PHIL71-203_143

Buddhist Philosophy
Essay
3003 Words

Buddhist Cosmology
Core Principles and their Relationship with other Religions

Mohammed, Jesus and Buddha

Clint Snger
SID: 13359106
Tutorial: Tuesday 13.00 14.00
clint.sanger@student.bond.edu.au
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Table of Contents
1.

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3

2.

Buddhism......................................................................................................................................... 3

3.

4.

2.1.

Karma and Rebirth .................................................................................................................. 4

2.2.

The Planes of Existence........................................................................................................... 4

2.3.

The Great Brahma ................................................................................................................... 8

Similarities and Differences with Christianity and Islam ................................................................ 9

3.1.

Virtues, Sins and Resurrection ................................................................................................ 9

3.2.

Heaven and Hell .................................................................................................................... 10

3.3.

God ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 11

References ............................................................................................................................................. 12

1. Introduction
There are three types of religions: (1) Primitive Religions, (2) National Religions, and
(3) Worldwide Religions (Tak, 2014). Primitive religions are ancient local clan religions. They
are often uncivilized and worship nature, totems or witchcraft. National religions have more
followers, but are often only popular within a certain country or culture. Examples are
Shintoism in Japan, Hinduism in India and Taoism in China. They are closely related to local
customs and social traditions. Worldwide religions are beyond nations, extending over the
entire globe. They often have individual denominations in different areas, with overarching core
beliefs. According to the Pew Research Center (2012) the three largest worldwide religions are
Christianity (2.2 billion), Islam (1.6 billion), and Buddhism (0.5 billion).
Christianity, Islam and Buddhism seem to be very different at first sight. This
dissimilarity has led to conflict for more than a thousand years, especially between Christianity
and Islam. People are fearful of foreign religions and that fear leads to hate. If looking more
closely though, these religions have more similarities than imagined at first sight. Especially in
the area of cosmology. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the Buddhist cosmology,
compare it with other religions, mainly Christianity and Islam, and analyse and interpret their
differences and similarities.

2. Buddhism

More than 2,500 years ago Siddhartha Gautama sat under a tree in India and became
enlightened. We now call him the Buddha, and his teachings we call Buddhism. The lesson of
Buddhism is to liberate the existence from suffering. This insight is gained by understanding
the core teachings of the four noble truths: (1) life is suffering, (2) the origin of suffering, (3)
the cessation of suffering, and (4) the path to the cessation of suffering. The core scripture is
the Tripitaka. There are many different denominations of Buddhism, adapted to local customs
and cultures. The three largest ones are Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. The core
teachings are the same and the differences are mostly superficial (Harvey, 2013).

2.1. Karma and Rebirth

In order to understand Buddhist cosmology, one has to first understand the Buddhist
concepts of karma und rebirth. Karma means activity. It is basically a law of cause and effect,
based upon desire. Every good and every bad deed in the present moment that is performed via
speech, body or mind leaves a trace in the psyche, and has a corresponding effect in the future.
All intentional actions generate karma and this karma leads to karmic fruits: good deeds lead to
good reactions and bad deeds lead to bad reactions (Epstein, 2003). This does not mean that
bad situations should just be accepted, one should do the best to overcome them. Karmic fruits
are not operated by a god and are therefore not rewards nor punishments, but simply natural
results of certain actions. People themselves are responsible for their actions and therefore their
results. The acts one performs in the present moment are what matter. More important than the
act is the intention behind the act. Karma is not seen as something rigid and mechanical, but
fluid and dynamic (Harvey, 2013). A guideline on how to generate good Karma is the noble
Eight-Folded Path. Disregarding this guideline will likely lead to bad Karma, which is a kind
of punishment in itself. No external deity is involved.
All unenlightened people are reborn, whether they like it or not. One does not remember
previous lives or the process of rebirth, usually. The rebirth into a new life has a lot to do with
karma accumulated within the past lives. Avoiding suffering for oneself and others will lead to
pleasant rebirths and maybe to the cessation of rebirths altogether. Causing suffering to oneself
and others will lead to painful rebirths. Aspects of life which are seen as the result of past karma
are social class at birth, general character and some of the crucial good and bad things that
happen in life. The way we experience the world, in a more pleasant or unpleasant way, also
has to do with past karma. Karma can also lead to rebirth in another, non-human, form. It is
important that this process of transmigration is not seen as the movement of an independent,
permanent soul, as believed in Hinduism. There is nothing permanent and nothing independent
in Buddhism.

