Devas
The Vedic Deities
On the mandala that Nichiren Shonin designed are several devas, deities from the Vedic cosmology of ancient India, which were accepted in Buddhism as the inhabitants of the heavens, the
personifications of the forces of nature, fellow sentient beings
in need of the Buddha's teachings, protectors of the Buddha
Dharma, and even as roles taken on by the various bodhisattvas.
In many ways they are similar to the ancient Olympian gods of
Greece or the Aesir of Teutonic myths. In fact, they may even
have a common source in the ancient Aryan culture. Nevertheless,
the Vedic gods living on and above Mt. Sumeru have not
disappeared but are still worshipped directly in India within
Hinduism and appear as the guardians of the Dharma, protectors of
humanity, and even as embodiments of aspects of enlightenment in
Buddhism. The term devas means "shining ones."
In Philosophies of India, Heinrich Zimmer introduced the Vedic gods as follows:
"Indian orthodox philosophy arose from the ancient
Aryan religion of the Veda. Originally the Vedic pantheon
with its host of gods depicted the universe as filled with
the projections of man's experiences and ideas about himself.
The features of human birth, growth, and death, and of the
process of generation were projected on the course of nature.
Cosmic forces and phenomena were personalized. The lights of
the heavens, the varieties and aspects of clouds and storm,
forests, mountain masses and river courses, the properties of
the soil, and the mysteries of the underworld were understood
and dealt with in terms of the lives and commerce of divine
beings who themselves reflected the human world. These gods
were supermen endowed with cosmic powers and could be invited
as guests to feast on oblations. They were invoked,
flattered, propitiated, and pleased." (p. 333)
Flammarion Iconographic Guides: Buddhism gives the
following summary of the position of these gods, or devas, within Buddhism:
"Devas are gods inhabiting the celestial stages of
the world, and most of them are borrowed from the Indian
pantheon. As we have seen, early Buddhism did not deny the
existence of gods, but merely considered them to be
spiritually inferior to the Buddha. The gods of Buddhism are
not saviours, but beings with more power than humans. They
live in pleasure for extremely long lives, but are
nevertheless ultimately subject to the cycle of rebirth and
suffering. They may be worshipped for material gain, and the
earliest Buddhist literature contains stories of their
service to the Buddha, and their promotion and protection of
Buddhism. Thus we find the gods of the Indian pantheon
assisting at all the major events in the life of the Buddha,
more as attentive servants than as followers." (p. 258)
The Guide also says, "Devas represent the first
of the eight classes of supernatural beings (Japanese Hachibutshu) mentioned in the Lotus Sutra as being protectors of the
Buddha and the Law, victoriously waging war on opposing
forces." (p. 260) The other seven are the nagas (dragons),
the garudas (giant birds who prey on the nagas), the ashuras (the
fighting demons), the yakshas (nature spirits), the gandharvas
(celestial musicians), the mahoragas (giant snakes), and the
kimnaras (another type of celestial musician who are half-human
and half-bird). There is another class of beings associated with
the devas who are called the apsaras. The apsaras are servants,
court musicians, dancers, and retainers of the devas. Presumably,
they are the most populous class of beings in the heavenly
realms. Nichiren taught that all the gods had promised to protect
those who uphold the Lotus Sutra. He frequently invoked
the Vedic deities and the Shinto kami as his protectors as in the following passage from On Persecutions Befalling the Sage:
"You may rest assured that nothing, not even a
person possessed by a powerful demon, can harm Nichiren, because Brahma, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, the
four heavenly kings, the Sun Goddess, and Hachiman are safeguarding him."
The other side of this, is that the gods would also abandon
and punish those who slandered or turned away from the Lotus
Sutra as in the following passage from his Letter to the
Lay Priest Ichinosawa:
"The reason, as I stated earlier, is that every
single person in this country has committed the three
cardinal sins. Therefore, Brahma, Shakra, the gods of the sun
and moon, and the four heavenly kings have entered into the
body of the Mongol ruler and are causing him to chastise our
nation." (pp. 530)
Nichiren also frequently addressed prayers to the gods and
encouraged his followers to do so as well, but always in the
context of an overarching faith in the Lotus Sutra.
