I would like to begin a series of Art Forum investigations into Buddhist Mythology and Symbolism. There is a beautiful and rich history to look into, and even though most people (especially in “the west” ) no longer take these myths literally, it would be a shame to overlook them as “mere’ myths, because they offer valuable insights into ourselves, and into the cultural origins of our tradition.
Since we are now in Ango, and preparing for Jukai, it would be a good idea to keep this light, so I am only asking for a simple response on this thread... a few words, a picture, whatever suits you, would be great.
I’ll start with the Bhavacakra, or Wheel of Samsara. The Bhavacakra depicts the six symbolic abodes of life. It is a big topic with a lot of ground to cover, so lets start with a brief overview and then look at one of these abodes each month. We can slowly work our way around the rest of the wheel. The first abode is “Heaven”
A traditional view of “Heaven” and a Bhavacakra overview.
Accoding to Buddhist tradition there are Heavens... called the Tusita heavens, or Devaloka, realm of the Devas. These Heavens are relatively happy states-of-being, enjoyed by the gods. They are different from Heaven as concieved in non-Buddhist traditions in one very important way, they are impermanent. Heaven is one of the worlds we pass through as we circle the wheel of life. It is also good to keep in mind that in the Buddhist view a state-of-consciousness and a “world” are one and the same phenomena. The terms are interchangable here.
There are also unhappy and even hellish worlds on this wheel. As in all cultures artists have taken relish in depicting those. I do not think this is due to sadism, but because, as Alan Watts noted with humor...Heaven tends to be visually boring and Hell is visually interesting. A riotous demon can be more fun to paint than peaceful Deva. Like heaven these hellish states are also impermanent. Each world/state lasts as long as karmic conditions support it, but all states are impermanent. This is where the term Samsara comes from. Samsara is a wandering of perpetual becoming, perpetual me-ing, perpetual world-ing. We wander in circles as we “chase our tail” seeking permanent fullfillment in impermanent conditions.
In popular culture “Nirvana” tends to be equated with heaven as a blissful transcendent state, but nirvana does is not mean the same thing as heaven. In the traditional Buddhist understanding “Nirvana” means to extinguish, as in to extinguish a fire. Fuel for the fire of consciousness dries up when all the states of Samsara, including the most heavenly, are deeply understood to be impermanent, empty of inherent existence, and unsatisfatory. When the practitioner is no longer chasing his/her tail, he/she is no longer bound by the wheel of becoming. This is the view of Nirvana still held by many Buddhists today.
In our practice, the way of Zazen, which is a later evolution of the Buddhist way, we do not reject samsara, but seek to realize “nirvana”, unconditioned peace, amidst and within the fire of consciousness, amidst and within All states-of-being, both happy and unhappy. This evolution of view and doctrine is big topic that I hope we can look at down the road.
Descriptions of Heaven.
Just as in most other religious traditions, in Buddhism there are both literal and symbolic understandings of “heaven”. I think it would be wrong to assume that the symbolic understanding is modern, and the literal one is “old world”. Both these view have always existed, in the same way that Christianity has always had its “exoteric” and “esoteric” streams. The “exoteric”, or literal view, is that there are “places” up in the sky, or beneath the crust of the earth, populated by Devas and Demons. Most students today do not have that world-view, but I do not think it is helpful to jettison the poetic visual language of the past. It is better to appreciate it as a cultural treasure, and as potent symbolism.
Here follows some descriptions of “esoteric” and Non-literal heavens in Buddhism....
Heaven realms always involve some form of absorption that transcend time and space. This is true in both the mythical accounts of gods, and of practitioners today. This may sound way out, but please bear with me because I will describe something everyone has more or less experienced.
First let’s look at the traditional monastic experience of heaven. These are the so called Jhanas. Today much is made of them, and some people treat the subject as a matter of achievement.
In the monastic setting where much time is devoted to meditation, the activity of the mind can become very quiet, and the practitioner can enter into states of absorption....of deepening stillness and silence, where the more coarse sense-of-being falls away. These experiences can be very subtle, very expansive, blissful, and “timeless”. In some non-Buddhist traditions they are described in terms of divine essence, Godhead, and so forth. The important thing to know from a Buddhist perspective is that these absorption experiences are also Samsara. They are impermanent, empty of inherent existence, and ultimately unsatisfactory. I remember a conversation I had once with the abbot of a monastery, where he described a novice monk who was not allowed to meditate because he could easily slip into absorption. Every time he sat he entered into absorption, and he had become addicted, literally addicted to heaven. The solution? ...when other monastics were in the mditation hall, he was assigned physical work.
Then there are the heaven experiences we can all relate to, and enjoy. This past weekend my wife and I had a little getaway to mark an anniversary. At one point we were walking ankle deep along the shore of a busy beach. Along the way we came to a sand bar with a little lagoon, and all along that sand bar were children with buckets digging. We stopped and watched for a long time. The sun was bright and the water around them was sparkling. The soundscape was a vast sea of joyful voices, birds, waves, and the distant thrum of a boats. One child was clearly immersed in this floating world, yet also clearly absorbed in creative play. We can all remember being a child joyfully lost in play on a summer day that seemed to last forever. That is a mark of this kind of “heaven” experience, and a feature of creative play. To be child-like, forgetful of time, and engaged in creativity (or any wholesome activity) is the real Heaven experience. We can all know and enjoy it.
Those are some thoughts on Heaven. Next month we will look at the next abode on the Bhavacakra, the Asura realm.
Would you like to share your thoughts on Heaven?
.........a few words, a sketch, a photo, anything at all... please feel free.
