The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature c8.s3.22

c8.s3.22

The Pāli word *iddhi* came to mean “potency”, “virtue”, (almost like Greek *ἀρετή*), as when birds are said to fly by *iddhi* (*Dhamma-pada*, 175). We do not find many passages in Buddhist Sanskrit literature, in which *ṛddhi* bears this generalised sense. But *ṛddhi* (like Pāli *iddhi*) is very frequently employed to denote “wonder-working Power”. This is perhaps the best translation of the term, which implies the possession of such Power, but which excludes the irrelevant and extraneous notions of “magic”, “miracle”, “supernaturalism” or “mysticism”.