COSMOLOGY AND METAPHYSICS OF THE SAHA WORLD
(Heavens, Hells and Other Realms of Existence)
The Saha World
Besides Sukhavati, the Western Paradise of Eternal Bliss, there are countless other heavens in other stars and planets. Even in our own Saha world system there are twenty two heavens. It is useful to have a brief description of them as well as other realms in our Saha world system, so that you may compare the Western Paradise with these realms, and should you decide to go to one of these heavens instead of the Western Paradise, the previous chapter on rebirth process will be very helpful.
Because their knowledge of Buddhism is mainly through Theravada sources which emphasize the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path, many westerners often have the mis-conception that Buddhism deals only with a moral way of living, and cares little for cosmology and metaphysics. They will certainly be very surprised that, even in Theravada sources, Buddhist cosmology and metaphysics are more detailed and pro¬found than these topics were ever studied anywhere in the world! This is not an exaggeration; more than twenty five centuries ago the Buddha already taught there are countless galaxies and countless worlds, and the latest discoveries in modern physics confirm many of the Buddha's teachings, such as the relativity of time and space, the constant inter-change of energy and matter, and the holistic inter-penetration of the sub-stratum, implicate order.
According to Buddhist cosmology, at the bottom of our Saha world is the "wheel of void". On top of the "wheel of void" in succession are the "wheel of wind", the "wheel of water", the "wheel of metal", and the "wheel of earth". The "wheel of earth" supports the world's ocean, in the middle of which rises the Sumeru Mountain 84,000 yojanas into the sky, with another 84,000 yojanas sunk into the ocean. A yojana is an ancient Indian measurement of the average distance in a day's march by a king's military expedition. Different sources have given different interpretations as to how long a yojana is: for example, Indian sources usually refer to a yojana as 30 miles, Chinese sources as 40 miles, and Thai sources as 10 miles. This is because not only the length of a mile varies between cultures, but also between times. If we take the Chinese measurement, the height of Sumeru Mountain is 135,000 times higher than Mount Everest.
Surrounding the Sumeru Mountain is a ring of "fragrant sea", which in turn is surrounded by a ring of "golden mountain range". Surrounding this ring of "golden mountain range" is another ring of "fragrant sea", which again is surrounded by another ring of "golden mountain range". These alternate concentric rings of "fragrant seas" and "golden mountain ranges" go on for seven layers, and are known as internal seas and internal mountain ranges. Outside these seven rings of "fragrant seas" and "golden mountain ranges" is the world ocean.
To the south of the Sumeru Mountain across the ocean is the Jambudvipa, sometimes called the southern continent, which is rectangular in shape and 6.000 by 7.000 yojanas. Many people think this Jambudvipa refers to the Indian sub-continent or central Asia; others think it refers to our whole world.
To the east of the Sumeru Mountain across the ocean is Pubbavideha, the eastern continent, which is triangular in shape, 2,000 yojanas all round. Some people refer to this eastern continent as China or east Asia; others think it refers to another planet.
To the north is Uttarakuru, or the northern continent, which is square in shape, and 2,000 yojanas on each side. It is considered to be the most mag-nificent of the four continents.
To the west is Aparagoyana, or the western continent, which is circular in shape, with a circumference of 8,000 yojanas. Bulls and cows were used here as the medium of trade.
Besides these four main continents, there are also sub-continents and large islands. Surrounding all these continents, sub-continents, islands, the world's ocean, golden mountain ranges, fragrant seas and Sumeru Mountain is the great, circular Iron Mountain Range, which marks the boundary of our world system.
