days of mysticism this led to the ecstatic meditation of Yoga, by which the individual becomes united with and rapt in the deity.

The ten stages through which a Bodhisat must pass in order to attain perfection. These stages are called "The Ten1 Heavens" (dasa bhūmişvara 2), and are objectively represented by the ten "umbrellas" surmounting the spire of a caitya, and one of the treatises of the "nine canons" is devoted to their description.3

In the natural craving after something real and positive, "When the theory of a universal void became the leading feature of the Buddhist scholastic development, the question pressed upon the mind was this: If all things around us are unreal and unsubstantial, is there anything in the universe real or any true existence? The answer to this question was that " on the other shore," that is, in that condition which admits of no birth or death, no change or suffering, there is absolute and imperishable existence." 4

The chief of these regions is the western paradise of Amitabha, named Sukhāvati, or "the Happy Land," a figure of which is here given, as it is the goal sought by the great body of the Buddhists of Tibet, as well as those of China and Japan. Its invention dates at least to 100 A.D., and an entry to it is gained by worshipping Amitabha's son, Avalokita, which is a chief reason for the spell of the latter, the Om mani padme Hum, being so popular.

In the seventh century A.D., under Buddha-palita, and in the eighth or ninth, under Candrakirti, a popular development arose named the Prasanga Madhyamika (Tib., T'al gyur-va7), which by a hair-splitting speculation deduces the absurdity and erroneousness of every esoteric opinion, and maintained that Buddha's doctrines. establish two paths, one leading to the highest heaven of the universe, Sukhavati, where man enjoys perfect happiness, but con

1 They are sometimes accounted thirteen in Nepal (HODGSON, Lang., 16) and also by the Nin-ma Lāmas.

2 See also LAIDLAY'S FaHian, p. 93; J.R.A.S., xi., 1, 21. Sometimes they are extended to thirteen,

HODGS., supra cit.

BRAL'S Catena, 275.

For its description see BEAL's Catena, p. 117 seg.; MAX MÜLLER's trans. of Sukhāvativyuha, S.B.E., xlix.; and SARAT, J.A.S. B., 1891.

MAX MÜLLER, op. cit., supra ii., xxiii. Avalokita's name also occurs here.

* VASILIEV, B., 327, 357; CsoмA, J.A.S.B., vii., 144.

nected with personal existence, the other conducting to entire emancipation from the world, namely, Nirvana.1

The Yoga doctrine of ecstatic union of the individual with the Universal Spirit had been introduced into Hinduism about 150 B.C. by Patanjali, and is not unknown to western systems.2 It taught spiritual advancement by means of a self-hypnotizing to be learned by rules. By moral consecration of the individual to Isvara or the Supreme Soul, and mental concentration upon one point with a view to annihilate thought, there resulted the eight great Siddhi or magical powers, namely (1). ability to make one's body lighter, or (2) heavier, or (3) smaller, (4) or larger than anything in the world, and (5) to reach any place, or (6) to assume any shape, and (7) control all natural laws, to

'Hang like Mahomet in the air,
Or St. Ignatius at his prayer,'

and (8) to make everything depend upon oneself, all at pleasure of will-Iddhi or Riddi." On this basis Asanga, importing Patanjali's doctrine into Buddhism and abusing it, taught that by means of mystic formulas-dharanis (extracts from Mahayana sutras and other scriptures) and mantra (short prayers to deities) as spells, "the reciting of which should be accompanied by music and certain distortion of the fingers (mudra), a state of mental fixity (samadhi) might be reached characterized by neither

MYSTIC ATTITUDES OF FINGERS.

thought nor annihilation of thoughts, and consisting of sixfold

1 SCHLAGT., 41-42.

Compare the remark of Beal," the end to which Plotinus directed his thoughts was to unite himself to the Great God; he attained it by the unitive method of the Quietists." -Critical Dict., art. Plotinus, quoted through BEAL'S Catena, 150.

HUDIBRAS, Gesta Roman, 326.

His doctrine is contained in the treatise entitled Yogicarya-bhumi Sastra.

1

bodily and mental happiness (Yogi), whence would result endowment with supernatural miracle-working power." These miraculous powers were alleged to be far more efficacious than mere moral virtue, and may be used for exorcism and sorcery, and for purely secular and selfish objects. Those who mastered these practices were called Yogācārya.

But even in early Buddhism mantras seem to have been used as charms,1 and southern Buddhism still so uses them in Paritta service for the sick,2 and also resorts to mechanical contrivances for attaining Samadhi, somewhat similar to those of the Yogacārya.3 And many mystic spells for the supernatural power of exorcism are given in that first or second century A.D. work, Saddharma Pundarika.*

In the mystic nihilist sense, as the name of a thing was as real as the thing itself, the written spell was equally potent with the spoken, and for sacerdotal purposes even more so on account of the sacred character of letters, as expressing speech and so exciting the intense veneration of barbarians. No Tibetan will wantonly destroy any paper or other object bearing written characters.

The general use of the mystic OM, symbolic of the Hindu Triad AUM, The Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, probably dates from this era; though in the Amaravati tope is figured a pillar of glory surmounted by OM proceeding from the throne supposed to be occupied by Buddha. It is doubtful whether its occurrence in some copies of the Lalita Vistara and other early Mahāyāna works, as the first syllable of the Opening Salutation, may not have been an after addition of later scribes. The monogram figured on page 386 is entitled "The All-powerful ten," and is in a form of the Indian character called Ranja or "Lantsa."

The Tantrik cults brought with them organized worship, litanies, and pompous ritual, offerings and sacrifice to the bizarre

1 Kullavagga, v., 6.

2 East. Mon. RHYS DAVIDS' Milinda, 213.

3 HARDY'S E.M., chap. "Ascetic Rites." See also the mandala diagrams, p. 252; and "The Contemplation Stone," J.R. A.S., 1894, p. 564.

See also BEAL'S Catena, p. 284, etc.

5 FERGUSSON'S Tree and Serp. Worship, pl. lxxi., figs. 1 and 2.

6 Nam-bc'u-dban-ldan; cf. also Chinese name for the Scastika. The letters are O, U, H, K, S, M, L, V, R, Y.

Cf. my Indian-Buddhist Cult of Avalokita, etc., J. R.A.S., 1894; BURNOUF's Intro., 465.

or terrible gods and goddesses for favours, temporal and spiritual. A supreme primordial Buddha-god and superhuman Buddhas and Bodhisats, together with their female energies, mostly demoniacal,

demand propitiation by frequent worship and sacrificial offerings. This Tantrik ritual is illustrated in the chapters on worship.

The excessive use of these mystic Mantras, consisting mostly of unmeaning gibberish, resulted in a new vehicle named the Mantra-yana, which is a Tantrik development of the Yoga phase

1 From Japan.