Beopjin D. Kang
Visiting Researcher, Chulalongkorn University
In Indian thought, time does not exist on a straight line; rather it is conceived as a circle. Even though we may stay a long time in one place, and stay a short time in another place, eventually “time” is a cycle or cakra. Cakra has other meanings, apart from the Buddha’s teachings, and is considered the circle of our life. Indian people refer to this as samsara (rebirth)
The various places we visit along our cosmological timeline include the Desire Realm/world, the Form Realm or Formless Realm. One of these, the 4th heaven, the 12th or 13th heaven in the Form Realm, is called the “long life gods” – their lifetime is about 500 kalpa.
However, it is not exactly known exactly which one is a “long life god” because every heaven in the three worlds includes long life. Hence, the Mahayana text, Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, defines this differently in various versions.
Long life devas exist in the Form Realm. They are higher than human beings, but their life is also under a limited timeline. Of particular importance, they feel happy about their long life in the world, and because of this happiness, they are unable to reach enlightenment and become a buddha also. They have too secular a view of happiness to graduate into buddhahood through enlightenment.
As for the cakra, the world’s idea of happiness being long life, or even eternal life/immortality, sometimes carries a very negative image in Buddhism. Classical examples say that immortality, the elixir of life, is a metaphor for the Buddha’s teachings. However, Chinese translators have translated this as “sweet dew”, meaning nectar related to the drink of the gods. They do not use the term “immortal”.
It is indeed interesting that the concepts of time (cakra), long life and immortality (amata) are examples of metaphors for the Buddha’s teachings; however sometimes they express negative images in the context of Buddhist enlightenment.
(Presented in the 2018 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum : Culture of Longevity, 15-16 August 2018, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University)