The Buddhist Cosmos
Page 60
Thus did Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra speak. The speech of Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra is endowed with eight qualities. It is well enunciated, easily understood, charming, pleasant to hear, distinct, succinct, profound and melodious. One whose speech has these eight qualities is said to be “brahmā-sounding” (brahmassaro).
Then Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra created thirty-three forms and sat down beside all of the Thirty-Three each on his separate divan. He then spoke these words: “What do you think of it, honoured devas of Tāvatiṃsa? The Blessed One has acted for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for devas and for humans. Of those who have gone for refuge to the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha and who keep the precepts of morality some, after death and the break-up of the body, some have gone on to rebirth among the Paranimmitavasavattī devas, some among the Nimmānaratī devas, some among the Tusitā devas or the Yāma devas or the Tāvatiṃsa devas or the devas of the Cātumahārājika realm. Even the very least among them have arisen among the gandhabbas.”
Thus did Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra speak. And each deva thought, “He is sitting on my divan, he is speaking to me alone!”
With one voice, all the apparitions (nimmita) spoke.
With one silence, all the apparitions became quiet.
Every deva, including Inda, thought:
“He sits on my divan, he speaks to me alone.”
Then Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra collected the forms into one and sat next to Sakka upon his divan (DN 18). (There follows a long series of teachings by Sanaṅkumāra upon various topics of Dhamma).
When Sanaṅkumāra assumed the form of the gandhabba Pañcasikha, the commentary tells us that it was because this form was beloved by the devas (DN-a18). It was also a form not so very different from his own: a youthful figure with five tufts of hair. In fact, since Pañcasikha means “five tufted” the commentary may be making an unwarranted assumption that the gandhabba of that name was intended. The Pali could just as correctly be read as “he manifested in the form of a five-tufted youth.” In another passage describing Sanaṅkumāra the word pañcasikha is clearly used in this adjectival sense (SN-a 6:11). On another level of interpretation we could say that Sanaṅkumāra is Pañcasikha translated to a higher plane; both have the form of good-looking youths and are known for their beautiful voices. Just as the gandhabba Pañcasikha acted as a messenger to the Buddha (DN 21) so was Sanaṅkumāra identified by the Buddha as a “brahmā-messenger” (brahmā pesa) (AN 11:10).
In the sutta immediately following the one quoted above, another manifestation of Sanaṅkumāra is related in identical words. The different content here is in his teaching to the devas. In this sutta he relates a past life of the Buddha as Mahāgovinda, a royal minister. Sanaṅkumāra himself was instrumental in this lifetime of the Bodhisatta, manifesting before him at a critical moment:
(Mahāgovinda had entered into retreat in the forest for the four months of the rainy season, practising the meditation on compassion). At the end of the four months Mahāgovinda found only discontent and weariness. “I have heard it said by venerable brahmins and teachers of long-standing that if one enters into the meditation on compassion for the four months of the rains, then one can see Brahmā and have conversation and discussion with him. But I have neither seen nor conversed with Brahmā.”
Then Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra knew with his own mind the thoughts in the mind of Mahāgovinda and as quickly as a strong man might bend forth or withdraw his arm, he disappeared from the brahmaloka and appeared before the face of the brahmin Mahāgovinda. And the brahmin Mahāgovinda felt fearful and stupefied and his hair stood on end before this sight never seen before. Thus, fearful, awestruck, with hairs standing on end he addressed Sanaṅkumāra in verse, and the brahmā replied in kind:
Mahāgovinda: Beautiful, majestic762 and glorious one, who are you sir?
Not knowing, I ask, how may we know you?
Sanaṅkumāra: I am known as “the youth” (kumāra) and “the ancient one” (sanantana) in the brahmā world,
All the devas know me thus. Know this Govinda.
Mahāgovinda: A seat, water, oil for the feet, sweet cakes—are for Brahmā.
Ask for what offerings you will, those we will give.
Sanaṅkumāra: I accept your offerings. Now you, Govinda, may ask
For a boon here-and-now or for the good of your future existence.
This is your opportunity to ask, what is it you wish?