2.2. The Planes of Existence

In Buddhism there are six types of beings: (1) gods (deva); (2) human beings (manusya);
(3) demonic gods (asuras); (4) animals (tiryanc); (5) spirits (preta); and (6) inhabitants of hell
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(naraka). The main factor determining as what kind of being you will be reborn as is the karma
accumulated from your past life. Every being is different when it comes to Karma. The human
form is the one where beings have the most free will and can therefore influentially determine
how they will be reborn. Gods, on the other hand, merely enjoy their existence for most of the
time and do not create much karma. Animals are often slaves to their existence and have little
means to create karma, although higher animals sometimes can. It is emphasized that no being,
even gods, live forever. Although their life-spans are incredibly long by human standards, they
also die eventually and transmigrate again. (Sadakata, 2009).

Figure 1: Heaven; Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com

These six types of beings live on 31 planes of existence. There are many different
heavens and hells, from the most gruesome and painful hell-realm up to the utmost exquisite
and refined heaven-realm. Existence in every realm is temporary. Time is relative in the
different realms; for example 50 human years can pass in one divine day. According to Sadakata
(2009) the 31 planes of existence are divided into three different realms: (1) the formless realm
(arupa-loka); (2) the form realm (rupa-loka); and (3) the sense-desire realm (kama-loka). In
summary, six types of beings live on 31 planes of existence, which are divided into three
different worlds.

The Formless
Realm
The Form
Realm
The SenseDesire Realm

Neither-perception-nor-non-perception
Nothingness
Infinite Conciousness
Infinite Space

Fourth Jhana
Third Jhana
Second Jhana
First Jhana

The Six Deva Heavens

Humans
Asuras
Animals
Spirits
Hell

Figure 2: 31 Planes of Existence; Source: own illustration based on Harvey (2013)

As can be seen in figure 2, the formless realm is not home to any kind of beings. The
four jhanas in the form realm are made up out of sixteen separate heaven planes, being home to
a very refined form of devas. The sense-desire realm is most diverse, being home to normal
devas, humans, animals, spirits and hell-beings.
Hell is only seen as one plane of existence, but there are many different hells. There are
hot hells and cold hells. Some hells are worse than others, yet they are all very gruesome. People
get burn alive, cut apart, eaten, frozen, tortured, and all kinds of general unpleasantness. One
aspect that seems special is that beings here get killed and revived over and over again to live
through the same horrors for millions of years. Nevertheless, at some point of time they are
bound to ascend to a higher plane via transmigration again (Harvey, 2013).
The beings of the spirit plane can be good or evil. They inhabit the fringes of the human
existence due to their strong earthly attachments. Good spirits live in groves or trees, bad spirits
live in cesspits or garbage dumps. A typical depiction of a bad spirit is a starving ghost, similar
to the European myth of ghosts (Harvey, 2013). The idea of spirits and the way they are being
depicted in Buddhism is very similar to the idea of spirits in many religions; like kamis in
Shintoism, who live in houses and gardens; or geister in ancient Germanic paganism, who
lived in moors and forests.
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The animal plane is still seen as a lower plain, where beings are slaves to their instincts
and often have little free will. There are differences between lower animals like insects and
higher animals like primates, who have more free will and suffer less. Mosquitos for example
are seen as a very bad rebirth, often attributed to exceptionally bad sexual promiscuity in a
former life. The human plane is the one where a being has the most opportunity to generate
karma. It is seen as a rare rebirth. It should be used for spiritual cultivation.
Asuras are demons. Accounts differ whether their plane of existence is situated above
or below humans. They are evil, therefore they can be inferior to humans, yet they surpass
humans in power and match devas in strength. They are fierce and power hungry, similar to
gods of war; like Mars in ancient Roman religion or Ares in ancient Greek religion. Sadakata
(2009) describes them in constant struggle with devas, very similar to the Christian belief of
eternal battle between the angels of heaven and the demons of hell.

Figure 3: Good versus Evil; Source: http://hd4desktop.com

Devas are the higher beings. There are many different kinds of them. They usually just
enjoy their existence. Yet they are not immortal and they suffer limitations of various kinds.
Especially the lower Devas in the six deva heavens in the realm of sense-desire. Devas in the
form realm are more refined and are called brahmas. They are regarded as highly cultivated.
Lower devas may be comparable to Christian angels, higher devas maybe comparable to the
multitude of gods in Hinduism. The heavens they live in are progressively more calm and
peaceful the higher you get. Of the beings in these higher heavens, the maybe most significant
one is the Great Brahma, who resides in the upper first jhana. His life span is one great eon and
he is the master of a thousand world systems (Harvey, 2013). Ancient Buddhist texts often
make these kinds of cosmic references, written in a time where nobody knew about planets, star
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systems or galaxies. Maybe the Buddhists did through meditation? The Buddhist swastika does
look like a galaxy with spiral arms.

