Some Names and Designations

Some Names and Designations - Beings from different Dimensions

- Brahma

In Buddhism there is not one Brahma or Great Brahma but many, and they are not immortal. The origin of the belief in Brahma as creator of the world is given Sutta 1, verse 2.2ff., and a satirical picture of the boastful Great Brahma (who nevertheless is a true follower of the Buddha) is given in Sutta 11. But though not almighty or eternal, Brahmas are powerful and benevolent beings who are still believed, in Oriental Buddhist countries, to be ale to bestow mundane favours (for example the Brahma shrine outside the Erawan Hotel in Bangkok). One Great Brahma, Sahampati, begged the newly enlightened Buddha to teach those who had ‘little dust on their eyes’.

There is no certain or even probably trace of the neuter Brahman in Pali scriptures. In Sutta 13 two young Brahmins consult the Buddha on how to attain to ‘union with Brahma’ or more correctly ‘fellowship with Brahma’. Rhys David’s has been accused of mistranslating sahavyata here as ‘union’, thus implying a mystical union rather than merely belonging to the company of Brahma. But the Brahmins had explained to the Buddha that they were puzzled because different teachers interpreted the path to Brahma in different ways. Thus both interpretations may well be implied here.

- Buddha
This is of course a generic term, not a proper name: Gotama was ‘the Buddha’, not just ‘Buddha’ (the same should apply to Christ ‘the Anointed’, but usage is against this). It is a past participle form meaning ‘awakened’, thus ‘enlightened’. Buddhas appear at vast intervals of time. Besides the fully enlightened Buddha who teaches Dhamma to the world (Samma-Sambhudda) there is the ‘private Buddha’ (Pacceka Buddha), who is enlightened but does not teach. As time went on, a more and more elaborate Buddhology developed, the first beginnings of which can be seen here in Sutta 14. It was under the Buddha Dipankara, vast ages ago, that the Brahmin Sumedha first made the determination to become a Buddha, which he finally did as the historical Buddha Gotama. See especially Sutta 14.

- Deva

This word is difficult to translate and in general I have retained the Pali form, though in the case of the Thirty-Three Gods I have called them such, since they constitute something of a pantheon like that found in ancient Greece and elsewhere, e even though a few of them are individually name. As will be seen from the table, the term deva is applied to the inhabitants of all or any of the states above the human, though those in the World of Form can also be called Brahma – a term which is probably better restricted to the inhabitants of realm No. 14. The etymological meaning of deva is ‘bright, shining’ (related to Latin dues, divus), but the word is popularly associated with the root div ‘to play’.

Devas are said to be of three kinds: 1. Conventional, that is, kings and princes, who are addressed as ‘Deva!’ (hence the Indian idea of the ‘god-king’ – a title adopted by the kings of Cambodia but misapplied in modern times to the Dalai Lama!), 2. Purified, that is, Buddhas and Arahants, and 3. Spontaneously born (uppattiveda), that is, devas in the sense as used here. Besides the form deva (which is uncommon in the third sense in the singular), we find the abstract noun devata used much like ‘deity’ in English. It should be noted that though this noun is grammatically feminine, it does not necessarily imply female sex. When it is wished to indicate the sex, the words devaputta ‘deva’s son’ and devadhita ‘deva’s daughter’ may be used, though as most Devas are spontaneously reborn this should not be taken literally (however, there are some indications of sexual reproduction occurring the lowest heavens: we learn from Suttas 20 and 21 that the Gandhabba chief Timbaru had a daughter).

Devas have all been human, and may be reborn again in the human form, which in fact would be good fortune for them, as it is so much easier to gain enlightenment from the human state. In view of their former human still it has been suggested that they are not unlike spirits (in the Spiritualist sense); another suggested translation is ‘angels’, but on the whole it seemed best (with one slight exception noted) to retain the Pali term for these beings. (The word Detaching used by Theosophists is not in fact derived from deva, but is the Tibetan word bde-ba-can ‘land of bliss’, rendering the Sanskrit Sukhava.)

- Ghandhabbas

Celestial Musicians (see Suttas 20,21, Subject to Dhatarath, the Great King of the East, they act as attendants on the devas, and are still much addicted-pleasures.

It was formerly though that gandhabbas also presided at conception, but this is due to a misunderstanding of a passage of a passage in Majjima Nikaya 38 where it is stated that a ‘gandhabba’ must be present in addition to a man and a woman for conception to take place. The word here means, as the commentaries explain, being about to be born’, that is the new consciousness arising dependant on that of a being who has died.

- Garudas

These are giant birds, ever at war with the nagas (except when, under the Buddha’s influence, a truce is called: Sutta 20, verse 11). The garuda (khruth) is the royal bade of Thailand. In Indian legend, visnu rode on a garuda.

- Nagas

The most interesting and difficult of the various classes of non-human beings. Basically the term seems to apply to snakes in particular the king cobra, but nagas are also associated with elephants, probably on account of the snake-like trunk. They are very wise and powerful, though they suffer terribly from the attacks of the garudas. The term is often used for a great man, including the Buddha. But as Malalasekera writes (Dictionary of Pali Proper Names ii, 1355): ‘In the accounts given of the nagas, there is undoubtedly great confusion between the nagas as supernatural (sic!) beings, as snakes, and as the name of certain non-Aryan tribes, but the confusion is too difficult to unravel.’

- Tathagata

The word generally used by the Buddha in referring to himself or to other Buddhas, though it seemingly can apply to any Arahant. Etymologically it means either – tatha-agata ‘thus come’ tatha-gata ‘thus gone’. It would seem to be a way of indicating that ‘he who stands before you’ is not like other beings. For commentarial explanations, see Bhikkhu Bodhi’s separate translation of Sutta 1 (. The Digha commentary gives no fewer than eight different explanations and the Mahayana schools have many more.

- Yakkhas

Yakkhas, who are subject to vessavana, Great King of the North, are curiously ambivalent creatures, for reasons explained in Sutta 32, verse 2. Some are believers in the Buddha, but others, not wishing to keep the precepts, are hostile to the Dhamma, and they are in fact in the majority. Among the ‘good yakkhas’, however we find (Sutta 19) Janavsabha, who had been King Bimbisara of Magdha and a stream –Winner! Later tradition insists more and more on the bad side of the yakkhas who come to be regarded as ogres or demons pure and simple – with the female of the species being more deadly than the male.

Author: Maurice Walsh
Some Names and Designations - Beings from different Dimensions