The Buddhist Cosmos
Page 9
It seems clear, therefore, that explanation of observable natural cycles was not a priority for the Buddhist cosmological system. What is its purpose then? In modern discourse there is a tendency to explain the whole structure away as being no more than an externalized model of internal psychological states. But this does not fit the case very well either. We have seen again and again how much the great mass of Sineru dominates the model of the cakkavāḷa. Not only in its enormous size but in its central location around which everything else is arrayed. What internal human psychological component comes close to a parallel for Sineru? The psychological explanation is informed more by modern individualist bias than by ancient thought.
Whereas the Buddhist model of the cakkavāḷa falls short as an explanation of natural and psychological phenomena, it does provide a wonderful conceptual framework for the central idea of saṃsāra as the conditioned realm from which we ought to be seeking an escape. By presenting a model of reality which incorporates very large dimensions in both space and time, it confronts us with the insignificance of our own separate existence. Far from prioritizing narrowly personal psychological concerns, all the drama of human history is put in perspective by being played out on one half of one small island-continent, vastly overshadowed by the much more titanic drama of the deva-asura wars being fought on the slopes of Mt Sineru. But even these struggles are seen as remote trivialities by the inhabitants of the higher celestial realms. The dilemma of saṃsāra is far greater than just our personal neurosis.
It cannot be forgotten, though, that there is another important place in the cosmos besides Mt Sineru. Whereas Sineru represents the great weight and power of conditioned existence, there is one spot, and one only from which the possibility of transcending the whole fascinating and terrifying construction can arise; the Bodhimaṇḍa, the one small sacred spot in Jambudīpa upon which all the Buddhas achieve supreme awakening.
1:17 MULTIPLE WORLD-SYSTEMS
When the Buddha was asked whether the world (loka, here meaning “the universe”) was infinite (ananta lit. “boundless”) or finite (antavant, lit. “bounded”) he refused to answer, saying that whether the world is infinite or not, there is still suffering to be overcome and this kind of question is not beneficial for realizing nibbāna. As if this was not emphatic enough, he went on to say that if one holds a view as to the infinitude or otherwise of the world, then the holy life cannot be lived (MN 63). Despite this very clear declaration of the Buddha, the commentaries were not hesitant to declare that the number of world-systems is infinite (anantāni cakkavāḷāni).123 “Four things can be understood as infinite: space, the cakkavāḷas, beings and the knowledge of a Buddha” (Dhs-a 1). This became the prevalent view of the Buddhist tradition as a whole.
Everything we have discussed so far is contained within a single cakkavāḷa; a central Mt Sineru, surrounding ranges of ring mountains and seas, four continents, the sun and the moon, the wheel of fixed stars, and the bounding wall. This may be considered the basic unit of the universe, a single world-system. The cakkavāḷas however are infinite in number and extend in all directions along a plane. They are closely spaced, with the outer walls touching each other, “like three cart-wheels”. The rows of worlds are staggered, so that three world-systems adjoin one other and enclose a roughly triangular space 8000 yojana across. These spaces are perpetually dark and cold as the rays of the suns cannot reach them; they form the abodes known as lokantarika niraya, the “inter-world hells” which are populated by suffering beings (DN-a 14). All these multiple worlds rest on the “world-supporting waters” (lokasandhārakaudaka), an infinite ocean of caustic liquid (ibid.) which is 480,000 yojana deep. This ocean in turn rests on a layer of “wind” (māluta) 960,000 yojana in depth (Vism 7. 41).
The innumerable worlds, stretching out across the universal plane, are organized into structures or clusters. These need to be considered from both a horizontal and, when the brahmā realms are included, a vertical perspective. A complete and coherent model for the horizontal groupings is only found in the commentaries and the Visuddhimagga. In this scheme, the groups are called “Buddha fields” (buddhakhetta), and there are three hierarchical levels of them.
