(5) The Invocation of the King of the (3) Brahma Heaven<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000A god called the King of the Brahma Heaven appeared and said to Sakyamuni, \u201cGreat Buddha, it is a pity that you will die without preaching what you attained by enlightenment. So would you please preach it to the people?\u201d Although the god encouraged Him to do so three times, He was not willing. This is called \u201cthe invocation of the King of the Brahma Heaven.\u201d He was perplexed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000Sakyamuni knew very well that this world is multifarious (consists of numerous aspects). He understood the dominant principle and various laws of the world. But He did not intend to preach because He did not want his present peace of mind to be disturbed by listening to the people before He preached. So He was at a loss for a response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000 Although Dr. Nakamura said that the Buddha was embarrassed because He could not speak clearly, I think that the Buddha understood everything because He was entirely enlightened and truly became the all-knowing, omniscient and omnipotent Buddha (Awakened One, Enlightened One) then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000Sakyamuni went on a journey in order to preach about the \u201cenlightenment\u201d He attained under the Bodhi tree. He traveled throughout the country to the end of His life for forty-five years from the time when He attained enlightenment at the age of thirty-five to the time of His death at the age of eighty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000He preached sermons suited for each occasion and person. These are called \u201csermons according to the occasion and person.\u201d Therefore, there are a great number of Buddhist doctrines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000Reading these remaining sermons in later years, people thought out various Buddhist theories such as \u201cthe 37 kinds of practices for attaining Nirvana,\u201d \u201cthe four noble truths,\u201d \u201cthe eight-fold noble path,\u201d \u201cthe twelve link of cause and effect,\u201d and so on. However, if you study, you will find that He did not preach \u201cBuddhist theories\u201d but sermons suitable to the occasion and person, that is, \u201cimprovised sermons.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000He kept on giving answers quite suitable for what people wanted most. What did He preach then? To tell the truth, there are some parts we cannot understand, because they are not systematic coherent ways of preaching. But I am going to tell you what we know about how He thought and what He preached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000Such religions as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, are called monotheism, preaching that there is a god who created the heavens and the earth, dominates human beings, and that everything is decided by the will of this god. Therefore in these religions there is only one god, that is, the absolute existence, to whom we can pray for everything good or evil. We can find there was this kind of absolute existence everywhere in the past. In India, too, there was absolute existence called the King of the Brahma Heaven, Bon or Bonten in Chinese, who dominated India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000However, Sakyamuni denied the god. All human beings depend on \u201cinga\u201d or \u201ccause and effect.\u201d In our modern language it means that every action has a cause and an effect. As for myself, I was not created by the god. The Buddha taught us that \u201cthe Sun Goddess\u201d did not make us. We were made by our parents and confined in our mother\u2019s womb for about ten months, and were brought up by our parents\u2019 love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000Thus effects come after causes, and the world is made up of cause and effect. This is a very important point. We can find only our father and mother, or our grandfather and grandmother. But of course we know we have many ancestors because we are in this world. What is more, I think we will have our children and grandchildren in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000Sakyamuni is supposed to have kept sitting under the Bodhi tree thinking like this at night. Then it is written, He could completely \u201cremember\u201d His \u201cpast life,\u201d how He was born and each successive life since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000We cannot know such things. People at the time of Sakyamuni often used \u201crinne\u201d or transmigration. We are born and we die, and we are born and we die again and again continuously. They thought that we were turning around and around ceaselessly in circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000As for myself, I do not know where I am going after my death. According to the ways of transmigration, it may be said, \u201cSince he is always doing something wicked and talking glibly, he will be reborn something like a mynah bird.