3:6:16 ASAÑÑASATTA—THE UNCONSCIOUS BEINGS
Although the fourth jhāna plane is not divided into grades like the other three, there is a special class of brahmā beings that dwell in one region of the Vehapphala world. These are the Asaññasatta, the “Unconscious Beings.”792 They have a maximum life-span of five hundred kappas during which time they exist as immobile physical bodies only, without any trace of consciousness or the other mental factors. As soon as a single moment of perception arises in them, they fall away from that realm and are reborn elsewhere.793 The length of their life-span is not fixed but is determined by the force of kamma of the original jhāna, “like the force imparted to an arrow by the bow-string” (DN-ṭ 1).
This curious state of unconscious existence is considered to be an inopportune plane (akkhaṇabhūmi) in which there is no prospect of further spiritual development (ibid.). Rebirth among the Asaññasatta brahmās occurs when a human meditator, always qualified as being an “outsider” (bāhiraka), i.e. a non-Buddhist, after emerging from fourth jhāna reflects upon the disadvantage of thought and perception, as being causes of suffering, and resolves to eliminate the mental process altogether.794
There is no detailed description of the Asaññasatta beings or their abode in the ancient Pali texts, but we can cite a vivid passage from a medieval Thai work, The Three Worlds According to King Ruang:
The brahmas who live in this level are 96.000 wa tall795 and do not have the slightest residue of mind. The faces and bodies of these brahmas are like golden images that have been newly polished by an artisan, and they look very beautiful indeed. Anyone who dies in a sitting posture while he is thinking about being born in this level of the brahma world will be born there in a sitting posture until the end of his life-span. Among those in the brahma world there are also those who die while they are standing and are born as brahma standing in this brahma world. These brahmas remain without any quivering and without making the slightest movement in any part of their bodies; not even the eyes of these brahma blink or look during their entire lifetimes—and they do not know anything at all.
The interior of the gem castles of these brahma are very spacious indeed. There are flowers, perfumes and spices, and other fragrant things that, through the entire lives of these brahma, are always superb and very excellent; these flowers never wither, never die and never fall off, and the fragrances of the perfumes, spices and other fragrant things never fade or disappear. The flowers appear as if they had been neatly arranged. They are neat, in good order and very beautiful indeed, and they surround these brahmas in every direction.796
It would seem, according to this text, that they are surrounded by a great deal of entirely pointless splendour. It should also be noted that the scented flowers and perfume would not be noticed in any brahmā world, as everyone in the rūpaloka is devoid of the sense of smell.
Returning to our original sources, the case of the bhikkhu Sobhita may be cited. He once declared that he could remember five hundred kappas, which would be a claim of supernormal attainment and thus a disciplinary offence; if falsely made it would have been a pārājika, an offence of disrobing. However, as the Buddha explained, Sobhita was only claiming to recall a single existence as an Asaññasatta being. Because of the difficulty of recollecting such an existence, where one is only conscious at all at the moments of initial rebirth-linking and at death, Sobhita was named by the Buddha as the disciple foremost in the recollection of past-lives. Sobhita’s own description of the experience was “I recall five hundred kappas like a single night.”797
There is a debate in the Kathāvatthu about whether the Asaññasatta beings are indeed conscious at the moments of birth and death (Kv 3:11). Strangely, the Theravāda position is that they are not, although this seems to contradict the passages from the canon and commentary cited above. If they are not conscious at least at those initial and terminal moments how indeed could Sobhita have recalled that existence at all?
The nature of this strange realm raises interesting questions about the nature of the mind and of time. In the commentary this is given in the form of a question: “How, after the elapse of many hundreds of aeons, can consciousness arise again from a consciousness that has ceased so long ago?” The answer is that the elapse of time has no bearing, the last consciousness in the series, even if it ceased five hundred kappas ago, can still act as the proximity condition (anantarapaccayā) for the newly arising consciousness.798 According to Abhidhamma theory, each mind-moment immediately conditions the next; this mode of causation is called “proximity condition” because the first moment is followed immediately by the second, and acts as one of its causes. Ordinarily, conscious mind-moments follow one another in a close sequence, like falling dominoes. Here, however, there is a gap, an exceedingly long gap, between mind-moments, but the sequence remains unbroken even though the rest of the cosmos went through five hundred cycles of expansion and contraction in the interval. The cosmos and the mind each have their own independent and unbroken series.