Buddhism and Science
It is obvious to modern readers that this Buddhist description of the world does not fit the knowledge we get from modern geography and astronomy. Indeed, I was one day thinking of this problem when suddenly the picture of our world in the form of a globe flashed across my mind. In an instant it occurred to me that if we view our world from space, then the Buddhist description becomes strikingly accurate. The seas and mountains in the Buddhist cosmological description refer not literally to the seas and mountains on earth, but figuratively to space and heavenly bodies. The Buddha refers to our world not from the view seen on the ground, but to our earth in space, surrounded by the solar system, which in turn is surrounded by a sea of space and then a ring of stars successively. The Saha world is not just our earth; some sources inter¬pret it as the solar system, others as our galaxy.
But, what about the wheels of void, wind, water, metal and earth at the "base" of the Saha world? How do they fit into modern astro¬nomy? No definite answers can be given yet, but an important fact is that at a time when most ancient philosophies proposed that the earth was supported by mystical creatures like turtles and elephants, the Buddha taught that the earth and other worlds are suspended in space, as indicated by the "wheel of void". The "wheel of wind" could be interpreted as what the inhabitants of their respective worlds would regard as the atmosphere; the "wheel of water" as the hydrosphere; the "wheel of metal" the core; and the "wheel of earth" as the mantle of the heavenly body in question. Alternatively, these wheels may represent something in our universe that our astronomers have not discovered.
It should be noted that what our earthly scien¬tists regard as barren rocks or poisonous gas on other planets may be what we call "woods" and "streams" to their inhabit¬ants, invisible to us, who operate under a different set of conditions. We should remem¬ber how limited actually is the range of light visible to us, and how infinitesimal is our place in the known uni¬verse.
It is also relevant and significant to point out that throughout history our knowledge of science has been constantly revised, and each major revision confirmed with what has been taught in Buddhism since ancient time. Some notable examples are our previous conviction that our earth was a few hundred thousand years old, our galaxy was the whole universe, time and space were absolute, living and non-living things were exclusively different, the mind was nothing but a function of the brain, the fundamental stuff of the world was made up of discrete particles, and the external world was objectively real. Many Buddhist concepts that were considered outlandish in the past are now proven by science to be true.
It is understandable that many of us viewing phenomena from the narrow temporal and spatial pers¬pect¬ives of the present moment and from our puny earth, would find it extremely hard to believe that many of what we have accepted as "scientific facts" may not be true after all, just as our predecessors had accepted many assumptions (like "light travels in a straight line", "matter and energy are exclusive") as "scientific facts" but are now found to be mistaken. Hence, although Buddhism has provided so many examples where it was right and science was wrong, most scientists and many other people today will still not accept some of the Buddhist concepts that are beyond common experience, such as the existence of ghosts and asuras in our world system, or the presence of life in other count¬less heavenly bodies besides our earth.
Of course, it is never suggested that wherever there is a difference of viewpoint, Buddhism is always right. Buddhist philosophy has always emphasized that one should not accept any teaching on faith alone, but should assess the teaching to the best of his understanding and experience.
Hence, one should not be too condescending to say that since Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, the existence of Mount Sumeru, reckoned to be 135,000 times higher than Everest, is pure non-sense. Richard Morris provides some thought-provoking ideas:
There are some superstring theories that suggest that there might be a kind of matter which interacts with ordinary matter only through the gravitational interaction. Since the production of light and the exist¬ence of intermolecular forces are products of electromagnetic interaction, not only would this shadow matter be invisible to us, but one could walk right through it, no matter how dense it might be.
Neil McAleer reminds us how limited the physical reality of our senses is:
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The physical reality of our senses -- what we see, touch, smell, hear, and taste every day -- represents an infinitesimal fraction of the physical reality of the Universe. If the energy spectrum were a yardstick (36 inches; 91 centimeters), then what we see with our eyes in the small visible range would be less than a half inch (about 1.3 centimeters).
Realms of Existence Invisible to Us
Just as we cannot see shadow matter, there are also many classes of sentient beings normally invisible to our grossly limited human eyes. Even in the Animal Realm, or Tiracchana Yoni, creatures like garudas (gigantic birds) and nagas (dragons) are invisible to us because they live in heavens above our Human Realm, or Manussa Loka.
