Introduction

In this chapter I continue examining descriptions of supernormal feats, broached in the last chapter. Here I turn in particular to instances of levitation, in the sense of the ability of a human being to rise up into space and at times traverse even considerable distances by supernormal means.

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Departure by Levitation

Two instances from the previous chapter are of direct relevance to the present topic. One of these two instances is the Pāṭika-sutta of the Dīgha-nikāya, which takes its occasion from a monk wanting to leave the Buddhist fold because the Buddha had not displayed any miracles.[n.1] Cf. above p. 264f. The episode relevant to my present purposes describes the Buddha's departure from the park of an ascetic by the name of Pāṭikaputta who, in spite of earlier boasting how he would defeat the Buddha, had been too afraid even to come forward and meet the Buddha. The Pāṭika-sutta and its Dīrgha-āgama parallel agree that the Buddha departed by flying away.[n.2] DN 24 at DN III 27,12 and DĀ 15 at T I 69a26. Remnants of a version of this episode preserved in a Sanskrit fragment parallel, however, make it safe to conclude that this version did not report an act of levitation at this narrative juncture.[n.3] SHT IV 165.3+4 V5, Sander and Waldschmidt 1980: 178; cf. above p. 267.

As already mentioned in the previous chapter, the ensuing part of the Pāṭika-sutta shows the Buddha pointing out to the monk who wants to disrobe that he has performed a miracle, namely by predicting that the ascetic Pāṭikaputta would be too afraid even to come forward for a meeting. Although such a prediction is impressive, for the Buddha to show that he did perform a miracle, an act of levitation would certainly have been much more impressive. This makes it fairly certain that, at the time the passage reporting the Buddha's reference to his successful prediction in order to document his performance of a miracle came into being, the idea that he levitated had not yet arisen.[n.4] This has already been noted by Weller 1922/1987: 635f. Besides, since at this narrative juncture the ascetic Pāṭikaputta has been utterly defeated, the performance of any miracle, such as an act of levitation, is superfluous. In sum, the departure by levitation reported in the Pāṭika-sutta and its Dīrgha-āgama parallel seems to be a later addition to the discourse.

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Celestial Travels

Another instance, which I also took up in the previous chapter, is a discourse in the Samyutta-nikāya that has as its main protagonist a Brahmā. This Brahmā has the conceited belief that nobody can reach him in his lofty celestial abode. To dispel this conceit, the Buddha and his disciples pay him a visit, manifesting themselves seated above him in mid-air.[n.5] SN 6.5 at SN I 144,14, SĀ 1196 at T II 324c21, and SĀ² 109 at T II 412c22; cf. above p. 262. Unlike the case of the Pāṭika-sutta and its parallels, in this case the entire story is based on the ability of the Buddha and his accomplished disciples to travel to heaven. It could not have come into being without the basic presumption that it is possible for humans to travel to the Brahmā world. In fact the Samyutta-nikāya version and its two Saṃyukta-āgama parallels agree in this respect.

The need to dispel the mistaken belief of another deluded Brahmā, who held the notion that his realm was permanent, forms the setting for another celestial journey of the Buddha, reported in the Brahmanimantaṇika-sutta of the Majjhima-nikāya and its parallels.[n.6] MN 49 at MN I 326,12 (= SN 6.4 at SN I 142,18) and its parallel MĀ 78 at T I 547a16. The visit of a former Buddha and his chief disciple to a Brahmā world reported in SN 6.14 at SN I 155,23 does not appear to have a known parallel. Here, too, the Buddha has to be able to ascend to the heavenly dwelling place of this Brahmā in order to provide a meaningful setting for delivering a teaching on the nature of this realm. In fact part of this teaching takes the form of the Buddha disappearing from the sight of Brahmā and his assembly, a feat that Brahmā had earlier attempted unsuccessfully. The entertaining idea of such celestial "hide-and-seek" of course presupposes the Buddha's supernormal abilities.