(Mahāgovinda chose to ask about something which would benefit his future lives and the verse dialogue continued:)
Mahāgovinda: I ask you, Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra,
The doubter asks the one free from doubt among the views of others,
Where to stand and what training to follow,
Whereby a mortal man might reach the deathless brahmā world?
Sanaṅkumāra: Having destroyed all thought of “mine”, one becomes a Brahmā among men.
Being solitary, resolved on compassion.
Pure of scent, he abstains from sexual intercourse.
Here is the stand-point, here the training to follow.
For the mortal man to reach the brahmā world. (DN 19)
In the sequel, Mahāgovinda says he understands most of this instruction but asks for clarification of “pure of scent” (nirāmagandho). Sanaṅkumāra explains in a further stanza of verse that this means being free of the stench of the defilements (ibid .).
It is to be noted that Mahāgovinda exhibits a brahminical rather than a Buddhist concept of Brahmā. He offers the brahmā cakes and he calls the brahmaloka “deathless” (amata). Nor does Sanaṅkumāra attempt to correct these views. There are two possible explanations for this seeming lapse. Perhaps Sanaṅkumāra was, at that time, still subject to wrong view himself (although he could hardly have believed that brahmās want sweet cakes!) We have seen already that some brahmās imagine themselves to be immortal. On the other hand, Sanaṅkumāra might simply have judged that Mahāgovinda was not yet spiritually advanced enough to grasp the concept of impermanence.
Whatever the spiritual state of Sanaṅkumāra might have been at the time of Mahāgovinda, in the distant past, by the time of the Buddha Gotama he had attained to the stage of sakadāgāmi (“once-returner”, the second stage of awakening). In the Mahāsamaya Sutta he is included among those brahmās identified as “Buddha’s sons”, which the commentary defines as meaning “ariyabrahmās” (DN-a 20) The word ariya, commonly translated as “noble” has a technical meaning in the suttas and is reserved for those who have attained to one or another of the stages of awakening. More specifically, the conclusion of the Janavasabha Sutta (which describes a manifestation of Sanaṅkumāra to the Tāvatiṃsa devas and is extensively quoted above) he speaks about the great numbers of sotāpannas and sakadāgāmis (first and second stages of awakening) that have arisen among the Magadhans since the Buddha began teaching. But he then goes on to say:
In regard to those other beings, who have gained more merit,
My mind is incapable of reckoning them. I would be ashamed to speak a falsehood. (DN 18)
In other words, Sanaṅkumāra is unable to comprehend the minds of those who have attained stages beyond his own.
At one time Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra appeared before the Buddha, his radiance illuminating the entire bank of the Sappinī River. He paid homage to the Buddha then uttered this verse:
The khattiya is senior for those who take caste as their standard.
The one perfected in knowledge and conduct (vijjācaraṇasampanna),
is senior among devas and humans.
The Buddha approved his saying, which pleased Sanaṅkumāra. Keeping the Buddha to his right side as a mark of respect, he then disappeared (SN 6:11). This brief encounter takes on added significance in that the Buddha quoted the verse at least four times on subsequent occasions. Sometimes he meant to put the haughty brahmins in their place and the emphasis was on the first line (DN 3). At other times, he u
sed it in the higher sense, emphasizing the second line which implies that awakening trumps caste (MN 53 & AN 11:10). At the conclusion of the Aggañña Sutta, both senses are conveyed at once (DN 27). The Buddha said that this verse was well-spoken by Sanaṅkumāra, it was meaningful (atthasaṃhita) and that he approved of it (MN 53).
3:6:11 BAKA
As we have seen, not all the mahābrahmās are as spiritually advanced as Sahampati and Sanaṅkumāra; some of them are subject to wrong views and delusions of grandeur. One important brahmā of this type is Baka whom we have encountered before in the chapter on Māra (§ 3:5,41).
Another thing that makes Baka interesting is that we have an account of his career through several lifetimes. Many kappas ago, he spent several successive lives living as a hermit, developing meditation and psychic powers which he used to help people in distress.
