Mahabrahma
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Mahabrahma (Tibetian: tshangs pa chen po; Chinese/Japanese: 大梵天 Daibonten; Sinhala: මහා බ්රහ්ම; Thai: มหาพรหฺมฺา), sometimes only called Brahma, is the ruler of the Brahma World (Brahmaloka) in the Buddhist cosmology. He is considered the protector of Buddhist teachings (Pali: Dhammapala; Sanskrit: Dharmapala). Mahabrahma is generally represented in Buddhist culture as a god with four faces and four arms like other Brahmas, and variants of him are found in different Buddhist cultures.[1] The Mahābrahmā, or the Great Brahma, 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 Buddhism) after successfully entering the first jhana in the form realm of Buddhist practice.[2]
In many Buddhist Suttas/Sutras, Mahabrahma pays visit to the Buddha. In a 16th-century novel, Journey to the West, Sun Wukong takes the monk Tang Sanzang to the heaven of Brahmas to meet Mahabrahma, where the monk impresses the Brahmas with his lecture on the Lotus Sutra.
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Mahabrahma with other notable brahmas are revered by Buddhists around the world. One can find statues of Mahabrahma in many Buddhist temples. Various temples like Erawan Shrine in Thailand are dedicated to Mahabrahma.
Miscontrued as the Creator of the world[]
Buddhism is a religion which does not include the belief in a creator deity, or any eternal divine personal being.[3][4][5] Buddhism assumes that the universe has no ultimate beginning to it, and thus sees no need for a creator God. Buddhist texts posits that deities such as Mahabrahma are misconstrued to be a creator.[6] During the Vivartakalpa, a deity from Abhassara plane is reborned in the Mahabrahma plane, as many living beings forget about their past life, this too happens with the Mahabrahma, and being unaware of the above planes of existence, he felt alone. He longs for the presence of others. After some times many other deities from the above planes were also reborned in those brahma planes, as his ministers and companions.[7] Seeing this happens, he falsely believes himself to be their creator and other deities believed the same. This belief, state the Buddhist texts, is then shared by other deities. Eventually, however one of the deity dies and is reborn as human, practicing meditation,he got the power to remember his previous life.[6] He teaches what he remembers from his previous life in lower heaven, that Mahabrahma is the Creator. It is this that leads to the human belief in Creator, according to the Pali Canon.[6]
Cult of Phra Phrom[]
Mahabrahma is called as Phra Phrom (Thai: พระพรหม; from Sanskrit/Pali: Brahmā, ब्रह्मा) in Thailand. In Thai culture, he is regarded as the deity of good fortune and protection. As early as the 1980s, the popularity of the Erawan cult of Phra Phrom from its inceptions in Thailand spread, accompanied by faithful reproduction of the structure of the shrine and the image, among overseas Buddhists in other countries of Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia), in Taiwan, and in China. The golden dome of the Government House of Thailand also contains a statue of Phra Phrom.
Gallery[]
An altar dedicated to Mahabrahma in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Mahabrahma shrine at Xixin Chan Temple in Hunan, China.
Mahabrahma statue at the Erawan Shrine, Bangkok
Mahabrahma at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, Sha Tin, Hong Kong
Mahabrahma statue at Sanggar Agung, Surabaya, Indonesia.
Statue of Mahabrahma in a Laotian Buddhist temple.
Mahabrahma statue in Wat Phothivihan, Kelantan, Malaysia.
Brahma riding the Hong bird, old statue.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Jr, Robert E. Buswell; Jr, Donald S. Lopez (2013-11-24). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8.
- ^ Harvey, Peter (2013). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85942-4.
- ^ Harvey, Peter (2019). "Buddhism and Monotheism", p. 1. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Taliaferro 2013, p. 35.
- ^ Blackburn, Anne M.; Samuels, Jeffrey (2003). "II. Denial of God in Buddhism and the Reasons Behind It". Approaching the Dhamma: Buddhist Texts and Practices in South and Southeast Asia. Pariyatti. pp. 128–146. ISBN 978-1-928706-19-9.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Harvey 2013, p. 36-8.
- ^ Harvey 2013, p. 36-37.
- Buddhist gods
- Buddhist deities