The Buddhist Cosmos

by Punnadhammo Mahathero

  At one time Ānanda had taken birth as a cakkavatti by the name of Kāliṅga.

  One day King Kāliṅga surrounded by his retinue which stretched over thirty-six yojana mounted his elephant which resembled the peak of Mount Kelāsa, intending to visit his mother and father with grand pageantry. The king and his retinue ascended into the air and went on their way.

  However, when they reached the site of all the Buddhas’ victories, the very navel of the earth, the Mahābodhimaṇḍa,291 the elephant was unable to fly any further. The king urged him to go on, admonishing him again and again, but the elephant was unable to fly over that place.

  The purohita (chief brahmin) of the king descended to earth to investigate and ascertained that this place was indeed the Mahābodhimaṇḍa. He rose up in the air again and reported this to the king. “This is the place where all the Buddhas have utterly destroyed the defilements. No one can fly over this circle, not even Sakka himself. Descend to earth, sire, and pay homage.”

  But the royal elephant, pierced again and again by the goad, had been unable to endure the pain and had died. The king did not know that his mount was dead and still sat on his back. The purohita told him, “Majesty, your elephant is dead. Mount another.” By the power of the king’s merit another elephant of the Uposatha breed appeared at that place in an instant. As soon as the king had dismounted the first elephant, its carcass fell to the earth.

  King Kāliṅga was delighted by the Mahābodhimaṇḍa and he ordered that all the inhabitants of the world should pay homage to the Bodhi Tree with garlands of flowers for seven days. (Jāt 479)

  There is one cakkavatti who enjoyed a particularly spectacular career, this was King Mandhātu.

  Mandhātu was endowed with the seven treasures and the four powers and established a universal monarchy (cakkavattirajjaṃ). When he clenched his left fist and sprinkled it using his right hand, in an instant (lit. “in a finger-snap of time”) there fell a rain of the seven precious things, knee deep; so wonderful a man was he. For eighty-four thousand years he engaged in childish play, for eighty-four thousand years he served as viceroy (oparajja) and for eighty-four thousand years he ruled as cakkavatti. The measure of his life-span was incalculable.292

  One day the king was unable to satisfy some sensual desire and so became discontented. His councillors asked him why he was looking unhappy and he replied, “Considering the power of my merit, what is this kingdom? Is there another place more delightful?” They answered, “The devaloka, great king.”

  So having sprinkled the Wheel, King Mandhātu together with his retinue went to the realm of the Cātumahārājika Devas. The Four Great Kings came forth to greet him with garlands of deva flowers in their hands and surrounded by a great company of lesser devas. Having received him, they took him into their realm and gave him kingship over it. There, surrounded by his own retinue, he exercised kingship for a very long time.

  But there too he was unable to satisfy his desire and he grew discontented. The Four Great Kings enquired as to why he looked unhappy and King Mandhātu asked, “Is there another deva realm more delightful than this one?” “There is, deva,293 another devaloka of which we are the servants. The Tāvatiṃsa devaloka is more delightful than this.” King Mandhātu having sprinkled the Wheel went forth with his retinue to the Tāvatiṃsa devaloka. There Sakka the devarājā came forth to greet him with garlands of deva flowers in his hand and surrounded by a great company of lesser devas. Sakka took him by the hand and said, “Come this way, great king.”

  While the king was walking along among the company of devas, his chief councillor294 took the Wheel and together with the king’s retinue descended to the paths of men and entered his own city. Sakka led Mandhātu into the realm of Tāvatiṃsa and divided the devatās into two companies, having severed his realm in two he gave one half to Mandhātu to rule. From that time, there were two kings ruling in the kingdom. As time went by, Sakka exhausted his thirty-six million year lifespan and died. Another Sakka came into existence there. This Sakka, too, lived out his lifespan and died. In this way, thirty six Sakkas died and yet Mandhātu in his human state continued to rule over the deva kingdom.

  As time went on the measure of the king’s sensual desires increased and the thought occurred to him, “What is half a kingdom to me? I shall kill Sakka and make myself the sole king.” But he could not kill Sakka. Desire (taṇhā) was the root of his downfall. His life force began wasting away and his body was afflicted with old age. But a human body cannot be destroyed in a devaloka, so he fell to earth and landed in a park. The park keeper announced his arrival to the royal family and they came and prepared a couch for him in the park. There the king lay, exhausted.