At one time, Baka had been a hermit practising austerites (tāpa) in a desert waste. One day a merchant caravan of five hundred carts lost their way while crossing the desert. Unable to determine the direction, they wandered for seven days without food or water, perishing in the heat. “Now our life is over,” so saying they released their bullocks and lay down to sleep under their carts. Seeing this the hermit thought, “They shall not perish in my sight.” By the exercise of his supernormal power (iddhānubhāvena) he diverted the course of the Gaṅgā River (the Ganges) toward the caravan and created a jungle thicket nearby. The men drank from the stream, watered their cattle and gathered grass and wood for the onward journey in the jungle thicket. They determined the direction and were now in good health to carry on.
At a subsequent time (i.e. in another life) Baka was again practising austerities, this time supported by a village in the border region. He lived in a jungle thicket by the bank of a river. One day, bandits descended from the hills and attacked the village, taking many people to sell as slaves. They took them up into the hills and having tied them up securely, settled down to eat a meal. The hermit heard many cries of distress from cows and buffaloes, from girls and boys. “They shall not perish in my sight.” By his supernormal power, he cast off his own form (attabhāva) and appeared as a warrior-king surrounded by a four-fold army (i.e. infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants). With war drums beating, he advanced upon that place. The approach of the royal army was reported to the bandits by their scouts and saying, “We do not fight with kings,” they cut the bonds of their prisoners and abandoning their meal they fled away. The hermit led the people back to their own village.
In yet another lifetime Baka was once more a hermit, this time living by the banks of the Gaṅgā. It happened one day that some people passed by on a raft with a gaily decorated pavilion amidships. They were on their way to visit their kinfolk and were making merry, eating and drinking. As they floated downstream, they threw the dregs of their drinks and bits of broken meat into the Gaṅgā. This enraged the king of the Gaṅgā nāgas,763 “They are throwing their rubbish down upon me! I will seize all these people and drown them in the river!” Creating a form as large as a big ship he broke the surface of the water spreading his serpent’s hood. The people were seized with the fear of death and all together let out a great cry. This was heard by the hermit who said “They shall not perish in my sight.” Thinking quickly he created by his supernormal power the form of a supaṇṇa764 and flew there. Seeing his approach, the nāgarājā became afraid for his life and dived under the water. The people were then able to carry on their journey in safety (Jāt 405 & SN-a 6:4).
In yet another existence, Baka was again a hermit named Kesava and the Bodhisatta was his favourite disciple Kappa. The old hermit was so attached to his student that when the two were separated he grew ill and only recovered when they were reunited (Jāt 346). So the Buddha and Baka had at least one previous connection, and we can conclude that there were others. When the Buddha visited Baka he briefly recounted these exploits in verse and ended each stanza with the refrain:
That ancient observance (vatasīlavatta) of yours,
I remember like one awakening from a dream. (SN 6:4)
This implies that he was there. Since there is no mention of the hermit having disciples in the three stories where he uses his powers to save innocent lives, it is likely that the Bodhisatta was at that time one of the people saved. Since these lives occurred in the very ancient past, in a previous kappa,765 it could have been before the being who eventually became Gotama Buddha began his Bodhisatta career.
Baka’s subsequent lives in various brahmā worlds is also described:
In a time when no Buddha had arisen in the world, Baka had gone forth as an isi and developed meditation on a kasiṇa.766 In this way he developed the fourth jhāna and had not fallen away from that attainment at the time of his death. He was reborn in the Vehapphala brahmaloka and had a life-span there of five hundred kappas. During that lifetime he developed the lesser attainment of the third jhāna and upon passing away from that realm was reborn in the Subhakiṇha brahmaloka and there had a life-span of sixty-four kappas. In that lifetime he developed the second jhāna and was reborn among the Ābhassara brahmās where he had a life-span of eight kappas and practised the first jhāna. Upon his decease from that realm he was reborn as a first jhāna brahmā with a life-span of one kappa. (MN-a 49)
It was in this form that he was visited by the Buddha. It is clear from his dialogue with the Buddha that he had forgotten his previous lifetimes, and this ignorance was an important factor in his falling into false views. This downward trajectory meant that his previous states of existence were unknown and unknowable to him because they were “beyond his range” (āpātha). There is no explanation of why Baka while enjoying the experiences of a higher attainment would choose to practise a lower one. We can only conclude it was the all too “human” failing of desire for coarse experience. For instance, while experiencing the sublime upekkhā (“equanimity”) of the fourth jhāna realm, his mind must have conceived a longing for the relatively coarser sukha (“bliss”) of the third jhāna.
