The Buddhist Cosmos
Page 59
Because of the parallelism between jhāna and the mind of a brahmā, both of which are classed as rūpabhūmi states, we can use knowledge of either one to gain a deeper understanding of the other. To take a clear practical example, because samādhi is often rendered as “concentration” and ekaggatā as “one-pointedness” beginning meditators often assume they need to narrow or “concentrate” their minds to a point. But when we recall that a mahābrahmā can observe up to a hundred thousand world-systems “like a man holding a pile of gall-nuts in his hand” (MN 120) we can see how mistaken this approach is. The mind in jhāna, like the mind of a brahmā, is vast and expansive.
Some mahābrahmās are subject to pride and false views, as we have seen. But others are disciples of the Buddha and may even have attained to one or another of the stages of awakening.747 It is clear, however, that even the wisest and most highly attained mahābrahmās are beneath the Buddha in the spiritual hierarchy. It is said that even a sixteen thousand kappa old mahābrahmā whose defilements are extinguished (implying that he is an arahant) praises the Buddha as “highest, eldest and best in the world, without a superior” (AN-a 8:11). Likewise, a mahābrahmā wielding power over ten thousand world-systems can serve the Buddha or the arahants like a monastery attendant (kappiyakārako) (AN-a 1:174). There are several examples of this. A mahābrahmā carried the Buddha’s robes and bowl at the time of the first alms-round after his awakening (AN-a 1: 188), and a mahābrahmā was among the deities who came to serve Sāriputta during his final illness (SN-a 47:13). (But these were all dismissed by him). It is possible for brahmās to attain to one or more of the stages of awakening; at the time of the Buddha’s first sermon, when the ascetic Kondañña gained sotāpatti (“stream-entry”) so did eighteen koṭi (I.e. 180,000,000) of mahābrahmās (AN-a 1: 170).
3:6:9 SAHAMPATI
Individual brahmās feature in several incidents in the text. Several are named. In other cases the word Mahābrahmā is used like a proper name and presumably refers to the mahābrahmā of this local group of world-systems. Most of these examples concern the relations of Mahābrahmā to the Buddha. For instance, we are told that when the Buddha descended from Tāvatiṃsa after teaching there for a rainy season, Mahābrahmā held a parasol over him, (MN-a 26) an act of symbolic significance in that the parasol was an important insignia of sovereignty in ancient India. It is noteworthy that when individual brahmās are named, or featured in stories, they are always either mahābrahmās of the first jhāna level or beings inhabiting the Suddhāvāsa level, the realms reserved for anāgāmīs. In the second, third and fourth jhānas the factors of vitakka and vicāra are absent. These mental qualities also associated with cognitive thought and speech; therefore their absence would disqualify brahmās of those levels from active participation in the affairs of the world. It is also not always clear whether we are dealing with a mahābrahmā per se or a being from the Suddhāvāsa. In at least one place, a Suddhāvāsa brahmā is also called a mahābrahmā.748
The most important mahābrahmā to feature in the stories is certainly the Brahmā Sahampati who was intimately involved in the Buddha’s career. At the time of the Buddha Kassapa, he had been a human bhikkhu named Sahaka. In that life, he developed his meditation to the level of first jhāna and after death was reborn in the brahmaloka, where he was known as Sahampati.749 One text says that his name there was originally Sahakapati (based on his human name) but that it was misheard and the mistake stuck (Bv-a 1). Another says that the bhikkhu Sahaka eliminated sensual desire through the development of the five indryas (“faculties”), which would imply that he was an anāgāmī, (SN 48:57) which in turn would imply that Sahampati is a Suddhāvāsa Brahmā.750 Other considerations work against this supposition, as we shall see.
The most significant encounter of the Brahmā Sahampati and the Buddha occurred in the eighth week after the Buddha’s awakening while he was sitting under the goat-herd’s banyan tree at Nerañjarā.
This reflection arose in the mind of the Blessed One: “This Dhamma obtained by me is profound, hard to see, hard to understand. It is peaceful and most excellent. Not to be found by reasoning, it is subtle and can only be experienced by the wise. But this generation delights in attachment, takes pleasure in attachment, is devoted to attachment … if I were to teach this Dhamma, they would not understand it and it would only bring weariness and vexation to me.”
