The Buddhist Cosmos

by Punnadhammo Mahathero

  The great importance of Sineru as the dominant physical feature of the cakkavāḷa is evidenced by its frequent use in similes, some of a proverbial nature.

  The Buddha asked, “What do you think is greater, bhikkhus? Sineru the king of mountains or a pile of seven pebbles the size of mung beans?” The bhikkhus replied, “Sineru king of mountains is greater, bhante, in comparison the pile of pebbles is of no significance.” “Even so, bhikkhus, is the suffering remaining to a noble disciple who has attained to vision … compared to the suffering which has been eliminated by him. (SN 13:10)

  An enormous quantity is called a sinerumatto (“as big as Sineru.”) (MN-a 56) It is said that one cannot repay the gift of Dhamma even with a pile of costly goods as great as Sineru (MN-a 142). When something is impossible it is said to be like “trying to shatter Sineru with one’s fist” or “climbing Mt Sineru” (DN-a 1). When something is truly wonderful or marvellous, often referring to a discourse of the Buddha, it is said to be “like lifting up Sineru, (DN-a 1) or like “Sineru flying into the sky,” (Jāt 509) or like “turning Sineru around” (Jāt 532). When some pious individual wishes to express that his own virtue or understanding cannot be compared to that of the Buddha he might say, “It is like comparing Sineru to a mustard seed.”47 When a spiritual quality, such as faith, is firmly established it is said to be “as unshakeable as Sineru.”48 Some of these similes involve evocative images. We are told that Kumārakassapa’s Dhamma discourse is like “like a thousand oil-lamps on the peak of Sineru” (MN-a 43). The Buddha Vipassī only gave a dhamma talk once every seven years, but when he did it was a momentous occasion. It was said to be like “bringing down the Milky-Way (the ākāsagaṅga, lit. “Sky-Ganges”) or like using Sineru as a pestle to churn the great ocean.”49

  Among those outside of the Buddhist tradition, Sineru together with the “great earth” (mahāpaṭhavī) and the sea were considered eternal and not subject to change (MN-a 22 & SN-a 22:96). Certainly this view seems a natural, if naive, assumption; Sineru being the solid centre of this world, is the ever present background for all the changing drama of the lives of devas and humans. But the Buddha taught that even mighty Sineru is subject to change and dissolution. “This earth and Sineru, king of mountains, will be burned up and consumed” (AN 7:66). For an audience who lived in a world centred on the great Sineru, this was a powerful statement about impermanence indeed.

  The Buddha, having himself transcended saṃsāric becoming, makes the ephemeral nature of all conditioned reality evident. There would be no better way to do this than to use Sineru, the symbol of unmoving solidity. When the Buddha ascended to Tāvatiṃsa heaven to teach Abhidhamma to the devas there, he did so by taking just two steps; he first placed his right foot on Yugandhara (the first and highest of the great circular ranges) and then placed his left foot on the peak of Sineru. These mountains “bent down like twigs” to receive his level tread (DN-a 30). Not only the Buddha, but some of his great disciples were able to work this kind of miraculous transformation. When Moggallāna made his own ascent to Tāvatiṃsa to consult with the Buddha about his return to earth, he did so by passing through the solid core of Sineru in such a way that he was visible to the people on earth the whole time. When the Buddha asked him what he would do if asked to perform a great supernormal feat, Moggallāna said he would put Sineru between his teeth and crush it like a bean, or else he would stroll about using the great earth as a sun-shade and Sineru as the stick (Dhp-a 14:2).

  1:5 THE SEVEN RANGES

  Surrounding Sineru there are seven circular ranges of mountains, separated by seven circular belts of ocean. These are, from the inner ring surrounding Sineru, to the outermost:

  Yugandhara—“Yoke-bearing”. 42,000 yojana high

  Īsadhara—“Lord-bearing”—21,000 yojana high

  Karavīka—“The Cuckoo”—10,500 yojana high

  Sudassana—“Beautiful”—5,250 yojana high

  Nemindhara—“Rim-bearing”—2,625 yojana high

  Vinataka—“Crooked”—1,312.5 yojana high

  Assakaṇṇa.—“Many Cornered”—656.25 yojana high.50

  Other than the simple statement of their respective heights, we are told little more about these ranges. They are called “the seven great peaks” (satta mahāselā) and “gigantic mountains” (girī brahā). They are said to be adorned with various jewels51 and to be the dwelling place of great kings (mahārājā), devas and yakkhas.52 As they rise gradually from Assakaṇṇa to Yugandhara, they are compared to a set of stairs (Jāt 541).

