Buddhist Cosmology - Earthly Realms

Question from Kristopher (America):

First off thank you for taking you're time to answer my questions. Now, I've been looking at Buddhism for a while and have thought of converting but I have a question pertaining to the five realms. In the human realm Jambudvīpa is where ordinary human beings live. And also you have to be born here to attain Buddhahood correct? Also isn't it said people here can vary between 10 to 80,000 years of age? Finally as an observation Jambudvīpa closely relates to India because of its edge and mainland. Going in order i have a question for each one.

-No. 1 If Jambudvīpa IS related to or is India then why(I was born in the United States) aren't i like the Aparagodānīya who are 24 feet tall I mean I seem pretty ordinary I'm around 5 ft 9 inches.
-No. 2 In the history of Buddhism I've never come across a human capable of 80,000 years of age or anything close to that capacity and if there is please tell me.
-No. 3 Is basically the same as number one.

above - illustration of the four earthly continents in Buddhist cosmology

Answer:

'Jambudvīpa' is one of the worlds within the 'Earthly Realm' in Buddhist Cosmology located in the 'South'. It is not India itself but thought to be a similar shape to the Southern Indian Coastline. From my research I can surmise that Jambudvipa is not planet Earth. Humans born in Jambudvipa will live between 10 to 80,000 years and according to Buddhist Cosmology "All Buddhas appear in Jambudvīpa"

'Manusyaloka' is the world that we currently inhabit as regular human beings (planet Earth) - "This is the world of humans and human-like beings who live on the surface of the earth"

'Aparagodānīya' is another planet in the 'West' - The beings here are about 24 feet (7.3 m) tall and they live for 500 years.

It is said in many of the great texts that it's much easier to attain Buddhahood (Enlightenment) in the Human Realm as we experience a suffering that is not overwhelming that grants us the foundation of which to practise the dharma and gain insight into the true nature of things.

According to the texts it is also possible to attain Buddhahood in the God (Deva) realm. However the supernatural beings of the Devata are generally too preoccupied drinking nectar and indulging in the many pleasures of the Deva realm.

above - computer illustration of Jambudvīpa at the base of Mount Meru

By JC Ball
Reference: http://www.godandscience.net/chap19.html

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Shamanic Expressive Trance Meditation

Thursday saw a host of peculiar healing and meditation practises being perfomed at the Buddhist Monastery in Tainan County, Taiwan.

The meditation session started off with everyone sitting down on the floor. A style we're more familiar with in the western world. They were all behaving nicely, sitting there quietly until people started moving around. Some quite violently and as if they were possessed by some external force they wanted to shake off. I must declare I found it all rather amusing, but was told by my western friend Paul who was more familiar with this somewhat unorthodox, almost shamanic style of trance-meditation "I really should stop laughing, its rude!" but by this time the random jerks and twangs of the meditators had become too much and I found myself in an unstoppable fit of laughter.

Later on it got even more energetic as they started getting up from there sitting positions to move around. It looked like one of those illegal raves where everyone is extremely tired and have been dancing for hours on end. They were kind of letting go by expressing themselves through their bodies - a practise seen alot in Shamanism. After everyone had recovered from there exorcising and spiritual creativity it was time for the healing session. People who felt they needed healing (and there were many) lined up to face this woman who was moving her arms around with what looked to be Tai Chi type movements - accompanied by extremely high pitched noises, rampant belching, pops and frog like croaks when she encountered a troublesome area and in extinguishing illicit chi energy from her patient. She would then turn the patient round and bash him on the back for a couple of minutes, an exchange of bows were made and the session was over.

By JC Ball

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Defilements of the Mind

"Pabbhassaram idam cittam bhikkhave agantukehi upakilesehi upakilittham" This mind, bhikkhus, is radiant (pabbhassara) but it is defiled by visiting (agantukehi) defilements. The unlearned ordinary person (asutava putthujana) does not understand this as it has come to be (yathā bhutam nappajānati), therefore for him there is no development of the mind (citta-bhāvana).

This mind, bhikkhus, is radiant, and it is freed from visiting defilements. The learned noble disciple understands this as it has come to be, therefore for him there is development of the mind.

Anguttara Nikaya , I, vi:1-2.

