"Non-existence is only the entrance to the Great Vehicle."
--_Daibon-Kyōi._
"And in which way is it, Siha, that one speaking truly could say of me:
'The Samana Gotama maintains annihilation;--he teaches the doctrine of
annihilation'? I proclaim, Siha, the annihilation of lust, of ill-will,
of delusion; I proclaim the annihilation of the manifold conditions (of
heart) which are evil and not good."--_Mahavagga,_ vi. 31. 7.
_"Nin mité, hō tokê_" (see first the person, then preach the law) is a
Japanese proverb signifying that Buddhism should be taught according to
the capacity of the pupil. And the great systems of Buddhist doctrine
are actually divided into progressive stages (five usually), to be
studied in succession, or otherwise, according to the intellectual
ability of the learner. Also there are many varieties of special
doctrine held by the different sects and sub-sects,--so that, to make
any satisfactory outline of Buddhist ontology, it is necessary to shape
a synthesis of the more important and non-conflicting among these many
tenets. I need scarcely say that popular Buddhism does not include
concepts such as we have been examining. The people hold to the simpler
creed of a veritable transmigration of simpler The people understand
Karma only as the law that makes the punishment or reward of faults
committed in previous lives. The people do not trouble themselves about
_Nehan_ or Nirvana;[1] but they think much about heaven (_Gokuraku,_)
which the members of many sects believe can be attained immediately
after this life by the spirits of the good. The followers of the
greatest and richest of the modern sects--the _Shinshū--_hold that,
by the invocation of Amida, a righteous person can pass at once
after death to the great Paradise of the West,--the Paradise of the
Lotos-Flower-Birth. I am taking no account of popular beliefs in this
little study, nor of doctrines peculiar to any one sect only.
But there are many differences in the higher teaching as to the
attainment of Nirvana. Some authorities hold that the supreme happiness
can be won, or at least seen, even on this earth; while others declare
that the present world is too corrupt to allow of a perfect life, and
that only by winning, through good deeds, the privilege of rebirth into
a better world, can men hope for opportunity to practice that holiness
which leads to the highest bliss. The latter opinion, which posits the
superior conditions of being in other worlds, better expresses the
general thought of contemporary Buddhism in Japan.
*
The conditions of human and of animal being belong to what are termed
the Worlds of Desire (_Yoku-Kai_),--which are four in number. Below
these are the states of torment or hells (_Jigoku,_) about which many
curious things are written; but neither the Yoku-Kai nor the Jigoku
need be considered in relation to the purpose of this little essay.
We have only to do with the course of spiritual progress from the
world of men up to Nirvana,--assuming, with modern Buddhism, that the
pilgrimage through death and birth must continue, for the majority of
mankind at least, even after the attainment of the highest conditions
possible upon this globe. The way rises from terrestrial conditions
to other and superior worlds,--passing first through the Six Heavens
of Desire (_Yoku-Ten_);--thence through the Seventeen Heavens of Form
(_Shiki-Kai_);--and lastly through the Four Heavens of Formlessness
(_Mushiki-Kai_), beyond which lies Nirvana.
The requirements of physical life--the need of food, rest, and sexual
relations--continue to be felt in the Heavens of Desire,--which
would seem to be higher physical worlds rather than what we commonly
understand by the expression "heavens." Indeed, the conditions in some
of them are such as might be supposed to exist in planets more favored
than our own,--in larger spheres warmed by a more genial sun. And some
Buddhist texts actually place them in remote constellations,--declaring
that the Path leads from star to star, from galaxy to galaxy, from
universe to universe, up to the Limit of Existence.[2] In the first
of the heavens of this zone, called the Heaven of the Four Kings
(_Shi-Tennō-Ten_), life lasts five times longer than life on this
earth according to number of years, and each year there is equal
to fifty terrestrial years. But its inhabitants eat and drink, and
marry and give in marriage, much after the fashion of mankind. In the
succeeding heaven (_Sanjiu-san-Ten,_) the duration of life is doubled,
while all other conditions are correspondingly improved; and the
grosser forms of passion disappear. The union of the sexes persists,
but in a manner curiously similar to that which a certain Father of
the Christian Church wished might become possible,--a simple embrace
producing a new being. In the third heaven (called _Emma-Ten_), where
longevity is again doubled, the slightest touch may create life. In
the fourth, or Heaven of Contentment (_Tochita-Ten,_) longevity is
further increased. In the fifth, or Heaven of the Transmutation of
Pleasure (_Keraku-Ten,_) strange new powers are gained. Subjective
pleasures become changed at will into objective pleasures;--thoughts
as well as wishes become creative forces;--and even the act of seeing
may cause conception and birth. In the sixth heaven (_Také-jizai-Ten,_)
the powers obtained in the fifth heaven are further developed; and the
subjective pleasures trans-muted into objective can be presented to
others, or shared with others,--like material gifts. But the look of an
instant,--one glance of the eye,--may generate a new Karma.