  The only one of the seven which is given a little more individual description is the first and highest, Yugandhara. It is associated with the sun and moon which are sometimes described as “rising from Yugandhara,” (DN-a 20, Dhp-a 2:3) as these heavenly bodies revolve around Sineru at the height of Yugandhara. In the Javanahaṃsa Jātaka the Bodhisatta was born as a golden goose (haṃsa) of supernormal speed and power.

  The two younger brothers of the Bodhisatta resolved to run a race with the sun. The Bodhisatta warned them, “the sun is swift, you cannot race it, you will be destroyed.” But they, not heeding his words and not knowing their own strength, flew up to the level of the sun and sat upon Yugandhara. To save them, the Bodhisatta also flew up to Yugandhara and sat beside them. When the disk of the sun appeared, the geese flew after it. (Jāt 476)

  There is also a great yakkha chief named Yugandhara, so-called because he dwells on that mountain (DN-a 32).

  1:6 THE CIRCULAR SEAS

  The spaces between the seven circular ranges of mountains are filled by seven circular seas, called sīdantaramahāsamudda (“great intermediate oceans”) or just sīdantara. The one between Sineru and Yugandhara is as wide as Sineru is high, and each successive ocean is half as wide as the preceding one, diminishing in the same ratio as the heights of the mountains (Vism-mhṭ 7). These seas have some remarkable properties. The water in them is so “subtle” (sukhu) that nothing can float on their surface, “not even a peacock’s feather.” This is the reason for their name, sīdantara, the element sīd- derives from the verb sīdati “to sink” (Jāt 541).

  One passage tells us that the waters of the sīdantaras are completely still, without waves or motion of any kind (Nidd 1: 14). But this is contradicted by a simile which occurs elsewhere which refers to a great sound as of many beings rejoicing. When the Bodhisatta renounced the home life the rejoicing of a multitude of devas was said to be like “the roaring of the sea inside Yugandhara” (Ap-nid). In another place, the sound of a great royal festival is compared to the sound made when “the wind off of Yugandhara strikes the middle of the sea” (Jāt 539).

  There is also one mention of a Nadī Sīdā (“Sinking River”) flowing between golden mountains deep in the Himavā. It has the same subtle nature as the Sīdantara Seas, so that “not even a peacock’s feather” can float on the surface.53 Given that the seven mountain ranges and their intermediate oceans are a late addition to the cosmology this river may be the original form of the idea.

  The Abhidharmakośa lists eight qualities of the intermediate seas; their waters are cold, clear, light, tasty, sweet, not fetid and harmless to the throat and stomach (AK 3:5. p. 454). Given the special qualities of the water as given in both the Pali texts and the Abhidharmakośa, we can infer that these waters do not communicate in any way with the salt waters of the outer ocean.

  The seven seas of Sīdantara are home to two tribes of mighty nāgas, the Kambala and the Assatara, who live in houses made of earth and stone and are so powerful that they cannot be caught by even the greatest of the supaṇṇas.54

  1:7 GREAT OUTER OCEAN

  The great circular belt of ocean which lies between Assakaṇṇa and the mountains at the world’s edge is referred to as the Mahāsamudda (“The Great Ocean.”) In a few places reference is made to “the four Great Oceans.” This is explained as meaning the four sections of the ocean which lie under the four faces of Sineru and get their colour from the rays emitted by
that mountain.55 The width of this oceanic belt can be determined by calculation; taking the given radius of the cakkavāḷa and subtracting the measure of the various mountains and intermediate oceans we arrive at a width of 312,318.75 yojana.56 The size, depth and capacity of the great ocean are so vast it becomes a symbol of that which is immeasurable, like the mind of the Tathāgata (MN 72). It was widely believed by ignorant people that the ocean contains a bottomless abyss, but the Buddha denies this (SN 36:4). The ocean is home to innumerable living beings, ranging from great sea-monsters down to extremely minute creatures (SN 56:36 & AN 1:322, Eng. 1:333).