Because of these reflections, the Blessed One was inclined to inaction, to not teaching the Dhamma.
Then the Brahmā Sahampati knew the mind of the Blessed One with his own mind and thought, “The world will be lost, the world will perish because the mind of the Tathāgata, this perfectly awakened Buddha, is inclined to inaction, to not teaching the Dhamma.” Then just as a strong mind might bend forth his arm or draw it back again, so did the Brahmā Sahampati disappear from the brahmaloka and appear before the Blessed One. Then Brahmā Sahampati arranged his robe over one shoulder, bent his right knee to the earth, put his palms together and spoke to the Blessed One, “Teach, Bhante, the blessed Dhamma! Teach the good Dhamma! There are beings with but little dust in their eyes who perish through not hearing the Dhamma. There are those who will understand the Dhamma.” Then he spoke these verses:
In former times, in Magadha
There arose impure teachings,
thought up by those still stained.
Open the door to the deathless!
Let them hear the Dhamma of the stainless Buddha!
Just as from a rock on a mountain peak,
one might survey the people standing below.
Just so, wise one, mount the Palace of Dhamma,
you of the all-seeing eye;
Being yourself free of sorrow,
Behold the sorrowing people, suffering in birth and death.
Rise up, hero, victor of the battle!
Leader of the caravan, free of all debt, wander through the world!
Teach the Dhamma! There are those who will understand!
Having heard the brahmā’s request, out of compassion the Blessed One surveyed the world with the eye of a Buddha (buddhacakkhu) and saw some with much dust in their eyes and others with but little … and having seen, he answered the Brahmā Sahampati:
Opened is the door to the deathless.
Let the faithful listen and become free.
Foreseeing difficulties, I did not speak
this subtle Dhamma among humans, O Brahmā!
Brahmā Sahampati thought, “The Blessed One has given his consent to my request and will teach the Dhamma.” Paying his respects and keeping his right side to the Buddha, the Brahmā Sahampati disappeared there and then.751
This was a moment of crucial importance in the establishment of the Buddhist teaching. It is significant both that such an exalted being chose to intervene, and that he did so on bended knee before the Buddha. To this day it is traditional for one of the lay people present at a Dhamma talk to make a formal request of the teaching bhikkhu by reciting a passage from this sutta in Pali. It should be noted that the commentary seems reluctant to fully accept the Buddha’s initial reluctance to teach. It explains that he wanted Sahampati to make his request because the people hold Brahmā in great respect, and that will incline them to listen to his teaching (SN-a 6:1).
Brahmā Sahampati had several other conversations with the Buddha. Shortly after his decision to teach, the Buddha made a further resolution. He had realized that a person dwells in suffering who does not have reverence and devotion, but could see no living being worthy of his deference so decided to devote his life to serving the Dhamma. Sahampati again knew the thought in the Buddha’s mind and appeared before him to praise this resolution and to state that all the Buddhas of the past had made the same determination, as will all the Buddhas of the future (SN 6:2). After the Buddha had begun to teach, while he was dwelling among the matted hair ascetics at Uruvelā, Brahmā Sahampati was among the divine beings who came one after another to hear the Buddha teach Dhamma. The first n
ight, the Four Great Kings had come, on the second it was Sakka and on the third Sahamapati. Each in turn lit up the entire grove with a brilliant light which astounded the matted hair ascetics, but Sahampati’s radiance was the most “excellent and glorious” (Vin Mv 1).
