Heaven

[RichardH]

The peace and tranquility of the high Alpes.

Thank you Daizan, this is all new to me, (the Buddhist perspective and mythology of course) and a welcome education.

STMIZ / lah

Thank you Seishin-Do. I am very happy to be an creative inspiration, but would ask you to look to other sources for an education. There are very good writings on the Bhavacakra, in all the traditions, and by many wonderful teachers. Interpretations vary from the very mystical to the psychological. The mythology of the wheel of Samsara goes well with the teachings on dependent origination.. I always found these two parts of the Buddha Basics very helpful.

Gassho
Daizan

sat today/LAH

[Jundo]

Great posts!, thank you.

Here is an image that shows the traditional Tibetan representation of the Bhavacakra on the left, and my own digital painting of the same subject on the right. There is a lot of very interesting iconography in the traditional image that I hope we can touch upon in this series..

https://i.imgur.com/8wxyzQm.jpg

Hi,

Just to make it clear that this kind of depiction of the Bhavacakra (Wheel of Life) at the above link is very common in Tibetan and other flavors of esoteric Buddhism, but I have never seen it in a Japanese Zen setting. That does not mean that it cannot be found in Japan (and I bet you might find this some places in China and Korea, where there was esoteric Buddhist influence and mixing with Chan from time to time), as for example, many Soto Zen temples in Japan used to be Shingon Buddhist esoteric temples that were converted over, and some still retain esoteric iconography. Also, over the centuries, even in Japan, many Soto Zen priests mixed and matched and dabbled in esoteric teachings.

As well, the "Wheel of Life" and the "Six Worlds" and doctrines such as the "12 Links of Dependent Origination" and the like are found in Zen that it depicts was standard teaching in all Mahayana schools, including Zen, although in various specific interpretations.

However, this particular depiction with the fierce being holding the wheel (to symbolize the fierce power of the whole process, in my understanding), and much of the other symbolism, is purely Tibetan in style, in my understanding, and would not be considered a standard depiction in Soto Zen Buddhist art. As far as I can find, this particular of the Bhavacakra is Tibetan, and not found in Japan even within the traditional art of the Japanese Shingon esoteric school. I note that just as a point of art history. It is beautiful and powerful nonetheless, as Daizan is explaining in this wonderful lesson.

Daizan wrote ...

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.

...

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.

I wish to emphasize that many folks in Asia, and many folks in the West in some flavors of Buddhism, do continue to look at these realms as actual places inhabit by fantastic beings, not merely as symbols of human nature or representations of inner states of mind.

At Treeleaf, I wish to emphasize that I am very much in the "symbol of human condition and inner state of mind" camp. I am a great skeptic of overly literal interpretations who does not believe in these places, nor in the fantastic beings, as more than that.

However, I also wish to emphasize that the "human condition and states of mind" that they represent are as real as real can be in our hearts and lives, are they not? As I often say, I do not know about "hells" in the next world, but I have seen countless people create "hells" for themselves in their hearts, and for the people around them through their words and acts, in this life and world through their excess desires, anger and division. In that way, these "hells" (and the other realms) are real and powerful things.

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 dig Daizan's description so much. I just want to underline, of course, that in Shikantaza Just Sitting as we Practice in Soto Zen, we do not seek to experience the Jhanas. We do not seek to experience special or unusual states of mind. On the other hand, sometimes they happen, sometimes other experiences happen. We neither run towards them, nor run away. What happens happens, and we are thoroughly allowing and whole with what happens ... including Jhana states should they happen. Dogen wrote a bit on this, but it is a topic for another time.

Now, back to your easels.

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH