To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

Psychism / 121
beautiful wooden bowl made from it. He challenged anyone
claiming to be possessed of iddhi,* ‘‘power, craft, skill,’’
to fetch it from the top of a very tall bamboo; if he succeeded
the bowl would be his. Several toyed with the idea,
but went no further. Finally the venerable monk Bhāradvāja
came forward, and ‘‘rising up in the air, took the bowl,
and went thrice’’ around Rājagaha. The villagers were
ecstatic and began shouting and running after him. On
learning the cause of this raucous behavior, the Buddha
called the monks together. When Bhāradvāja stated that he
had indeed retrieved the bowl by the use of iddhi, the Buddha
said to him and the assembled monks:
This is improper, Bhāradvāja, not according to rule, unsuitable,
unworthy of a Samaṇa [recluse], unbecoming, and
ought not to be done. How can you, Bhāradvāja, for the
sake of a miserable wooden pot, display before the laity the
superhuman quality of your miraculous power of Iddhi?
— Ibid., p. 80
After this rebuke the Buddha discoursed on spiritual
themes, and then stated to the assembled monks:
You are not, O Bhikkhus, to display before the laity the
superhuman power of Iddhi. Whosoever does so, shall be
guilty of a dukkaṭa [an o¤ense]. Break to pieces, O Bhikkhus,
that wooden bowl; and when you have ground it to
powder, give it to the Bhikkhus as perfume for their eye
ointments. — Ibid., p. 81
*Pāli form of the Sanskrit siddhi. These are of two kinds: the one
‘‘embraces the lower, coarse, psychic and mental energies; the other . . .
exacts the highest training of Spiritual powers.’’ — H. P. Blavatsky, The
Voice of the Silence, p. 73.