Another example of the Buddha's celestial travels is a visit paid to the Pure Abodes, described similarly in a discourse in the Dīgha-nikāya and its parallels in Sanskrit fragments and in Chinese translation.[n.7] DN 14 at DN II 50,10 and its parallels in a Sanskrit fragment version, Waldschmidt 1956: 161 (which has preserved the final words of the description of the Buddha's arrival), DĀ 1 at T I 10b12, and T 3 at T I 158b9. The Dīgha-nikāya and Dīrgha-āgama versions report that the visit was motivated by the Buddha's reflection that during his past lives he had been born in all kind of places, except for the Pure Abodes.[n.8] DN 14 at DN II 50,6 and DĀ 1 at T I 10b10. Such a reflection makes it indeed natural for the Buddha to decide to visit the Pure Abodes, thereby complementing his knowledge of the different realms of existence.

Unlike this visit to the Pure Abodes, in general meetings with devas do not necessarily require that the Buddha ascend to heaven. Such meetings could also take place by way of the devas descending to earth to meet the Buddha. An example illustrating this possibility is the Sakkapañha-sutta, which formed the starting point of my discussion in the previous chapter. Another example involves a group of devas from the same Heaven of the Thirty-three who speak in front of the Buddha in praise of the four limbs of stream-entry. Whereas in the Saṃyutta-nikāya version the Buddha comes to visit their celestial abode, however, in a Saṃyukta-āgama parallel the devas rather come to visit the Buddha.[n.9] SN 55.20 at SN V 367,22 and SĀ 1135 at T II 299b17. The same holds for similar conversations between the devas and Mahāmoggallāna, where SN 55.18 at SN V 366,12 and SN 55.19 at SN V 367,18 report that he went up to their abode, whereas according to the parallel SĀ 507 at T II 134c25 the devas rather came to visit Mahāmoggallāna.

Yet in other cases it is an indispensable requirement for the whole tale to work that the Buddha be indeed able to levitate up to this celestial realm. An example would be the Buddha's sojourn in the Heaven of the Thirty-three during a rainy-season period. In fact the parallel versions only vary in their depiction of his descent back to earth, but agree that he had actually ascended to this heaven.[n.10] Cf. Anālayo 2012i.

In addition to the Buddha, his disciple Mahāmoggallāna is also regularly on record for celestial journeys. The Cūḷataṇhāsaṅkhaya-sutta reports an occasion when Mahāmoggallāna visited the Heaven of the Thirty-three.[n.11] MN 37 at MN I 252,14 and its parallels SĀ 505 at T II 133b29 and EĀ 19.3 at T II 594a3 (for a translation and study of SĀ 505 cf. Anālayo 2011f). Another visit by the Buddha to the Heaven of the Thirty-three is on record in SN 40.10 at SN IV 269,22, which does not appear to have a parallel (Akanuma 1929/1990: 89 lists SĀ 988 and SĀ 989 as parallels, but both discourses seem to be too different to be reckoned parallels to SN 40.10; both also do not report a celestial visit by the Buddha). Visits paid by Mahāmoggallāna to Brahmās (in addition to SN 6.5 and its parallels, mentioned above p. 282 note 5, where Mahāmoggallāna is one of the disciples who join the meeting between the Buddha and Brahmā) are on record in AN 6.34 at AN III 332,5 and AN 7.53 at AN IV 75,28; in each case no parallel appears to be known. In the course of his visit he caused the heavenly palace to tremble, an episode that also clearly requires his presence up in heaven.

Another discourse involves an unnamed monk who proceeds through different heavens to ask a question that has kept puzzling him, until he eventually reaches Mahābrahmā.[n.12] DN 11 at DN I 215,26 and its parallels in Kaivarti-sūtra fragment 387v9, Zhou 2008: 5, DĀ 24 at T I 102a26, and D 4094 ju 62b4 or Q 5595 tu 69b1; cf. also T 1545 at T XXVII 670b29. Here, too, the monk's ability to travel from one of these different heavenly realms to the next is indispensable for the plot of his persistent questioning of devas who dwell at increasingly higher celestial levels.