The first line of this passage is the one most frequently refered to by those who wish to prove that the Buddha taught that there is an intrinsically pure mind essence, but if you look at the whole Sutta, and even the whole chapter that it comes from, it obviously refutes it. To give you a little historical background, the earliest translators of the Pāli canon into English were mostly Theosophists not Buddhists, they had their own agenda which they tried to impose on the Buddhist scriptures through their very licentious translations. Most of those interested in Buddhism in those days also, were ‘Orientalists’ who were not committed to understanding anything in depth, they were mostly just reacting against their own culture, so they just took bits from here and there as they fancied as ‘evidence’ of how corrupt Western civilisation was compared to the ‘Beatific Savage’.... One of the trends of European Romanticism was to like to think that all religions, or at least Buddhism and Hinduism, essentially teach the same thing, and have the same goal. Even though all knowledgeable Buddhists, but perhaps few Hindus, would object, according to this theory that is simply because they are attached to their different ‘cultural expressions’. This is called ‘cultural relatavism’.

So, first please note that there are two kinds of ‘mind’ here, one that is subject to visiting defilements and one that is not. Just this much refutes the theory that the Buddha taught an intrinsically pure essence of mind. Next we should look at it in more detail and in context:

i) the word ‘pabbhassara’, translated here as ‘radiant’, is used to describe the concentrated mind in states of deep meditation, jhānas, eg:

“So too, bhikkhus, there are these five defilements (upakilittham) of the mind (citta), defiled (upakilesehi) by which the mind is neither malleable, nor wieldy, nor radiant (pabbhassara) but brittle and not rightly concentrated for the destruction of the taints. What five? Sensual desire, Ill-will, drowsiness & dullness, restlessness and remorse, doubt is a defilement of the mind, defiled by which the mind is neither malleable nor wieldy nor radiant, but brittle and not rightly concentrated for the destruction of the taints.” (S.V.92, A.III.16, Pali version)

The mind is not always ‘pabbhassara’, but it can become ‘pabbhassara’. This is what a learned noble disciple understands, i.e: yathā bhutaṃ pajānati - literally ‘he understands [it] as [/it has] come to be’. It is usually translated ‘as it actually is’, and this is part of the meaning, which could be more clearly renderend with ‘as it has come to be’, but ‘actually is’ subtly implies an essential, hidden level of existence beneath the apparent arising and passing away of experience, which is exactly what the Buddha rejected;

ii) Returning to the first point about there being two radiant states of mind, it is also important to look at the various contextual uses of the word ‘citta’, here translated as ‘mind’. Quite often, ‘citta’ means ‘concentrated mind’, or even ‘concentration’, as in ‘adhisīlasikkhā, adhicittasikkhā, adhipaññāsikkhā’ (the training in higher virtue, the training in higher ‘citta’, the training in higher wisdom) – this set is very common but the second term is often called ‘samādhi’ (concentration) instead. And ‘concentrated mind’ fits the context very well. – There are two kinds of concentrated mind: in the first stage of ‘citta-bhāvana’ (mental development, or, meditation) the hindrances are suppressed but not yet eradicated, so if or when one is careless they come back, like unwelcome visitors. The unlearned ordinary person does not understand this so he is not careful enough to guard his ‘citta-nimitta’ (aka: samādhi nimitta, or ‘sign’ of concentration), because of pamāda (lit: mental drunkenness, or, carelessness, engrossedness) his defilements (here the five hindrances, pañca-nīvaraṇā) come back and destroy his concentration, his mind loses its radiance and his mental development does not reach fulfilment (vusita) in the noble attainments (ariya-samāpatti).

However, the learned noble disciple does understand how precarious his mental freedom is when the defilements are suppresed but not yet eradicated and he understands how the state has come to be. So he is not careless, he guards his mind and eventually is able to finally eradicate the defilements which threaten his radiant mind. Then his mind is freed from the unwelcome visitors and he understands the situation and how it has come to be. It is because he has paññā (wisdom; paññā is derived from pajānati) that he is able to cut off the defilements forever, ordinary people can only suppress them.

So to cut a long story short: Hegel’s concept of a ‘Pure mind’ according to Buddhism is actually a ‘purified mind’ in both cases.

by Bhikku Santidhammo

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