English
5. Apramdndbha, the heaven of infinite light. 6. Abhdsvara, the heaven of universal light. 7. Panttasubha, the heaven of lesser purity. 8. Apramdnasubha, the heaven of infinite purity. 9. tSubhakrtsna, the heaven of universal purity. 10. Anabhraka, the cloudless heaven. 11. Punyaprasava, the heaven of fortunate birth. 12. Brhatphala, the heaven of great results. 13. Abrha, the passionless heaven. 14. Atapa, the heaven without heat or affliction. 15. Sudrsa, the heaven of perfect form. 16. Sudarsana, the heaven of perfect vision. 17. Akanistha, the highest heaven. Southern accounts 2 generally agree in enumerating the Rupa heavens as sixteen, agreeing on this point with the 1 8-2a, cf. M.Vy. 219 ; D.A., p. 926. 2 M.B. 26, C.P. 138. 68 MANUAL OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY Kasmira Sarvastivadins, though there are points of divergence on names. Mahayanists 1 for the most part, and practically all schools in China and Japan, give the full number, eighteen. In this connexion the Buddhist theory of Dhyana must be taken into consideration, for the Dhyanas are intimately associated with the Rupa heavens, and the various heavens are classified according to the Dhyana to which they appertain. Dhyana means meditation or contemplation, but later the word was used to indicate a special type of meditation, in which four or five states were distinguished. When only four Dhyanas are spoken of, they are as follows : 2 (1) supernatural ecstasy associated with vicara and vitarka ; (2) ecstatic contemplation no longer associated with either vicara or vitarka, or, in other words, where reasoning gives way to intuition ; (3) contemplation where ecstasy gives way to serenity ; (4) deep meditation where the mind becomes indifferent to pleasure and pain. According to the Abhidharma Kosa,3 the first three rupa heavens are gained as the result of the practice of the first dhyana, and so are called the First Dhyana Heavens. In like manner, the next three are called the Second Dhyana Heavens ; the next three the Third Dhyana Heavens ; and the last eight the Fourth Dhyana Heavens. The division of the Dhyanas into five instead of four is frequently made in the later schools, more especially in those inclined to esotericism.4 In this case the second of the four Dhyanas, " Intuitive Meditation," is divided into two parts, the first corresponding more or less to the occidental " instinct ", and the second to " spiritual perception not derived from intellect ". In the schools which enumerate both five Dhyanas and eighteen rupa heavens, the relation of the Dhyanas and the heavens is as follows : The first three to the first Dhyana ; the next three to the second Dhyana ; 1 Y.B. 4-14a. 2 M.Vy. 112, Y.B. ll~43a. a 8-2a, cf. also A.S.P. 2-76. * But also in Neo. Stu. C.P. 141. THE DIVISIONS OF THE THREE DHATUS 69 the next three to the third Dhyana ; the next four to the fourth Dhyana ; and the last five to the fifth Dhyana. Associated with the five Dhyanas are the five Dhyani Buddhas, the supreme lords of Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the so-called esoteric branch of Mahayana generally. These, however, as accepted by none of the three schools under consideration, may be ignored. As regards the size of these various heavens, we find two principal accounts. According to one, the first Dhyana heavens are in size the same as the earth ; the heavens of the second Dhyana are in size equal to a small chiliocosm ; the heavens of the third Dhyana to a middle chiliocosm ; and the heavens of the fourth Dhyana in size equal to a great chiliocosm. According to the other account, the heavens of the first, second, and third Dhyanas are respectively equal in size to a small, a middle, and a great chiliocosm, while the extent of the heavens of the fourth Dhyana is measureless. Arupa Dhatu.1 Higher than the Rupa Dhatu, or the realm of form, is the Arupa Dhatu, or the realm of formlessness, in which the inhabitants have neither desire nor such a thing as a body, consciousness alone remaining. Nearly all the schools enumerate the heavens of this realm as follows : — 1. Akdsdnantydyatana, the heaven of boundless space. 2. Vijftdndnantydyatona, the heaven of infinite con sciousness. 3. Akimcanydyatana, the heaven of absolute non-existence. 4. Naivasamjndnasamjndyatana, the heaven of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. Rebirth in these realms is said to be due to meditation on the four immeasurables, one for each heaven. Yet, notwith standing their many merits, rebirth in one of these abodes was deprecated, as the duration of life is so inconceivably long that progress to the supreme goal of Nirvana is seriously 1 M.Vy. 221 ; M.B. 26 ; C.P. 139 ; A.K. 8-2a ; Y.B. 4-14a. 70 MANUAL OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY delayed. In fact, rebirth here is one of the eight Akusalas or evil moments, eight times of birth, not conducive to enlightenment. The Buddha Ksetras. So far, the Mahayana and Hinayana accounts of the various realms of existence have been more or less in agreement, but on one point there is wide divergence. We have already noticed that while the performance of good deeds will result in rebirth in one of the Devalokas or Brahmalokas, etc., yet as such a rebirth is frequently a hindrance rather than a help, one wonders where a man should strive to be reborn in order to reap the greatest advantage — where there is a place free from affliction and yet is one where spiritual progress may be made. Practically all forms of Hinayana are silent on this point, but in Mahayana we find an attempted solution in the doctrine of the so-called Buddha Ksetras or Buddha lands, reference to which will be found in practically all the sutras of this school. The basic idea of this dogma seems to be that every man upon reaching supreme and perfect enlightenment acquires a spiritual realm, to which he repairs after death and in which he continues to instruct his Bodhisattvas and other persons who may be born there, leading them to supreme enlightenment for themselves. These manners of rebirth naturally appealed very strongly to the Mahayanists, and consequently in many of their devotional writings we find the authors piously desirous that the merit which they may have acquired by instructing the world through their written works may secure for them at death rebirth in one of those lands. As usual, there is great inconsistency in the various accounts and enumerations of these Buddha Ksetras, since every Buddha field is really so great and so large as to be co-existent with the universe, and yet at the same time there are as many Buddha fields as there have been Buddhas. In the earlier days of Mahayana a man endeavoured to be reborn in any THE DIVISIONS OF THE THREE DHATUS 71 Buddha land, or at least in the realm of the Buddha who took his especial fancy. As time went on, however, Mahayana became more monotheistic, particularly in its Chinese and Japanese phases, and the belief grew that there was but one supreme and universal Buddha, who included and over shadowed all the rest. Consequently, the Buddha land of this Buddha, whoever he happened to be, came to be the goal of ordinary ambition. Historically, we find that there were two monotheistic strains, which finally resulted in two different schools, in one of which the supreme being is known as Vairocana, and in the other Amitabha. Consequently, we find likewise two main lines of development in the Buddha Ksetra theory. (a) Buddha Ksetras in the Vairocana schools. — The followers of Vairocana were for the most part the esotericists and occultists who were generally more concerned with the control of one's destinies in this life than in the world to come, so that the paradise doctrine of this school did not receive the same development as did the Amitabha paradise doctrine. Nevertheless, the Buddha Ksetra idea was not wholly neglected. In certain cases the ten or thirteen stages of Bodhisattvahood were symbolized as material heavens, in the highest of which dwelt Vairocana himself. Even more interesting are the thirteen stages of the path of progress of the righteous departed as taught in the esoteric school of China and Japan :— 1. Acala, where the soul remains for the first week after death. 2. Sdkyamuni, for the second week. 3. Manjusri, for the third week. 4. Samantabhadra, for the fourth week. 5. Ksitigarbha, for the fifth week. 6. Maitreya, for the sixth week. 7.