At first, Phusatī was merely frightened and asked what evil deed she had done to be sent away from this dear place. Sakka gently replied that she had committed no sin, that her merit was exhausted and her time to pass away had come. He again urged her to name her ten boons, while there was still time.
Phusatī at last accepted the reality of her situation, and named her boons. She asked that in her next life she would again be a chief queen, that she have dark eyes, that she would again bear the name Phusatī, that she would have a son, that she keep a slim figure always, even while pregnant, that her breasts would always remain firm, that she not grow grey-haired, that she would have soft skin and that she have the power to save anyone condemned by the king.
When she had finished naming her boons, Phusatī passed away from that world and was reborn into the womb of King Madda’s queen. She would grow up to become the mother of Prince Vessantara, the last human birth of the Bodhisatta before his attainment of Buddhahood. Eventually, she would also take birth as Mahāmāyā, the mother of Siddhattha Gotama, the Buddha of this age. (Jāt 547)
It may seem that Phusatī’s requests were for the most part motivated by vanity, but it was something more poignant. It was a deva’s horror of the depredations of human aging, a process that must seem cruel and terrible to them. Human existence is seen from the perspective of most devas as repugnant. When one deva was asked by Sakka to take a human birth to benefit the world, he was at first reluctant: “O king, the world of men is hateful and loathsome (paṭikūlo jeguccho): they who dwell there do good and give alms longing for the world of the gods.”579 What is more, we smell bad to them, even from seven yojana away (DN 23). The exception is that the scent of the wise and good, such as the Buddha and the arahants, is delightful to them (Dhp-a 15:8). And the wisest of the devas long for human birth, for the increased opportunity to practice Dhamma.580
Another story illustrates birth and death in the deva worlds:
At one time the deva Mālabhāri went, together with his entourage of accharās, to a pleasure-garden for amusement. Five hundred of the devadhītus were climbing among the branches of a great tree, gathering blossoms to make a garland to adorn the devaputta. One of the devadhītus suddenly died while among the branches, her body vanishing like the flame of a lamp.
She was reborn into a family of Savātthi and given the name Patipūjikā. She retained the memory of her previous existence, and always yearned to rejoin her beloved husband (sāmika) Mālabhāri. She made an earnest aspiration to gain renewed rebirth in Tāvatiṃsa and spent much time making merit by helping with the care of the eating-hall for the bhikkhus. At sixteen years of age Patipūjikā was married off into another family, which she regarded as a great misfortune, and she never ceased longing for her return to Mālabhāri.
In the course of a long life, during which she had four sons, she always continued to keep strict morality and perform meritorious deeds, and always with the strong aspiration to be reborn again in Tāvatiṃsa.
At last, one day, after giving gifts, making pūja, listening to Dhamma and taking the precepts her time was finished and Patipūjikā died. She was immediately back in the pleasure garden in Tāvatiṃsa, and the other accharās were now adorning Mālabhāri with his flowery wreath. Seeing Patipūjikā, her husband asked her, “I have not seen you since early this morning. Where did you go?”
“I died, my lord.”
“What is that you say?”
“Just so, my lord.”
“Where were you reborn?”
“Into a family of Sāvatthi.”
“How much time did you spend there?”
“For ten months, I lie in my mother’s womb. For sixteen years I stayed with my family, then I was married into another family and there I had four sons. But I always gave gifts and made merit with the aspiration to be returned to you.”
“How old were you in human years?”
“One hundred years.”
“Only that?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Given such a short span of human life, is it then to spend as if asleep, heedlessly given over to desire, or to giving gifts and making merit?”
“What are you saying, my lord?”
“Having only a short and uncertain span of life, even so humans are as heedless as if they were immortal.” The devaputta Mālabhāri was seized with a great emotion of awe and dread (saṃvega). “Having only a hundred years in a human birth, and yet they spend it as if asleep. How then can we be freed from suffering?” (Dhp-a 4:4)
This story illustrates the different time scales of the human and deva realms. While one hundred years of a busy life had gone by for Patipūjikā, for Mālabhārī it was still the evening of the same day in Tāvatiṃsa. It is to be noticed that the five signs are not mentioned here. Perhaps Patipūjikā was simply too heedless to notice them, but one commentarial passage does state that these only occur for devas of great powers (DN-a 14).