These instances make it clear that the notion of celestial travels by those adept in meditation has to be considered as an integral part of early Buddhist thought, inasmuch as this has been preserved in textual records. In fact the ability to rise up into the air is a recurrent feature in the standard description of supernormal abilities that make up the first of the six higher knowledges, abhiññā.[n.13] On the notion of such iddhis and their performance in Indian Buddhism cf., e.g., de La Vallée Poussin 1925/1980: 98, Har Dayal 1932/1970: 106–116, van Zeyst 1961, Lamotte 1976: 1809–1827, French 1977, Gómez 1977, Jones 1979: 189, Gethin 1992: 97–102, Meisig 1993, Nanayakkara 1993, Gokhale 1994/2001b, Granoff 1996, Gombrich 1997: 176f, Kalupahana 2002, Karunaratna 2003a, Strong 2008, Clough 2010/2011, Fiordalis 2010/2011, Gómez 2010/2011, Gethin 2011, Clough 2012, Strong 2013; and for the case of such notions in the Jain tradition cf., e.g., Mitra 1939, Deo 1956: 316f, 334f, and 562–564, and Granoff 1998. On "magic" in Buddhism cf. also Reynolds 2016. The gaining of such ability is part of a series of attainments that, according to the report in the Sāmaññaphala-sutta and its parallels, are within the purview of a meditator who has reached the imperturbable concentration of the fourth absorption. The relevant passage in the Dīrgha-āgama parallel to the Sāmaññaphala-sutta proceeds like this:[n.14] DĀ 20 at T I 86a6 to 86a11; the passage has already been translated into German by Meisig 1987a: 337; for comparative studies of the different versions of this discourse cf. also Bapat 1948 and MacQueen 1988. The parallels, DN 2 at DN I 78,4, T 22 at T I 275b10, and Gnoli 1978: 246,19, mention the ability to enter the earth as if it were made of water, in addition to the ability to walk on water as if it were earth. None of them mentions the feat of manifesting smoke and flames. On imperturbability cf. also Anālayo 2009a.

With his concentrated mind that is pure, without blemish, pliant, disciplined, established in the stage of imperturbability, and mentally unified, he cultivates the realization of supernormal ability. He is able to perform various transformations, transforming his single body into innumerable bodies, as well as joining the innumerable bodies back into a single one. With his body he is able to fly, without being impeded by stone walls, and he moves through space like a bird. He steps on water as if it were earth. From his body smoke and flames emerge as if it were a great heap of fire. With his hands he touches the sun and the moon. He straightaway reaches the Brahmā Heaven.

As for the ability to fly, the Sāmaññaphala-sutta, a parallel preserved individually in Chinese translation, and another parallel found as part of the Saṅghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya specify that this takes place in the cross-legged posture.[n.15] DN 2 at DN I 78,7, Gnoli 1978: 246,21, and T 22 at T I 275b11 (the Pāli discourse and the Saṅghabhedavastu also mention additional solid objects through which the adept is able to pass during his flight; cf. DN 2 at DN I 78,3 and Gnoli 1978: 246,18). The Sāmaññaphala-sutta and the Saṅghabhedavastu also indicate that the ability to reach Brahmā Heaven is performed by "exercising control with the body",[n.16] DN 2 at DN I 78,9: kāyena vasaṃ vatteti (following Be, Ce, and Se, against Ee: kāyena va saṃvatteti) and Gnoli 1978: 246,23: kāyena vaśe vartayati. in relation to which the discourse preserved in Chinese translation offers the information that this takes place by "transforming the body".[n.17] T 22 at T I 275b13: 變身.

Another description of this ability in the Mahāvastu relates how the Buddha in a past life as a seer had acquired the four absorptions and the five higher knowledges. The bodhisattva's ability to reach the Brahmā world is described as follows:

Seated cross-legged in his hermitage, he touched the orb of the moon and the orb of the sun with his hand, and he exercised mastery with his body up to the retinue of Brahmā.[n.18] Senart 1882: 284,4; the significance of this passage has already been noted by Schlingloff 2015: 90 note 3.

Here the performance of these feats must have been envisaged as being undertaken by some sort of mind-made body, enabling the bodhisattva to undertake them while his physical body remains seated in meditation in his hermitage. A similar understanding appears to be reflected in the Vimuttimagga, which takes up the question of what happens to a traveller in space if the absorption is lost. The reply is that one simply finds oneself back on the seat from which one had departed.[n.19] T 1648 at T XXXII 442a21; a passage already discussed by Clough 2012: 85.

