PRESENTED TO THE BUDDHA CENTER ON SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2015 AND AGAIN TO THE NEW BUDDHA CENTRE ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2024 (REVISED).

The Discourse on the Great Gathering

Digha Nikaya 20

Country: Shakya

Locale: Great Forest, Kapilavastu

Speaker: the Buddha

Date of composition: 3rd cent. BCE

 
The Buddha resides in the Great Forest of Kapilavastu, his hometown. He promised his father, Suddhodana, that he would return to Kapilavastu after achieving enlightenment. Four years later, the Buddha fulfills this promise by visiting Kapilavastu again, so this discourse may describe either his initial or subsequent visit. The Pali Canon frequently mentions divine beings who inhabit or visit the earth, and we encounter this motif here again. The discourse describes divine beings from the ten world systems “frequently” visiting the Buddha and the order at Kapilavastu.

Walshe does not provide a detailed explanation but notes that Rhys Davids’s translation of “10,000 world systems” is incorrect. The reference to ten thousand world systems pertains to the horizontal extension of the world, whereas the present context focuses on vertical dimensions. However, the repetition of the number ten remains significant. The ten world systems seem to correspond more or less to the ten spheres of the Cabala.

Dividing the thirty-one planes of existence into ten involves speculation. Other texts confirm communication between humans and divine beings in realms above the earth, from the Four Great Kings up to the Brahma realms. Divine beings of the Formless realm do not interact with people and possess neither physical shape nor location. This leaves four major realms in the world of form, which, together with the six realms in the world of desire, create ten “world-systems.” 

	Realms (lokas)	Sephiroth	Meaning of Sephiroth
Rupaloka
1.	Five Pure Abodes (home of arhants)	Keter	Crown
2.	The Glorious Devas	Chokhmah	Wisdom
3.	Radiant Devas (original home of humanity)	Binah	Understanding
4.	Brahma Devas (goal of the brahmans)	Chesed	Loving Kindness
Kamaloka
5.	Devas Who Appropriate the Work of Others	Geburah	Judgment
6.	Devas Who Delight in Made Shapes	Tiferet	Adornment
7.	Satisfied Devas (Tusita) (home of Bodhisattvas)	Netzach	Victory
8.	The 33 Gods (original home of asuras)	Hod	Splendour
9.	Yama Devas	Yesod	Foundation
10.	The Four Great Kings	Malkuth	Kingdom

Table 1. Comparison of the Deva Realms and the Sephiroth of the Cabalistic Tree of Life

The worlds of manifestation divide into six classes of beings. The Pali texts describe four divine beings of the Pure Abodes—the place where non-returners are reborn before attaining emancipation—who resolve to visit the Buddha. The Sanskrit version of this discourse introduces four female divine beings from the Brahma world. These divine beings appear instantly before the Buddha and praise the order in verse. They call the order “the unconquered brotherhood” and “spotless seers, like well-trained elephants,” highlighting their “concentrated minds.” They use an interesting metaphor: “bars and barriers broken, the threshold stone of lust torn up.” This refers to the sill of a doorway or perhaps the wall of a house.

The text states that anyone who takes refuge in the Buddha—without mentioning the teaching or the order in the familiar threefold formula—will avoid rebirth in a lower world and instead be reborn as a divine being.

The Buddha announces his intention to teach the monastics about the divine beings of the ten world systems. People often question whether divine beings can attain emancipation. Other texts confirm that divine beings in the Five Pure Abodes achieve emancipation from spiritual realms. Similarly, women also possess this potential. However, the discourses emphasize that emancipation is rare and difficult for divine beings due to their great happiness and ease. Despite this, divine beings rejoice when a buddha-to-be is born, and some seem to follow the teaching.

The discourse portrays a collective vision of countless divine beings—ranging from hundreds to thousands—appearing “all around.” Apparently, higher-dimensional beings do not occupy space like physical objects or people. Mass visionary perceptions of luminous phenomena also occur in the UFO phenomenon. The discourse implies that only advanced individuals, such as the Buddha and his monastics, can access experiences of this kind. The experience varies according to the quality of the perceiver’s consciousness. For example, during the vision of Fatima (1917), some people saw nothing, while others saw much more in varying degrees. Cameras captured nothing. Activating superhuman vision requires striving. Consciously directed intention constructs reality, as described in the following passage:

Those who dwell composed and resolute
Like lions in mountain-caves, have overcome
Hair-raising fear and dread, their minds
White and pure, unstained and calm. (5)

The Buddha conquered fear during his six years of asceticism in the forest and prescribes meditating in the forest for the same purpose. He also recommends mantras to these renunciates, demonstrating their efficacy and value.

