4(3 



ON MIRACLES. 



Placidity, Tranquility, and Equanimity. He soothed his 

 mind. He reduced the pain of the body by promoting, 

 what modern medical treatment does not ignore, cheerful- 

 ness in the mind. 



So, when priests suffered from the attacks of beings 

 denominated Yakkhas, he did not drive them away. They 

 were not expelled by his command, But he averted the 

 danger by ordinary, legitimate, human means. He appeal- 

 ed to their own chief, Vesavanna. The latter, loyal to 

 Gotama, and willing to redress the grievance, required a 

 * sign' to distinguish the true from the false ascetics of fche 

 age. That sign was furnished by the recital of the 

 Attanatiya Sutta ; and Gotama saved the afflicted, not by 

 any iddhi, but by procuring an edict of the Yakkha-king, 

 prohibiting the evil, and imposing a penalty for a breach 

 of the command.* 



Again, when the Vijjians suffered from drought, pesti- 

 lence and famine, and the crimes consequent thereon, 

 the alleviation of the general misery was not, as is sup- 

 posed, owing to the recital of the Paritta, or Exorcism 

 or the sprinkling of holy water by A'nanda; but the same 

 may be traced to natural causes. For, even whilst Gotama 

 was traversing eight miles to reach the afflicted city, the 

 unfavorable weather had already commenced to change. 

 Rain fell in abundance, purifying and cooling the atmos- 

 phere, clearing the country and removing the maladies 

 which in times like the one under notice were usually 

 attributed to demoniac influences. By-and-by, too, when 

 the sage had repaired to Yesali, and the people had 



• See Attanagaluvansa, p. cxlvii. 



