“God”: the supernatural spirits from Buddhist view

Buddhism is usually considered as a theoretical practice which is related to the animal beings of the universe. According to Buddhism, man is considered as the top most species of the biological hierarchy; this is mainly because of its highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving. According to some experts the Sinhala term for human, “manussa” is derived from the meaning “manasa + usas”; which means “a highly developed mind”. The core of Buddhism is therefore aimed for the understanding of human species. Lord Buddha (The master of today’s Buddhism), in his teachings had stated that animal face to a cycle of birth-death again and again while suffering from sorrow.

According to Lord Buddha, animal birth can be classified into four (4) categories namely;

1). Andaja – (Birth from eggs : for example Hen)

2). Jaläbuja – (Birth from a mother’s womb : For example human)

3). Sansédaka – (Birth by splitting cells and multiplication : For example microorganism like bacteria)

4). Öpapäthika – (Supernatural spirits which cannot be seen within the physical world: For example gods)

It is important to note that the first three types are well known and seen in the modern world and can be scientifically proven the existence of these species. The Öpapäthika species will be our focus within this article. These types of species are made of very tiny particles called Thanmaathra which are like leptons (The smallest unit of matter) and they take the smell of air as their food.

According to Buddhism, the fourth type of species can be further divided into two broad categories. These categories don’t comply with a proper naming convention, but the common terminology is;

1). Bhootha – Species that are suffering from various tortures like hunger, pain, etc

2). Déva – Species that spend a luxurious life: commonly known as god who have high supernatural powers compared with all other species of the universe.

Therefore, god is a type of species who live within this universe. Buddhism rejects the theory of Creation of universe by god. According to Buddhist philosophy, the whole universe is interconnected with each other with a phenomenon of Reason and Result (Héthu-Phala Dahama). For example, a child is born with the sexual interaction between human male and female species. Another example could be taken as that rain is formed when rainy clouds cannot bear the weight of the water droplets. On the other hand, we see that stars are blinking because of the atmosphere which is above us. Like this, every tangible and intangible phenomena of this universe has a unique reason for its occurrence.

Even though Buddhism accepts the existence of god, it denies that god has a power to create things. But Buddhist literature states that gods have some supernatural abilities like travel from one point to another within a flash, etc. Buddhism further states that two types of gods live in dedicated heavens within the earth’s atmosphere; not in another planet.

1). Chathurmaharajika Divya Lokaya - The gods’ heaven which is very closer to the earth.

2). Thawuthisa Divya Lokaya - The gods’ heaven which located above the first one.

According to Buddhism there are other types of gods with high powers living in various planets within this universe.