Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c31.1920

v2.c31.1920

But, according to the Commentaries,¹² Moggallāna’s greatest exhibition of *iddhi*-power was the subjugation of the Nāga Nandopananda. No other monk could have survived the ordeal because no other was able to enter so rapidly into the fourth *jhāna*; which was the reason why the Buddha would give permission to no other monk but Moggallāna to quell the Nāga’s pride. Similar, in many ways, was his subjection of the Nāga who lived near the hermitage of Aggidatta¹³ (*q.v.*). Moggallāna could see, without entering into any special state of mind, petas and other spirits invisible to the ordinary mortal eye.¹⁴ He would visit various worlds and bring back to the Buddha reports of their inhabitants,¹⁵ which the Buddha used in illustration of his sermons. The Vimānavatthu¹⁶ contains a collection of stories of such visits, and we are told¹⁷ that Moggallāna’s visits to the deva-worlds—*e.g.*, that to Tāvatiṃsa—were very welcome to the devas.