A “field of birth” (jātikhetta), consists of 10,000 cakkavāḷas. The Aṅgutttara Nikāya states that it is impossible for two Buddhas to arise simultaneously in one world-system (eka lokadhātu). The commentary to this passage specifies that a “world-system” in this instance is meant to refer to a field of birth of 10,000 worlds (AN-a 1: 277 & MN-a 115). It is impossible that a Buddha could arise anywhere within these ten thousand worlds other than in the “middle country” (majjhimadesa i.e. Northern India) of this specific world-system in which we reside (DN-a 19). The entire field of birth trembles when a Tathāgata descends into his mother’s womb, when he is born, when he attains to Buddhahood, when he turns the Wheel of the Dhamma, when he abandons the life principle and when he enters parinibbāna (i.e. dies) (DN-a 28). While the fully developed concept of Buddha fields is found only in the commentary, we can find the germ of the idea in the canon, as for instance in the passage from the Saṃyutta describing the Buddha’s first sermon, “the turning of the wheel”, when it states that ten thousand worlds (dasasahassilokadhātu) trembled and quaked (SN 56:11). The commentaries reference this unit of ten thousand worlds often, as for example when the devas of ten thousand world-systems assembled to watch the Buddha tame the yakkha Āḷavaka (SN-a 10:12). In the text of the Mahāsamaya Sutta it is stated that devas from ten world-systems (lokadhātu) assembled to see the Buddha, but the commentary to the text amends the number to 10,000 world-systems (cakkavāḷa) (DN-a 20).
The next level of organization is a “field of authority” (āṇākhetta). This consists of one trillion cakkavāḷas or 100,000,000 Fields of Birth.124 This is the sphere over which the Buddha’s authority extends, as manifested in the power of invoking his protection by chanting parittas (protective verses), which are said to provide release from fear of yakkhas and bandits (DN-a 28, MN-a 115, SN-a 11:3). According to the sub-commentary, the trillion worlds of a field of authority expand and contract together.125
The highest level is the “field of scope” (visayakhetta). This is boundless, encompassing the entire universe. It represents the sphere within which the Buddha can apply his knowledge, because “whatever the Tathāgata wishes to know, that he does know” (DN-a 28, & Vism 13:31).
The Aṅguttara Commentary adds a note to the effect that there are never two Buddhas existing anywhere in the universe at the same time and argues from the absence in the canon of a single mention of Buddhas in another world-system. This is an odd and extreme position to take, and seems to obviate the need for a special “field of birth” altogether. In a note, Bhikkhu Bodhi speculates that this statement may have been inserted to counter Mahāyāna doctrines which multiplied the number of Buddhas to infinity.126 The Theravāda by contrast has always emphasized the great rarity of Buddhahood, and in this passage Buddhaghosa takes that principle to its greatest possible conclusion.
The definition of a field of authority in terms of paritta chanting seems insufficient. If we take into account references to another term indicating one billion worlds, a tisahassimahāsahassilokadhātu (“thrice a thousand world’s great thousand-fold world system”, i.e. 1,000 cubed), we can gain a little more understanding. Although the numbers do not agree, these do seem to be parallel concepts. The tisahassimahāsahassilokadhātu is cited as the extent over which the Buddha can, if he wishes extend his radiance and the sound of his voice (DN-a 19). This vast range of the Buddha’s authority is illustrated by comparisons. If Mt Sineru was the wick of an oil lamp and the great ocean was filled with oil, its radiance would extend only over a single cakkavāḷa, but the Buddha’s radiance can extend over a full tisahassimahāsahassilokadhātu. Likewise, if the whole cakkavāḷa were a drum with a skin extended to the outer walls and Mt Sineru was used as the striker, its sound would be heard only within one cakkavāḷa,
but the Buddha can make the sound of his voice heard over the whole of a tisahassimahāsahassilokadhātu. This latter is first done by pervading the billion worlds with his radiance, and when beings advert to that, they are able to hear his voice (AN-a 3: 81).
