Approaching the Dhamma by Anne M. Blackburn PhD

Author:Anne M. Blackburn, PhD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pariyatti Publishing
Published: 2016-04-11T23:49:10+00:00

18 This was one of the goals advocated in the 1956 report preceding the Buddha Jayanti celebrations.

19 Vat piḷivet refers to a wide range of temple activities from worshipping the Buddha to cleaning the temple grounds.

Buddhist Non-theism:

Theory and Application1

Asanga Tilakaratna

I. Introduction

Two most important points where Buddhism departs from many other religions are its denial of the existence of a creator God and an everlasting soul. In the history of Buddhism it is clear that these two positions have never been contested. Even the Personalists (pudgalavādins) who came close to believing in something akin to the soul were, in their self-understanding, anātmavādins or holders of a no-soul view. Similarly, no Buddhist tradition, Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna or Vajrayāna, has ever incorporated into its system the belief in a God who is creator and saviour. With the possible exception of certain Mahāyāna traditions of more recent origin no Buddhist tradition has ever held the Buddha to be a creator god or has subscribed to any such similar idea.

Buddhism, nonetheless, is replete with gods. Even the Buddhist texts that are judged as belonging to an early period contain many episodes regarding gods. Saṃyutta Nikāya has its very first section devoted to Buddha’s interactions with various divine beings. In addition to it, both the Sutta and the Vinaya Piṭakas contain many instances where gods have figured in the life of the Buddha and his disciples. These divine beings are depicted as those who experience the beneficial fruits of their good past karmas. Their life span is very long but not everlasting. At the termination of the effects of their karma they are believed to take birth as human beings. There is also a higher group of divine beings, called ‘brahma’ who are believed to occupy a higher place in the Buddhist universe. They are born in the Brahma realm as a result of their attainment of ‘jhāna’ (different degrees of mental concentration). Their life-span is even longer than that of divine beings; but still not everlasting.

Of these two kinds of beings, gods are closer to the life of ordinary people, including monks and nuns, than brahmas. Brahmas with their higher spiritual attainments do not seem to have much to do with those lesser beings. However, gods, very often, are depicted as protecting and helping monks and nuns who, for instance, meditated in forests. According to the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, when Sunīdha and Vassakāra, two ministers of king Ajātasatthu, were building a city at Pāṭaligāma, the gods who were residing in that area took up residence in the houses that were being built. The story says that the higher gods began to reside in the houses built for higher officials while the gods of lesser status in the heavens started occupying the houses built for ministers of corresponding medium and lower status. The account is concluded with the following statement: devatānukampito poso sadā bhadrāni passati:2 ‘one who receives kindness from gods always enjoys happiness’. In this manner, the divine beings are depicted as having a close relation with and a salutary effect on, human beings.

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