THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BUDDHIST COSMOLOGY
"Now there comes a time, Vasettha, when after a long period of time
this world contracts. When the world contracts beings are for the
most part born in the realm of Radiance There they exist made of
mind, feeding on joy, self-luminous, moving through the air,
constantly beautiful; thus they remain for a long, long time.
Now there
comes a time, Vasettha, when after a long period of time this world
expands. When the world expands beings for the most part fall from
the realm of Radiance and come here [to this realm]; and they exist
made of mind, feeding on joy, self-luminous, moving through the
air, constantly beautiful; thus they remain for a long, long
time." (1)
This striking and evocative passage introduces the well-known
account of the evolution of the world and human society found in the
Agganna-sutta of the Pali Digha Nikaya.(2) It marks the beginning of
a particular line of thought within Buddhist tradition concerning
the world and its cycles of expansion and contraction. It is this
line of thought that I wish to investigate in the present article.
THE EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION OF WORLD-SYSTEMS
According to Buddhist cosmological systems the universe is
constituted by innumerable "world-systems" or "world-spheres"
(loka-dhatu, cakkavala) comprising just thirty-one levels of
existence.(36) Much as the mind is not static or stable, neither, on
a grander scale, are world-systems; they themselves go through vast
cycles of expansion and contraction. According to the exegetical
traditions of both the Theravadins and Sarvastivadins, the formula I
quoted from the Agganna-sutta, referring as it does to the rebirth
of beings in the realm of Radiance (abhassara/abhasvara)(37) at the
time of world contraction, describes this contraction as the result
of destruction by fire. Both Buddhaghosa and Vasubandhu provide some
further details about how the destruction proceeds.(38) According to
Buddhaghosa, world-systems contract in great clusters--he speaks of
a billion (koti-sata-sahassa) world-systems contracting at a
time.(39) Both writers describe how, when they contract,
world-systems contract from the bottom upward. Thus in the case of
destruction by fire, the fire starts in the lower realms of the
sense sphere and having burned up these, it invades the form realms;
but having burned up the realms corresponding to the first
jhana/dhyana, it stops. The realms corresponding to the second,
third, and fourth jhanas, and the four formless realms, are thus
spared the destruction. But destruction by fire is not the only kind
of destruction, merely the most frequent--water and wind also wreak
their havoc. When the destruction is by water, the three realms
corresponding to the second jhana are also included in the general
destruction, while the destruction by wind invades and destroys even
the realms corresponding to the third jhana. Overall, only the seven
realms corresponding to the fourth jhana and the four formless
realms are never subject to this universal destruction.(40)
So what becomes of the beings that occupy the lower realms when
fire, water, and wind wreak their destruction? They cannot just
disappear from samsara; they must go somewhere.
Here we touch upon a
question which posed something of a problem in the Buddhist
tradition and to which its answers are not entirely consistent. The
simple answer that Buddhaghosa gives in the Visuddhimagga is that at
the time of the destruction of a world-system by fire, all the
beings that occupy the lower realms--including hell beings
(nerayika)--are reborn in the Abhassara Brahma realm (corresponding
to the second jhana) or above it. But since rebirth in a Brahma
realm can only occur as a result of the practice of the jhanas,
Buddhaghosa has a problem. The chaos and hardships that are a
prelude to the destruction of the world are hardly conducive to the
practice of jhana. Moreover, certain beings simply do not have the
capacity to attain jhana even if they try.
There is no rebirth in the Brahma world without jhana, and some
beings are oppressed by the scarcity of food, and some are incapable
of attaining jhana. How are they reborn there? By virtue of jhana
acquired in the Deva world. For at that time, knowing that in a
hundred thousand years the aeon will come to an end, the
sense-sphere gods, called "Marshals of the World," loosen their
headdresses and, with disheveled hair and pitiful faces, wiping
their tears with their hands, clothed in red and wearing their
garments in great disarray, come and frequent the haunts of men
saying, "Good sirs, a hundred thousand years from now the aeon will
come to an end: this world will be destroyed, the great ocean will
dry up, and Sineru, king of mountains, will be burnt up and
destroyed. The destruction of the world will reach the Brahma world.
Develop loving kindness, good sirs. Develop compassion, sympathetic
joy, and equanimity. Take care of your mothers and fathers; honor
the elders of the family." Hearing their words, both men and the
deities of the earth are for the most part moved; they become kind
to one another, and making merit by loving kindness and so on, they
are reborn in the Deva world. There they enjoy the food of the gods
and having completed the initial work on the air kasina, they attain
jhana.
However there are others who are reborn in the Deva world by virtue
of their kamma "that is to be experienced at an unspecified time,"
for there is certainly no being wandering in samsara devoid of kamma
that is to be experienced at an unspecified time. They also
similarly acquire jhana there [in the Deva world]. So all beings are
reborn in the Brahma world by virtue of the attainment of jhana.(41)
For Buddhaghosa, at the time of the contraction of a world-system,
all the beings occupying the lower realms should be understood as
being reborn in those higher Brahma worlds that escape the
destruction--this is true even of the beings in the lower realms of
hell. When all else fails, this comes about by virtue of the fact
that there is no being in samsara that has not at some time or other
performed the kamma necessary for rebirth in the happy realms of the
sense sphere. Thus even beings born in hell realms as the result of
unwholesome kamma will always have a latent good kamma that can come
to fruition at the time of the pending contraction of the
world-system; this is their "kamma to be experienced at an
unspecified time" (aparapariya-vedaniya-kamma).(42) Such beings are
first reborn in a sense-sphere heaven, where they subsequently
cultivate jhana leading to rebirth in the Brahma worlds. What
follows from this view of the matter is that all beings in samsara
are regarded as having dwelt at some time in the Brahma realms
corresponding to the second, third, and fourth jhanas; moreover,
periodically--though the periods may be of inconceivable
duration--all beings are regarded as returning to these realms.
It seems, however, that some in the Buddhist tradition were not
entirely happy with the understanding of the matter presented by
Buddhaghosa. Commenting on the phrase, "when the world contracts
beings are for the most part born in the realm of Radiance," as it
occurs in the Brahmajala Sutta, Buddhaghosa states that "`for the
most part' [yebhuyyena] is said because there are other beings who
are born either in higher Brahma realms or in the formless
realms."
The assimilation of cosmology and psychology
found in early Buddhist thought and developed in the Abhidharma must
be seen in this context to be fully understood and appreciated. I
can do no better than to finish with the words of the Buddha:
"That the end of the world . . . is to be known, seen or reached by
travelling -- that I do not say. . . . And yet I do not say that one
makes an end of suffering without reaching the end of the world.
Rather, in this fathom-long body, with its consciousness and mind, I
declare the world, the arising of the world, the ceasing of the
world and the way leading to the ceasing of the world." (80)
From: Cosmology and meditation: from the Agganna-Sutta to the Mahayana. (Buddhism)
Rupert Gethin
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