In several texts we see Sahampati acting as the Buddha’s advisor. On one occasion, the Buddha had dismissed some noisy bhikkhus from his presence saying they could not live with him anymore. First a delegation of local khattiya laymen and then Sahampati appeared to entreat the Buddha to forgive them, using as arguments the similes of a seedling which comes to harm through lack of water and a young calf which comes to harm when separated from its mother. The Buddha consented to Sahampati’s request and again received the noisy bhikkhus into his presence (MN 67). In a similar incident, after dismissing some quarrelsome and greedy bhikkhus from his presence (they had been disputing the disposition of some requisites offered to the saṅgha) the Buddha had already decided in his own mind to take them back when Sahampati, having perceived the thought in the Buddha’s mind, appeared to affirm and praise this decision.752 It was Sahampati who informed the Buddha that the evil minded bhikkhu Kokālika had died and been reborn in niraya (SN 6:10 & AN 10:89). Likewise, after Devadatta had caused a schism by breaking with the saṅgha, Sahampati appeared before the Buddha to utter a verse:
Just as the fruit kills the plaintain tree
And an embryo slays a mule
So does honour destroy an unworthy person. (SN 6:12)
At other times, Brahmā Sahampati manifests before the Buddha simply to praise him or to affirm some point of Dhamma. Thus, while the Buddha was still dwelling under the Goat-Herder’s Banyan tree, shortly after the incident of Sahamapati’s request to teach, the Buddha was reflecting upon the four foundations of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna) when the brahmā appeared again to speak in praise of this idea. He spoke, as usual, in verse and called the Four Foundations a “one-way path” (ekāyana) leading to nibbāna.753 On a subsequent occasion, Sahamapti appeared before the Buddha to speak a series of verses praising seclusion and to state that it was personally known by him that many thousands had attained to awakening in this very life (SN 6:13). Once, Sahampati came together with Sakka to the Buddha’s dwelling and the two deities stood each by one of the doorposts and uttered a verse in praise of the Buddha. Sakka said:
Arise, victorious hero!
Wander the world without a burden, free of debt.
Your mind is well liberated,
Like the full moon.
But Sahampati reproved him: “It is not thus, king of devas, that Tathāgatas are to be praised,” and spoke his own verse:
Arise, victorious hero!
Wander the world, leader of the caravan, free of debt.
Teach the Dhamma, Blessed One!
There are those who will understand. (SN 11:17)
As Bhikkhu Bodhi notes in his translation to the Saṃyutta Nikāya, the commentary gives no explanation as to why Sahampati’s version is to be preferred, and he goes on to suggest that it is because Sakka’s verse praises only those qualities which the Buddha shares with all arahants, while Sahampati focuses on the quality of the Buddha as teacher.754 In any case, we see here that Sakka stands in relation to Sahampati as a junior.
Sahampati was the first to utter a verse at the time of the Buddha’s passing into final nibbāna:
All beings in the world will lay down the body,
Even so the Teacher, peerless in the world,
The Tathāgata, possessed of power, fully awakened,
Has come to final nibbāna.755
Sahampati almost never appears in stories which do not involve the Buddha. He is included in a list of deities paying respects to a bhikkhu who has just attained arahantship, (DN-a 2) and he is the Brahmā who appeared to the old woman to chastise her for the foolish practice of “feeding” Brahmā, whom we met previously,756 and that is about all.
Who is Brahmā Sahampati? The first thing to note is that he is a being of great cosmic power and significance. His intervention with the Buddha after the great awakening was a critical incident for the whole future history of the world. The exalted cosmic nature of Sahampati is emphasized in a few other references. He is said to have paid homage to the Buddha by presenting him with a jewelled garland the size of Mt Sineru (Vism 7.23 & Sn-a 2:1). At the time of the Bodhisatta’s great sit under the Bodhi Tree, after the defeat of Māra, Brahmā Sahampati held a three yojana wide white parasol over the Bodhisatta, like a “second full moon” (Bv-a 27). Again, at the time of the Buddha’s descent from Tāvatiṃsa after teaching the devas, it was Brahmā Sahampati who held the parasol over him.757
The last two incidents, involving the parasol (setacchatta), give us additional insight into Sahamapati’s nature and importance. They tell us that Sahampati can be identified as the mahābrahmā who is the direct overlord of this particular cakkavāḷa (and by inference, many thousand adjacent cakkavāḷas). The parasol in ancient India was an important symbol of sovereignty, serving roughly the same symbolic space as the sceptre for European royalty. Here we see Sahampati wielding the parasol in this world and what is more, holding it over the Buddha as an act of deference. It should also be noted in this regard that in other versions of these incidents, the deity wielding the parasol is identified only as “Mahābrahmā”, implying the mahābrahmā of this world-system.758 However, there remains the detail of Sahampati’s past life as a bhikkhu under Kassapa Buddha, earlier in this kappa. It is hard to reconcile this biography with the career of a supreme mahābrahmā who, as we have seen, is the first to arise in his world at the beginning of the kappa.