3:5:14 THE BUDDHA TEACHING IN TĀVATIṂSA
The seventh vassa (rains retreat) of the Buddha was spent in Tāvatiṃsa. This occurred immediately after the Buddha had performed the “Twin Miracle” (yamakapāṭihāra) before a great multitude. This refers to a supernormal feat where he emitted streams of fire and water simultaneously. This is a miraculous display that can only be performed by a Buddha.581
The Buddha reflected, “Where did the Buddhas of the past go to spend the vassa after performing this miracle?” Investigating this question he found that they went to the Tāvatiṃsa deva realm. So the Blessed One proceeded to Tāvatiṃsa by taking only two steps. He placed one foot on the top of the Yugandhara Mountains and with the next stepped onto the peak of Mt Sineru.
Sakka, the king of the devas, thinking that the Buddha would likely take his seat on the Paṇḍukambalasila throne (Sakka’s stone seat) was concerned that the devas would not be able to sit conveniently near him and hear the teachings, because of the throne’s great size relative to a human body. The throne is sixty yojana long, fifty yojana wide and fifteen yojana thick. Knowing the doubt in Sakka’s mind, the Buddha draped his outer robe (saṅghāṭi) over the throne, covering it completely. Sakka remained doubtful, thinking that despite having draped it with his robe, when the Buddha sat in the middle of the throne his figure would seem small and insignificant. When the Buddha took his seat there, it was just like he was sitting comfortably on a small stool. Sakka was truly amazed and regretted his doubts.
The Buddha remained in Tāvatiṃsa for the three months of the vassa (“rains retreat”), preaching to a vast concourse of devas extending in all directions around his seat for many yojana. In a special place of honour on his right side sat his mother, who had been reborn as a male deva in Tusita and had descended to the Tāvatiṃsa realm for the occasion. The Buddha taught the Abhidhamma to the devas during that time. Every morning he would descend to earth and take his morning bath in Lake Anotatta after which he would meet with Sāriputta and give him a summary of what had been taught in Tāvatiṃsa the day before. Then he would proceed to the northern continent of Uttarakuru to walk for alms to make his daily meal.
At the end of the vassa when the Buddha was ready to return to the human realm, Sakka ordered Vessakamma582 to make three stairways with the head in Tāvatiṃsa and the foot at Saṅkassa City where Sāriputta had made his residence. The stairway on the right was of gold and for the use of the devas. The stairway on the left was of silver and for the use of the mahābrahmās. The jeweled stairway in the middle was for the Buddha.
Standing at the head of the jeweled stairway, the Buddha looked up and saw all the way to the brahmā worlds. He looked down and saw all the way to the nethermost of the nirayas. Looking in any direction, he saw hundreds of thousands of world-systems. At that moment, the devas could see the humans and the humans could see the devas just as if they were face-to-face.
As the Buddha descended the stairway Pañcasikha on his right-side played his vīṇa (a stringed instrument), paying homa
ge to the Blessed One with sweet gandhabba music. Mātali on the Buddha’s left honoured him with heavenly flowers. Mahābrahmā held a royal parasol over the Buddha and Suyāma, king of the Yāma devas, carried a fly-whisk. Later a cetiya (stupa) was built at Saṅkassa to mark the spot where the Buddha’s foot first touched the earth. (Dhp-a 14: 2)
The short summaries of the Buddha’s teachings in Tāvatiṃsa as given to Sāriputta are considered to be the origins of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. Sāriputta expounded upon them each day to five hundred disciples who had a special merit; in the time of Kassapa Buddha they had all been bats living in a cave where bhikkhus were chanting the Abhidhamma. Although in animal form they were unable to understand the meaning, they did “grasp some sign from the sound” (sare nimittaṃ aggahesuṃ) (ibid.). The descent of the Buddha from Tāvatiṃsa is a favourite motif in Buddhist temple art.