The creation of such a mind-made body features in the same Sāmaññaphala-sutta and its parallels just before their description of the supernormal ability to levitate, etc., corresponding to the section translated above from the Dīrgha-āgama version.[n.20] Cf. DN 2 at DN I 77,10, Gnoli 1978: 245,26, DĀ 20 at T I 85c27, and T 22 at T I 275a23. As already pointed out by Gombrich 1997: 176, "there is much textual evidence that this mind-created body was not conceived of as merely imagined; it is as real as a normal body but made of a subtler kind of matter." This gives the impression that the ability to create a mind-made body may have been considered a precondition for feats like levitation,[n.21] This has already been suggested by Franke 1913a: 78 note 3: "dieser geistige Körper wird hier vielleicht als Grundlage für die in den späteren Partieen er- örterten übernatürlichen Fähigkeiten angenommen." just as the earlier mentioned four absorptions clearly serve as a precondition for the creation of the mind-made body, as well as for the other supernormal feats described subsequently.

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Travels on Earth by Levitation

Several discourses also report feats of levitation done on the ground. One example is a discourse in the Aṅguttara-nikāya which, in agreement with a parallel in the Madhyama-āgama and another parallel preserved as an individual translation in Chinese, describes the Buddha paying a visit to his disciple Anuruddha by traversing a considerable distance. The passage employs a standard pericope that depicts the Buddha disappearing from where he was and reappearing at Anuruddha's location, just as a strong man might stretch a bent arm or bend a stretched arm.[n.22] AN 8.30 at AN IV 229,8 and its parallels MĀ 74 at T I 540c29 and T 46 at T I 835c20; on this pericope description cf. von Simson 1965: 92 (§15.28) and Allon 1997b: 97–105. According to a stanza found at the end of this Aṅguttara-nikāya discourse and again in the Theragāthā, on a later occasion Anuruddha recollected this visit and described that the Buddha "approached me with a mind-made body by supernormal power".[n.23] Th 901 and AN 8.30 at AN IV 235,21; on the mind-made body cf. also Vism 405,13 (Paṭis II 210,31 just quotes the relevant discourse passage), as well as the discussion in, e.g., Eimer 1976: 55, Johansson 1979/1985: 35–39, Hamilton 1996: 144–164, Radich 2007: 224–287, and Lee 2014. A parallel to the Theragāthā stanza in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya agrees that the Buddha visited him by way of a "mind-made body".[n.24] Hofinger 1954: 113,20: yid las byung ba’i sku yis, "by way of a mind-made body". A quote of this stanza in T 1448 at T XXIV 86c12 reads: 佛身意神通 where I suggest emending the sequence of the characters to become 佛意身神 通, "the supernormal ability of the Buddha's mind-made body".

Parallel versions to the Aṅguttara-nikāya discourse preserved in the Madhyama-āgama and in a discourse translated individually into Chinese do not have such an explicit indication.[n.25] The corresponding stanza in MĀ 74 at T I 542a20 only notes in relation to the Buddha that "with body upright and his mind entering concentration, traversing space he immediately arrived", 正身心入定, 乘虛忽來到. The stanzas in T 46 at T I 836c21 do not provide any indication on the Buddha's mode of locomotion; it earlier describes the Buddha's arrival as involving actual flying, T 46 at T I 835c21: 飛. I have already drawn attention to variations in the reports of this episode in Anālayo 2013a: 20 note 34. According to a parallel in the Ekottarika-āgama, Anuruddha instead came to see the Buddha.[n.26] EĀ 42.6 at T II 754a29. This difference leaves open the possibility that the entire motif of the Buddha flying over to see Anuruddha is not original to this context. Nevertheless, the Aṅguttara-nikāya discourse as well as the Theragāthā stanza and the counterpart in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya agree with the Mahāvastu and the Vimuttimagga in indicating that descriptions of the ability to traverse long distances, just as easily and quickly as bending or stretching one's arm, were envisaged as feats done with the mind-made body.[n.27] Demiéville 1954: 380 explains that "certain textes précisent qu'il ne s'agit pas d'un déplacement corporel au sens littéral, mais d'un simple 'transport' spirituel." Schlingloff 1985: 333 points out that the commentarial tradition considers feats like touching the moon and the sun to be done while the practitioner remains at the place of his meditation: "all dies vollführt er, so betonen die Kommentatoren, ohne seinen Standort zu verlassen." The assumption that the motif of levitation in early Buddhist sources had as its beginning point meditative experiences of travel with a mental body is also in line with what according to Eliade 1956: 4 would be a general pattern regarding levitation in various religious traditions: "c'est donc dans l'expérience extatique de l'ascension que l'on doit chercher la situation existentielle originelle responsable des symboles et des images relatifs au 'vol magique'."

