In Buddhist literature a Brahmā (deity or god), refers to a being of the non-sensual world (Brahmaloka), one of the highest realms in Buddhist cosmology. They live in groups often under their chief referred to as Mahābrahmā (The Great God). The texts mention encounters with Mahābrahmā several times and it is not clear if they refer to the same Mahābrahmā or different Mahābrahmās each abiding in their own world.
Mahābrahmā is also considered as a protector of teachings (dharmapala), and he is never depicted in early Buddhist texts as a creator god, as is the Brahma of Hinduism. In Buddhist tradition, it was the deity Brahma Sahampati who appeared before the Buddha and invited him to teach, once the Buddha attained enlightenment.
Brahmas are represented in Buddhist culture as higher gods with one face, two arms, and two legs with a long beard.
Origins and nomenclature
The origins of Brahma in Buddhism and other Indian religions are uncertain, in part because several related words such as one for metaphysical Ultimate Reality (Brahman), and priest (Brahmin) are found in the Vedic literature. According to KN Jayatilleke, the Rigveda expresses skepticism about major deities such as Indra; whether he even exists,, Quote: "What evidence is there for the existence of Indra unless someone has seen him? One stanza in a hymn says, 'One and another say, there is no Indra. Who hath beheld him? Whom then shall we honor?' - Rigveda 8.100.3, in Griffith: 8.89.3" as well as whether the universe has any creator and whether this can ever be known, as evidenced in its eighth and tenth book, particularly in its Nasadiya Sukta.
The late Vedic hymns had begun inquiring the nature of true and valid knowledge, empirical verification and absolute reality. Quote: "Here for the first time there is an expression of doubt about the possibility of knowing certain things and a dim awareness that some sort of evidence was necessary before we can afford to make factual assertions. What evidence is there for the existence of Indra unless someone has seen him? (...)" The early Upanishads built upon this theme, while in parallel there emerged Buddhism, Jainism and other skeptical traditions. Buddhism used the term Brahma to deny a creator as well as to delegate him (and other deities such as Indra) as less important than the Buddha.
In Hindu literature, one of the earliest mention of deity Brahma with Vishnu and Shiva is in the fifth Prapathaka (lesson) of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad, probably composed in late 1st millennium BCE, after the rise of Buddhism., Quote: "We may conclude from the above that the rise of Buddhism is not far removed in time from, though it is prior to, the Maitri Upanishad".Jan Gonda (1968), The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Vol. 63, pages 215-219 The spiritual concept of Brahman is far older, and some scholars suggest deity Brahma may have emerged as a personal conception and icon with attributes (saguna version) of the impersonal universal principle called Brahman.Bruce Sullivan (1999), Seer of the Fifth Veda, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 82-83 The Buddhists attacked the concept of Brahma, states Gananath Obeyesekere, and thereby polemically attacked the Vedic and Upanishadic concept of gender neutral, abstract metaphysical Brahman. This critique of Brahma in early Buddhist texts aim at ridiculing the Vedas, but the same texts simultaneously call metta (loving-kindness, compassion) as the state of union with Brahma. The early Buddhist approach to Brahma was to reject any creator aspect, while retaining the Brahmavihara aspects of Brahma, in the Buddhist value system. Deity Brahma is also found in the samsara doctrine and cosmology of early Buddhism.
Brahma is known as Fantian (梵天) in Chinese, Bonten (梵天) in Japanese, Hoān-thian (梵天) in Taiwanese language, Pomch'on in Korean, Phạm Thiên in Vietnamese, Phra Phrom in Thai, and Tshangs pa in Tibetan.
Classification The term Brahmā in Buddhism refers to the leading god, but in some Suttas the term broadly refers to all deities who live in the realm of form. Ancient and medieval Buddhist texts define seventeen, or more, heavenly Brahmā realms (along with demi-gods, hungry ghost and hellish realms), in a stratified manner, which are reached in afterlife based on monastic achievement and karma accumulation. A brahma in these texts refers to any deva in the heavenly realms. The Buddhist god Brahmā himself resides in the highest of the seventeen realms, called the Akaniṣṭha. The multitude of Buddhist brahmas can refer to: Any of the deities of the formless realm of existence called Ārūpyadhātu brahma, who enjoy the highest heavenly pleasures in afterlife; Any of the deities of the anthropomorphic form realm of existence called Rūpadhātu brahma, who enjoy moderate heavenly pleasures;
In the Niddesa, the Buddha is devatideva, the god beyond the gods including Brahma.
In Thailand, Brahma or Phra Phrom is typically seen as the Buddhist god of order, government, law, students, the police, education, and the physical world. He also has a role of both making the universe from chaotic, primordial matter and states of existence, and afterwards continually maintaining it by mitigating the depredations of these forces, with his efforts both being helped and hindered by the order and chaos of humanity and its civilizations. Although, in modern and historic Thai religious writings, depictions that resemble the Hindu Brahma much more existed.