Classes of beings normally not visible to us include hell inhabitants, ghosts and spirits, asuras (titans), devas (heavenly beings) and brahmas (gods).
In Buddhist metaphysics, there is not one but many hells, each with its sub-hells. But we can be comforted that there are many times more heavens than hells. The hells are found in various places, such as below the continents, the mountain ranges and the seas, where the water appears as fire to hell beings. The realm of hells is known as Niraya.
The major hells are Sanjiva, the hell of continually being killed; Kalasutta, the hell of black rope floor; Sanghata, the hell of crushing and smashing; Roruva, the hell of screaming; Tapana, the hell of fiercely burning fire; and Avici, the hell of suffering without respite. Experience in any hell is of course morbid and scary.
Many people would ask why does a compassion religion like Buddhism create hells to torture sentient beings, even though these beings have sinned. The answer is thus: Hells are not created by Buddhism; they are created by the mind of the evil doers. Because his mind is evil, when a person is reborn, the impressions of evilness imprinted in his mind when he thought of or committed evil deeds, lead him to a rebirth to an evil realm. One important aim in Buddhism is to help people not to fall into hells, and to save them if they have fallen. The great Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha, who chooses to go to hells to help others, has helped countless hell inhabitants to ascend to heavens.
One may argue: Since hell is a creation of evil minds, if there are no descriptions of hells, there will be no concepts or ideas regarding hells for people's minds to follow. This is not true, because a person's evil impression is principally derived not from descriptions but from his thought, speech and action. In fact, if he is aware of the scary descriptions of hells, he could be deterred from committing evilness. To take a rough analogy, if a camera is directed at sordid scenes, the photographs when developed will be sordid, irrespectively of whether the photographer has read any sordid descriptions.
Nevertheless, with the distinguished exception of the Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha Sutra which gives a vivid description of hells and how hell inhabitants can be and have been saved, Buddhist teaching seldom touches on hells, as Buddhist teachers believe that leading followers to heavens and to enlightenment is more positive and rewarding.
Ghosts and nature spirits are different from hell inhabitants, and they exist in a different realm called the Realm of Spirits, or Peta Loka. Unlike hell inhabit¬ants who are confined, ghosts and spirits are free to roam about. They are found in various places, such as on mountains and in forests, and they sometimes exist in the same "space" as the human realm but in a different dimension. Unlike devas and asuras who can materialize food by visualization, and humans and animals who can find their food -- hell inhabitants are too busy suffering to think of food -- ghosts are in¬capable of producing food. As they are always hungry, they are often called hungry ghosts. Hence, it is a common practice in Buddhist monasteries that before every meal, each monk takes out seven grains of rice from his serving to feed hungry ghosts.
Asuras (titans) are beings whose position is somewhere between humans and devas, but because their happiness, despite their abundance pleasures, is far less than that of humans', they are usually placed in a position below the human realm. Like devas, asuras have much enjoyment, and female asuras are exceedingly beautiful, but the males are always quarrelling and fighting amongst themselves, thus they are not happy. Asuras are usually found in forests and on mountains, especially at the lower reaches of Mount Sumeru where they live in magnificent palaces. The asura realm is called Asura Nikaya.
The realms of devas, humans, asuras, animals, ghosts and hell inhabitants are the six realms of existence into which a being will normally reincarnate at his rebirth according to his karma. They are therefore called the six realms of reincarnation. An advanced being may be reborn into a brahma realm, which is higher than the realms of devas, or a brahma may retrogress into a lower realm, though this is unlikely. But by convention Buddhists still talk of the six realms of reincarnation (not seven), with the brahma realms and deva realms regarded as the same class of realms.
It is significant that while there is only one realm each for humans, asuras, animals, ghosts and hell inhabitants, there are six realms for devas and sixteen realms for brahmas. In other worlds, there are twenty two realms of heavens, and only five realms that are non-heavens. Hence, in Buddhism, unless a person has been particularly wicked, his chance of rebirth in a heaven is 22 to 5.