\u201d On the other hand, good people are said to be born in a beautiful heaven where gods live without exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000To tell the truth, I do not want to be born in heaven because it is too beautiful to be good. There is no distinction between the sexes there. There are beautiful ladies, but they all look sexless. So I do not want to go to a place like this. Clear distinction between the sexes is more favorable for me. Therefore, I prefer to be born in the world of human beings. The human world is really wonderful. I want to be born again in this world. But we do not know whether it is possible or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000I am afraid that I will be born in the world of animals or hungry demons, or what is worse, hell. I never want to go down to hell at all because it is supposed to give us a great deal of torment. We sometimes hear about boiling in a caldron. Criminals are put into boiling water. It is strange that they are living with torment without dying instantly. It is quite cruel anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000I am now translating \u201cthe Sariputra Abhidharma Sutra\u201d of the Southern Buddhism. Some scholars made mistakes in the old translation of the sutra, because they did not know about hell. For example, we can find \u201can iron skewer\u201d in the sutra. What do you think it was used for? It was used for punishment. Since the scholars did not think it was used for punishment, they translated it into \u201can iron bar.\u201d They wrote it as if a gymnast were hanging from the horizontal bar and turning a somersault. It is not correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000It was used for punishment. A criminal was put on the top of the skewer from the buttocks first. And then the criminal went down little by little. At last the skewer came out of the top of the head. The criminal must have felt excruciating pain. So I think hell is the last place that I want to go to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000Hell, the worlds of hungry spirits, animals, asura, and men, and heaven are called the six worlds (rokudo). They are the six worlds where we must go after death. We say \u201crebirth in the six worlds.\u201d It is inevitable that the worst criminals go to hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3000While Sakyamuni was meditating like this, His senses came to be finely sharpened and He received the power to see through people\u2019s past, which is called \u201cShukujuchi.\u201d What is more, He is said to have received the power to see through people\u2019s future a few hours later at midnight, which is called \u201cthe divine eye.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Trans. by Rev. Kanshu Naito)<\/p>\n\n\n\n (to be continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Rev. Shinkai Oikawa 9. Sakyamuni\u2019s Manhood (5) The Invocation of the King of the (3) Brahma Heaven \u3000A god called the King of the Brahma Heaven appeared and said to Sakyamuni, \u201cGreat Buddha, it is a pity that you will die without preaching what you attained by enlightenment. So would you please preach it to the people?\u201d Although the god encouraged Him to do so three times, He was not willing. This is called \u201cthe invocation of the King of the Brahma Heaven.\u201d He was perplexed. \u3000Sakyamuni knew very well that this world is multifarious (consists of numerous aspects). He understood the dominant principle and various laws of the world. But He did not intend to preach because He did not want his present peace of mind to be disturbed by listening to the people before He preached. So He was at a loss for a response. \u3000 Although Dr. Nakamura said that the Buddha was embarrassed because He could not speak clearly, I think that the Buddha understood everything because He was entirely enlightened and truly became the all-knowing, omniscient and omnipotent Buddha (Awakened One, Enlightened One) then. \u3000Sakyamuni went on a journey in order to preach about the \u201cenlightenment\u201d He attained under the Bodhi tree. He traveled throughout the country to the end of His life for forty-five years from the time when He attained enlightenment at the age of thirty-five to the time of His death at the age of eighty. \u3000He preached sermons suited for each occasion and person. These are called \u201csermons according to the occasion and person.\u201d Therefore, there are a great number of Buddhist doctrines. \u3000Reading these remaining sermons in later years, people thought out various Buddhist theories such as \u201cthe 37 kinds of practices for attaining Nirvana,\u201d \u201cthe four noble truths,\u201d \u201cthe eight-fold noble path,\u201d \u201cthe twelve link of cause and effect,\u201d and so on. However, if you study, you will find that He did not preach \u201cBuddhist theories\u201d but sermons suitable to the occasion and person, that is, \u201cimprovised sermons.