Pali numbers can be ambiguous and it is possible to read tisahassimahāsahassilokadhātu as meaning three times a thousand. Buddhaghosa, the editor of the commentaries, was well aware of this problem and makes it clear that the number is to be read as 1.000 to the third power. He goes so far as to cite an otherwise unknown elder, Gaṇakaputtatissa Thera.127 This unit of a billion worlds, the “thrice a thousand world’s great thousand-fold world system”, became a significant one in later Buddhism, although the confusion persisted between three thousand and a thousand cubed of world-systems.128
The system of Buddha fields as presented here is only fully worked out in the Visuddhimagga. Another late text, the Apadāna of the Khuddaka Nikāya, has an entirely different conception of a buddhakhetta. There (Ap 1:1,1) it is described as a special and fantastic realm with all the gorgeous panoply of lapis-lazuli pillars, gardens, lotus ponds, banners and garlands which we always find in ancient Indian depictions of paradisiacal places. There, all the Buddhas of the past together with many thousands of paccekabuddhas and arahants meet and discuss Dhamma. This picture is, to the say the least, quite unorthodox by Theravāda standards129 and actually seems a precursor of Mahāyāna ideas. The anonymous author of this long poem appears to have been aware of this and phrases the introductory passages in such a way as to make it clear that it is his own imagination he is describing; “There on a silvery ground, I built a palace, many storied, jewelled, raised high to the sky,” and “All the Buddhas of the past, the leaders of the world, together with their Orders and disciples, I created in their natural beauty and appearance.” The tone of this text is that of a devotional poem and cannot be read as a part of the orthodox cosmological system.130
1:18 VERTICAL GROUPINGS OF WORLDS
The picture is greatly complicated when we turn to the vertical structure of the cosmos and the relation of the lower worlds to those of the brahmā beings.
The terrestrial level of the cakkavāḷa includes two sensual deva realms, the Cātumahārājika realm half-way up Mt Sineru and the Tāvatiṃsa realm at its summit. Situated in the space above there are, as we have seen, four additional sensual deva realms associated with each cakkavāḷa. Far above these are the sixteen realms of the brahmā beings. We shall have much more to say about the brahmās and their various realms and levels in Part Three, Chapter Six. For our present purposes let it suffice to say that these realms can be simplified into four levels, each of which corresponds to the state of consciousness experienced in one of the four meditative states known as jhānas. The brahmā beings are beyond the sphere of sensuality (kāmābhumi), which includes humans and devas, and belong to a higher plane of being called the sphere of form (rūpābhumi).
Physically, various realms of the brahmā beings are located high above and quite separate from the cakkavāḷas below, with each successively higher level of brahmā world encompassing a larger range of multiple worlds below. The image is of a nested pyramidal hierarchy. This idea is clearly present in the suttas but the details of a coherent scheme are not found even in the commentaries, and are only implied in the Visuddhimagga.
Mahābrahmā, the ruler of the first level brahmās, is said in the Mahāsamaya Sutta (DN 20) to rule one thousand worlds. The commentary goes on to state that he can illuminate a thousand worlds with one finger, and ten thousand with all ten fingers. The intention of this commentarial note was likely intended to bring the range of his authority up to the unit of a ten-thousand fold world system, equivalent to a field of birth.
We also have a sutta passage which speaks of various levels of brahmā beings who “abide resolving upon and pervading” (pharitvā adhimuccitvā viharati) various multiples of a thousand worlds. There are brahmās who pervade one thousand worlds, two thousand worlds, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, ten thousand and a hundred thousand worlds.131 We have already cited the passage which mentions the tisahassimahāsahassilokadhātu, the “thrice a thousand great thousand-fold world-system.” This is part of a tripartite scheme which begins with a “lesser thousand-fold world-system” (cūḷanikā lokadhātu) of one thousand worlds “each with its Mt Sineru, four continents … (up to a first level) brahmā world”, one thousand of which are encompassed in a “middling thousand-fold world-system” (majjhimikā lokadhātu) which encompasses one thousand of the first level, or one million cakkavāḷas. One thousand of these make a tisahassimahāsahassilokadhātu (AN-a 3:81). These two models are not fully compatible either with each other or with that of the Buddha fields. Furthermore, there is an internal problem in the threefold scheme. This outline is given in reference to a story about a great disciple, Abhibhū, of a former Buddha, who once pervaded one thousand worlds with his voice while standing in the brahmā world. This would imply that the first level brahmā world encompasses or “pervades” one thousand cakkavāḷas. However, the same text lists the contents of the thousand worlds as each including its own brahmā realm.