In modern times we have a close analogue of the Asaññasatta “experience” (if we may call it that!) in the form of being put under general anaesthetic for surgery. The anaesthetist places the breathing mask on the patient’s face and asks him to count backwards from ten. He begins to count and after reaching seven or six, he immediately opens his eyes in the recovery room. This is quite unlike sleep, during which, no matter how deep it may be, upon awakening there is always a sense of time having passed. In anaesthesia, the sequence of mind-moments remains subjectively unbroken although many hours may have passed in the rest of the world. Thus, Bhikkhu Sobhita recalls five hundred kappas “like a single night.”
3:6:17 SUDDHĀVĀSA—THE PURE ABODES
A person who attains the third of the four stages of awakening is called an anāgāmī, (“non-returner”). Since one of the characteristics of the third stage is the total eradication of sensual desire, such a person can never be reborn again into the sphere of sense desire. There is no motive force present compelling consciousness to arise again in that sphere. However, the anāgāmī has not yet overcome the defilement of desire-for-becoming, bhavataṇhā, which manifests as the desire for existence in the form plane, rūparāga, or in the formless plane, arūparāga. Therefore, while there still remains in the anāgāmī the motive force for further rebirth, it can only be into those realms which have left sensuality behind, the rūpabhūmi or the arūpabhūmi. At the very summit of the rūpabhūmi there are five special planes of existence known collectively as the Suddhāvāsa, (“Pure Abodes”) into which only anāgāmīs can be reborn.799
3:6:18 REBIRTH INTO THE SUDDHĀVĀSA
A meditator who has developed fourth jhāna and reached the third stage of awakening is, after death, reborn into the Suddhāvāsa (MN-a 52 & AN-a 4: 124). He arises there seated at the root of a tree in a pleasant park and exclaims, “Oh! The happiness!” (MN-a 114). Once arisen in a Suddhāvāsa, the new brahmā will never again take rebirth in a lower realm, hence the appellation of “non-returner” (AN-a 2:37). He will eventually attain to the fourth stage of enlightenment of arahants and upon his subsequent passing will never be reborn again, having exited saṃsāra altogether. A Suddhāvāsa brahmā who has attained to the stage of arahant but has not yet passed away is called a khīṇāsavā suddhāvāsabrahmā, “a Pure Abode brahmā with the defilements extinguished” (DN-a 14).
The Suddhāvasa, therefore, is a very special place. As it is inhabited only by anāgāmīs and arahants who are on their way out of the cycle of rebirth, it is not considered part of the “round” (vaṭṭa) but the “end of the round” (vivaṭṭa) (MN-a 1). We may consider it as a kind of antechamber to the exit door of saṃsāra. The Suddhāvāsa is called the “campground of the Buddha.” The Pali word, khandhavāra, particularly refers to a resting place for caravans and the image evoked is that of a pleasant last oasis before reaching one’s final destination.800
The Suddhāvāsa deities are said to be superior to thos
e devas who subsist on food, (AN-a 5: 166) i.e. the sensual devas, and to have bodies created by jhāna (AN-a 5: 44). A deva of the sensual sphere who attains to the stage of anāgāmī is unable to continue in his former state of existence but immediately dies and is reborn into the Suddhāvāsa. This is because the saggas (“heavens”) of the sensual sphere are filled with “playful folk” (laḷitajana) who are given to finery and ornaments and who spend all day in singing, dancing and coquetry (MN-a 71 & MN-ṭ 71). A being who has utterly transcended sensuality has no place in a realm essentially generated by such desires; he can no longer maintain existence in a level with which he has no connection.
3:6:19 DIVISIONS OF THE SUDDHĀVĀSA
Within the category of Suddhāvāsa there are five separate realms, each successively higher and more refined than the last. In order from the lowest to highest we have:
Aviha—The name is said to mean that for one who has arrived here there is no more diminishing or falling back. The Aviha beings have a life-span of one thousand kappas.
Atappa—“Those who do not endure suffering”, the Atappa beings have a life-span of two thousand kappas.
Sudassa—“Those endowed with a pleasant form”, the Sudhassa beings live for four thousand kappas.
Sudassi—These beings are so called because they both see beautiful forms and experience joy. The Sudassi devas live for eight thousand kappas.