Dai Bontenno
Great Brahma Heavenly King
Brahma is a term for the highest class of deities residing in
the Brahma Heavens. So in the first chapter of the Lotus
Sutra, three different Brahmas are said to be present on
Vulture Peak: Brahma Heavenly King, Great Brahma Sikhin, and
Great Brahma Light. Great Brahma Heavenly King, however, is the
chief of these and is believed to be the eternal, omniscient,
omnipotent, and morally perfect creator of the world who resides
in the Maha Brahma heaven of the realm of form. He is the lord of
the saha world, and the first member of the trimurti which
represents the three modes of material nature: Brahma the
creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. In the
sutras he says of himself, "I am Brahma, Great Brahma, the
Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, the All-Powerful, the
Lord, the Maker and Creator, Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Father
of All That Have Been and Shall Be." (p. 76, Long
Discourses of the Buddha) Other beings believe Brahma's
self-testimony or have vague recollections of a past life in the
Brahma heavens and therefore seek union with him or at least
rebirth in his presence.
Union with Brahma or rebirth in the Brahma heavens of the
realm of form (or any of the heavens for that matter) is treated
by the Buddha as a legitimate though lesser goal for those who
are unable to transcend their theistic assumptions about the goal
of the religious life. It is a lesser goal because it is still
within the six worlds of becoming and therefore one can only
abide in a heavenly existence until the causes and conditions (in
this case meritorious karma) which support that life are
exhausted. Furthermore, even as the preeminent or first being
among beings, Brahma is still subject to rebirth in accordance
with the law of cause and effect and can not be apart from it.
Brahma simply does not remember that he too came into being in
the palace of Brahma due to causes and conditions at the
beginning of the unfolding of the world. He believes that he is
the sole cause for the creation of the world and its many beings,
but once again he has overlooked the many other causes and
condition involved. His self-testimony according to the Buddha is
actually nothing more than self-delusion and egotism. As a being
among beings who is also caught up in the round of birth and
death, Brahma also must be considered in need of the Buddha's
instruction despite his pretensions.
In any case, the Buddha was sharply critical of the brahmins
and their Vedic learning who claimed to teach the way to union
with Brahma. In the final analysis, he pointed out that the
theistic teachings are based on hearsay and are not themselves
able to give direct knowledge of Brahma. As an expedient, the
Buddha taught the value of purifying the mind, renouncing the
householder's life and meditating on the four infinite states of
mind, "abodes of Brahma," associated with Brahma:
loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. In
this way, one may be united with Brahma at death by emulating his
good qualities through virtuous living and meditation.
The Buddha Dharma itself, however, is able to take those who
follow it far beyond even the divine realms. The Buddha had
realized that even the divine states of being were phenomenal and
subject to the same shortcomings as all other forms of phenomenal
existence. So, while union with Brahma or rebirth in the heavens
is looked upon as a worthy and attainable goal, it is not the
final goal, for only the peace of nirvana can provide true peace
according to the Buddha. The Buddha, however, did assert that in
his past lives as a bodhisattva he too had been Brahma.
According to the sutras, upon attaining enlightenment the Buddha was not sure whether he should attempt to teach others the
Dharma. At that time Brahma himself came down from heaven and
convinced the Buddha that he should teach and that there were
those who would be able to understand. This story is recounted in
chapter two of the Lotus Sutra where Brahma appears in
the company of the Heavenly-King Shakra, the four heavenly kings,
and many other gods. Brahma is also one of the deities who
periodically makes an offering of music and showers the assembly
with heavenly garments and lotus flowers. In chapter seven of the
Lotus Sutra, Brahma Heavenly Kings from hundreds of
billions of worlds all gathered to give offerings to Great
Universal Wisdom Excellence Tathagata and requested that he turn
the Wheel of the Dharma. Chapter eighteen asserts that anyone who
persuades others to sit and hear the Lotus Sutra will
obtain the seat of Brahma, so one of the causes by which one can
become Brahma is to share the Lotus Sutra with others.
Chapter nineteen asserts that Brahma will come to hear anyone who
teaches the Lotus Sutra. Chapters twenty-four and
twenty-five state that Bodhisattva Wonderful Voice and
Bodhisattva World Voice Perceiver respectively can both transform
themselves into Brahma (among many other forms) in order to
expound the Dharma and save others. So based upon the testimony
of the Lotus Sutra, Great Heavenly King Brahma is a
devotee of the Lotus Sutra and may in fact be an
appearance of one of the celestial bodhisattvas who uphold the Lotus Sutra.
Icon: A deity with four arms and four faces, each with a
third eye. He is wearing the garments of an Indian king,
including a crown on each head. In his upper right hand he
carries a lance. The bottom right is in the Varada mudra which
represents the act of making an offering. The top left arm holds
a long stemmed lotus flower, while the lower left holds a vase of
ambrosia. He is seated on a lotus flower which rests upon four
(or seven) geese.