The Heavenly Realms
The lowest heavenly realm is 42,000 yojanas above our human realm, mid-way up the Sumeru Mountain. This is Catumaharajika, or the Realm of the Four Great Kings. The terms in this chapter are in Pali, in contrast with other chapters where Sanskrit terms are usually used, as the material here is taken from Pali sources, indicating that Theravada Buddhism is also very rich in cosmology and metaphysics, although Theravadin teachers seldom discuss these topics.
The four great kings who preside over this heavenly realm are Dhataratha (king of devas) in the east, Virupakkha (king of garudas and nagas) in the west, Virulhaka (king of yakkhas who are called kumbhandas) in the south, and Vessavana (king of yakkhas and devas) in the north. Devas are heavenly beings who correspond to humans in the human realm; garudas are gigantic birds; nagas are dragons; and yakkhas are fierce spirits who police the hells but who, because of their good karma, spend some of their time in heaven. The life-span of a deva in this realm is 500 celestial years, which is 9,000,000 human years.
A deva can transform himself into as big or as small as he (or she) likes. He eats celestial food, but has no urine or excrement. He does not become sick at all. Devas play with their spouses and children, and have fun all the time. The normal height of a deva in this Catumaharajika realm is 0.5 yojanas; a deva king is 0,75 yojanas.
Another 42,000 yojanas above Catumaharajika is Tavatimsa, or the Realm of the Thirty Three Deva Kings. This heavenly realm is at the peak of Sumeru mountain, ruled by thirty three deva kings who stay in heavenly palaces made from gems. The lord of this realm is Indra.
84,000 yojanas above the realm of the Tavatimsa Heaven is the Realm of Yama, which is above the Sumeru Mountain. The devas here have bright and beautiful faces and bodies. The king is Suyamadevaraja. The life-span of a deva here is 2,000 celestial years, which is 144,000,000 human years.
168,000 yojanas above the Realm of Yama is the famous Tusita Heaven, or the Heaven of Enjoying Bliss. The king is Santusitadevaraja. The life-span here is 4,000 celestial years, which is 576,000,000 human years. Sri Ariya Metteyya, who will descend to the earth to become the next Buddha, lives here. The height of a deva here is 2 yojanas.
336,000 yojanas above the Tusita Heaven, is the Nimmana-Rati Heaven, or the Realm of Enjoying Own Creation. The devas here, 4 yojanas tall, create whatever they desire, and play with female devas to their heart content. The life-span here is 8,000 celestial years, or 2,304,000,000 human years. 672,000 yojanas above the Nimmana-Rati Heaven is the Paranimmita-Vasavatti Heaven, or the Realm of Enjoying Others' Creation. If a deva wishes to have something, it will be created by other devas. Each deva is 8 yojanas tall. There are two kings who never visit or have an audience with each other. The life-span here 16,000 celestial years, or 9,216,000,000 human years. This Parnimmita-Vasavatti Heaven is at the highest level of Kamaloka, or the realms of desire. Above this is Rupaloka, or the realms of form.
A deva in any of the Kamaloka realms may die in one of four ways: expiration of his life-span, expiration of his merits, expiration of food, or expiration due to anger. When his life-span or merits are spent, the deva undergoes reincarnation to a higher or lower level depending on his karma.
Devas have to take celestial food too; this is apparently simple because they only need to visualize whatever they want to materialize it. Yet, surprising it may seem, a deva may be so engrossed in his enjoy¬ment of heavenly bliss, like playing with a female deva, that he forgets to eat his food, and so dies! If a deva quarrels or fights with another deva, and if both are angry, they both die, because the fire that is generated in their anger consumes them. However, if any one of them is not angry, water is created and quenches the fire of the other deva, saving both of them. It pays to be calm and peaceful -- even in heavens.
