or touching any object or spot, however apparently 

 distant"; (5) Prakamya, "unlimited exercise of will " ; (6) 

 Isitva, " gaining absolute power over one's self and others " ; 

 (7) Vasita, " bringing the elements into subjection"; (8) 

 Kamavasayita, " the power of suppressing all desires." 



A Yogi who has acquired these powers can rise aloft to the 

 skies, fly through space, pierce the mysteries of planets and 

 stars, cause storms and earthquakes, understand the language 

 of animals, ascertain what occurs in any part of the world, 

 or of the universe, recollect the events of his own previous 

 lives, prolong his present life, see into the past and future, 

 discern the thoughts of others, assume any form he likes, 

 disappear, reappear, and even enter into another man's body 

 and make it his own. 



Such were some of the extravagant ideas which grew with 

 the growth of the Yoga system, and all these exist in the 

 later developments of Buddhism. The Buddha himself is 

 fabled by his followers to have ascended to the Trayas-trinsa 

 heaven of Indra, walked on water, stepped from one mountain 

 to another, and left impressions of his feet on the solid reck ; 

 although in the well-known Dhamma-pada it is twice de- 

 clared (254, 255), " There is no path through the air." 



Of course it was only natural that, with the development of 

 Buddhism and its association with Saivism, the Buddha him- 

 self should have become a centre for the growth and accumula- 

 tion of supernatural and mystical ideas. It is in this way 

 that the later doctrine makes every Buddha have a threefold 

 existence or possess three bodies, much in the same way as 

 in Hinduism three bodies are assigned to every being. 



The first of the Buddha's bodies is the Dharma-kaya 

 "body of the Law," supposed to be a kind of ethereal 

 essence of a highly sublimated nature and co-extensive with 

 space. This essence was believed to be eternal, and after 

 the Buddha's death, was represented by the Law or Doctrine 

 (Dharma) he taught. Its Brahmanical analogue is probably 

 Brahman, ( ' the Universal Spirit," which, when associated 

 with Illusion (or the Karana-sarira), may assume a highly 

 ethereal subtle body, called Linga-sarira. 



The second body is the Sambhoga-kaya, "body of con- 

 scious bliss," which is of a less ethereal and more material 

 nature than the last. Its Brahmanical analogue appears to be 



