The Realm of the Dhyana Practitioner
So far we have seen a universe with inhabitants living on the earth, in hells, in the realm of hungry spirits, and in heavens. It shares many elements with the cosmologies of other religions. Buddhism, though, is perhaps unique in positing an additional realm of dhyana practitioners above the realm of gods. This consists of the “realm of form” Irupa-dhatu} and the “realm of formlessness” (arupya-dhatu}.
Form {rupd} is that which has shape and is characterized by constant change and destruction. Rupa-dhatu, therefore, is where those having form dwell. Of course the possession of form is a condition shared also by those who occupy the realm of desire (kama-dhatu}. Nevertheless when we speak of the realm of form we do not include the realm of desire, for those who dwell there have gained release from all desires, so that only their physical bodies remain. This is the realm of those who practice dhyana (“meditation”), which includes the two practices of “quieting the mind” and “observing the nature of things.” Buddhist priests, and indeed we ourselves, may climb to a realm higher than that inhabited by the gods by pursuing the practice of meditation to its limits.
The realm of form is divided broadly into four areas, the First through Fourth Dhyanas (in ascending order). The First Dhyana consists of three Brahma realms: Brahma-kayika, where the subordinates of Brahma dwell; Brahma-purohita, where the attendants, ministers, and officials of Brahma dwell; and Mahabrahma, “great Brahma.” The realm of Brahmakayika is 1,280,000 yojanas above the highest heaven of the realm of desire, Para-nirmita-vasavartin. Its extent is “as broad as the four landmasses,” Purvavideha, Jambudvipa, Apara-godaniya, and Uttarakuru. This is an extremely vague expression, but one possibility is that it means the area of a circle whose circumference is described around the four points that are the landmasses (see figure 20). If we consider that the four landmasses are located in the center of the salt sea, the area would thus be a circle with a radius of 420,086.5 yojanas. The inhabitants of this heaven have bodies half a yojana tall. The heaven of Brahma-purohita is 2,560,000yyanas above Brahmakayika and is the same size as the latter. Its inhabitants are one yojana tall. If the populations of the two were the same, those living in Brahma-purohita might be rather cramped. Still, because they are officials, they may be fewer in number. Mahabrahma is 5,120,000 yojanas above Brahma-purohita and is the same size. Its inhabitants are 1.5 yojanas tall.
Though we are now in the realm of form, the First Dhyana is still concerned with the world of myth. Brahma was originally a Brahmanic god, the highest of the pantheon. He appears in the First Dhyana more as a symbol of separation from desires and of purity than as a god per se. The Mahabrahma heaven reminds us of the possibility of gaining release from the realm of desire through meditation, and is the realm where those whose virtue is equal to that of Brahma himself gather. The various mind functions of the deities of the First Dhyana have not yet stopped working, but these deities take joy in the fact that they have nothing to do with desires or with anything evil.
The Second Dhyana also has three heavens; in ascending order, these are Parittabha (“limited radiance”), Apramanabha (“boundless radiance”), and Abhasvara (“ultimate radiant purity”). All of them are replete with virtue, symbolized by various kinds of light. Parittabha is 10,240,000 yojanas above the Maha-brahma heaven, Apramanabha is 20,480,000 yojanas above Parittabha, and Abhasvara is 40,960,000 yojanas above Apramanabha. They are all the same size, one “small-thousand-world.” (A “small single world” denotes a volume of space incorporating all of the realm of desire and the First Dhyana of the realm of form. A “small-thousand-world” is a measure of one thousand such “small worlds.”) Whether we can assign a position to this vast space is somewhat doubtful (see figure 21). In the realm of the Second Dhyana there is no discursive thought or reasoning. All that remains is the delight born of intensely tranquil and concentrated meditation (samadhi).
Like the First and Second Dhyanas, the Third Dhyana has three heavens, which are, in ascending order, Parinasubha (“limited purity”), Apramanasubha (“unlimited purity”), and Subhakrisna (“complete purity”). Parinasubha is 81,920,000yojanas above the highest stratum of the Second Dhyana, Abhasvara; Apramanasubha is 163,840,000 yojanas above Parinasubha; and Subhakrisna is a further 327,680,000 yojanas above Apramanasubha. In size, each is a medium-thousandworld, that is, one thousand small-thousand-worlds. In the Third Dhyana, all joy in meditation is eliminated and only a sublime delight remains, experienced when the meditator is one with truth. There is no greater tranquillity, and it may be the equivalent of what Greek philosophy terms ataraxia, imperturbability of mind and body, the goal of human life.
The first three Dhyana realms are alike in that delight (sukha) remains. Therefore they are termed sukha-upapatti, “realms of delight.” The realm of form does not end here, however. Next is the Fourth Dhyana, the stage where all suffering and all delight have been transcended. It is made up of eight heavens, which I list without going into the subde differences among them, leaving that to more scholarly studies. They are: Anabhraka (“cloudless gods”), Punyaprasava (“gods produced by virtue”), Brhatphala (“gods of great fruit”), Abrha (“undefiled gods”), Atapa (“gods of no heat”), Sudrsa (“gods looking handsome”), Sudarsana (also “gods looking handsome”), and Akanistha (“gods of the extremity of the realm of form”). All of the gods, from those of Brahma to those of Akanistha, belong to the realm of form and are therefore material, with physical bodies. In the realm of formlessness, however, no material form remains, only spirit. This realm is discussed in the “Enlightenment” section of chapter .
