Sagathavagga: Brahmasamyutta

 

1:         adhesion: to the five cords of sensual desire.

 

living at ease: not teaching. The commentary notes that this encourages the Brahma to request him to teach, therefore it cannot be said that the Buddha just got up and started blabbing out his teachings without pre-consideration.

 

eye of a Buddha: the highest and most penetrating of the five eyes of a Buddha, the lowest being the fleshly eye itself.

 

2:         This sutra recognizes the Buddha’s place in the histories of the Buddhas. He has realized that he must dwell in honor, respect, and reverence for this Dhamma which he has discovered (doesn’t mean it didn’t exist already), the same realization which came to the Buddhas of the past and which will come to the Buddhas of the future.

 

3:         This one digs a bit at brahmanical practice: it is more worthy for the woman to give the food offering for Brahma as alms to the bhikkhu.

 

4:         The Brahma Baka had been reborn many times into very lofty realms and had come to forget his past existences, coming to think of himself as eternal and his realm a realm of the eternal. This is the sort of thing that tankles Christians: any God there may be is subject to decay and death.

 

We seventy-two, Gotama, were merit-makers: nobody seems to have any idea as to what this refers.

 

5:         There’s something a little silly about this. The brahma thinks that no ascetics can come into his world; the Buddha hears that, and before you know it not only the Buddha but four of his elder disciples are there, kind of saying “nyah, nyah, nyah.”

 

It’s really quite a funny little sutra.

 

6:         This one is also distinctly fantastical, although the actual point is simple: no matter how much power a brahma may have, it is a power associated with form. But the wise one takes no delight in form and hence he is infinitely more powerful.

 

7:         I find the verse here to be very much in the spirit of the prajnaparamita. You cannot measure the immeasurable—only the obstructed worldling would attempt such a thing.

 

8:         Same as above, except they refer to one of Devadatta’s followers as an obstructed moron who attempts to define the immeasruable by defining it.

 

9:         Place confidence in Sariputta and Moggallana, Kokalika: in 6:10 we find out that Kokalika has maligned them directly to the Buddha.

 

See how far you have transgressed: the brahma Tudu had done nothing wrong, but Kokalika was trying to get rid of him by being accusatory and unpleasant.

 

Thus the verse is all about Right Speech and the lack thereof.

 

10:       This tells the actual story of Kokalika that has been referred to in 6:7 and 6:9.

 

Kokalika appears to have died of some plague-like disease.

 

The length of stay in Paduma hell is horrifice: the base measure is bad enough, but it is then multiplied by 20⁹! Here are the hells:

 

Abbuda

Nirabudda

Ababa

Atata

Ahaha

Kumuda

Sogandhika

Uppala

Pundarika

Paduma

 

Each of these is a particular location within Avici hell.

 

11:       This one (and several following) seem to be just like the Devatasamyutta, except that it is brahmas addressing the Buddha rather than devatas.

 

12:       Brahma Sahampati seems to appear to the Buddha at important times, times of crisis—here, immediately following Devadatta’s schism. In fact he seems to act in a reassuring role—helping the Buddha with emotional support in times of crisis.

 

13:       Sahampati speaks of living alone, practicing for release—but if that’s too difficult, remain in th eSangha. But he emphasizes that it can be done:

 

Within a single holy life

A thousand have left Death beyond.

 

14:       Sikhi was the fifth Buddha of antiquity. Note that this sutra refers to the deity Brahma, who has a retinue and an assembly. He was the supreme deity of early Brahmanism, conceived as the creator of the universe. In the Buddhist canon, he becomes a target of satire and criticism. Brahma (Mahabrahma) is viewed as the ruler of the brahma realm—another deva-like realm. The brahmas seem to differ from devas in tha tthey are even longer-lived and more apt to forget their mortality.

 

Many brahmas are highly deluded, but Sahampati stands out as a non-deluded brahma who is a supporter of the Buddha and in some ways a friend and confidant.

 

It seems that the various brahmas of this sutra required what amounted to parlor tricks in order to benefit from the message of this sutra, which is stated in the verse.

 

15:       Interesting that the Buddha moved up through the four jhanas and the four formless realms, then back through them again in reverse order, and then up through the four jhanas—and reached parinibbana emerging from the fourth jhana.