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MYSTICISM IN INDIA
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frame of mind-the positive feeling of universal love for all living creatures, even natural antipathy is held in abeyance; needless to add that no one harms or injures him. All beings, men, animals, birds approach him without fear and mix with him without reserve. In an extended description of the religious rites, monastic life and superstitions of the Siamese, de la Louhere cites among other things the wonderful power over wild beasts possessed by the Talapoin (the monks or the holy men of Buddha whose first command was protection of all living beings). The Talapoin of Siam-he says-will pass whole weeks in the dense woods under a small awning of branches and palm-leaves and never make a fire in the night to scare away the wild beasts, as all other people do who travel through the woods of this country. The people consider it a miracle that no Talapoin is ever devoured. The tigers, elephants and rhinoceroses with which the neighbourhood abounds respect him; and travellers placed in secure ambuscade have often seen these wild beasts lick the hands and feet of the sleeping Talapoin. The Jain history also testifies to the same fact. Mahavira. the twenty-fourth prophet of the Jains who lived 600 years before Christ is reported to have attracted by the sweetness of his musical sermons in parks wild beasts and animals which stood before him in perfect place and harmony. Even in the present times no wild beast is known to have devoured a Jain in India whose first principle is the protection of life-even of the tiniest insect. Strange to say that the nations of
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