If we focus on Sahampati’s relationship with the Buddha, we can think of him in yet another way: as the positive equivalent of Māra. Both of these deities have several encounters with the Buddha, often at critical points in his career. But whereas Māra’s role is to oppose and hinder the Blessed One, Brahmā Sahampati’s is to assist, honour and encourage him.
3:6:10 SANAṄKUMĀRA
Another mahābrahmā who features prominently in the texts is Sanaṅkumāra. A very long time ago, in a previous human birth, while still a youth (kumāra = “young man”) he developed first jhāna and dying young was reborn in the brahmaloka. His youthful human appearance, as a lad wearing his hair in “five top knots” (pañcacūḷaka) was pleasing to him, so he retained it as a brahmā. His form is described as “exceedingly beautiful” (abhikkantavaṇṇa) (SN 6:11). By the time of the Buddha, he was already very ancient (sanantana = “ancient, primeval”) so he was known as Sanaṅkumāra, “The Ancient Youth” (SN-a 6:11 & MN-a 53).
The most important activity of Sanaṅkumāra is preaching Dhamma to the devas of Tāvatiṃsa. Twice a week the devas gather in the Sudhamma Hall to listen to Dhamma, and then either Sanaṅkumāra, Sakka, some other devaputta qualified to teach or a human bhikkhu with supernormal power gives a teaching (DN-a 19). No other brahmā is mentioned as performing this duty.
One such manifestation of Sanaṅkumāra is described in the Javasabha Sutta. A great conclave of devas was assembled in the Sudhamma Hall of Tāvatiṃsa discussing the welcome increase in the number of new devas:
Many devas were assembled in the Sudhamma Hall considering and discussing some matter of importance when a glorious light was seen in the northern direction, exceeding in its brilliance the radiance of the devas. Then Sakka, king of the devas, addressed the Thirty-Three: “Dear sirs, when such a sign is seen, when a glorious light shines forth, when such brilliance appears, it means that Brahmā will manifest. Such a brilliant light is a portent of Brahmā’s manifestation.”
When such signs are seen, then Brahmā will appear.
This is the sign of Brahmā: a light vast and great.
The Tāvatiṃsa devas sat each in his own place and thought: “Let us come to know this light, and what its result is. And having found out, let us go toward it.” The Four Great Kings did likewise, and all the devas were of one mind awaiting what woul
d come of the great light.
Whenever Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra appears to the Tāvatiṃsa devas he creates (abhinimmināti) a gross form (oḷārika attabhāva) with which to manifest before them, because the Tāvatiṃsa devas lack the ability to see his natural form which is beyond their range of vision.759 He surpasses these other devas in beauty and in majesty, just as a figure made of gold surpasses a human figure. When Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra manifest to the Tāvatiṃsa devas, not one of the company prostrates, nor rises from his place, nor offers the brahmā a seat. Instead, they sit cross-legged in silence with palms joined together thinking, “Now upon whichever deva’s divan760 he wishes, there the Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra will sit.” Whichever deva receives this honour is as awe-struck and delighted as a newly anointed warrior-king.
Then Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra having created a gross form with the appearance of a youth, manifested in the guise of Pañcasikha.761 Rising upwards, he sat cross-legged in the air, just as a strong man might sit on a well-appointed divan, or on the ground. Seated thus, observing the delight of the Tāvatiṃsa devas, Sanaṅkumāra uttered the following stanzas:
The devas of Tāvatiṃsa together with Inda rejoice.
They praise the Tathāgata, and the teaching of the Good Dhamma.
Newly arisen devas they see, beautiful and glorious.
Those who have well lived the holy life and now fare here.
They outshine the others in beauty and glory.
The students of he with supreme wisdom, the wise ones have come here.
Seeing this, they rejoice, the devas of Tāvatiṃsa together with Inda
They praise the Tathāgata, and the teaching of the Good Dhamma.