Such risk from pleasure or anger, however, does not occur in the two higher spheres, Rupaloka or the sphere of form, and Arupaloka or the sphere of non-form, because here all desire has been eliminated.
The heavenly beings in the Rupaloka are known as brahmas. Brahmas have overcome all desire, but they still retain their bodily form which is of very fine matter. There are sixteen heavenly realms in this sphere of form. While winning rebirth to the deva heavens in the sphere of desire is through good karma, winning rebirth to the brahma heavens in this sphere of form is through meditation.
In ascending order, the first three of these brahma realms are the Parisajja Heaven, or the Heaven of Brahma Retinue; the Purohita Heaven, or the Heaven of Brahma Ministers; and the Maha-Brahma Heaven, or the Heaven of Great Brahmas. These three realms are attained by an adept, who has reached the first jhana of meditat¬ion, when he passes away from earthly life or even now and here when he is still alive in this world.
Four levels of meditation are used to attain the various brahma heavens in the sphere of form. These meditation levels are known as jhana in Pali, dhyana in Sanskrit, chan in Chinese, and zen in Japanese. Accomplishing the first jhana, which enables the adept to reach the first three brahma heavens depending on the relative depth of his meditation, is known in the Theravada tradition as attaining sotapanna, which is the first fruit in the cultivation towards nibbana.
The next three brahma heavens above the Maha-Brahma Heaven are Parittabha Heaven, or the Heaven of Brahmas with Minor Lustre; the Appamanabha Heaven, or the Heaven of Brahmas with Infinite Lustre; and Abhas¬sara Heaven, or the Heaven of Radiant Brahmas. These three realms are attained when one accomplishes the second jhana in meditation. This attainment is known as sakadagamin, the second fruit of spiritual cultivation in the Theravada tradition.
The next three heavens are Paritta Subha Heaven, or the Heaven of Brahmas with Minor Aura; Appamana Subha Heaven, or the Heaven of Brahmas with Infinite Aura; and the Subha Kinha Heaven, or the Heaven of Brahmas with Steady Aura. These brahma realms are attained through the third jhana of meditation, with the accomplishment of Anagamin, the third fruit.
The next two brahma realms are the Vehapphala Heaven, or the Heaven of Greatly Rewarded Brahmas; and the Asanna-Satta Heaven, or the Heaven of Sensationless Brahmas. These two realms are reached in very deep third jhana, or weak fourth jhana. When the aspirant deepens his meditation in the fourth jhana, he attains, according to the depth of his meditation, the following five brahma realms in ascending order: Aviha Heaven, or the Heaven of Immobile Brahmas; Atappa Heaven, or the Heaven of Serene Brahmas; Sudassa Heaven, or the Heaven of Beautiful Brahmas; Sudassi Heaven, or the Heaven of Clear-Sighted Brahmas; and Akanittha Heaven, or the Heaven of Supreme Brahmas. When a adept attains these levels he is called an Arahant, the fourth and highest fruit of spiritual cultivation in the Theravada tradition.
Understandably, ordinary mortals will find it very hard to appreciate the kind of bliss at these levels above the Aviha Heaven. Unlike in the much lower deva heavens, where the enjoyment of devas like in dancing and feasting is easily comprehensible to humans, in the highest brahma heavens, an Arahant remains blissfully motionless in his heaven for aeons!
The Realms of Non-Forms
Nevertheless, these motionless brahma realms are not the highest realms in the Saha world. Above the sphere of form, or Rupaloka, is the sphere of non-form, or Arupaloka, where there are four formless realms. Here, there is not only no movement, there is also no form. Enlightened beings, who are Sravakas, Prateyaka¬buddhas, Arahants and Bodhisattvas, exist as pure con-sciousness; but of course if they wish to manifest in any of the lower realms they can take any form they like. Because there is no form, these realms are not normally described as heavens; they are above heavens, a "link" or "transition" between the phenomenal dimension and the trans¬cendental, undifferen¬tiated Supreme Reality, the attainment of which is enlightenment or nirvana.
