The Buddhist Cosmos
Page 68
nikāya—in general, a collection; specifically, one of five collections of suttas.
Nimmānarati—the realm of “those who delight in creation.” Fifth sensual heaven.
niraya—a hell realm.
nirayapāla—one of the wardens of niraya; a torturing demon.
opapātikā—“spontaneous birth”; as in the case of devas who appear into their world fully formed.
paccantimā janapadā—“The Border Countries”; the rest of Jambudīpa outside the majjhimadesa.
paccekabuddha—a fully awakened person who does not teach others; “a silent Buddha.”
Pajjuna—king of the vassavalāhaka devas; god of wind and rain.
paṃsupisācaka—a type of pisāca that lives in filth.
Pañcasikha—a gandhabba; minstrel of Sakka.
Pajāpati—one of the supreme devas of Tāvatiṃsa.
paṇḍaka—a being of indeterminate gender.
Paṇḍukambalāsana—the throne of Sakka.
Paranimmitavasavatti—the realm of “those who wield power over the creations of others.” Sixth sensual heaven.
Pāricchattaka—the great tree of Tāvatiṃsa.
peta—a hungry ghost.
petī—a female peta.
pisāca—frightful demonic being of the forests.
Pubbavideha—the western continent.
Rāhu—the powerful asura who causes eclipses by swallowing the sun or moon.
rakkhasa—a demonic being; an ogre. More or less synonymous with “yakkha.”
rukkha deva—a tree deva.
rūpabhūmi,( rūpaloka, rūpāvācara, rūpadhātu, rūpabhava)—the plane of form; realm of the brahmā beings.
sagga—a world where the devas dwell; a heaven-realm.
Sahampati—the brahma who begged the Buddha to teaCh
sakadāgāmī—one who has attained the second stage of awakening.
Sakka—king of the devas of Tāvatiṃsa.
samādhi—meditative quality of mind characterized by stillness.
samaṇa—a holy wanderer; an ascetic.
sāmaṇera—a novice bhikkhu.
saṃsāra—the conditioned world; the round of rebirth.
sammasambuddha—a fully awakened Buddha, highest possible state of being.
saṅgha—the community of bhikkhus.
Sāriputta—one of the Buddha’s two chief disciples; most renowned for wisdom.
Sarvāstivāda—an ancient school of Buddhism; the school of the Abhidharmakośa.
sīdantara—the circular seas which surround Mt Sineru in alternate bands with the mountain rings.
Siddhattha Gotama—the given and clan name of the Buddha.
Sineru, Mt—the great mountain at the centre of the world-system; 80,000 yojana high.
sotāpanna—“stream-enterer”; the first stage of awakening.
sotāpatti—the state of being a sotāpanna.
Sudhamma Hall—assembly hall of the devas in Tāvatiṃsa.
sudda—the labouring caste.
Sudassa—third level of the Suddhavāsa.
Sudassana—fourth of seven circular mountain ranges around Sineru.
Sudassi—fourth level of the Suddhavāsa.
Sudhamma—the assembly hall of the Tāvatiṃsa devas.
Suddhāvāsa—The Pure Abodes; realm of rebirth for anāgāmīs.
suññakappa—an empty aeon in which no Buddha arises.
supaṇṇa—a gigantic bird, enemy of the nāgas; also called a garuda.
Suriya—the sun.
Tathāgata—“the thus gone (or thus come) one”. An important epithet of the Buddha, almost always used when he is referring to himself.
Tāvatiṃsa—the second sensual heaven, located at the summit of Mt Sineru.
Theravāda—“school of the elders”; the school of Buddhism prevalent in Sri Lanka and SE Asia.
tiracchāna—an animal; “one who goes horizontally.”
Tusita—the heavenly realm where all the bodhisattas reside prior to their final human birth. Fourth sensual heaven.
Uposatha—the holy days of Buddhism marked by the phases of the moon. Also, the name of a tribe of magical flying elephants.
Uttarakuru—the northern continent, an earthly paradise.
valāhaka deva—a deva who lives in the sky and controls the weather.
Vehapphala—fourth jhāna level brahmā realm.
Vepacitti—king of the asuras.
vassavalāhaka devas—devas who live in the sky and make the weather.
Vasavatti—chief deva of the Paranimmitavasavatti realm.
vessa—the merchant and farmer caste.