3:5:15 THE GREAT DEVAS OF TĀVATIṂSA
It has been already noted in the context of the Four Great Kings that the names of the devas are really more like titles of an office; when a Sakka dies, another one is born, so that there is always a Sakka. However, the situation may be a bit more subtle than that. The names are used like names, not like titles; Sakka has a title, devānamindo, “lord of the gods.” As well, the personality of the particular deva remains more or less constant throughout the stories, even though in many cases the individual rebirth is identified as being this or that person of the Buddha’s time. It may be best to regard this flux within a continuity as just another aspect of the voidness of self, anattā, a central concept in Buddhist thought. The elements of a personality are empty and dependently arisen and it may be best to think of two different, but intertwined, continuities: that of the personality Sakka Devānamindo, and that of the being reborn as Sakka.
In the next section, we shall be examining several of the great devas of the Tāvatiṃsa realm. Many individual devas are named in the texts, but for the most part we know little or nothing about them other than their names. Further, there is nowhere a definitive list of just who constitutes the “Thirty-Three” (the English meaning of Tāvatiṃsa). The devas selected for consideration here are the most important; those few known to be in the Thirty-Three and all those who figure prominently in the stories. We begin, appropriately, with the King of the Devas Sakka, about who there is more written in the sources than all the rest combined.
3:5:16 SAKKA
The devas of Tāvatiṃsa are that group which is most clearly derived from the older Indo-Aryan pantheon found in the Vedas. Sakka is the Buddhist version of Indra, the heroic and war-like champion of the Vedas, the Pali form of whose name is Inda. This name is sometimes used in the Pali texts583 and we are told explicitly in one passage that “Sakka is Inda.”584 Nevertheless, although he retains many traces of the original Indra the character of Sakka is quite distinct. By the time the canon and commentaries were written, Inda-Sakka has become thoroughly Buddhist. Although he still wields a thunderbolt, he mostly uses it to threaten rather than to slay. Furthermore, while the Vedic Indra had a definite role as a creator-god, separating earth and sky, releasing the waters of life and leading out the sun to shine in the beginning of things,585 there is absolutely no trace of this in Sakka.
Sakka may be said to the Supreme Being but only in a very limited and specific sense. He is the one who sits on his throne at the very summit of Mt Sineru, the highest point of the terrestrial world-system and has rulership over the whole. However, there are realms and beings above the earth, and Sakka is well aware of this. Furthermore, he is seen often paying respects to the Buddha and the arahants. His rulership over the devas consists in large part in presiding over the assemblies in the Sudhamma Hall, as we have seen. He is also, so we are told, kept very busy judging disputes which arise between devas such as the one concerning the new devī Rohinī (MN-a37). Sakka is also overlord of the Four Great Kings of Cātumahārājika and, is responsible for appointing them in the first place586 We have already spoken of his role as war-chief in the perennial battles with the asuras, (§ 3:3,23) a function in which he most displays his origins as Indra. Sakka’s governorship of the human realm consists in his oversight of the fortnightly inspections made by the Cātumahārājika devas, and in occasional direct interventions to assist the righteous and correct wrong-doers. We shall describe some of these below, as well as some instances in which Sakka’s interventions have a more selfish motivation.
We can perhaps gain some insight into the nature of Sakka and his relationship to Indra by a consideration of his epithets:
Devānaminda—This is Sakka’s most commonly used title, and it means “lord of the gods.” The word inda here is a common noun meaning “lord” or “master” but the resonance with the proper name Inda is hard to ignore.
Sahasakkha—“The Thousand-Eyed.” This was also an epithet of Indra’s. It is not to be interpreted literally; Sakka is always depicted with just the ordinary two. The text explains that it means he can attend to a thousand thoughts at once.
Purindada—The original Sanskrit form purbhīd meant “destroyer of cities” but is explained by the commentator as a Pali compound meaning “previous giver” for his generosity in his former human existence. A clearer example of the Buddhification of the old Vedic war-god could not be asked for!587
Vatrabhū—The commentator gives two possible derivations. The first, which seems rather strained, is that it means “rulership through conduct” (vattena aññe abhibhavati). The second is that it refers to the defeat of the asura Vatra. This is a clear reference to Indra’s epic battle with the demonic Vṛta.588
Other epithets of Sakka are not apparently derived from Indra, but reflect his own nature:
Maghavā—This epithet is given because his name as a human was Magha (Jāt 31). However, this involves a narrative contradiction because the Jātaka identifies that Sakka as a previous birth of the Bodhisatta and yet the title is used of the Sakka of the Buddha’s time, who is obviously a different individual. That this contradiction does not appear to have bothered the commentators may be either just an oversight, or another indication of the empty nature of personal identity in the context of Buddhist thought.
Vāsava—This derives from Magha’s gift of a rest-house (āvasatha).
Sujampati—This refers to Sakka as the husband of the asura maiden Sujā.
Kosiya—very frequently used by others addressing Sakka familiarly, much like a given name.589
Sakka is a frequent character in the Jātaka stories, appearing in about one eighth of the total collection. In at least nineteen of the stories, it is the Bodhisatta who is born as Sakka. We are told in the Aṅguttara Nikāya that the Buddha had been Sakka thirty-six times (AN 7:62). In eight Jātakas, Sakka is identified with Anuruddha. Moggallāna and Kāḷudāyi were also Sakka in one story each590 If there is any significant difference in the personalities of these various Sakkas, it is not easy to find. As a rule, Sakka is identified as the Bodhisatta in those stories in which he is a central figure in the narrative, unless some other important figure is the Bodhisatta, in which case Sakka is identified as a previous birth of Anuruddha. In most of Sakka’s appearances he is not identified as a previous birth of anyone in particular and often plays a very minor role in the story. For instance, in several stories Sakka’s only role is to order Vissakamma, the divine architect, to fashion a pleasant hermitage for some great ascetic, usually the Bodhisatta. His appearances in the Dhammapāda stories are very similar. There is also an entire chapter of the Saṃyutta Nikāya devoted to Sakka, as well as important incidents told in the Dīgha and Majjhima Nikāyas.
The picture that emerges of Sakka from these stories is a complex one, his is the most well-developed and nuanced character in the mythology. Despite his great powers and his awesome role as devānamindo, Sakka emerges as endearingly human. He is mostly a force for good, and is devoted to the Buddha, whom he venerates. And yet, Sakka remains subject to very ordinary defilements, especially sensuality but he can also act q
uite selfishly in defence of his interests and position.
Sakka’s interventions in human affairs are usually triggered by a sign which warns him of trouble; either his throne manifests heat (āsanaṃ uṇhākāraṃ dassesi) or his dwelling trembles (bhavanaṃ kampi). This is said to happen when his life-span is coming to an end, when his merit is near exhaustion, by the force of righteousness (dhammika) exhibited by a brahmin or samaṇa of great supernormal power (mahiddika) or when some person of great power (mahānubhāvasatta) is seeking to take his place (Jāt 440). At other times, these signs occur when some righteous person on earth is in distress and in need of divine aid.
In the Sambula Jātaka, Sakka rescues a princess:
Sotthisena was a prince of Bārāṇasi and his wife was the fair and virtuous Sambulā. It came to pass that the prince was afflicted with leprosy and in his despair determined to leave human company and live alone in the forest. Despite his protests, the noble Sambulā insisted on accompanying him and serving as his nurse and help-mate.
One day, when she was out gathering fruits in the forest she stopped to bathe in a mountain pool. There she was spied by a cruel dānava591 who was inflamed with lust for her. After she had risen from the pool and dressed he emerged from concealment and announced himself, proposing that she come away with him as his bride.
“What use to you is your sickly prince? If you come with me, I shall make you the chief of all my four hundred wives and fulfill your every whim.”
But the good princess would hear none of it, and only wished to return to her rightful husband as quickly as possible. Enraged by her refusal, the dānava seized her by the arm and said, “If you will not be my wife, you shall serve just as well as breakfast!”
Sambulā cried out, “Are there no devas, no protectors of the world, to prevent such lawlessness?”
The Buddhist Cosmos Page 44