1. Outward or bodily purity by baptism.
2. The state of purity that has conquered the sexual desire.
3. Inward and spiritual purity.
4. A meek and gentle spirit which has subdued all anger and malice.
5. The culminating point of holiness.
6. The body becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the mystic acquires the gift of prophecy.
7. Miraculous powers of healing, and of raising the dead.
8. The mystic state of Elias.
The Buddhists have likewise eight stages of inner progress, the Eightfold Holy Path. The first step, "Those who have entered the stream, the Naírañjana, the mystic river of Buddha," is precisely the same as the first Essene step. Then follow advances in purity, holiness, and mastery of passion. In the last two stages the Buddhists, like the Essenes, gained supernatural powers, to be used in miraculous cures, prophecies, and other occult marvels. It must be mentioned that the Essenes were circumcised as well as the other Jews.