Jataka 405
Bakabrahma Jātaka
The Visit to Baka Brahma
as told by Eric Van Horn
originally translated by H.T. Francis and R.A. Neil, Cambridge University
originally edited by Professor Edward Byles Cowell, Cambridge University
One of the big differences between gods in the Buddhist cosmology and gods in other contexts is that even gods in the Buddhist cosmology are born, live, and die. They are then reborn according to their karma. So even Brahma—the most powerful god—is a being who at the moment manifests as Brahma. And gods tend to become vain and proud. They become enamored of their great power. And it is just these defilements that lead to their being reborn in lower realms.
The lifespans of beings in the heavenly realms can be enormous. The term “kalpa” is used in this story. In both Hinduism and Buddhism, a kalpa is a life of the universe. So there is a big bang, expansion, contraction, and then another big bang. This is a kalpa, so the time spans in this story are immense. Also note that time in Buddhism and Hinduism is circular. There is no beginning and no end. This has enormous implications for how we think about time. For example, the notion of an apocalypse is missing in Hinduism and Buddhism. Time is infinite, and time is beginningless. There is even a set of suttas in the Saṃyutta Nikaya on “beginningless time.”
So while this is a short, simple story, it is told against the backdrop of these rather radical—to Westerners—ideas about time and space.
“Seventy and two.” The Master told this story while he was living at Jetavana. It is about the brahma Baka. (A “brahma” is someone who lives in the brahma heavenly realm.) A false doctrine arose in him. This doctrine was, “This present existence is perpetual, permanent, eternal, unchanging. Apart from it there is no salvation or release at all.” (In the Buddha’s Dharma this false doctrine is called “eternalism.”)
In a former birth this brahma had once practiced meditation. This is why he was born in the Vehapphala heaven (the deva realm of “very fruitful devas”). Having existed there for 500 kalpas, he was born in the Subhakiṇṇa heaven (the deva realm of total beauty). After 64 kalpas there, he passed away and was born in the Ābhassara heaven (the realm of devas with streaming radiance), where existence is for eight kalpas. It was there that this false doctrine arose in him. He forgot that he had passed from higher Brahmaloka heavens (the realms above the deva realm) and had been born in that heaven. He was unable to remember either of these things and had taken up the false doctrine.
The Lord, understanding his reflections as easily as a strong man can extend his bent arm or bend his extended arm, disappeared from Jetavana and appeared in that Brahmaloka realm. The brahma, seeing the Lord, said, “Come here, my lord. Welcome, my lord. It is a long time, my lord, since you have taken this opportunity to come here. This world, my lord, is perpetual, it is permanent, it is eternal, it is absolute, it is unchanging. This world is not born, it does not decay, it does not die, it does not pass away. It is not born again. Apart from this world there is no other salvation.”
When he said this, the Lord said to Baka the brahma, “Baka the brahma has arrived at ignorance. He has come to ignorance. When he says that a thing that is not permanent is permanent, and so on, and that there is no other salvation apart from this when there is another salvation.”
Hearing this the brahma thought, “This one presses me hard, reflecting back exactly what I say.” And just as a timid thief, after receiving a few blows, says, “Am I the only thief? So and so and so and so are thieves, too,” and accusing others, so he, in fear of the Lord’s questioning, showing that others were his associates and agreed with him, spoke the first stanza:
Seventy and two, O Gotama, are we
Righteous and great, from birth and age we’re free.
Our heaven is wisdom’s home, nothing’s above.
And many others will this view approve.
Hearing his words, the Master spoke the second stanza:
Short your existence in this world: ‘tis wrong,
Baka, to think existence here is long.
A hundred thousand eons past and gone
All your existence well to me is known.
Hearing this, Baka spoke the third stanza:
Of wisdom infinite, O Lord, am I.
Birth, age, and sorrow, all beneath me lie.
What should I do with good works, long ago?
Yet tell me something, Lord, that I should know.
Then the Lord, revealing his past, spoke four stanzas:
To many a man of old you gave them drink
For thirst and parching drought ready to sink.
That virtuous deed of yours so long ago
Remembering, as if waked from sleep, I know.
By Eṇi's bank you set the people free
When chained and held in close captivity.
That virtuous deed of yours so long ago
Remembering, as if waked from sleep, I know.
By Ganges’ stream the man you did set free,
Whose boat was seized by nāga, cruelly
Lusting for flesh, and save him mightily.
That virtuous deed of yours, so long ago
Remembering, as if waked from sleep, I know.
And I was Kappa, your disciple true,
Your wisdom and your virtues all I knew.
And now those deeds of yours so long ago
Remembering, as if waked from sleep, I know.
(The Eni River is also called the Enikule River. Here the Buddha tells Baka that he set free the people who lived in a village along its banks.)
Figure: The Buddha teaches Baka in a heavenly realm.
Hearing his own deeds from the Master’s discourse, Baka gave thanks and spoke this last stanza:
You know of every life that has been mine.
Buddha you are, all wisdom sure is thine.
And sure your glorious majesty and state
Even this Brahma world illuminate.
So the Master, making known his quality as Buddha and expounding the Dharma, showed forth the Four Noble Truths. At the end the thoughts of 10,000 brahmas were freed from attachments and defilements. So the Lord became the refuge of many brahmas. And so he left Brahmaloka and went back to Jetavana where he taught the Dharma. Then he identified the birth: “At that time Baka the brahma was the ascetic Kesava, and I was Kappa the disciple.”