Travel on earth done through a mind-made body would presumably only work for a certain type of visit, namely for visits paid to those who are either devas or adepts in meditation and thus able to perceive and communicate with the visitor's mindmade body.[n.28] Examples are when Mahāmoggallāna flies over to visit Anuruddha, reported in SN 52.1 at SN V 294,10 and SN 52.2 at SN V 296,31, together with their parallels SĀ 535 at T II 139b1, SĀ 536 at T II 139c7 (the reference is to his return, the description of his arrival is abbreviated), and D 4094 nyu 13b2 or Q 5595 thu 46b6, or when the Buddha levitates in order to pay a visit to Mahāmoggallāna, reported in AN 7.58 at AN IV 85,17 and its parallels MĀ 83 at T I 559c5 and T 47 at T I 837a14. On the assumption that this might reflect an early stage in the conception of such terrestrial modes of long-distance travel, the same idea would then have been applied to other instances, resulting in acts of levitation done with the physical body.[n.29] Both understandings can be found side by side in SN 51.22 at SN V 282,18, where the Buddha informs Ānanda that he has travelled to the Brahmā world with his mind-made body as well as with his physical body. No parallel to SN 51.22 is known to me.

One example would be the Mahāpadāna-sutta and its Dīrgha-āgama parallel, according to which the previous Buddha Vipassī levitated from his seat under the Bodhi tree to approach the two who were to become his first disciples.[n.30] DN 14 at DN II 40,16 and DĀ 1 at T I 8c26. These two are a prince and his chaplain, who probably should not be reckoned as adepts in meditation at the time of this visit.[n.31] The situation differs in the case of a visit paid by the Buddha Gotama to his chief disciple Sāriputta, where according to AN 2.4.5 at AN I 64,30 he flies over to meet him, a feat not recorded in the parallel MĀ 21 at T I 449b10. In fact a Sanskrit fragment parallel gives the impression that Vipassī rather employed ordinary means of travelling,[n.32] Fragment S 360 144 V5, Waldschmidt 1953: 31, has preserved: [dh]im[ūlaṃ ya]thābhiramyaṃ [vih]ṛtya yena [ba]n[dhu]matī rājadh[ā]. In spite of the incompleteness of the fragment, it seems safe to assume that the passage did not have the pericope description usually employed for miraculous flights, in that it would have continued after rājadhānī simply with tenopajagāma, which is in fact reconstructed by Waldschmidt 1956: 149 (§10b1). which is definitely the case in another parallel preserved individually in Chinese.[n.33] T 3 at T I 156c18.

The same basic pattern recurs in relation to a visit paid by the Buddha to Soṇa, who is about to disrobe because his meditation practice has not been successful. This detail also makes it fairly probable that he was not a meditative adept able to perceive mindmade bodies. According to the Aṅguttara-nikāya and the Dharmaguptaka and Theravāda Vinayas, the Buddha traversed the distance just as a strong man might stretch or bend an arm.[n.34] AN 6.55 at AN III 374,19, T 1428 at T XXII 844b13, and Vin I 182,11. A parallel in the Ekottarika-āgama and the Mahāsāṅghika Vinaya also report that he travelled through space.[n.35] EĀ 23.3 at T II 612a29 and T 1425 at XXII 481c18. The Mahīśāsaka Vinaya instead relates that the Buddha used ordinary modes of locomotion.[n.36] In T 1421 at T XXII 146a27 the Buddha comes down from the mountain where he is staying and, after an exchange with Ānanda, approaches Soṇa. According to a Sanskrit fragment parallel as well as counterparts in the Madhyama-āgama, the Saṃyukta-āgama, and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the Buddha had rather told another monk to call Soṇa to his presence.[n.37] Waldschmidt 1968: 775 (which has preserved the description of Śroṇa approaching the Buddha and paying respect), MĀ 123 at T I 612a8, SĀ 254 at T II 62b29, and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, Gnoli 1978: 142,16.