The Buddha continues by describing the divine hosts as they appear before the order. Walshe compares the list to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The act of naming carries archaic, archetypal significance, akin to creation. The description begins with earthbound divine beings inhabiting the realm of the Four Great Kings. Janavasabhava appears in discourse 18. These beings divide into two types. The first type includes harmless, beneficent nature fairies associated with woods and mountains. The second type consists of ghosts or ogres haunting the wilderness and attacking travellers. These beings originate in Kapilavastu, the Himalayas, and Mount Sata. They also appear as followers of Kapila, the founder of Kapilavastu. Another group from Rajagaha follows the seer Vessamitta, while a third group from Rajagaha follows Kumbhira, the chief of dwarfish, misshapen spirits traditionally depicted with large stomachs (or testes). These spirits inhabit the southern realm of the Four Great Kings under Virulhaka, the guardian of the south. Here again, we find the Buddhist notion that some divine beings live invisibly among humans on Earth.

The Buddha elaborates on the realm of the Four Great Kings, just above the earth, naming the kings themselves, their vassals, and their roles as “skilled deceivers.” These include beings such as Matali, the divine charioteer. Other beings include great snake spirits, intelligent and socially ordered birds (referred to as “twice-born” like the Brahmans), and the anti-gods cast out of the realm of the Thirty-Three by Indra. Indra describes these anti-gods as “ocean dwellers now, in magic skilled.” The Buddha also mentions elemental divine beings (water, earth, fire, and wind), Soma (the god of the primordial mind-altering sacrament inspiring the Veda), gods of the moon and sun, constellation gods (clearly referring to astrological signs), “sprites of clouds,” “beings manlike and more than manlike,” Pajunna the Thunderer (who causes rain), and gods of flame. Some names clearly refer to lower realms of the thirty-one planes of existence: the brahmas, including Harita (ancestor of the Brahman lineage) and Sanat Kumara (who appears to the assembly of the Thirty-Three); “those who delight in shapes they’ve made”; “those who seize on others’ work”; the Tusita realm; Yama (lord of the Yama realm); Sakra (lord of the realm of the Thirty-Three); and the anti-god realm in the one world ocean. This description creates an impression of life’s universal diversity at all stages and degrees of conscious development, alongside humanity’s innate tendency to label and organize.

As the divine beings, the Buddha, and the monastics array themselves in perfect splendour, Mara—called “the Black One”—arrives with his army. Mara shouts, “Come on, seize and bind them all. With lust we’ll catch them all. Surround them all about. Let none escape, whoever he may be.”

This situation clarifies Mara’s goal: enslaving humanity to the world through desirous attachment. Mara personifies desirous attachment. The military metaphor illustrates the conflict within the field of desire, which, as a social Darwinist might say, is competitive. However, Mara retreats, “enraged but powerless,” because lust cannot take hold in this assembly:

And Mara’s hosts drew back from those on whom
Neither lust nor fear could gain a hold.
Victorious, transcending fear, they’ve won:
His followers rejoice with all the worlds. (22)

The reference to fear is intriguing. While Mara typically represents lust, he also symbolizes fear in this context. The discourse links fear and lust, showing them as corollary and complementary—perhaps even two sides of the same coin. Overcoming the fear of loss enables people to overcome the desire to control and possess.

This discourse shares the numinous quality of discourse 19, which we identified as a spirit communication. It appears to represent an early example of similar phenomena in the development of the Buddhist tradition, much like the Gnostic Christian texts.

SUMMARY OF DOCTRINES

§  The divine beings visit the Buddha and he learns from them;
§  Spirit travel is instantaneous;
§  Those who take refuge in the Buddha will not experience a lower rebirth;
§  divine beings manifest as luminous aerial phenomena;
§  divine beings are only visible to those of refined awareness;
§  The meditation that destroys fear is part of the Buddhist path of dispassion;
§  Some divine beings live invisibly among people on Earth;
§  The anti-gods are skilled in the practice of magic or sorcery; and
§  Desirous attachment, fear, and war are interrelated.

Buddha Centre, Saturday, December 8, 2024