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208
IF HE SHOULD DESIRE
whether he regards the belief in the powers referred to as a delusion or not. I have no doubt that he really believed in their theoretical possibility, which is elsewhere also in the Pali Pitakas accepted or implied; though the practical effect of the belief has greatly varied among Buddhists in different times and countries. In the southern church, which adhered more closely to the simple doctrines of early Buddhism, these beliefs have been relegated to the region of legend and fairy tale; in the northern church there have been found, from time to time, believers who attached to them a practical importance. There is a useful analogy between the expressions used in I Samuel xxviii, and those in the latter part of our Suttas; and between the general position of witchcraft in the history of Christianity, and of these beliefs in the history of Buddhism; but it would take too long to carry out the comparison and contrast in detail here, and with due regard to the necessary limitations under which the comparison should be made. The analogy only reaches to their history, and to their relative importance in the religious systems with which they were connected; the two sets of belief themselves are fundamentally different, the Indian beliefs being much more nearly allied to modern spiritualism and mesmerism.
We have a curious instance of the way in which such legends grow in a parallel passage of the earlier and later lives of Gotama as accepted by orthodox Buddhists. In the Maha Vagga' it is said that during the first watch of the night following on Gotama's victory over the Evil One, he fixed his mind upon the Chain of Causation, during the second watch he did the same, and during the third watch he did the same-the only difference in the narrative being the verses with which in each of the three watches the meditation closed.
In the life of Gotama prefixed to the Gâtakas, the simplicity of this account is improved away by saying that
II, 1, 3-6.
Gâtaka I, 75, translated in Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 102.
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Max Muller |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2540 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 45 MB |