2.3. The Great Brahma

According to Buddhism, there is no beginning of space and time. Even if there was a
Big Bang, there was something there before it. Since there is no beginning of things, there is no
need of a creator. Therefore there is no creator God. Another cornerstone of Buddhism is
impermanence, which stretches on to everything, even the most powerful being in the universe,
God. Therefore God cannot be omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent or omnipresent.
Nevertheless, Buddhism does not deny the existence of God (or gods, for that matter) and their
heavens, but they are simply disregarded. The reason for this is if there would be an all-powerful
God, every action must be attributed to him; essentially making humans powerless puppets
without free will. Buddhism believes in karma, and that every human is the maker of his or her
own fate. Following a God will not necessarily lead to peace and happiness, and the holiness of
prophets is often only a disguise for men seeking power (Epstein, 2003).
There is more to the Buddhist believe in God: what other religions view as the one true
God is the Great Brahma of the first jhana in Buddhism. His existence is described as
followed: periodically a physical world system and its lower heavens would come to an end.
The beings of this system would be reborn as gods of streaming radiance. After a very long
time, a new world-system would form, the lower heavens would reappear and one of the gods
of streaming radiance would be reborn as the Great Brahma. He would long for the presence of
others, and his wish would be fulfilled by other gods of streaming radiance being reborn as his
retinue. The Great Brahma would therefore think that he is an all-powerful creator. His retinue
agrees, and from time to time one of them would die and be reborn as a human. These humans
would remember their previous life, and then preach that the Great Brahma, or God, is allpowerful (Harvey, 2013). This would explain the prophets, like Moses, Jesus or Mohammed.
Again, these teachings come from a time where there was no proper science of astrology
yet. Nevertheless, they would remarkably well fit into our understanding of the creation of a
solar system, see figure 4. Are the Brahmas some kind of planetary world-soul? Maybe the
great Brahma is the centre of our galaxy, being the master over 1000 world-systems. Or is
the Great Brahma our sun, and world-systems are also moons and asteroids? The ancient
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Egyptians, one of the first human civilisations on earth, worshipped the sun God: Ra. Or the
sun could be the gods of streaming radiance, and the soul of earth could be the great Brahma.

Figure 4: Brahma Birth Sequence; Source: http://steverodrigue.wordpress.com

3. Similarities and Differences with Christianity and Islam

3.1. Virtues, Sins and Resurrection

The Buddhist concept of Karma is mostly incompatible with the Christian and Muslim
views on life. According to Christianity, we are all sinners, due to the original sin committed
by Adam. God still loves us though and if we accept Jesus Christ as our saviour, who died for
our sins, we can turn away from sin with the help of the Holy Spirit, who will give us virtue
(Ward, 2000). This concept is comparable to Islam. A good Muslim must outwardly behave
accordingly and have an unshakable inner faith. One must do good deeds and believe in God
(Ali & Leaman, 2007). There is an idea similar to Karma, the Christian expression you reap
what you sow; and while the Bible talks about it a lot, it is not emphasized as a concept. In
Christianity and Islam life is essentially based around their gods, and their followers must do
their bidding in order to reach the goal of a good afterlife, as described in their respective
scriptures. Disregarding these rules demands punishment by other believers.
The Buddhist idea of rebirth is not truly compatible with Christianity and Islam, but
their idea of transcendence into an afterlife is somewhat comparable to it. Christians and
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Muslims do believe in resurrection though. This bodily resurrection is supposed to occur on

judgement day, an apocalyptic event, where all remaining humans die and are then sent to
heaven or hell. The time of this event is unknown. When compared to Buddhism, this may be
the time of the cessation of a world system, when the Great Brahma ceases to exist. When
comparing these three religions on the idea of rebirth, the impression is gained that Christianity
and Islam offer a limited excerpt of a cosmic truth that Buddhism explains in a more complete
way.

3.2. Heaven and Hell

Buddhism, Christianity and Islam all have the same basic idea of heaven and hell: you
behave badly, you go to hell, you behave well, and you go to heaven. The details on what you
have to do to go there differ a lot. Where Buddhism stresses the importance of living a peaceful,
loving and compassionate life, Christianity and Islam sometimes demand violence against other
beings as a requirement to advance to heaven. This is especially true in the Islamic concept of
martyrdom, which is a still not so uncommon belief practiced in some parts of the Islamic world
today. The amount of heavens and hells in these three religions differ as well. In Christianity,
there is only one heaven and one hell. In addition there is purgatory, which is a timely limited
hell, after one goes to heaven. Islam differentiates between different levels of heavens and hells.
There are hot hells and cold hells, varying in their degrees of terror. There are also different
levels of heavens, with the prophets being in the highest levels. Another remarkable similarity
is the Islamic word for heaven, Jannah, surprisingly identical to the Buddhist word for some of
the heavens, Jhana (Ali & Leaman, 2007). Christianity and Islam have a common ground when
it comes to the time spent in these places, which is supposed to be eternal. It is almost eternally
long from a human point of view according to Buddhism (millions of years), but ultimately
impermanent, according to the concept of endless rebirths.
There are other similarities though when it comes to the kinds of beings living across these
different plains. Buddhist devas may be Christian and Islamic angels, Asuras may be the devil
(Satan and Iblis) and their demons/djinns. The existence of spirits is something that is not
emphasized. Animals are simply left out. Christianity and Islam cannot properly answer the
question of whether the family dog will go to heaven too. The more important aspect is that
non-Christians, and non-Muslims respectively, will not go heaven by definition, no matter how
good a life they lived, according to the Bible and the Koran (Ward, 2000).
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3.3. God

Christians and Muslims are both Abrahamic monotheisms and

worship a very similar God. It is a supreme being, the principal of faith.
God/Allah is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and omnibenevolent.
He is the creator and sustainer of the universe. Life should be centred on
God/Allah. It is the perfect description of the illusion of the Great
Brahma in Buddhism (Epstein, 2003).
Figure 5: Old Guy on Cloud; Source:
http://ricemockingbird.com

4. Conclusion

Buddhism, Christianity and Islam share the same basic ideas: be a good or bad person,
go to heaven or hell, some kind of rebirth/resurrection going on, and the idea of God. Most
religions do have these basic concepts. The detailed interpretations may vary, but the
fundamental frameworks are similar. What makes Buddhism stand apart is the fact that it
explains other religions within its framework. Christianity and Islam do not give such an
explanation, believers of other faiths are simply heretics or dhimmis, which must be tolerated,
converted or killed. They cannot explain a world full of different religions. Buddhism can
explain Christianity and Islam, although it is older than both of them. Buddhism is timeless.
Its ideas on how the universe works are more than 2,500 years old, nevertheless they are
logical, and in fact in coherence with current scientific theories. The cosmological concepts of
Buddhism, explained in a digestible way, may be something that will lead more people
towards it, and the happiness and peace that come with it.

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References

Access to Insight. (2005). The Thirty-one planes of Existence. Retrieved from

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sagga/loka.html

Ali, K., & Leaman, O. (2007). Islam: The key concepts. New York, NY: Routledge.

Brahma Birth Sequence [Image] (2009). Retrieved from

http://steverodrigue.wordpress.com/tag/science/

Epstein, R. (2003). Buddhism A to Z. Burlingame, CA: Buddhist Text Translation Society.

Good versus Evil [Image] (n.d.). Retrieved from http://hdwallpapersfactory.com/art/difficultbattle-angels-vs-demons-light-vs-dark-fantasy-desktop-hd-wallpaper-49151/

Harvey, G. (2000). Indigenous Religions: A Companion. London, England: Cassell.

Harvey, P. (2013). An introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, history and practices. New

York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Heaven [Image] (n.d.). Retrieved from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/5A3XXeyegRw/TWE0DKnYpJI/AAAAAAAAAHo/lX0Gd_BZEXM/s1600/Buddha

%2Bteaching%2BAbhidharma%2Bin%2BTrayamstrimsa-edited.jpg

Mohammed, Jesus and Buddha [Image] (2006). Retrieved from

http://www.artwanted.com/imageview.cfm?id=419036

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Nyanaponika Thera. (2004). Buddhism and the God idea. Retrieved from
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/godidea.html

Old Guy on Cloud [Image] (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ricemockingbird.com/tag/god/

Tak, Y. (2012). Comparing Buddhism with other Religions. Retrieved from

http://www.buddhistdoor.com/OldWeb/passissue/9612/sources/compare.htm

Ward, K. (2000). Christianity: A short introduction. Oxford, England: Oneworld.

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