Akaniṭṭha—The name is literally “not a junior” and is given to these beings because they are at the very summit of embodied existence, and are therefore the most “senior” of the inhabitants of saṃsāra. They have a life-span of sixteen thousand kappas.801
The Abhidhamma classifies all of these realms as part of the fourth jhāna sphere, together with the Vehapphala and the Asaññasatta realms. The determination as to which realm someone who has mastered fourth jhāna will be reborn into is said to depend on the diversity among their objects of consciousness (ārammaṇana), objects of thought (manasikāra),802 desire (chanda), aspiration (paṇidhi), resolve (adhimokkha), aspiration (abhinīhāra) and wisdom (paññā). Oddly enough, this passage makes no mention of the attainment of the state of anāgāmī as a prerequisite for birth in the Suddhāvāsa worlds, although the commentary does explain that the “diversity of wisdom” refers to the difference between those with mundane (lokiya) and supramundane (lokuttara, lit. “beyond the world”) levels of understanding; the latter implies having attained one of the stages of awakening (Vibh 18:6,2). Once born into one of the Suddhavāsa worlds, a being can only progress to a higher one, he can never again regress to any lower station of rebirth (AN-a 2:37). The Suddhavāsa realms are sometimes empty, because anāgāmīs only arise during the dispensation of a Buddha and there are sometimes an incalculable number of dark kappas in succession during which no Buddha arises (MN-a 1).
A different scheme is found in the Abhidharmakośa which states that the particular Suddhāvāsa level an anāgāmī is reborn into depends upon his or her strongest spiritual faculty (indriya). An anāgāmī endowed with faith (saddhā) is reborn into the Aviha realm. One whose strongest faculty is energy (viriya) will become an Atappa deity. The faculty of mindfulness (sati) leads to rebirth among the Sudassa brahmās, stability of mind (samādhi) leads to the Sudassi realm and wisdom (paññā) to the Akaniṭṭha level.803
3:6:20 THE BUDDHA AND THE SUDDHĀVĀSA
One of the powers of the Buddha is the recollection of all his past lives (MN 12). During the Bodhisatta’s long wandering in saṃsāra, the one realm into which he was never born was the Suddhāvāsa (MN 12). This is for the obvious reason that, if he had on some occasion attained to the state of an anāgāmī and been reborn as a Suddhāvāsa deva, his Bodhisatta career would have come to an end; he would have attained arahatta there and never returned to a human birth in order to become the Buddha. Nevertheless, as an abode of anāgāmīs and arahants, the Suddhāvāsa has a special connection with the Buddha. On many occasions, beings from that realm manifested themselves on earth to interact with the Buddha, and one sutta tells of a tour the Buddha himself made of the various Suddhāvāsa realms:
At one time the Buddha was dwelling in seclusion at Ukkatthā, sitting by the root of a royal sāl tree. There, the thought arose in his mind: “It is not possible to find an abode of beings in which I have not previously dwelt, during my long wandering, except the abode of the Suddhāvāsa devas.804 What if I were to go there now?” Just as if a strong man had stretched out or drawn in his arm, the Buddha disappeared from the root of the royal sāl tree and manifested in the realm of the Aviha devas.
There, many thousands, many hundreds of thousands of Aviha devas approached the Buddha. Having saluted the Buddha, they stood with one shoulder bared805 and addressed the Buddha in these words, “It has been ninety-one kappas, dear sir (mārisā), since we were visited by the Blessed Buddha Vipassī.” (The devas then recount a brief biography of the Buddha Vipassī concluding with) “ … and we, dear sir, who practised the holy life under the Buddha Vipassī and have destroyed sensual desire, arose here.”
(Other groups of many hundreds of thousands of Suddhāvāsa beings approach the Buddha. These were, in turn, former disciples of the Buddhas Sikhī, Veasbhū, Kakusandha, Konāgamma and Kassapa. Finally … ) many thousands, many hundreds of thousands of Aviha devas approached the Buddha. Having saluted him, they stood with one shoulder bared and addressed him in these words, “Dear sir, in this auspicious kappa (bhaddakappa)806 the present Buddha, arahant and fully awakened, has arisen in the world. The Blessed One was born into a khattiya clan, of the khattiya caste,807 the clan of Gotama. In the Blessed One’s time, the life of men is short and passes quickly. Few indeed reach the age of one hundred. (The devas recount the principal biographical details of the Buddha’s life and conclude …) and we, dear sir, who practised the holy life under the Blessed One and have destroyed sensual desire, arose here.”
