Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

Manomaya 163
which is subsequently directed by the mind to perform the iddis, use its
divine hearing and seeing, have insight into the minds of others, and recall
former existences, and ultimately eradicate the cfsavas. This is perhaps more
likely in view of the fact that the iddhis are the only one of the supernormal
abilities referred to in this and other similar passages which are stated to be
'worldly' powers; all of the others are in accord with dhamma and conducive
to insight. The former, as we have noted, are not specifically Buddhist; the
latter are. As such, the supernormal abilities might be said to be supramundane
(lokuttara) activities, possibly requiring a more subtle, or rarified,
bodily vehicle. The iddhis are the only supernormal abilities which involve
any external movement of the mind-made body. All the others are internal
or subjective supernormal activities. So it might be that in the latter cases
the mind-made body is not separate from the normal body, but is constituted
as if the reed were still in its sheath, the sword in its scabbard, and so
on. Thus in such circumstances the mind-made body could be thought of
as some sort of 'subtlising', or 'sensitising' of the body and its faculties. This
suggestion would fit well with the correspondence between developing the
clarity of the mind and the density of the body, discussed earlier.
The term manomya, then, in the context of the ability to direct the kind
to the creating of a 'mind-made' body is another illustration of the centrality
of the power of the mind in Buddhist teachings. Just as from the
Buddha's teaching that karma is intention it follows that the power of the
mind creates and shapes our very existences, so at certain meditative levels
that intention can be consciously directed to the creating of a body with
certain faculties conducive to insight, such as supernormal senses. The key
difference is that the former seems to us to happen 'automatically': we are
not conscious that our existence originates in the mind. The latter is the
deliberate creation of a body. There is also a difference in the quality of the
rzipa with which the bodies are constituted when the mind itself has
advanced to a certain stage on the spiritual path. Our 'normal' bodies are
gross rzipa, whereas the mind-made body is subtle riipa. This is true whether
the manomaya body is one in which one is reborn as a result of having
attained a certain level of meditation in a previous life, or whether the
manomaya body is deliberately created in this life. The implication of both is
that the clarifying of the mind which is achieved on the path to liberation
results in a corresponding subtlising of the body. It is in this sense that the
metaphorical meaning of manomaya is suggested by its literal meaning: the
metaphorical meaning represents an intermediate psycho-cosmological
level which corresponds to the fact that a certain degree of spiritual
advancement has to have been achieved for the deliberate creation of
something 'originating in the mind', the literal meaning of manomaya.
If we compare the concepts discussed in the last two points in this
chapter as they are found in the Sutta Pitaka with similar concepts in
Upani;adic material, we see that there are some close similarities between