\u201d \u3000He kept on giving answers quite suitable for what people wanted most. What did He preach then? To tell the truth, there are some parts we cannot understand, because they are not systematic coherent ways of preaching. But I am going to tell you what we know about how He thought and what He preached. (6) The Substance of Enlightenment \u3000Such religions as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, are called monotheism, preaching that there is a god who created the heavens and the earth, dominates human beings, and that everything is decided by the will of this god. Therefore in these religions there is only one god, that is, the absolute existence, to whom we can pray for everything good or evil. We can find there was this kind of absolute existence everywhere in the past. In India, too, there was absolute existence called the King of the Brahma Heaven, Bon or Bonten in Chinese, who dominated India. \u3000However, Sakyamuni denied the god. All human beings depend on \u201cinga\u201d or \u201ccause and effect.\u201d In our modern language it means that every action has a cause and an effect. As for myself, I was not created by the god. The Buddha taught us that \u201cthe Sun Goddess\u201d did not make us. We were made by our parents and confined in our mother\u2019s womb for about ten months, and were brought up by our parents\u2019 love.\u201d \u3000Thus effects come after causes, and the world is made up of cause and effect. This is a very important point. We can find only our father and mother, or our grandfather and grandmother. But of course we know we have many ancestors because we are in this world. What is more, I think we will have our children and grandchildren in the future. \u3000Sakyamuni is supposed to have kept sitting under the Bodhi tree thinking like this at night. Then it is written, He could completely \u201cremember\u201d His \u201cpast life,\u201d how He was born and each successive life since then. \u3000We cannot know such things. People at the time of Sakyamuni often used \u201crinne\u201d or transmigration. We are born and we die, and we are born and we die again and again continuously. They thought that we were turning around and around ceaselessly in circles. \u3000As for myself, I do not know where I am going after my death. According to the ways of transmigration, it may be said, \u201cSince he is always doing something wicked and talking glibly, he will be reborn something like a mynah bird.\u201d On the other hand, good people are said to be born in a beautiful heaven where gods live without exception. \u3000To tell the truth, I do not want to be born in heaven because it is too beautiful to be good. There is no distinction between the sexes there. There are beautiful ladies, but they all look sexless. So I do not want to go to a place like this. Clear distinction between the sexes is more favorable for me. Therefore, I prefer to be born in the world of human beings. The human world is really wonderful. I want to be born again in this world. But we do not know whether it is possible or not. \u3000I am afraid that I will be born in the world of animals or hungry demons, or what is worse, hell. I never want to go down to hell at all because it is supposed to give us a great deal of torment. We sometimes hear about boiling in a caldron. Criminals are put into boiling water. It is strange that they are living with torment without dying instantly. It is quite cruel anyway. \u3000I am now translating \u201cthe Sariputra Abhidharma Sutra\u201d of the Southern Buddhism. Some scholars made mistakes in the old translation of the sutra, because they did not know about hell. For example, we can find \u201can iron skewer\u201d in the sutra. What do you think it was used for? It was used for punishment. Since the scholars did not think it was used for punishment, they translated it into \u201can iron bar.\u201d They wrote it as if a gymnast were hanging from the horizontal bar and turning a somersault. It is not correct. \u3000It was used for punishment. A criminal was put on the top of the skewer from the buttocks first. And then the criminal went down little by little. At last the skewer came out of the top of the head. The criminal must have felt excruciating pain. So I think hell is the last place that I want to go to. \u3000Hell, the worlds of hungry spirits, animals, asura, and men, and heaven are called the six worlds (rokudo). They are the six worlds where we must go after death. We say \u201crebirth in the six worlds.\u201d It is inevitable that the worst criminals go to hell. \u3000While Sakyamuni was meditating like this, His senses came to be finely sharpened and He received the power to see through people\u2019s past, which is called \u201cShukujuchi.\u201d What is more, He is said to have received the power to see through people\u2019s future a few hours later at midnight, which is called \u201cthe divine eye.\u201d (Trans. by Rev. Kanshu Naito) (to be continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-790","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions\/857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nichiren.or.jp\/english\/article\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/01\/Sakyamuni-meditating-under-the-Bodhi-tree-1-1000x1000.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
(6) The Substance of Enlightenment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n