Brahmā (Buddhism)

A Brahmā in Buddhism is the generic name for a type of exalted, passionless deity (deva), of which there are a very large number in Buddhist cosmology.

Origins

The name Brahmā is from Arya Vedic tradition, where Brahmā is the name of a creator-deity. In Buddhism, however, Buddha finds that there are many Brahmas, some of whom think they are "all powerful" creators of the world whom Buddha corrects; they have quite distinct myths, characters, and functions. However, at least one of the Buddhist Brahmās is identified as being the object of worship of pre-Buddhist brahmins. The Buddhists seem to have regarded the Hindu Brahmā as a misunderstanding or faulty memory of one or more of the Buddhist Brahmās, as explained in the Brahmajāla-sutta (DN.1).

In Buddhism, Buddha clarifies that the Brahmas are associated with the 4 Brahmaviharas which is similar to the Vedic conception of brahman (but see this article for the etymology of the name). Buddha also clarifies that this "union with Brahman" is not the same as Nirvana.

Classification

There are at least four ways of interpreting the term Brahmā. It may refer to:

1. Any of the deities of the Ārūpyadhātu or of the Rūpadhātu
2. Any of the deities of the nine lowest worlds of the Rūpadhātu, from Śubhakṛtsna to Brahmapāriṣadya.
3. Any of the deities of the three lowest worlds of the Rūpadhātu
4. A Mahābrahmā, one of the highest deities of preceding group.

Individual Brahmās

Several Brahmās are specifically named in the Buddhist texts. In light of the ambiguity of the term "Brahmā", there is often some uncertainty about how to place these individuals within the cosmological context. In terms of the texts where they appear, they either are presented as figures of authority or as characters with an exaggerated sense of their own importance.

Baka Brahmā

Baka Brahmā (literally "crane-Brahmā") appears in the Majjhima Nikaya, where he is a deity who believes that his world is permanent and without decay (and that therefore he is immortal), and that therefore there are no higher worlds than his. The Buddha refutes Baka's claims, relating the concept of anitya or impermanence, but one of Baka's attendants (influenced by Māra) asserts that Baka is the Creator, that those who praise him will be rewarded, but those who deny his powers will be terribly punished. The Buddha identifies the real speaker as Māra, and states that he is free of his power.

Baka then states that it is futile to escape his domain (which he imagines to be universal), and points out that if the Buddha depends upon any of the things within Baka's cognizance, he will be within his realm, and Baka can act upon him as he sees fit. The Buddha responds that Baka does have this much power, but that there are realms which Baka knows nothing of, and that the Buddha's knowledge places him beyond Baka's power. Baka is at last convinced by a display of the Buddha's superior magical power and his ability to explain his present situation by reference to his past lives.

Baka was in a past life a human ascetic named Kesava; by various means he saved many people from destruction. For his meditative prowess he was born as a Bṛhatphala deva, and in successive rebirths gradually sank through the levels of the Rūpadhātu until he became an ordinary Brahmā.

On another occasion, Baka believes that no monk or ascetic can enter his world (through supramundane powers of manifestation), but the Buddha himself and several of his disciples visit him to prove him wrong.

Baka Brahma appears in the Bakabrahma-sutta and the Brahmanimantanika-sutta.

Brahmā Sahampati

Brahmā Sahampati, said to be the most senior of the Mahābrahmās, was the deity who invisibly attended on the Buddha when he attained enlightenment, and when the Buddha was meditating at Uruvelā afterwards, encouraged him to teach the Dharma to humans. According to some commentaries he was one of the Śuddhāvāsa deities. He was the rebirth of a monk named Sahaka, who had been in the Saṅgha of Kāśyapa Buddha.

On one occasion, he encouraged a woman whose son was a bhikṣu not to make offerings to Brahmā, but instead to give alms to her son (who coincidentally was named Brahmadeva).

The Saṃyutta Nikāya contains verses said to have been spoken by Brahmā Sahampati, when he, together with Śakra, attended on the Buddha. He also attended upon the Buddha at his death, and verses attributed to him are included in the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta.

Of all the Brahmās he seems to have been the closest to the Buddha.

Brahmā Sahampati is also popular among Thai Buddhists as a deity who brings prosperity to the people. His shrines can usually be virtually seen everywhere, such as the Erawan Hotel. Brahmā Sahampati has also gathered a following amongst Chinese Buddhists, who frequently misinform him as the Four-face Buddha.

Brahmā Sanatkumāra

Brahmā Sanatkumāra (Sanskrit) or Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra (Pāli), the "Ever-young", appears in the Janavasabha-sutta (DN.18), where he is recalled as having created an illusionary presence to make himself perceptible to the coarser senses of Śakra and the gods of Trāyastriṃśa. He addressed these deities, in such a way that each of them thought that he was being spoken to alone, and advised them to follow the precepts and practices of the Buddha, and explained the good results that would come from such practice.

Commentators explained the epithet of "Ever-young" by saying that he had chosen the appearance of a very young man, whose hair was still tied up in the adolescent style of five knots.

Mahābrahmā

The name Mahābrahmā, more of a title than a name, appears in several suttas. It properly belongs to the deity or deities of the third world of the Rūpadhātu, but may be used for even higher deities. A Mahābrahmā's titles are: "Brahmā, Great Brahmā, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be." According to the Brahmajāla-sutta (DN.1), a Mahābrahmā is a being from the Ābhāsvara worlds who falls into a lower world through exhaustion of his merits and is reborn alone in the Brahma-world; forgetting his former existence, he imagines himself to have come into existence without cause. Beings who have been reborn from his world into the human world and are able to gain a memory of it, believe him to be the creator of the world. In the Kevaddha-sutta (DN.11), a Mahābrahmā is unable to answer a philosophical question addressed to him by a monk, but conceals this fact from the devas of his retinue so as not to lose face in front of them. Addressing that monk privately, he tells him to ask his question of the Buddha.

See also

• Brahma
• Buddhist cosmology
• Deva (Buddhism)