DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0166
Buddha the Gospel of Buddhism
The chief of the gods who are commonly spoken of in the
Suttas, are Sakka and Brahma.1 Sakka, as it were, is
king of the Olympians, ‘ the Jupiter of the multitude,’ and
is more or less to be identified with the Indra of popular
Brahmanism. Greater than Sakka and more spiritually
conceived, is Brahma, the supreme overlord of orthodox
Brahman theology in the days of the Buddha. Both of
these divinities are represented in the Suttas as converts
to the Dhamma of the Buddha, who is the ‘ teacher of
gods and men.’ A whole group of Suttas has to do with
the conversion and exhortation of these gods, and these
Suttas are evidently designed to make it appear that the
Brahman gods are really on the side of Gautama, and to
this end they are made to speak as enlightened and
devout Buddhists.
The Buddhist cosmogony though related to the Brah-
manical, is nevertheless peculiar to itself in detail, and
deserves some attention. It will be better understood
from the table on page 111 than by a lengthy description.
The most essential and the truest part of this cosmogony
however (and the only part which is dwelt upon in the
more profound passages of early Buddhist scripture),
is the three-fold division into the Planes of Desire, the
Brahma Planes conditioned by Form, and the Brahma
Planes unconditioned by Form. There is a profound truth
concealed even in the mythological idea of the possibility
of visiting the Brahma worlds while yet living on-earth.
Does not he rise above the Plane of Desire who in aesthetic
contemplation is “ aus sich selbst entriickt ? ” 2 does not
the geometrician also know the Brahma Planes of Form?
There are phases of experience that can carry us further.
1 The impersonal Brahman is unknown to Buddhist dialectic.
2 Goethe, Faust, ii, p. 258.
112
The chief of the gods who are commonly spoken of in the
Suttas, are Sakka and Brahma.1 Sakka, as it were, is
king of the Olympians, ‘ the Jupiter of the multitude,’ and
is more or less to be identified with the Indra of popular
Brahmanism. Greater than Sakka and more spiritually
conceived, is Brahma, the supreme overlord of orthodox
Brahman theology in the days of the Buddha. Both of
these divinities are represented in the Suttas as converts
to the Dhamma of the Buddha, who is the ‘ teacher of
gods and men.’ A whole group of Suttas has to do with
the conversion and exhortation of these gods, and these
Suttas are evidently designed to make it appear that the
Brahman gods are really on the side of Gautama, and to
this end they are made to speak as enlightened and
devout Buddhists.
The Buddhist cosmogony though related to the Brah-
manical, is nevertheless peculiar to itself in detail, and
deserves some attention. It will be better understood
from the table on page 111 than by a lengthy description.
The most essential and the truest part of this cosmogony
however (and the only part which is dwelt upon in the
more profound passages of early Buddhist scripture),
is the three-fold division into the Planes of Desire, the
Brahma Planes conditioned by Form, and the Brahma
Planes unconditioned by Form. There is a profound truth
concealed even in the mythological idea of the possibility
of visiting the Brahma worlds while yet living on-earth.
Does not he rise above the Plane of Desire who in aesthetic
contemplation is “ aus sich selbst entriickt ? ” 2 does not
the geometrician also know the Brahma Planes of Form?
There are phases of experience that can carry us further.
1 The impersonal Brahman is unknown to Buddhist dialectic.
2 Goethe, Faust, ii, p. 258.
112