These four formless realms are Akasananca Yatana, or the Sphere of Infinite Space; Vinnananca Yatana, or the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness; Akincanna Yatana, or the Sphere of Nothingness; and Nevasannanasanna Yatana, or the Sphere of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception. These realms are attained through the post-fourth jhana in the Theravada tradition, and in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth samadhi (or ding in Chinese) in the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition. These very high spiritual levels are attainable not necessarily in an after-life, but now and here.
The Thirty One Realms
The thirty one realms of existence in the three spheres of desire, form and non-form are as follows:
Sphere of Non-Form:
31. Nevasannanasanna Yatana.
Sphere of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception.
30. Akincanna Yatana.
Sphere of Nothingness.
29. Vinnananca Yatana.
Sphere of Infinite Consciousness.
28. Akasananca Yatana.
Sphere of Infinite Space.
Sphere of Form:
27. Akanittha Heaven.
Heaven of Supreme Brahmas.
26. Sudassi Heaven.
Heaven of Clear-Sighted Brahmas.
25. Sudassa Heaven.
Heaven of Beautiful Brahmas.
24. Atappa Heaven.
Heaven of Serene Brahmas.
23. Aviha Heaven.
Heaven of Immobile Brahmas.
22. Asanna-Satta Heaven.
Heaven of Sensationless Brahmas.
21. Vehapphala Heaven.
Heaven of Greatly Rewarded Brahmas.
20. Subha Kinha Heaven.
Heaven of Brahmas with Steady Aura.
19. Appamana Heaven.
Heaven of Brahmas with Infinite Aura.
18. Paritta Subha Heaven.
Heaven of Brahmas with Minor Aura.
17. Abhassara Heaven.
Heaven of Radiant Brahmas.
16. Appamanabha Heaven.
Heaven of Brahmas with Infinite Lustre.
15. Parittabha Heaven.
Heaven of Brahmas with Minor Lustre.
14. Maha-Brahma Heaven
Heaven of Great Brahmas.
13. Purohita Heaven.
Heaven of Brahma Ministers.
12. Parisajja Heaven.
Heaven of Brahma Retinue.
Sphere of Desire:
11. Paranimmita-Vasavatti Heaven.
Heaven of Enjoying Others' Creation.
10. Nimmana-Rati Heaven.
Heaven of Enjoying Own Creation.
9. Tusita Heaven.
Heaven of Enjoying Bliss.
8. Yama Heaven.
Heaven of Yama.
7. Tavatimsa Heaven.
Heaven of Thirty Three Deva Kings.
6. Catumaharajika Heaven.
Heaven of Four Great Kings.
5. Manussa Loka.
Realm of Humans.
4. Asura Nikaya.
Realm of Titans.
3. Tiracchana Yoni.
Realm of Animals.
2. Peta Loka.
Realm of Ghosts and Spirits.
1. Niraya.
Realms of Hells.
As it can be seen in the list above, the chance of going to heaven is very high. The requirement for rebirth in heaven is to avoid all evil, and do good. Anyone with good blessings, even if he or she is spiritually ignorant, can be reborn in heaven. However, if you wish to be reborn in one of the higher heavens, you need to cultivate wisdom too, i.e. besides avoiding evil and doing good, you must also cultivate your mind through meditation.
Nevertheless, except the higher brahma heavens, although you will have tremendous joy in heavens, your opportunity for further spiritual development is rather slime as you will most probably be too engrossed in enjoyment. When your blessings are spent, you will have to undergo reincarnation again. Hence, you still have not gone beyond life and death. One effective way to overcome this problem, as taught by the Buddha in the Amitabha Buddha, is to be reborn in Sukhavati, the Western Paradise of Eternal Bliss, where you can have both eternal joy as well as a sure opportunity for spiritual development.
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