Mt. Sineru

[DhammaDan]

Hello all,

I have recently been reading the Visuddhimagga and have once again come across the very confusing description of Mount Sineru. As I have limited experience in studying mythology and symbolism, I will save my interpretations. However, I am curious as to what others think of the mountain, especially our Venerables. Is it to be read literally? Symbolically? What is the true meaning behind Sineru?

For the record, my friend's father is a Hindu Brahman and he has told me he views it as a metaphor for the human body and the "axis mundi" in which the chakras are aligned. Once again, might those in more advanced Buddhist studies also have an interpretation? Thank you for your time.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Dan,

I've read someone somewhere suggest that Buddhaghosa's insistence on listing and depicting all these cosmological objects (I know the section you're talking about - it perplexed me on initial inspection too!) is because he misinterpreted what "knower of worlds" means... taking it to be literal rather than referring to the "world" of the Buddha's teachings as defined by the Buddha in suttas such as SN 12.44, SN 35.82 and AN 4.45.

Interesting theory.

Metta,
Retro.

[Element]

I've read someone somewhere suggest that Buddhaghosa's insistence on listing and depicting all these cosmological objects (I know the section you're talking about - it perplexed me on initial inspection too!) is because he misinterpreted what "knower of worlds" means...

[DhammaDan]

That is an interesting point. It seems many Theravadans see the Visuddhimagga as canon/a proper evaluation of the Dhamma and I am sorry to say I may have fallen into that trap for a short time. Haha, well, I guess that's to be left to the professionals.

[mikenz66]

Greetings DhammaDan,

As far as my understanding goes the Visuddhimagga is mostly a summary of Vinaya, Sutta, Abhidhamma, and Commentary relevant to the development of sila samadhi and panna. Rejection of the Visudhimagga is therefore actually a rejection of Commentary and/or Abhidhamma, i.e. a "Vinaya-Sutta" approach.

Of course, there's still plenty of this "cosmological" stuff in the Suttas, e.g. DN27 Aganna Sutta: On Knowledge of Beginnings...

Nevertheless

Metta
Mike

[Element]