  The asura Pahārāda once told the Buddha that the asuras take delight in the great ocean (mahāsamudda) because of its eight wonderful qualities (AN 8:19, AN 8:20, Ud 5:5). This passage is problematic in that sometimes it seems to be referring to the sīdantara at the base of Sineru, and at others to the world encircling great ocean. To begin with, the commentary explains what is meant by the asuras “taking delight in the great ocean”:

  Their realm is on the lower portion of Sineru (sinerussa heṭṭhābhāge). They go in and out from there, and having created pavilions at the foot of Sineru (sinerupāde) there they delight in play. (Ud-a 5:5)

  Leaving aside for the moment the problem of the precise location of the asura realm,57 the obvious interpretation of this passage is that the asuras are enjoying the beaches of golden sand at the place where Sineru rises out of the first sīdantara. That this is not their actual home but a sort of holiday resort is indicated by two different words being used to describe their realm, and this place of sport—sinerussa heṭṭhābhāge and sinerupāde As pleasant as this beach-front property may be, swimming would not be among its attractions; recall that nothing can float in the waters of the sīdantara!

  Turning to the eight “wonderful and marvellous qualities” (acchariyā abbhutā dhammā) of the great ocean:

  1. The floor of the great ocean slopes gradually without any sudden precipice. The commentary explains this as meaning that from “the region of its shore” (tīradesato) where it has a depth of one aṅgula (a finger, or an inch) to its greatest depth at the “root of Sineru” (sinerupādamūle) where it reaches a depth of 84,000 yojana, there is only a gradual incline without any sudden dropping off.

  2. The great ocean is of a stable nature (ṭhitadhammo) and does not overflow its limits. Does this mean that it has no tides?58

  3. The great ocean does not tolerate a corpse, but quickly washes it onto dry land. The Milindapañhā says that this is because the ocean is the abode of great beings (mahābhūtā) (Mil 5:1,5, Eng. v.2, p.59).

  4. The great rivers, such as the Gaṅgā (“Ganges”), Yamunā, Aciravatī and Sarabhū, which flow into the great ocean lose there their former names and become known as just “the great ocean.”

  5. Although all the rivers of the world flow into the Great Ocean, and rains shower down from the sky, there is never seen to be either a deficiency or an excess in its waters. From the commentary:

  The nature of the great ocean is such that it is never possible to say either “the rain devas are idle, let us put out traps and catch fish and turtles” or “there is so much rain that there is no place left to lie down.” From the beginning of the kappa such rain as has fallen remains lapping at the edge of Sineru (sinerumekhala—lit. “the girdle of Sineru”) and the level neither rises nor falls by so much as a finger-breadth. (Ud-a 5:5)

  6. The great ocean is of a single flavour, the flavour of salt.

  7. The great ocean contains many and various precious things, such as pearls, jewels, lapis-lazuli (veḷuriya—or perhaps, “beryl”), shells, stones, coral, silver, gold, rubies and cat’s eye jewels (masāragalla). The commentary lists many sub-categories of these. In the commentary we hear of the cakkavatti (“wheel-turning monarch”) diving into the sea with his retinue to harvest these precious jewels.59

  8. The great ocean is the abode of mighty beings (mahābhutā) such as the timi, timiṅgalo (kinds of giant fish or sea-monsters), asuras, nāgās and gandhabbas.60

  1:8 A TEXTUAL ISSUE

  Given the geography we have described so far, that of Sineru surrounded by alternate belts of sea and mountain with a separate great outer ocean, it is hard to reconcile some discrepancies in the list of the ocean’s marvellous qualities. That the great rivers of India flow into it, and that it is salty would indicate that the outer ocean is meant. But the introductory passage references the delight of the asuras, who live on the lower slopes of Sineru, and the commentarial passages frequently reference that mountain in explaining the marvellous qualities of the ocean. As well, we are told that the great ocean does not overflow its bounds, implying that it has no tides.

  We can only make sense of this if we conclude that the seven ranges and the seven seas were late additions to the cosmological scheme, unknown at the time of the Buddha. The seven mountain ranges are named in only a very few places, all in the commentaries.61 The same may be said of the seven sīdantara.62 There is no real contradiction in the qualities of the great ocean because the canonical texts assumed a single great ocean extending from the base of Sineru to the world’s edge.