Gassho
Daizan
sat today/LAH
Just a note...I’m out and about right now, but will post a traditional image of the Wheel of Life when I get home.
Since we are now in Ango, and preparing for Jukai, it would be a good idea to keep this light, so I am only asking for a simple response on this thread... a few words, a picture, whatever suits you, would be great.
I’ll start with the Bhavacakra, or Wheel of Samsara. The Bhavacakra depicts the six symbolic abodes of life. It is a big topic with a lot of ground to cover, so lets start with a brief overview and then look at one of these abodes each month. We can slowly work our way around the rest of the wheel. The first abode is “Heaven”
A traditional view of “Heaven” and a Bhavacakra overview.
Accoding to Buddhist tradition there are Heavens... called the Tusita heavens, or Devaloka, realm of the Devas. These Heavens are relatively happy states-of-being, enjoyed by the gods. They are different from Heaven as concieved in non-Buddhist traditions in one very important way, they are impermanent. Heaven is one of the worlds we pass through as we circle the wheel of life. It is also good to keep in mind that in the Buddhist view a state-of-consciousness and a “world” are one and the same phenomena. The terms are interchangable here.
There are also unhappy and even hellish worlds on this wheel. As in all cultures artists have taken relish in depicting those. I do not think this is due to sadism, but because, as Alan Watts noted with humor...Heaven tends to be visually boring and Hell is visually interesting. A riotous demon can be more fun to paint than peaceful Deva. Like heaven these hellish states are also impermanent. Each world/state lasts as long as karmic conditions support it, but all states are impermanent. This is where the term Samsara comes from. Samsara is a wandering of perpetual becoming, perpetual me-ing, perpetual world-ing. We wander in circles as we “chase our tail” seeking permanent fullfillment in impermanent conditions.
In popular culture “Nirvana” tends to be equated with heaven as a blissful transcendent state, but nirvana does is not mean the same thing as heaven. In the traditional Buddhist understanding “Nirvana” means to extinguish, as in to extinguish a fire. Fuel for the fire of consciousness dries up when all the states of Samsara, including the most heavenly, are deeply understood to be impermanent, empty of inherent existence, and unsatisfatory. When the practitioner is no longer chasing his/her tail, he/she is no longer bound by the wheel of becoming. This is the view of Nirvana still held by many Buddhists today.
In our practice, the way of Zazen, which is a later evolution of the Buddhist way, we do not reject samsara, but seek to realize “nirvana”, unconditioned peace, amidst and within the fire of consciousness, amidst and within All states-of-being, both happy and unhappy. This evolution of view and doctrine is big topic that I hope we can look at down the road.
Descriptions of Heaven.
Just as in most other religious traditions, in Buddhism there are both literal and symbolic understandings of “heaven”. I think it would be wrong to assume that the symbolic understanding is modern, and the literal one is “old world”. Both these view have always existed, in the same way that Christianity has always had its “exoteric” and “esoteric” streams. The “exoteric”, or literal view, is that there are “places” up in the sky, or beneath the crust of the earth, populated by Devas and Demons. Most students today do not have that world-view, but I do not think it is helpful to jettison the poetic visual language of the past. It is better to appreciate it as a cultural treasure, and as potent symbolism.
Here follows some descriptions of “esoteric” and Non-literal heavens in Buddhism....
Heaven realms always involve some form of absorption that transcend time and space. This is true in both the mythical accounts of gods, and of practitioners today. This may sound way out, but please bear with me because I will describe something everyone has more or less experienced.
First let’s look at the traditional monastic experience of heaven. These are the so called Jhanas. Today much is made of them, and some people treat the subject as a matter of achievement.
In the monastic setting where much time is devoted to meditation, the activity of the mind can become very quiet, and the practitioner can enter into states of absorption....of deepening stillness and silence, where the more coarse sense-of-being falls away. These experiences can be very subtle, very expansive, blissful, and “timeless”. In some non-Buddhist traditions they are described in terms of divine essence, Godhead, and so forth. The important thing to know from a Buddhist perspective is that these absorption experiences are also Samsara. They are impermanent, empty of inherent existence, and ultimately unsatisfactory. I remember a conversation I had once with the abbot of a monastery, where he described a novice monk who was not allowed to meditate because he could easily slip into absorption. Every time he sat he entered into absorption, and he had become addicted, literally addicted to heaven. The solution? ...when other monastics were in the mditation hall, he was assigned physical work.
Then there are the heaven experiences we can all relate to, and enjoy. This past weekend my wife and I had a little getaway to mark an anniversary. At one point we were walking ankle deep along the shore of a busy beach. Along the way we came to a sand bar with a little lagoon, and all along that sand bar were children with buckets digging. We stopped and watched for a long time. The sun was bright and the water around them was sparkling. The soundscape was a vast sea of joyful voices, birds, waves, and the distant thrum of a boats. One child was clearly immersed in this floating world, yet also clearly absorbed in creative play. We can all remember being a child joyfully lost in play on a summer day that seemed to last forever. That is a mark of this kind of “heaven” experience, and a feature of creative play. To be child-like, forgetful of time, and engaged in creativity (or any wholesome activity) is the real Heaven experience. We can all know and enjoy it.
Those are some thoughts on Heaven. Next month we will look at the next abode on the Bhavacakra, the Asura realm.
Would you like to share your thoughts on Heaven?
.........a few words, a sketch, a photo, anything at all... please feel free.
Gassho
Daizan
sat today/LAH
Just a note...I’m out and about right now, but will post a traditional image of the Wheel of Life when I get home.
,
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