16 MYSTICAL BUDDHISM. 



the intermediate celestial body belonging to departed spirits, 

 called Bhoga-deha, which is of an ethereal character, though 

 it is composed of sufficiently gross (sthula) material particles 

 to be capable of experiencing happiness in heaven. 



The third body is the Nirmana-kaya, " body of visible shapes 

 and transformations/' that is to say, those visible concrete 

 material forms in which every Buddha who exists as an in- 

 visible and eternal essence, is manifested on the earth or 

 elsewhere for the propagation of the true doctrine. The 

 Brahmanical analogue of this third body appears to be the 

 earthly gross body, called Sthula-sarira. 



There is a well-known legend which relates how the great 

 Brahman sage Sankaracarya entranced his gross body, and 

 then, having forced out his soul along with his subtle body, 

 entered the dead body of a recently deceased King, which he 

 occupied for several weeks. 



In connexion with these mystical ideas, I may here allude 

 to the belief that certain modern Eastern sages, skilled in 

 occult science, have the power of throwing their gross bodies 

 into a state of mesmeric trance, and then by a determined 

 effort of will projecting or forcing out the ethereal body 

 through the pores of the skin, and making this phantasmal 

 form visible in distant places.* 



We learn from Mr. Sinnett that a community of Buddhist 

 " Brothers " called Mahatmas, are now living in secluded 

 spots in the deserts of Tibet, who have emancipated their 

 interior selves from physical bondage by meditation, and are 

 believed to possess " astral " or ethereal bodies (distinct from 

 their gross bodies), with which they are able to rise in the 

 air, or move through space, by the mere exercise of will. 



I am not aware whether the Psychical Research Society has 

 extended its researches to the deserts of Tibet, where these 

 phenomena are said to take place. 



In curious agreement with these notions, are the beliefs 

 of various uncivilised races. Dr. Tylor, in his Primitive 

 Culture (i. 440), relates how the North American Indians 

 and others believe that their souls quit their bodies during 

 sleep, and go about hunting, dancing, visiting, etc. 



Old legends relate how Simon Magus made statues walk ; 

 how he flew in the air; changed his shape; assumed two 

 faces ; made the vessels in a house seem to move of them- 

 selves (Yule's Marco Polo, i. 306). Friar Ricold relates that 

 " a man from India was said to fly. The truth was that he 



* Colonel Olcott and Mr. Sinnett mention this faculty as characteristic of 

 Asiatic occnltisto. 