  This simpler version of the cakkavāḷa is also implied in a passage from the Aṅguttara Commentary:

  Just as in a great lake there may be a water-lily, a lotus bud with four leaves (paṇṇa, perhaps “petals”): the lotus bud is like Mount Sineru and the four leaves are like the four island-continents and the encircling waters take up the rest of the space. This is well known to great beings with psychic powers that travel through the air and see Mount Sineru and the rest in this way. (AN-a 1: 322)

  There are several places in the commentaries where a long compound noun is used to represent the whole world by listing the most significant things in it. The contents of this list varies from place to place and it is significant to note which items are listed and which are not:

  sineru-yugandhara-uttarakuru-himavanta-ādi (Uda 1:1, Vism-mhṭ 7)

  “Sineru, Yugandharas, Uttarakuru, Himavā, etcetera.”

  himavanta-sineru-cakkavāḷa-mahāsamudda-candima-sūriyā (DN-a 1)

  “Himavā, Sineru, cakkavāḷa, the great ocean, the sun and the moon.”

  pathavī-himavanta-sineru-cakkavāḷa-mahāsamudda-candima-sūriyā (MN-a 49)

  “The Earth, Himavā, Sineru, Cakkavāḷa, the Great Ocean, the sun and the moon.”

  sineru-cakkavāḷa-himavanta-paribhaṇḍapabbate (SN-a 47:13)

  “Sineru, Cakkavāḷa, Himavā, the Bounding Mountains.”

  Mount Sineru, as the central feature of the cosmology, is always included. Other elements which occur often are the Earth, Yugandhara and the Himavā. Other than Yugandhara, the seven ranges are never mentioned. The inclusion of the Himavā, which is a large mountain range on the island-continent of Jambudīpa, is noteworthy. Although it is the most massive feature on Jambudīpa, at a “mere” 500 yojana height (Sn-a 3:7) it is not to be compared with Sineru and even the lowest of the seven ranges; Assakaṇṇa, tops it at 656.25 yojana. It is odd that this feature would be considered important enough to include, but not the ranges beyond Yugandhara unless these were more recent flourishes on a simpler cosmology known at the time when these more or less proverbial phrases were coined.

  Kloetzli (1983: 45f.) tentatively advances the hypothesis that the seven mountain ranges of the Buddhist cakkavāḷa correspond to the spheres of the seven planets in Hellenistic cosmology. This hypothesis is intriguing, but not entirely convincing. The differences between the two models are greater than any similarities, and no connection between the planets and the mountains are found in the Pali sources, except that the sun and moon rise from behind Yugandhara. However, it is within the realm of possibility that the Hellenistic system had some minor influence on this late flourish to the Buddhist cakkavāḷa.

  1:9 CAKKAVĀḶAPABBATA—THE WORLD’S EDGE

  The outer limit of the cakkavāḷa is defined by one final ring of mountains which enclose
s the whole system. This is the cakkavāḷapabbata, the “world-system mountain,” also in a few places referred to as the cakkavāḷasiluccaya, “the world-system rock” (Sn-a 3:7) or the cakkavāḷamukhavaṭṭi (Dhp-a 3:7) (“world-system edge”). The height of this mountain ring is usually given as 82,000 yojana, thus being somewhat lower than Sineru (Vism 7.43 and Sn-a 3:7). However, this figure is somewhat problematic. The Visuddhimagga passage already cited which describes the physical structure of the cakkavāḷa says:

  dve asīti sahassāni, ajjhogāḷho mahaṇṇave,

  accuggato tāvadeva, cakkavāḷasiluccayo,

  parikkhipitvā taṃ sabbaṃ.

  Two and eighty thousand, plunging into the great sea,

  Rising up the same, the world-system rock,

  Surrounds the whole.63

  The most straightforward interpretation of this would be that the mountains rise 82,000 yojana into the sky and plunge 82,000 yojana into the sea. However, the moonrise is said to be seen coming from the eastern cakkakavāḷapabbata, (DN-a 32) Implying a summit close to the height of Yugandhara, it may be that the Visuddhimagga passage means that the total height of the mountains is 82,000 yojana, with 41,000 rising above the ground. In any case, they must be higher than the level of the sun and moon, whose rays cannot penetrate into the outer void which is in many places said to be immersed in impenetrable darkness.64 To add to the confusion, the Abhidharmakośa gives their height of the world-encircling mountains at 312–½ yojana (AK 3:5. p. 454). This low estimate obviously contradicts the idea that the sun and moon do not shine outside the world-system and seems to be derived from a perfunctory following of the scheme that each range of mountains is one half the height of the preceding one.