Vessavaṇa—the Great King of the North.
vihāra—in general, a dwelling place; more specifically, a communal abode of bhikkhus.
vimāna—abode of a deva; a flying mansion.
vimānapeta—a being who suffers as a peta for part of the month and enjoys deva pleasures for the remainder.
vīṇa—a stringed instrument similar to a lute.
Vinataka—sixth of seven circular mountain ranges around Sineru.
viññāṇañcāyatana—the realm of boundless consciousness; second arūpa level
Virūḷhaka—Great King of the South.
Virūpakkha—Great King of the West.
visayakhetta—“field of scope (of the Buddha’s knowledge)”; largest buddhakhetta, a grouping of infinite world-systems which is coterminous with the whole universe.
Vissakamma—the architect (builder) of the devas.
yakkha—a non-human being, usually malevolent. Similar to an ogre.
Yama—doorkeeper and chief warden of niraya.
Yāma—the third sensual heaven.
yojana—a unit of measure, probably between 7 and 8 miles.
Yugandhara Mts.—range of mountains surrounding Mt Sineru; 40,000 yojana high.
Notes
1. Mt Sineru is taller than the distance from the Earth to the Moon by modern reckoning.
2. This despite the Buddha's injunction that the question is unanswerable. See MN 63.
3. See Bodhi, CMA p. 27 f.
4. Bodhi, CMA p. 189 f.
5. A preferred scheme of many modern summaries. The source appears to be the Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha, see CMA p. 189 f.
6. Although the seven circular mountain ranges are a commentarial addition.
7. This assumes that the person is not an arahant and avoids the complex question of an intermediate state.
8. In this book, I have used “awakening” instead of “enlightenment” which, although now standard, is not really equivalent to anything in the Pali.
9. In the section on Buddhas, we shall see how extremely rare it is.
10. This is not a complete list of his works. For details of Buddhaghosa's life and works, see the introduction to The Path of Purification, Ñāṇamoli's translation of the Visuddhimagga.
11. See the extensive introduction to Poussin and Pruden's translation for further information about the provenance of this text.
12. Sanskrit = nirvāṇa.
13. For an excellent survey of the teachings about nibbāna see The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro.
14. PED s.v. saṃsarati.
15. We will consider the nature of space in the section on the formless realms (§3:7,3).
16. Taittirīyaka Upanishad 2:1. Translated by Max Müller 1879:54.
17. The Ayurvedic Institute, s.v. “Doshas, Their Elements and Attributes”, https://www.ayurveda.com/resources/articles/doshas-their-elements-and-attributes, accessed Mar 12, 2018.
18. Empedocles proved the existence of air as a physical substance by immersing a bucket upside down in water. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, s.v. “Empedocles (c. 492—432 B.C.E.)”, https://www.iep.utm.edu/empedocl/#SH3, accessed Mar 12, 2018.
19. Bodhi CMA p. 237 f., VM XI & SN-a 14:30.
20. This refers to the destruction of the world-system by a rainfall of caustic water at the end of a cycle
. See § 2.8
21. The commentary says they are only able to produce a small amount of heat even with such trifles, not like formerly. The idea seems to be that such things should burn easily, but now do not.
22. For a full list of these see CMA p.236.
23. Karunadasa, 2015, p. 215 f.
24. To use a phrase coined by the Russian Buddhist scholar Theodore Stcherbatsky.
25. Karunadasa, 2015, p 171-2.
26. Karunadasa, 2015, p. 177.
27. See Figure Two—Cakkavāḷa Cross-Section.
28. K. N. Jayatilleke (2009: p. 65–76) explores this analogy in his essay “The Buddhist Conception of the Universe”.
29. There is only one use of the word cakkavāḷa in the four principal nikāyas, in a stanza placed at the end of the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (DN 16) which the commentary says was added by the Sinhalese elders. It is also found in the Buddhavaṃsa and the Apadāna of the Khuddaka Nikāya, both of which are certainly late additions.
30. AN 3: 81 (eng. 3:80)—The original refers to one thousand such world-systems and has been changed here from the plural to the singular.
31. See Turner, Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages and Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
32. Vism 7.40f. The original is partly in verse. This translation rearranges some of the elements and omits some poetic flourishes. Phrases in square brackets have been added for clarification. Oddly, a few of the proper names have been spelled differently here than elsewhere, and in a manner closer to the Sanskrit versions. This translation replaces them with the standard Pali forms. An almost identical passage is also found at Sn-a 3:7.
33. For measurements taken from the Abhidharmakośa see AK 3:5, p. 451 f.
34. See the the appendix on units of measurement.
35. In the western reckoning at least. In India they add Rāhu, the eclipse planet.
36. AN 7:66. The Abhidharmakośa gives the height as 80,000 yojana and the underwater depth at 24,000 yojanas, AK 3:5. p 453.
37. Taking the yojana at 12 km and the earth-moon distance as 384,401 km.
38. MN-a 115. The others are the Buddha, the ocean, the sky, Sakka, Māra and Brahmā.
39. For instance at MN 129, SN 22:99, AN 3:81 (Eng. 3:80), AN 5:196 among many other places.
40. Meru is found for example at Thī 6:6, Jāt 506 and 537 as well as extensively in the Apadāna and Buddhavaṃsa. Sumeru is found only in one verse which is found at Thī 6:6 and in the parallel section of the Therīapadāna.
Neru is found in the phrase nerurājāvalaṅkato (“adorned like the king of Neru”) at MN-a 53 and SN-a 35:196. It is fairly common in the verse sections of the Jātakas, but should not be confused with the golden mountain Neru in the Himavā (Jāt 379). Mahāneru is used at Th 20:1 and Jāt 370.
41. DN-a 32 and DN-ṭ 32. See also SN-a 15:3.
42. There are mentionings of sinerussa ālinde at SN-a 11:1, which could be interpreted as terraces outside the walls but the context makes clear that these are “lines of defence” some of which are located well down the slopes of Sineru.
43. See diagram 3. Note that if the plateau is larger than the city, then the slope would be even steeper.
44. Ud-a 5:5. For the asuras see § 3:3,23.
45. Jāt 31. The supaṇṇas are gigantic birds, see § 3:2,5.
46. DN-a 1, MN-a 44, SN-a 14:15, SN-a 35:99, Jāt 542.
47. DN-a 4, MN-a 22, MN-a 95, Dhp-a 1:8.
48. DN-a 27, MN-a 47, MN-a 108 etc.
49. SN-a 16:11 & AN-a 1: 191: ākāsagaṅgaṃ otārento viya sineruṃ matthaṃ katvā sāgaraṃ nimmathento.
50. The list of names is found in verses at Vism 7.42, Sn-a 3:7 and Jāt 541. In the commentarial explanation of the verses we are told that each range is half the size of the preceding one. The translations of the names are literal. The Abhidharmakośa uses the same names, in their Sanskrit forms, in a slightly different order. See AK 3:5, p. 452.
51. The Abhidharmakośa says they are made of gold. AK 3:5. p. 453.
52. All this from Vism-mhṭ 7 and an almost identical passage at Sn-a 3:7. Are the mahārājā meant to be the cātumahārājā, the “Four Great Kings?” Probably, as Vibh-a 18:6 identifies their dwelling as half-way up the slope of Sineru, and this agrees with the Abhidharmakośa.
53. Jāt 541. Thanks to Bhante Nyanatusita for pointing this out.
54. SN-a 30:1. For nāgas and supaṇṇas, great serpents and birds always at enmity, see § 3:2,5.
55. SN 15:3 & AN 3:81, eng. 3:80. The explanation is from the Saṃyutta commentary.
56. This makes the assumption that the width of the world bounding mountains is not included in the total diameter of the cakkavāḷa. This assumption agrees with the calculation done in the Abhidharmakośa which arrives at an ocean width of 322,000 yojanas derived from slightly different heights and widths for the mountain ranges.
57. This will be dealt with in § 3:3,23.
58. Ireland (1990: 75) translates “does not exceed the limits of the tide-line” but this is reading too much into the text.
59. DN-a 17. For details see § 3:1,10.
60. These beings will all be described in Part Three. It is unclear why gandhabbas are here to be thought of as living in the ocean.
61. Sn-a 3:7, Jāt 541, Dhs-a 2, Vism 7.42.
62. SN-a 30:1, AN-a 4:42, Jāt 541 and Nidd 1: 14. The Niddesa is classed as canonical, but is certainly a late text.
63. Vism 7.42. The same passage is found at Sn-a 3:7. These are the only places in the Pali texts that the height of these mountains is given.
64. See for example SN 56:46 and MN-a 123.
65. DN-a 14. For the lokanatara niraya see § 3:3,20.
66. See PED s.v. “sakaṭa”.
67. Perhaps a memory of widespread flooding at the end of the last glaciation? There is a flood myth recorded in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 8:1.
68. See DPPN for these names.
69. The reader encountering these numbers should be aware that ancient Indian texts often use numbers like 500 or 84,000 simply to indicate “a great many” without any implied precision.
70. A small woodland being like a tiny human being. See § 3:4,6.
71. Indagopaka. Red Velvet Mite, an arthropod of the family Trombidiidae. The Pāḷi name for these small creatures means “Indra’s herdsman.” These mites have a bright-red rounded body with a velvety appearance and are parasitic on spiders and insects. See Dhammika 2018:52.
72. Jātakas 40, 378, 408, 424 and 496. For paccekabuddhas, see § 3:1,14.
73. Jātakas 6, 234, 461 and 547.
74. Jātakas 117, 159, 221, 222, 423 and 501.
75. Jātakas 72, 219, 455, 512.
76. For a discussion of animal stories in the Jātakas see § 3:2,2.
77. Jātakas 481, 485 and 504.
78. I.e. gold, silver, pearls, rubies, lapis-lazuli, coral and diamond.
79. There are four gāvutas in a yojana.
80. As in a door-bolt, meaning an obstruction.
81. MN-a 54 and Ud-a 5:5. I have slightly rearranged the order of the text for easier comprehension.
82. See DPPN.
83. Bhāgavata Purāṇa, 23: 5.
84. Mugga—PED has “kidney beans” but the context seems to demand a green colour, due to the lush vegetation. Green Gram or Mung Bean, Vigna radiata, is a commonly cultivated plant which produces small green edible beans. See Dhammika 2018:152.
85. See for instance, MN-a 26, SN-a 3:20 AN-a 1:192 among many other references.
86. Located in present day Nepal according to the DPPN.
87. Jāt 547. Another problem is the mention of Mt Vipula which is a known mountain located near Rājagaha, very much within the human zone. Is this perhaps intended to be another mountain with the same name?
88. ibid. For details of the various tribes of elephants, see § 3:2,2.
89. The jambu tree has often been misidentified as the “rose apple tree,” Eugenia jambos or Syzygium jambos in PED, etc.
But Wujastyk (2004) has convincingly made the case for Syzygium cumini which, unlike the rose apple tree, is indigenous to India.
90. AN-a 4:6 for the fine quality of Jambu gold, MN-a 120 for its origin.
91. Vin Mv 1. The story as related in GGB p. 411 includes a statement that the Jambu tree is located “at the tip of” Jambudīpa. I have been unable to trace this statement in the original sources.
92. But a qualified one, see § 3:1,3.
93. DPPN says it is “sometimes a fig”. The Kalpavṛkṣa (the Sanskrit form of the name) is known in Vedic lore as the wish-fulfilling tree raised up by Vishnu at the churning of the ocean. See Britannica Library, s.v. “Churning of the ocean of milk,” http://library.eb.com/levels/referencecenter/article/82582, accessed January 9, 2017.
94. Dhp 2:7—for more on Magha and Sakka see § 3:5,16.
95. For celestial years in Tāvatiṃsa see AN 3:71, (eng. 3:70).
96. The winds are named in the Pali as the “cutting wind”, the “sweeping wind”, the “spreading wind” etc.
97. But so are the devas, see § 3:5,9.
98. DN-a16. The sutta says these were mandārava blossoms, which the commentary equates with the Pāricchattaka flowers.
99. Jāt 31. See also SN-a 11:1, Dhp 2:7 and MN-a 37.
100. DPPN s.v. “citta 1”.
101. Dhammika 2018:127,
102. The supaṇṇas are described in § 3:2,5.
103. Dhammika 2018:185,
104. See GGB.
105. At least according to the Visuddhimagga passage under consideration. Below we will see that elsewhere the first level of Brahmā is described as encompassing and above many thousands of cakkavāḷas. For details of the brahmā beings, see § 3:6.
106. See discussion in § 3:6,4.
107. SN-a 6:3. Obviously this is based on an ancient and obsolete understanding of physics and does not take gravitational acceleration into account.
108. Jāt-nid. For Nandana Grove, see the chapter on Tāvatiṃsa; § 3:5,10.
109. See Kloetzli 1983: 18.
110. We will consider this more fully in the section on Cosmic Time, § 2:4-5.
111. The following details are all from DN-a 27 unless noted otherwise.
112. As in the dimensions for the cakkavāḷa, we see once again that the Pali commentaries were naive about the value of pi.
113. DN-a 27. This simile would only be literally true in the tropics.