Great Brahma

Pictures of revered teachers, places, rupas, temples, bhikkhus, shrine rooms etc. that bring inspiration to our members. Pilgrimage advice, devotion etc.
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DNS
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Great Brahma

Post by DNS »

Image

Great Brahma in front of Caesers Palace, Las Vegas

More pictures here:
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/gJ3Pnxkf ... ne+Caesars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Ben
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Re: Great Brahma

Post by Ben »

Thanks David
The juxtoposition of Mahabrahma's shrine in front of Caeser's - incredible!
Thanks for sharing.

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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tiltbillings
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Re: Great Brahma

Post by tiltbillings »

Ben wrote:Thanks David
The juxtoposition of Mahabrahma's shrine in front of Caeser's - incredible!
Thanks for sharing.

Ben
I don't think so. This sort of thing is not at all foreign to Bangkok.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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DNS
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Re: Great Brahma

Post by DNS »

tiltbillings wrote:
Ben wrote:Thanks David
The juxtoposition of Mahabrahma's shrine in front of Caeser's - incredible!
Thanks for sharing.
Ben
I don't think so. This sort of thing is not at all foreign to Bangkok.
Praying for good luck at the slots and tables. :tongue:

Asians are the biggest foreign customers to Las Vegas.

But Ben, you're right, if compared to the teachings in the Pali Canon. Excessive gambling is one of the ways families make their downfall.
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mikenz66
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Re: Great Brahma

Post by mikenz66 »

tiltbillings wrote: I don't think so. This sort of thing is not at all foreign to Bangkok.
Such as the Erawan Shrine outside the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel.
http://www.bangkokpicture.com/attractio ... shrine.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/As ... -BR-4.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.earthdocumentary.com/erawan- ... angkok.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Mike
Sylvester
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Re: Great Brahma

Post by Sylvester »

Maybe not any old "Great Brahma" per se, as in the Vedic Brahma.

Typically, the Brahma worshipped in Thailand appears to be the Brahma Sahampati. This is borne out by the kathas used to honour him, particularly at Bangkok's Wat Erawan and those projects consecrated by the monks of Wat Sakae. The Vegas model looks like the Erawan version, but that is not conclusive of that Brahma's identity - there's definitely a Hindu/Puranic version floating around Thailand as well.

Sahampati is the Brahma connected with inviting the Buddha to teach (eg Ayacana Sutta, SN 6.1) and there are several suttas in the Sa.myutta Nikaya connected with him. That includes "his" mini-biography which places him previously as a disciple of the Kassapa Buddha named Sahaka. As he owes his station to training under the Kassapa Buddha, it's highly unlikely that the Buddhist Brahma Sahampati is the "first" Mahabrahma of this kappa.

Several other Mahabrahmas are mentioned in the suttas, eg the nameless Mahabrahma in the Kevaddha Sutta, DN 11. Baka Brahma from the Brahmanimantanika Sutta, MN 49 is another favourite subject for Thai devotional sculpture, but its iconography is very different from the Erawan style.
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Jechbi
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Re: Great Brahma

Post by Jechbi »

Reminds me of this recent Dhamma Drop:
Bhikkhu_Samahita wrote:Friends:

Contemplating the Deities and what made them so:

One who wants to develop the recollection of deities should possess the special
quality of faith evoked by means of the noble path. He should go into solitary
retreat and recollect his own special qualities of faith, purity and understanding,
with the deities as if standing as witnesses, in this very way: There are deities on
the plane of the Four Great Kings, of the Realm of the Thirty-three, Yama World,
the Contented Devas, those enjoying own creation, those with power over others
creations, those of the Brahma world, and those formless ones far above them...
All those deities were possessed of faith so that on dying here they were reborn
there, and such faith is present in me too. And those deities were possessed of
virtue ... of learning... of generosity ... of understanding, such that when they died
here they were reborn there in a divine dimension, and such understanding is also
present in me too! (AN III 287). He recollects his own special qualities, making the
deities stand as witnesses. When a bhikkhu is devoted to this remembrance of the
deities, he becomes dearly loved by those deities. He obtains even greater fullness
of faith. He has much happiness and gladness. And if he penetrates no higher, he is
at least headed for a happy destiny.

Image
Typical appearance and postures of some Devas.

Now when a man is truly wise,
His constant task will surely be
This recollection of the Deities
Blessed with such mighty potency!
Vism I 226

Image
Sakka king of the 33 devas hovering about with 2 nymphs.

More on the many types of Deities (Devas) literally meaning 'Shining Ones':
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/t/tusita.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Divine_Rebirth.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dham ... /loka.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPP ... atimsa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPP ... f/deva.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Di ... lation.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have a divine day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_ Sri Lanka.
http://What-Buddha-Said.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Remembering the Deities! :anjali:
Rain soddens what is kept wrapped up,
But never soddens what is open;
Uncover, then, what is concealed,
Lest it be soddened by the rain.
BudSas
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Re: Great Brahma

Post by BudSas »

Sylvester wrote:Maybe not any old "Great Brahma" per se, as in the Vedic Brahma.

Typically, the Brahma worshipped in Thailand appears to be the Brahma Sahampati. This is borne out by the kathas used to honour him, particularly at Bangkok's Wat Erawan and those projects consecrated by the monks of Wat Sakae. The Vegas model looks like the Erawan version, but that is not conclusive of that Brahma's identity - there's definitely a Hindu/Puranic version floating around Thailand as well.
The Brahma in Vegas and in front of Erawan Hotel, Bangkok are of the same Thai model (Thai: Phra Phrom) which is the Hindu Brahma of 4 faces and 4 arms. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma

BDS
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