Dairokuten Ma-o
King Mara of the Sixth Heaven
The name Mara means "Murderer" and he is
called that because he is the entity who attempts to
"murder" the spiritual life of others. Though he is a
personification of delusion and even evil, he is very different
from the devil in other religious traditions. To begin with, he
is not a leader of the fighting demons who rebel against the
gods, nor does he dwell in hell. Rather, he lives in the highest
heaven in the realm of desire, from whence he is able to
manipulate, exploit, and trick all the other beings in the realm
of desire - including the deities in the lower heavenly realms.
His primary purpose is to ensure that no one escapes the cycle of
birth and death. In some ways, he is like a jail warden who is
trying to keep his "wards" trapped within the world of
birth and death. In other ways he is like the owner of a casino
who employs all kinds of entertainments and even occasional
payouts in order to keep the gamblers at the roulette wheels and
card tables. In the end, the gamblers always lose but Mara does
his best to keep them fooled into thinking that somehow they can
hit the jackpot and find ultimate happiness within the realm of desire.
In the sutras, it is Mara who at first sends his daughters to
seduce Siddhartha on the eve of his enlightenment. When Siddhartha sees through their beauty and reduces them to aged
crones, Mara sends an army of demons to scare off the Buddha.
This also fails. Siddhartha sits unmoved as the arrows and spears
of the demons turn into flowers before they can hit him. Finally,
Mara asks Siddhartha what entitles him to attain enlightenment.
Siddhartha touches the ground and calls upon the earth itself to
witness to the countless merits that he had accumulated over
innumerable past lives as a bodhisattva. After his awakening,
Mara tried to convince the Buddha that it would be impossible to
teach anyone else the Dharma and that he should immediately enter
parinirvana, but Brahma himself convinced the Buddha that it
would be possible to teach others. Mara appears later in the life
of the Buddha and unsuccessfully attempts to convince him to pass
into parinirvana prematurely before the Dharma and the Sangha can
be firmly established. Nichiren Buddhism often refers to Mara as
part of the "three obstacles and the four devils" which
was a teaching of Chih-i, the founder of T'ien-t'ai Buddhism. These are described in Dharma Flower: The Faith, Teaching and
Practice of Nichiren Buddhism (unpublished manuscript):
"The three obstacles and the four devils were
Chih-i's way of cataloging all the various phenomena which
can keep us from practicing Buddhism. The three obstacles
consist of self-centered desires or defilements, the
unwholesome habits which arise from those defilements, and
the painful consequences of such activity. The three
obstacles describe the vicious circle created by our usual
self-centered way of interacting with the world. They
describe the way in which we bring so much unnecessary
suffering upon ourselves, which naturally leads to further
frustration and anxiety which then leads to even more
selfishly motivated activities and so on, ad nauseum... All
of this keeps us mired in our own problems. If we are not
careful, it will even prevent us from putting into practice
the very teachings which can break the cycle.
"The four devils consist of the devil of the five
aggregates, the devil of the defilements, the devil of death,
and the devil king of the sixth heaven. The devil of the
aggregates refers to the inherent insecurity, anxiety, and
outright suffering which results from trying to identify
ourselves with various physical and mental components which
are in constant flux. The devil of the defilements refers to
the ways in which self-centered desires inevitably arise
based upon the needs of the body and mind for nourishment,
security, pleasurable stimulation, and self-aggrandizement.
The devil of death refers to the dread, fear, and terror
which arise in the face of the inevitable dissolution of the
body and mind upon death. The devil king of the sixth heaven
refers to those things in life which tempt us to forget about
Buddhist practice and live only for worldly goals and
aspirations. The devil king of the sixth heaven personifies
all those people, situations, and inner impulses which tempt
or threaten us to forsake Buddhism and return to the old
cycle of unthinking habit, fleeting pleasures and familiar
pains. One could say that the other name for the devil king
of the sixth heaven is 'the devil we know' who attempts to
frighten or cajole us away from the unfamiliar territory of
liberation back into the vicious cycle of our self-centeredness." (p.23)
Icon: A deity dressed like a great king (maharaja)
draped with garlands. He holds a bow in one hand and five arrows in the other.