The wrong views to which Baka subscribed were a direct result of this forgetfulness. As the first being to arise in his world at the beginning of a cycle, he came to believe that he was the one and only supreme creator.767 In the dialogue of the Buddha with Baka and his minions, Baka welcomes the Buddha with the following words:
“Come, dear sir, welcome! It is long since you have come this way! This, dear sir, is permanent. It is constant. It is eternal. This is not subject to death. Here there is no birth, no ageing, no dying or passing away or being reborn. From here, there is no greater state and there is no escape beyond this.” (MN 49)
The initial greeting, “it is long since you have come this way,” is just a polite form; there is no indication that the Buddha ever visited Baka in his realm before.768 There follows a long dialogue in the course of which one of Baka’s attendants, possessed by Māra, attempts to get the Buddha to acknowledge Baka’s supremacy. Baka himself repeats much of the argument, the gist of which is that the Buddha should “bind” himself (ajjhosati) to a long list of conditioned phenomena beginning with the four elements and ending with Pajāpati and Brahmā. This is, obviously, directly contrary to the Buddhist goal of detachment from saṃsāric becoming: bound to the conditioned, one cannot realize the unconditioned. Baka says this will ensure a better rebirth and that “this will bring you close to me, into my domain, for me to do with as I like and to punish.”769 This hardly seems persuasive. The commentary explains that the first clause is meant as an inducement, the latter as a threat, and that the “punishment’ consists of being given a deformed or dwarfish form (MN-a 49).
The Buddha, who is in any case beyond rebirth, is naturally having none of it. Instead he puts Baka in his place by revealing to him the true context and limitations of his existence:
As far as moon and sun revolve, protecting and illuminating in each direction.
Over a thousand such worlds do you wield power.
And there you know the
various beings; those who are subject to passion, and those free from passion.
You know the various states of beings and their comings and goings. (MN 49)
The commentary goes on to explain that although Baka is sovereign over one thousand worlds, there are other brahmās above him who wield authority over two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, ten thousand or even one hundred thousand world-systems (MN-a 49). So, although Baka’s power and knowledge are vast in human terms, they are limited and are far from being supreme in the cosmos. Furthermore, as the Buddha next pointed out:
“There are, brahmā, other bodies (kāya) that you do not know and that you do not see, but I know them and see them. There is the body called Ābhassarā (the second jhāna level brahmā world) that you passed away from before coming here. You have dwelt here so long that you have forgotten, therefore you do not know it or see it, but I know it and see it. So my knowledge is not a level with yours, but surpasses it.”
The Buddha then informs Baka of the existence of the third and fourth jhāna level brahmā worlds in similar terms.
The dialogue between the Buddha and Baka at last comes to an impasse when Baka is unable to come up with a cogent reply, so he instead proposes a contest or “game” (laḷitaka) (MN-a 49). Each in turn will demonstrate his power by attempting to vanish from the sight of the other. This episode is only briefly mentioned in the sutta, but the commentary adds more detail and ends with a comic touch:
Baka attempted to disappear by reverting to his natural form (mūlapaṭisandhi, lit. “root becoming”). The natural form of a brahmā is subtle, it is beyond the range of others; to be seen they must assume a constructed form (abhisaṅkhatakāya). However, the Buddha prevented him from going into his natural form. Failing in this attempt, Baka then attempted to conceal his form by covering it with darkness but the Buddha dispelled the darkness. Unable to disappear, Baka fled from his vimāna to the root of a tree and hid there, squatting on the ground. Seeing this his attendants said, “So this, Brahmā, is how you vanish!” and he was downcast by their mockery. (MN-a 49)