Other Worlds in Buddhism

Takuan

While I was reading the thread on Pure Land beliefs, I stumbled across something very interesting and was wondering if I could get some clarification on it. What exactly is a "Buddha World" is it equal to a "Pure land"? Are Purelands considered to be actual physical places?

In fact, we do not really need the findings of modern science to tell us that there are other worlds besides ours. In the Buddhist sutras, there is an interesting story that talks about the existence of other worlds. Once when Sakyamuni Buddha was teaching the Dharma, [he told his disciples that] his voice could be heard many distant lands away and that the force of his voice could be felt in many worlds. One of the Buddha's disciples, Maudgalyayana, who was the foremost in supernatural power, was skeptical that the Buddha's voice could reach such far-off places. He decided to investigate for himself and used his supernatural power to go to a Buddha Land that was ten billion Buddha Lands away. In this Buddha Land, Tathagata Lokesvaraja was preaching the Dharma. At this particular moment, a person in the audience picked up something on his body and exclaimed, "Why is a little worm crawling on my body?"

Tathagata Lokesvaraja said, "This is not a little worm; this is Maudgalyayana, a disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha from the saha world." Actu-ally, Maudgalyayana was not small; it was just when compared with the people of this Buddha Land, he was no bigger than a little worm. Then Tathagata Lokesvaraja told Maudgalyayana, "The eminence and virtues of all Buddhas are not something that can be comprehended and equaled by sravakas. You should not test them with your supernatural power." From then on, Maudgalyayana firmly believed that there are limitless worlds and limitless Buddhas in the vast immenseness of space.
http://www.blia.org/english/publications/booklet/pages/14.htm

Vincenzi

There's 31 planes of existance, according to Buddhism. A logical conclusion is that there are many worlds; similar to current scientific understanding. The biology in those worlds will probably be very different, leading to the buddhist classification in realms.

person

Heres a link to the wikipedia page on Buddhist cosmology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_cosmology

natureofreality

So the odds seem pretty high that one will be born as a life form on some other planet, rather than being born on earth given the vastness of the cosmos and all...

compassionate_warrior

If the Buddha taught about 31 planes of existence, then he obviously taught rebirth, and he did get involved in what some consider to be "metaphysics". Are these teachings about cosmology universally accepted among all schools of Buddhism?

Takuan

I've yet to hear or read anything about this kind of thing in Zen, which is why I brought it up here.

Vincenzi

if the Pali Tripitaka is accepted by all schools, then the planes are accepted (even if metaphorical, but the planet interpretation seems more consistent with current scientific knowledge).

Spaceless

While I was reading the thread on Pure Land beliefs, I stumbled across something very interesting and was wondering if I could get some clarification on it. What exactly is a "Buddha World" is it equal to a "Pure land"? Are Purelands considered to be actual physical places?

Yes, it is equal. Pureland and Buddha world are non-dualistical existence. :cool: