Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and
Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China.Leiden,
Netherlands: Brill, 1959.
JANNATTIER
COSMOLOGY
Although the earliest Buddhist texts of the MAIN-
STREAMBUDDHIST SCHOOLS—the nikayasor agamas
(fourth to third century B.C.E.)—do not set out a sys-
tematic cosmology, many of the ideas and details of
the developed cosmology of the later traditions are, in
fact, present in these texts. Some of these have been
borrowed and adapted from the common pool of early
Indian cosmological notions indicated in, for example,
the Vedic texts (1500 to 500 B.C.E.). The early ideas and
details are elaborated in the later texts of systematic
Buddhist thought, the ABHIDHARMA(third to second
century B.C.E.), and presented as a coherent and con-
sistent whole, with some variation, in the exegetical ab-
hidharmacommentaries and manuals that date from
the early centuries C.E. Three principal abhidharmatra-
ditions are known to contemporary Buddhism and
scholarship, those of the THERAVADA, the Sarvastivada,
and the Yogacara. The Theravada or “southern” tra-
dition has shaped the outlook of Buddhism in Sri
Lanka and Southeast Asia. The Sarvastivada or “north-
ern” tradition fed into the abhidharmasystem of the
MAHAYANAschool of thought known as “yoga prac-
tice” (yogacara) or “ideas only” (vijñaptimatra), and
their perspective on many points has passed into the
traditions of East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism. The
elaborate cosmology presented by these abhidharma
systems is substantially the same, differing only on
points of detail. This traditional cosmology remains of
relevance to the worldview of ordinary Buddhists in
traditional Buddhist societies.
Along with many of the details, the four basic prin-
ciples of the developed abhidharmaBuddhist cosmol-
ogy are assumed by the nikayaand agamatexts:
- The universe has no specific creator; the suffi-
cient cause for its existence is to be found in the
Buddhist cycle of causal conditioning known as
PRATITYASAMUTPADA(DEPENDENT ORIGINATION). - There is no definite limit to the universe, either
spatially or temporally. - The universe comprises various realms of exis-
tence that constitute a hierarchy.
4. All beings are continually reborn in the various
realms in accordance with their past KARMA(AC-
TION); the only escape from this endless round
of REBIRTH, known as SAMSARA, is the knowledge
that constitutes the attainment of NIRVANA.
Levels of existence
The abhidharmasystems agree that samsara embraces
thirty-one principal levels of existence, although they
record slight variations in the lists of these levels. Any
being may be born into any one of these levels. In fact,
during the course of their wandering through samsara
it is perhaps likely that all beings have at some time or
another been born in most of these levels of existence.
The most basic division of the thirty-one levels is three-
fold: the realm of sensuality (kamadhatu, -loka) at the
bottom of the hierarchy; the realm of pure form or
subtle materiality (rupadhatu, -loka) in the middle; and
the formless realm (arupadhatu, -loka) at the top.
The realm of sensuality is inhabited by beings en-
dowed with the five physical senses and with minds
that are in one way or another generally occupied with
the objects of the senses. The sensual realm is further
divided into unhappy destinies and happy destinies.
Unhappy destinies comprise various unpleasant forms
of existence consisting of a number of HELLS, hungry
ghosts (preta), animals, and jealous gods (asura, which
are, according to some, a separate level, but to others,
a class of being subsumed under the category of either
hungry ghosts or gods). Rebirth in these realms is as a
result of unwholesome (akus ́ala) actions of body,
speech, and thought (e.g., killing, taking what is not
given, sexual misconduct, idle chatter, covetousness, ill
will, wrong view, and untrue, harsh, or divisive speech).
The happy destinies of the sensual realm comprise var-
ious increasingly pleasant forms of existence consisting
of human existence and existence as a divinity or god
(deva) in one of the six heavens of the sense world. Re-
birth in these realms is a result of wholesome (kus ́ala)
actions of body, speech, and thought, which are op-
posed to unwholesome kinds of action.
Above the relatively gross world of the senses is the
subtler world of “pure form.” This consists of further
heavenly realms (reckoned as sixteen, seventeen, or
eighteen in number) occupied by higher gods called
brahmas,who have consciousness but only two senses—
sight and hearing. Beings are reborn in these realms as
a result of mastering increasingly subtle meditative
states known as the four DHYANA(TRANCE STATE).
These are attained by stilling the mind until it becomesCOSMOLOGY