Then the Buddha, together with the Aviha devas, went to the Atappa realm. There, he was approached and saluted by many thousands, many hundreds of thousands of Atappa devas, who addressed the Blessed One in these words. : “It has been ninety-one kappas, dear sir (mārisā), since we were visited by the Blessed Buddha Vipassī.” (They similarly recount the biographies and claim discipleship of the last seven Buddhas, beginning with Vipassī and ending with the present Buddha Gotama). Then the Buddha went, together with the Aviha and the Atappa devas to the Sudassa realm, then with all of these to the Sudassī realm and then with all of the Suddhāvāsa devas to the realm of the Akaniṭṭha devas. (At each stage, the scene of many hundreds of thousands of devas reciting the biographies of the Buddhas is repeated). “And we, dear sir, who practised the holy life under the Blessed One and have destroyed sensual desire, arose here.”808
As the Suddhāvāsa devas have life-spans measured in the thousands of kappas, they watch entire world-systems come and go but they take an active interest only in the rare instance of a Buddha arising. After the destruction of an old world-system, the first sign of a new one arising is a great deluge of rain which first floods the ruins of the old system as deep as the first jhāna level of the brahmā worlds. When the waters subside, the various earthly and heavenly realms emerge ready for habitation. The first sign of new life is the appearance of a lotus plant in the muddy ground of Jambudīpa at the site of the mahābodhipallaṅka, the “great awakening seat”, the exact spot on earth at which each and every Buddha comes to full awakening:
The Suddhāvāsa brahmās say to one another, “Let us go forth and view the portents.” They approach the mahābodhipallaṅka. If no Buddha is to arise in the new kappa, then there will be no blossoms on the lotus plant. Seeing this, the Suddhāvāsa brahmās say, “Alas! There will be darkness. Beings will perish and the lower realms will become full. The six realms of the devas and the nine realms of the brahmās shall be empty,” and they become displeased. If, however, at this time of flowering they behold a blossom on the plant they say, “An all-knowing Bodhisatta will d
escend into his mother’s womb, shall go forth and, having become fully awakened, will turn the wheel of the Dhamma … the four lower realms will dwindle, the six realms of the devas and the nine realms of the brahmās shall become full.” Their joyful utterance is heard as far away as the brahmā worlds. (DN-a 14)
There may be anywhere between zero and five lotuses on the plant, and this determines the number of Buddhas to arise in the new kappa. (The current kappa will have five altogether, Gotama was the fourth so there remains one more to come). The Suddhāvāsa brahmās take the lotus flower, if there is one, and open it. Inside the unfolded petals they find the eight essential requisites of a bhikkhu: three robes, a belt, a needle and thread, a water-strainer, a razor and the alms-bowl. These they carry away and preserve them in their own realm until the distant time when the Bodhisatta comes to make his great renunciation and leave the home-life. Then one of them descends and presents these requisites to the Bodhisatta to begin his career as a samaṇa, which will culminate in the attainment of perfect Buddhahood.809
To prepare the way for the Buddha, Suddhāvāsa devas come to earth in the guise of brahmin priests and insert the teaching of the “thirty-two marks” into the Vedas. These are physical attributes by which a Buddha may be known. In this way, men of influence (mahesakkha) will be able to recognize him. These verses, called buddhamanta, are not to be found in the Vedas as they are known today (or in the time of Buddhaghosa for that matter) because after the passing of the Buddha, they gradually disappear and are lost.810
When the Bodhisatta is born, the infant emerging from the womb as effortlessly as flowing water, he is first received in a golden net by khīṇāsavā (lit. “destroyed defilements” i.e. arahant) Suddhāvāsa brahmās, who pass him on to the Four Great Kings, before he is laid down upon a white cloth before the awaiting humans. When the Bodhisatta has grown to manhood, and goes out for a pleasure jaunt with his charioteer, khīṇāsavā Suddhāvāsa brahmās keep watch over him. They say to each other, “The Bodhisatta is stuck in the pleasures of the senses like an elephant mired in muck. Let us arouse mindfulness in him.” To this end, they manifest as the four divine messengers: an old man, a sick man, a dead man and a samaṇa. These are visible only to the Bodhisatta and his charioteer, but not to the rest of the entourage.811
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