  They asked him, “Deva, do you have anything to tell us?” He replied, “You may announce this to the populace; the great king Mandhātu, ruler of the four continents and the two thousand islands, a cakkavatti, having ruled for a long time over the realm of the Four Great Kings, came to rule in the devaloka through the lives of thirty-six Sakkas, was unable to satisfy his desires and now his time is done.” Having said this, he died and went according to his kamma. (Jāt 258)

  Mandhātu has a double connection to Gotama Buddha. Not only was he a previous birth of the Buddha himself (ibid.) but he was also the Buddha’s ancestor, and himself a direct descendent of Mahāsammata (“the great elect”), the first king chosen by the people in the dawn of time.295

  One other detail is told of Mandhātu’s reign. It seems that while he was ruling together with Sakka in Tāvatiṃsa, sitting beside him on the paṇḍukambala throne, Mandhātu began to think himself the equal of Sakka, and becoming accustomed to existence in the davaloka he grew forgetful of his human domains. In his absence the chief councillor ruled in his place as a viceroy, with Mandhātu’s sandals placed on a golden slab as an emblem of authority. The Wheel in the meanwhile had fallen and became stuck fast in the earth. Many people from the other three island-continents had come to Jambudīpa during Mandhātu’s reign, thinking, “It is in Jambudīpa that there arise Buddhas, paccekabuddhas, great disciples and cakkavattis. The noblest humans are born there, Jambudīpa is the best and most delightful land.” Now, with the Wheel earth-bound they were unable to return home and they asked the viceroy to give them lands in Jambudīpa to live. This was the origin of the Kuru land settled by the people from Uttarakuru, Videha settled by those from Pubbavideha and Aparanta by those of Aparagoyāna.296

  King Mandhātu is reckoned “foremost in the enjoyment of sensual pleasures,” (AN 4: 15) because he enjoyed the sensual delights of both the human and deva worlds through a very long life (AN-a 4: 15). His career, and his final words, are emblematic of the truth that desire can never be satiated.

  3:1:14 PACCEKABUDDHAS

  Before considering the highest manifestation of a mahāpurisa, a fully awakened Buddha, we need to put him into context by briefly examining the other classes of awakened beings.

  There are three kinds of persons who have fully realized nibbāna, made an end of birth and death and fully transcended saṃsāra. These are the arahant, the paccekabuddha and the sammāsambuddha (“perfectly self-awakened one.”)297 All three are arahant (“perfected”). The first category, the arahants per se, are sāvaka (“disciples”), because they attain to full awakening during the dispensation of a Buddha and have his teachings as a guide. The other two are qualified as “self-awakened” (-sam)298 because they attain to full awakening purely by their own efforts, without the benefit of a guide.

  The appearance of a sammāsambuddha299 in the world is a very rare event of profound cosmological importance. As we have seen, there may be only one such Buddha in a field of ten thousand world-systems at a time (§ 1:17) and many aeons may pass without any Buddha arising at all. During the periods when no Buddha teaching is extant, that is to say during the great majority of cosmic time, some individuals may become fully awakened by their own efforts but without undertaking teaching on a large scale or founding a movement which surv
ives their death. These are the paccekabuddhas.

  The word pacceka is defined by PED as “each one, single, by oneself, separate, various, several”, and paccekabuddha is often translated as “solitary Buddha” or “silent Buddha.” The definition of a paccekabuddha as given in the commentaries is, “A paccekabuddha is awakened by himself, but he does not awaken others. He penetrates the essence of the meaning (attharasa) but not the essence of reality (dhammarasa). They are not able to formulate the transcendent truths into words and teach them. Their realization is like a dream seen by a mute person” (Sn-a 1:3).

  The paccekabuddha is portrayed as living the life of an ascetic (samaṇa), wearing the “yellow robe” and going for alms with a begging bowl.300 They usually live in remote places, particularly on Mt Gandhamādana in the Himavā (§ 1:12). They travel to the habitations of ordinary humankind by flying through the air with their psychic powers (E.g. Dhp-a 10:11).