Shakudaikannin Dai-o
(Shakra Devanam Indra ) a.k.a. Taishakuten
(Shakra)
Indra is the ruler of the other thirty-two devas in the
Heaven of the Thirty-three gods at the summit of Mt. Sumeru and
also commander-in-chief of the Four Heavenly Kings. He is the god
of thunder and lightning, the bringer of rain, the most powerful
of the gods in the realm of desire, and the leader in the fight
against the fighting demons (asuras) who constantly plot
and scheme to overthrow the gods and on occasion even attempt to
storm the heavenly palaces on the slopes of Mt. Sumeru. The name
Shakra means "the mighty", Devanam means "chief of
the gods," and Indra means "lord." Indra is also
known as Vajrapani which means the "Vajra Wielder." He
is called this because the thunderbolt which he wields is called
the "vajra" or "diamond pounder." Unlike the
aloof and serene Brahma who sees himself as the omnipotent
creator, Indra sees himself as the mighty lord who leads the heavenly hosts.
Indra is also a follower of the Buddha and a protector of the
Dharma. In fact, Indra often appears to test the resolve,
patience, generosity, and compassion of the bodhisattvas,
including Shakyamuni Buddha in his past lives. As an example, in
the Nirvana Sutra, the story is told of how the
bodhisattva who would become Shakyamuni Buddha was once a youth
practicing asceticism in the Himalayas. Indra transformed himself
into a ferocious demon (raskshasa) and began reciting
the verse "All is changeable, nothing is constant. This is
the law of birth and death." The boy insisted on hearing the
rest of the verse, but the demon demanded that the boy offer
himself as food after hearing it. The boy agreed, so the rakshasa
recited "Extinguishing the cycle of birth and death, one
enters the joy of nirvana." The boy inscribed the complete
verse on all the surrounding rocks and trees and then leaped into
the demon's mouth, but at the last moment Indra changed back into
himself and caught the boy in his arms. In other past lives,
while still practicing as a bodhisattva, the Buddha himself
appeared as Indra. The other bodhisattvas are also reborn, at
times, as Indra.
Indra is also well known for his net. The Net of Indra is
said to cover the universe and contains jewels in each of its
interstices which all reflect one another. This is a model for
the interdependent nature of all phenomena according to the
Buddha's teachings. This image is especially associated with the Flower
Garland Sutra.
In chapter two of the Lotus Sutra, Indra is one of
the deities who accompanies Brahma when he convinces the Buddha
that he should teach the Dharma. Indra is also one of the deities
who offers the assembly heavenly garments, lotus flowers and
music. Chapter eighteen asserts that anyone who persuades others
to sit and hear the Lotus Sutra will obtain the seat of
Indra, so one of the causes by which one can become Indra is to
share the Lotus Sutra with others. Chapter nineteen
asserts that Indra will come to hear anyone who teaches the Lotus
Sutra. Chapters twenty-four and twenty-five state that
Bodhisattva Wonderful Voice and Bodhisattva World Voice Perceiver respectively can both transform themselves into Indra (among many
other forms) in order to expound the Dharma and save others. So
based upon the testimony of the Lotus Sutra, Indra is a
devotee of the Lotus Sutra and may in fact be an
appearance of one of the celestial bodhisattvas who uphold the Lotus Sutra.
Icon: A golden deity with a third eye in armor holding a
vajra in his right hand, and with his left hand curled in a fist
and resting on his hip. He sits in the posture of royal ease atop
a white elephant which holds another vajra in its trunk.
Dai Nittenno (Surya)
Surya is the Vedic god of the sun, and one of the thirty-three gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-three. In esoteric Buddhism, Surya represents bodhicitta, the aspiration to attain enlightenment for all sentient beings.
Icon: A deity holding a sun disc in his right hand, his
closed left hand rests on his hip. He is seated upon a lotus
which is carried by three horses.
Dai Gattenji (Chandra)
Chandra is the Vedic god of the moon, and one of the
thirty-three gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-three. In esoteric
Buddhism, Chandra represents the universal purity of the
buddha-nature which cools the passions and removes the three
poisons.
Icon: A deity holding a moon disc in his right hand, his
closed left hand rests on his hip. He is seated upon a lotus
which is carried by three geese.
Myojo Tenji (Aruna)
According to The Myths and Gods of India:
"The Sun's charioteer is the Red-One (Aruna),
the wise elder brother of the bird Wings-of-Speech (Garuda). Aruna, like the resplendent Vivasvat, also a son of Kasyapa,
is the deity of dawn. He stands on the chariot in front of
the Sun, and his strong body shelters the world from the
Sun's fury. Aruna is said to be more beautiful even than the Moon." (p.95)
Icon: A deity with red skin driving a chariot.
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Lotus World: an Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon
