 |
| Maha Brahma, who can adopt any form, is said to have four faces looking in four directions |
 |
| What must the devas of the Space Plane of the Thirty-Three where Sakka rule look like? |
.
The Buddha goes to teach devas in space
 |
| Countless worlds in 31 planes of existence |
While he generally visited the lower brahma (divinity) planes for this purpose, his most important course of instruction to the devas took place in the World of the Thirty-Three, the Tavatimsa deva plane (the seventh of 31 on the chart).
Pali commentaries to the sutras report that during his seventh rains retreat after his great enlightenment, the Buddha spent three months in the Tavatimsa celestial world teaching the entire Abhidhamma (the "Higher Teaching" or "Dharma in Ultimate Terms") to his biological mother along with numerous other devas and brahmas.
Devas had gathered in that world from various deva planes of 10,000 world systems in order to listen to his exposition of this extremely precise philosophical psychology [9].
Only higher beings could have remained sitting in a single posture this long, and continuity of attention is essential for properly grasping the Abhidhamma.
"Infinite and immeasurable was the discourse, which went on ceaselessly for three months with the velocity of a waterfall" (Expos 19). But as the Buddha was a human being, his body required normal food. So everyday, in the terrestrial forenoon, he created an image of himself to continue teaching in that world while in his natural body he came to earth to collect alms food and partake of a meal.
Venerable Sariputra, the monk foremost in wisdom (corresponding to Ven. Khema, the nun foremost in wisdom) met him daily at Anotatta Lake, and there the Buddha summarized for him what he had taught the devas the previous day.
Ven. Sariputta gradually passed all this material on to his own group of 500 monk pupils, elaborating and organizing it to make it easier to comprehend.
The Buddha gave this profound teaching in a higher plane as it demanded superhuman attentiveness.
His chief student in that heavenly world was his mother, Queen Maya, who had passed away seven days after his birth and been reborn in the Tusita ("Contented") deva world. By teaching her the most subtle aspects of the Dharma, the seven sections of the Abhidhamma Collection, the Buddha expressed his gratitude to his mother for having carried him in her womb and brought him into this world.
MAHA BRAHMA or "God"
 |
| Male conception of asexual Maha Brahma |
Many people worship Maha Brahma as the supreme and eternal creator God, but for the Buddha he is merely a powerful deity still caught within the cycle of repeated rebirths.
In fact, "Maha Brahma" is a role or office filled by different individuals at different times (as are the roles of Sakka, the Buddha, and other important figures in the cosmos.
The Buddha has directly seen the origins of Maha Brahma (who is neither male nor female but a combination of both) and understands what it requires to be reborn in that world.
In the "All-Embracing Net of Views" (Brahmajala Sutta, DN 1) the Buddha describes how a supposed creator god came to believe itself omnipotent and how others came to rely on this sovereignty.
His description was based, not on speculation or hearsay, but on the Buddha's own direct knowledge. He explains that when our world system disintegrates, as it regularly does after extremely long periods of time, the lower 16 planes are all destroyed.
Beings disappear from all planes below the 17th, the plane of the Abhassara shining ones (devas). Whatever beings cannot be reborn on the 17th or a higher brahma plane then must take rebirth on the lower planes in other remote world systems.
Eventually the world system starts to re-form. Then a solitary being passes away from the Abhassara plane and takes rebirth on the plane of Maha Brahma. A palace [mansion, UFO, vimana] created by his karma awaits him there:
"There he dwells, mind-made, feeding on rapture, self-luminous, moving through the air, abiding in glory. And he continues thus for a long, long time."
After ages pass, he becomes lonely and longs for other beings to join him. It just so happens that shortly after the brahma starts craving for company, other beings from the Abhassara plane, who have exhausted their lifespans there, pass away and are reborn in the palace of Brahma, in companionship with him.
Because these beings seemed to arise in accordance with the first brahma's wish, he becomes convinced that he is some almighty God: "I am Maha Brahma [the Great Divinity], the Vanquisher... the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Supreme Being."
The other brahmas, seeing that this being [who is neither male nor female] was already present when they took rebirth in its world, accept that claim and revere Maha Brahma as their creator.
Eventually this misconception of a Creator God spreads to the human plane. One of the other brahmas passes away and is reborn here. This being develops samadhi and learns to recollect past lives to a life with Maha Brahma, but none of the lives before that.
Recollecting that existence that being recalls that Maha Brahma was considered the "progenitor of all that are and are to be...permanent, stable, eternal."
As that person is unable to remember further back, that person believes this to be absolute truth and propounds a theistic doctrine of an omnipotent Creator God (Net 69-70, 155-66).
 |
| Maha Brahma (one of the brahmas) in Buddhism (thai-buddhas.com) |
Venerable Ledi Sayadaw, a highly renowned Burmese scholar-monk of the first part of this century, gave a careful analysis of the powers of Maha Brahma in his Niyama Dipani (MB pp. 138-39).
He states that although Maha Brahma can perform all sorts of transformations, it cannot actually create independent creatures, change the karmic law of causes and effects, or keep anyone from growing old or dying.
Maha Brahma can use special powers to transport a person to the brahma plane for a short visit but cannot ensure that someone will be reborn there. More
No comments:
Post a Comment