  The image of a paccekabuddha as being “solitary” is mainly based on the Khaggavisāṇa Sutta of the Sutta Nipāta,301 which praises in repeated stanzas the virtue of a solitary life with the refrain, “Wander lonely, like the rhinoceros.” Although the text does not explicitly mention paccekabuddhas, the commentary interprets the entire sutta as being about them, with stories of individual paccekabuddhas attached to various stanzas. Elsewhere in the sources, the paccekabuddha is not always portrayed as being a lonely wanderer but is depicted as living in community with other paccekabuddhas. A common number is five hundred; at one time there were five hundred paccekabuddhas living in a cavern in Mt Isigili near Rājagaha (MN 116). Five hundred are often mentioned as dwelling on Mt Gandhamādana (Dhp-a 10:11). There is one very curious story about a woman, Padumavatī, who on account of the merit made by giving five hundred grains of rice and a lotus flower to a paccekabuddha had her wish granted and became the mother of five hundred sons, all of whom became paccekabuddhas when they reached adulthood. It is said that only one of these sons was born from her womb, in the natural way, and the rest were “moisture-born” (saṃsedajā).302

  It is also not quite accurate to call them “silent.” They do live in community and take disciples. However, a paccekabuddha is unable to teach the profound aspects of the Dhamma he has seen and their students are given instruction only in the “minor duties”, which would have included basic meditation instruction (Dhp-a 21:1).

  3:1:15 THE SAMMĀSAMBUDDHA

  The appearance of a Buddha in the world is an exceedingly rare event. As we have seen, (§ 2:10) there can only ever be one Buddha at a time in a field consisting of ten thousand cakkavāḷas. Furthermore, long ages may pass between Buddhas when the teachings are utterly forgotten. A Buddha is the supreme form of manifestation in the entire cosmos. When a Buddha-to-be is born, he declares his status immediately upon emerging from his mother’s womb:

  It is the natural order of things (dhammatā) that immediately after being born he places his feet firmly and evenly upon the ground with his face to the north and takes seven steps under the shade of a white parasol.303 Then he stands surveying the four directions and declares in a majestic voice,304 “I am the highest (aggo) in the entire world, I am the eldest (jeṭṭha) in the entire world, I am supreme (seṭṭha) in the entire world. This is my final birth; there will be no more becoming for me.” This is the natural order of things. (DN 14)

  The Abhidhamma defines a sammāsambuddha thus:

  What person is a sammāsambuddha? Here a certain person who from among those things (dhammā) not heard before awakens to the truth by himself; he attains omniscience (sabbaññuta) and mastery of the powers (balesu vasībhāvaṃ). This person we call a sammāsambuddha” (Pp 1)

  The doctrine of the Buddha’s omniscience became very important to the tradition in the commentarial period. In the Jātakas, the attainment of omniscience is frequently cited as the goal of the Bodhisatta and becomes virtually the equivalent of Buddhahood.305 However, judging by the evidence of the suttas, the Buddha does not seem to have claimed this for himself. In the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta (MN 71) the ascetic Vacchagotta asks the Buddha if what he has heard from others is true, that:

  The samaṇa Gotama is all-knowing (sabbaññū) and all-seeing (sabbadassāvī), that he claims unbroken knowledge and vision thus: walking or standing, sleeping or waking, knowledge and vision are continually present.

  The Buddha definitively rejects this claim, saying that those who speak thus are misrepresenting him. When Vacchagotta inquires as to what he might say to others if asked, so as to represent the Buddha’s position correctly, the Buddha answers that he should cite the Three Knowledges of a Buddha (tevijja). That is, the knowledge of all his past lives “through many kappas of unfolding and infolding”, the knowledge of the way beings rise and fall according to their kamma and the supreme knowledge of destruction of the root defilements (āsavā).