(literally "potter-") is the deity that provided Siddhartha Gautama with the eight requisites of a monk upon his entering into the homeless life. In a past human life, he was a potter named Ghaṭīkāra Bhaggava and was a devout lay disciple of Kāśyapa Buddha, as well as a close friend of Jotipāla, a past life of Gautama Buddha.
(literally "crane-") appears in the Majjhima Nikaya, where he is a deity who believes that his world is permanent and without decay (and that therefore he is immortal), and that therefore there are no higher worlds than his.
, said to be the most senior of the Mahābrahmās, was the deity who visited the Buddha when he attained enlightenment, and encouraged him to teach the Dharma to humans.
(Sanskrit) or (Pāli), the "Ever-young", appears in the Janavasabha-sutta (DN.18), where he is recalled as having created an illusionary presence to make himself perceptible to the coarser senses of Śakra and the gods of .
The singular leading deity and the king of heavens Brahmā is sometimes referred in Buddhist texts as Mahābrahmā. However, the Suttas are inconsistent in this regard and several early Buddhist texts depict Sakra (Pāli: Sakka) – who is same as the Hindu Vedic god Indra – as more important than Mahabrahma.
The Mahābrahmā, or the Great Brahma, states Peter Harvey, is mentioned in Digha Nikaya as the being who dwells in the upper heaven; a Buddhist student can join him for one kalpa (eon, Brahma-year in Indian religions) after successfully entering the first jhana in the form realm of Buddhist practice.
A pair of Brahmās who are usually seen together while engaging in conversation with the Buddha.
Brahmavihara
In the sense of "a being of the ", the term Brahmā may be related to , a term referring to the meditative states achieved through the four , which are shared by the inhabitants of the Rūpadhātu. Prior to the advent of the Buddha, according to Martin Wiltshire, the pre-Buddhist traditions of Brahma-loka, meditation and these four virtues are evidenced in both early Buddhist and non-Buddhist literature. The early Buddhist texts assert that pre-Buddha ancient Indian sages who taught these virtues were earlier incarnations of the Buddha. Post-Buddha, these same virtues are found in the Hindu texts such as verse 1.33 of the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali.Quote: मैत्री करुणा मुदितोपेक्षाणां सुखदुःखपुण्यापुण्यविषयाणां भावनातश्चित्तप्रसादनम् ॥ ३३॥ - Yogasutra 1.33; Source, SanskritDocuments.Org According to Peter Harvey, the Buddhist scriptures acknowledge that the four Brahmavihara meditation practices "did not originate within the Buddhist tradition". The Buddha never claimed that the "four immeasurables" were his unique ideas, in a manner similar to "cessation, quieting, nirvana". These meditation practices are named after Brahma, a god also found in Hinduism texts as well as Jainism text wherein he is equated with Rishabhanatha – the first Tirthankara in Jaina tradition.
Chronology and Non-Buddhist views
The old Upanishads mention both Brahma in the masculine gender deity "Brahmā", as well as gender neutral "Brahman" as the impersonal world principle.Hajime Nakamura, A History of Early Vedānta Philosophy: Part One. Reprint by Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1990, page 136.
According to David Kalupahana, the Upanishads do not strictly distinguish between the two.David Kalupahana (1975), Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. The University Press of Hawaii, 1975, page 19. In contrast, Damien Keown and Charles Prebish state the texts do distinctly present both the male deity Brahma and the abstract Brahman, however, in the Upanishads, deity Brahma is only referred to a few times. The Brahman as the eternal, absolute metaphysical reality – along with Atman (self, soul) – is the predominant and frequent teaching in the Upanishads and other Vedic literature of the Upanishadic period, so much so that early Hinduism is also referred to as Brahmanism. The Pāli scriptures, which were written centuries after the death of the Buddha (although understood as representing the memorized word of the Buddha), mention Brahma, but there is no unambiguous mention of the gender neuter Brahman concept.
Buddhism denies both Brahman and Atman concepts in ancient Hindu literature,; Quote: "In very few words, Brahmanism, the old Indian religion, was a pantheism with Brahman (the eternal, absolute, unchanging principle) as the first cause of the universe. The manifestation of this Brahman is sometimes personified and is called Brahma (god, or the great self). Every human being has atman (little self). Brahman and atman are one, and of the same substance. Brahmanism, therefore, is an effort to seek the ultimate principle, Brahman, by studying one's Self, atman. The Buddha denied the existence of Brahman and atman and advanced a new theory of anatman (no-self)...." and posits Śūnyatā (emptiness, voidness) and Anatta (non-Self, no soul) concept instead.[a] Anatta, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self")."; [b] Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, , page 64; "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."; [c] Edward Roer (Translator), to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, pages 2-4; [d] Katie Javanaud (2013), Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?, Philosophy Now; [e] David Loy (1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pages 65-74; [f] KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, , pages 246-249, from note 385 onwards;John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, , page 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".