Clearly no definitive system of nested multiple worlds related to the brahmā levels can be found in the suttas. The Visuddhimagga does systematize these levels, at least by implication. Reading the passage describing the destruction of the worlds at the end of a cycle132 we find a scheme which associates the brahmā levels with the Buddha fields. The simplest way to decipher this scheme is as follows:
1. Each of the ten-thousand worlds of a field of birth includes its own first level brahmā realm.
2. The entire ten-thousand fold system lies under a single second jhāna level brahmā realm
3. One hundred thousand of these units, or one trillion worlds, lie under a single third jhāna level brahmā realm and constitutes a field of authority.
4. An infinite number of these lie under a single fourth jhāna level brahmā realm, which encompasses the field of scope, or in plain language, the entire universe (Vism 13:31).
FIGURE FIVE—VISUDDHIMAGGA MODEL OF MULTIPLE WORLDS [Showing the hierarchy of multiple worlds as they relate to the Buddha-Fields.]
This map is admittedly conjectural, and the text may be interpreted in other ways, both in overall arrangement and in terms of numbers. We must move outside the Pali tradition and look to the Abhidharmakośa to find a fully explicated and coherent scheme of the multi-level nested cosmos, although here too there is some ambivalence between two alternate models. In the model which Vasubandhu prefers we have the following levels:
1. A sāhasra cūḍika lokadhātu (“small chiliocosm”)133 is a grouping of one thousand cakkavāḷas including a first jhāna level brahmā realm for each. There is one second jhāna level brahmā world extending over the whole thousand-fold system.
2. A dvisāhasro madhyamo lokadhātuḥ (“middle dichiliocosm”) groups one thousand small chiliocosms, in other words it includes one million cakkavāḷas and one thousand second jhāna level brahmā realms. It includes one third jhāna level brahmā world extending over the whole.
3. A trisāhasramahāsāhasro lokadhātuḥ (“trichiliomegachiliocosm”) groups one thousand middling chiliocosms. That is to say, it includes one trillion cakkavāḷas, one trillion first jhāna level brahmā realms (I.e. one cakkavāḷa for each 1st level brahmā realm), one billion second jhāna level brahmā realms and one thousand third jhāna level brahmā realms. This trillion-fold world-system is surmounted by a single fourth jhāna level brahmā realm extending over the whole system.The universe as a whole contains an infinite number of such systems. (AK 3:5. p. 468 f).
This scheme is assumed by Vasubandhu in his subsequent discussions. However, he does make mention of an alternate arrangement which he cites as “according to others”, which implies that he takes it seriously enough to merit mentioning but that he does not endorse it. This is as follows:
1. One realm of first jhāna level b
rahmās extends over each thousand-fold world-system.
2. The realm of the second jhāna level brahmās extends over a middling system of one million worlds.
3. The realm of the third jhāna level brahmās extends over a great billion-fold world-system.
4. There is only one realm of fourth jhāna level brahmās which surmounts and extends over the infinity of space.
It is neither necessary nor even possible to choose between these competing models of the cosmos. What they have in common is more important:
1. The universe is composed of an infinite number of worlds. At the “ground” level of the cakkavāḷas of the sense-desire sphere, these are essentially similar; centred on a Mt Sineru, having four island-continents which are the zone of human habitation and bounded by an outer wall. Above this are the sensual deva realms.
2. The higher realms of the rūpabhūmi, the realms of the brahmās, are organized hierarchically with each succeeding level presiding over some multiple (a thousand or ten thousand etc.) of the realms below (AK 3:5. p. 468).
The correspondence between this arrangement of realms and the mental states experienced in meditation is striking, and is perhaps the most important aspect of the whole cosmological scheme. The worlds of sense desire are the most complex and are multiplied endlessly, although all essentially the same. As we ascend through the realms and leave the world of sensuality behind, we find greater and greater simplicity approaching to unity at the top. This is most clearly expressed in the alternate Abhidharmakośa model which has just one realm of fourth jhāna for the entire universe. When we come to examine in detail the nature of the brahmā beings, this intriguing correspondence with meditative states will be explained further.