  The position becomes more nuanced in the Kaṇṇakatthala Sutta (MN 90) in which King Pasenadi asks the Buddha if it is true that he asserted that it is not possible for anyone to be “all-knowing and all-seeing and to have unbroken knowledge and vision.” The Buddha denied having said this and corrected the statement of his position; he had said that it was not possible for anyone to know all and see all at once (sakideva). While this statement falls short of an actual claim to omniscience, it certainly leaves the door open for what became the established doctrine in the Theravāda tradition: that of a kind of qualified omniscience. While the Buddha is capable of knowing all things, he only actually knows something if and when he adverts his mind to it; he does not know all things simultaneously.306 This view is also supported by the Buddha’s statement that, “whatever can be seen, heard, sensed or cognized … that I know” (AN 4: 24). In a note, Bhikkhu Bodhi comments that this way of phrasing would seem to limit the knowledge of the Buddha to that which can be known and this “would exclude much of the future, which is not predetermined.”307 Perhaps we should not investigate this matter too closely; the Buddha also said that trying to conceive the range of a Buddha’s knowledge can only lead to either frustration or madness (AN 4: 77).

  The other part of the definition of a sammāsambuddha mentions the “powers” (bala) of a Buddha. There are some variant lists but the standard one consists of ten powers,308 and these also are mostly concerned with defining the supernormal knowledge of a Buddha. The ten powers are:

  1. The knowledge of the possible and the impossible. There is a long list of these. It includes various aspects of right view, such as “it is not possible that a person possessed of right view should regard any compounded thing as permanent.” The list also says that it is impossible that two Buddhas or cakkavattis can co-exist in the same world-system. It is further stated that it is impossible for a woman to become a Buddha, a cakkavatti, Māra, Brahmā or Sakka. Finally it is stated that is impossible that a skilful bodily action will lead to an unhappy result and the reverse.

  2. The knowledge of the workings of kamma and its result.

  3. The knowledge of the “ways leading everywhere” (sabbatthagāmini paṭipada). This refers to knowing which thoughts and actions lead to rebirth into a particular realm.

  4. The knowledge of the various elements in the world. This is the knowledge of the aggregates, elements and bases which comprise the world.

  5. The knowledge of the diversity in the disposition of beings.

  6. The knowledge of the inferior or superior faculties and characters of other beings.

  7. The knowledge of the various factors and aspects involved in the jhānas and other meditative states.

  8. The recollection of all his previous existences going back many kappas.

  9. The knowledge of the passing away and re-arising of beings. He sees various beings of good or bad character passing away from one existence and re-arising in another happy or miserable state.

  10. The knowledge of the destruction of the root defilements (āsavā). This constitutes the complete purification of his being and is synonymous with th
e attainment of buddhahood.

  Some of these powers may be shared by other awakened beings but are present in their fullness only in a sammāsambuddha. Taking the recollection of past lives as an example, those of other sects may recollect back 40 kappas at a maximum. Ordinary arahants may recollect back between 100 and 1000 kappas. One of the eighty great disciples can recall back 100,000 kappas. The two chief disciples can recall one asaṅkheyya and 100,000 kappas. A paccekabuddha can recall two asaṅkheyya and 100,000 kappas. But there is no limit to how far back a sammāsambuddha can recall.309 A little later in the same text, this is represented metaphorically with the power of each person’s knowledge of recollection compared to a source of light. The knowledge of a yogi from another sect is like the light of a glow worm. The light of an ordinary arahant is like that of a candle. That of a great disciple is like a torch, that of a chief disciple is like the morning star. But the knowledge of a paccekabuddha is like that of the moon and that of a sammāsambuddha is like the sun in all its glory adorned with one thousand rays (Vism 13: 19).

  There is a profound archetypal aspect to the lives of the sammāsambuddhas. The career of every Buddha which appears in the world follows a stereotypical pattern. This is illustrated by the circumstances surrounding his conception and birth. The Mahāpadāna Sutta (DN 14) contains a passage which details the events in each Bodhisatta’s early life:

  1. Every Bodhisatta descends into his mother’s womb mindful and fully aware (sata sampajāna). This means that his conception is not like that of ordinary people who are overwhelmed by confusion and forget their previous existence. The Bodhisatta had spent his immediately prior existence as a deva in Tusita, and he has descended into the human realm voluntarily and consciously at the request of the other devas.

  2. When the Bodhisatta descends into his mother’s womb, a brilliant light illuminates the entire ten thousand-fold world-system, even including the lokantarika nirayas.310