With this example my exploration moves from stories found only in discourses to instances that have counterparts in Vinaya texts, which tend to feature miraculous feats with more frequency than the early discourses. Another example of this type involves the Buddha's departure after having been unable to settle a quarrel among the monks of Kosambī.[n.38] I briefly discussed this instance in Anālayo 2015c: 10f. According to the Upakkilesa-sutta of the Majjhima-nikāya, a discourse in the Ekottarika-āgama, as well as the Theravāda Vinaya, the Buddha walked away.[n.39] MN 128 at MN III 154,28: "then the Blessed One, having spoken these stanzas while standing, went to the village of Bālakaloṇakāra", atha kho bhagavā ṭhitakova imā gāthā bhāsitvā yena bālakaloṇakāragāmo tenupasaṅkami; cf. also EĀ 24.8 at T II 629a13 and Vin I 350,15. For a comparative study of the stanzas spoken by the Buddha cf. Dietz 1998. A Madhyama-āgama parallel reports that the Buddha flew away, a feat also recorded in the Dharmaguptaka, Mahīśāsaka, and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinayas, and in an Udāna collection preserved in Chinese.[n.40] MĀ 72 at T I 535c17: "then the Blessed One, having spoken these stanzas, departed by travelling through the air by means of his supernormal powers", 爾 時世尊說此頌已, 即以如意足乘虛而去; cf. also the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, T 1428 at T XXII 882c25, the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, T 1421 at T XXII 160a9, the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, Dutt 1984b: 186,5 and D 1 ga 129b1 or Q 1030 nge 124b5, and an Udāna collection T 212 at T IV 694c26 (with the difference that in this version the Buddha rose up into the air already before speaking stanzas).

Variations regarding the Buddha's form of locomotion can also be observed in relation to an episode in Vinaya texts concerning a monk who had not come for the uposatha observance.[n.41] This instance has already been noted by Gangopadhyay 1991: 28. In the Dharmaguptaka, Mahīśāsaka, Mūlasarvāstivāda, Sarvāstivāda, and Theravāda Vinayas the Buddha flew over to call on him personally,[n.42] The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, T 1428 at T XXII 818b2, the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, T 1421 at T XXII 121c29, the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, Dutt 1984d: 83,8, the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya, T 1435 at T XXIII 158a23, and the Theravāda Vinaya, Vin I 105,15. but in the Mahāsāṅghika Vinaya he instead sent a monk to summon him.[n.43] T 1425 at T XXII 447c26.

An apparent tendency to improve on the Buddha's abilities can even be seen in the comparatively rare instances where discourse parallels agree that an act of levitation with the physical body took place. This holds for the Dīrgha-āgama and Madhyama-āgama parallels to the Udumbarika(-sīhanāda)-sutta. Here the Buddha departs, after an unsuccessful attempt to convince some ascetics to accept his teachings, by flying away, carrying one of his lay disciples along with him.[n.44] DĀ 8 at T I 49b22 and MĀ 104 at T I 595c7. The Udumbarika(-sīhanāda)- sutta and another parallel preserved as an individual translation agree that the Buddha flew away,[n.45] T 11 at T I 226b24, which previously reports that the Buddha sent out a fiery radiance from his body. No reference to the fire element is found in the other versions. yet they do not report his carrying his disciple along.[n.46] Differences in regard to whether the Buddha during a flight was accompanied by his disciples also appear in the Mahāparinirvāṇa narrative of the miraculous crossing of the Gaṅga; cf. Waldschmidt 1944: 60–65. In fact the Pāli version continues by reporting that the disciple returned to town and thus clearly did not accompany the Buddha on his flight.[n.47] DN 25 at DN III 57,21. The addition of sīhanāda to the title is not found in the Asian editions.

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Conclusion

A comparative study of reports that the Buddha and his disciples journeyed to celestial realms or traversed considerable distances on earth through the power of levitation gives the impression that at an early stage these would have been envisaged as being done with a mind-made body. Probably as a result of literalism, a tendency that makes itself felt in various ways in the early Buddhist texts and which has led to a range of developments in the Buddhist traditions,[n.48] The impact of a tendency to literalism has already been noted by Gombrich 1996: 21; for instances that corroborate his observation cf. Anālayo 2008e: 379f, 2010b: 55–71, 2012b: 160–163, 2012i: 19–21, 2014e: 18f, 2015d: 33, 2015f: 11–15, and 2016d. at a relatively early stage this would then have led to the idea that such feats involve acts of levitation done with the physical body.