The Yoku-Kai are all heavens of sensuous life,--heavens such as might
answer to the dreams of artists and lovers and poets. But those who
are able to traverse them without falling--(and a fall, be it observed,
is not difficult)--pass into the Supersensual Zone, first entering the
Heavens of Luminous Observation of Existence and of Calm Meditation
upon Existence (_Ujin-ushi-shōryo,_ or _Kak-kwan_). These are in number
three,--each higher than the preceding,--and are named The Heaven
of Sanctity, The Heaven of Higher Sanctity, and The Heaven of Great
Sanctity. After these come the heavens called the Heavens of Luminous
Observation of Non-Existence and of Calm Meditation upon Non-Existence
(_Mūjin-mushi-shōryo_). These also are three; and the names of them in
their order signify, Lesser Light, Light Unfathomable, and Light Making
Sound, or, Light-Sonorous. Here there is attained the highest degree
of supersensuous joy possible to temporary conditions. Above are the
states named _Riki-shōryo,_ or the Heavens of the Meditation of the
Abandonment of Joy. The names of these states in their ascending order
are, Lesser Purity, Purity Unfathomable, and Purity Supreme. In them
neither joy nor pain, nor forceful feeling of any sort exist: there is
a mild negative pleasure only,--the pleasure of heavenly Equanimity.[3]
Higher than these heavens are the eight spheres of Calm Meditation upon
the Abandonment of all Joy and Pleasure (_Riki-raku-shōryo._) They are
called The Cloudless, Holiness-Manifest, Vast Results, Empty of Name,
Void of Heat, Fair-Appearing, Vision-Perfecting, and The Limit of Form.
Herein pleasure and pain, and name and form, pass utterly away. But
there remain ideas and thoughts.
He who can pass through these supersensual realms enters at once
into the _Mushiki-Kai,--_the spheres of Formlessness. These
are four. In the first state of the Mushiki-Kai, all sense of
individuality is lost: even the thought of name and form becomes
extinct, and there survives only the idea of Infinite Space, or
Emptiness. In the second state of the Mushiki-Kai, this idea of
space vanishes; and its place is filled by the Idea of Infinite
Reason. But this idea of reason is anthropomorphic: it is an
illusion; and it fades out in the third state of the Mushiki-Kai,
which is called the "State-of-Nothing-to-take-hold-of," or
_Mū-sho-ū-shō-jō._ Here is only the Idea of Infinite Nothingness.
But even this condition has been reached by the aid of the action
of the personal mind. This action ceases: then the fourth state of
the Mushiki-Kai is reached,--the _Hisō-hihisō-shō_, or the state of
"neither-namelessness-nor-not-namelessness." Something of personal
mentality continues to float vaguely here,--the very uttermost
expiring vibration of Karma,--the last vanishing haze of being. It
melts;--and the immeasurable revelation comes. The dreaming Buddha,
freed from the last ghostly bond of Self, rises at once into the
"infinite bliss" of Nirvana.[4]
*
But every being does not pass through all the states above enumerated:
the power to rise swiftly or slowly depends upon the acquisition of
merit as well as upon the character of the Karma to be overcome. Some
beings pass to Nirvana immediately after the present life; some after
a single new birth; some after two or three births; while many rise
directly from this world into one of the Supersensuous Heavens. All
such are called _Chō,--_the Leapers,--of whom the highest class reach
Nirvana at once after their death as men or women. There are two great
divisions of Chō,--the _Fu-Kwan,_ or Never-Returning-Ones,[5] and the
_Kwan,_ Returning Ones, or _revenants._ Sometimes the return may be in
the nature of a prolonged retrogression; and, according to a Buddhist
legend of the origin of the world, the first men were beings who had
fallen from the _Kwō-on-Ten,_ or Heaven of Sonorous Light. A remarkable
fact about the whole theory of progression is that the progression
is not conceived of (except in very rare cases) as an advance in
straight lines, but as an advance by undulations,--a psychical rhythm
of motion. This is exemplified by the curious Buddhist classification
of the different short courses by which the Kwan or _revenants_ may
hope to reach Nirvana. These short courses are divided into Even and
Uneven;--the former includes an equal number of heavenly and of earthly
rebirths; while in the latter class the heavenly and the earthly
intermediate rebirths are not equal in number. There are four kinds
of these intermediate stages. A Japanese friend has drawn for me the
accompanying diagrams, which explain the subject clearly.
Fantastic this may be called; but it harmonizes with the truth that all
progress is necessarily rhythmical.
[Illustration]
NIRVANA REACHED FROM THE HEAVENS THROUGH 3 EVEN BIRTHS:--