 | Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand |  |
The five worlds
The four lower worlds of men, animals, asuras (demons), and ghosts
(preta) stand in contrast to the heavens. While life in the heavens is
unadulterated pleasure, the lower worlds are increasingly painful. Human
beings and animals as forms of life are self-evident and require no commentary
at this stage, but the others do.
The asuras are in Buddhist (and Hindu) mythology the arch opponents
and enemies of the gods. They are demi-gods themselves and are of the
underworld, living under Mt Meru. They have had repeated contests
with the gods of Indra's heaven, and the great representation of this
contest is the churning of the ocean for the nectar of life which the gods
successfully took away from them. This story is represented in both
Hindu and Buddhist architecture, notably in Cambodia at Angkor. The
asuras were finally subdued by Indra, and it is the task of the four guardians
to continue to ward off their attacks. Rahu and Ketu are the much-feared
asuras which swallow the moon and cause eclipses. The asuras as the
classical opponents of the deities have found other expressions in contemporary
South-east Asian countries: devas versus yakka in Ceylon,
versus nats in Burma, versus phii in Thailand.
While the asuras are a permanent category of supernatural being, the
pretas are of a different status. They are ghosts of dead humans who had
recently inhabited the earth. They are condemned to live in a kind of
hell or may wander about on earth, haunting the places they formerly
lived in. Although in themselves not harmful to man, their appearance
and attributes are disgusting. They are of gigantic size, they have dried up
limbs, loose skin, enormous bellies. They continually wander about,
consumed with hunger and thirst, yet are never able to eat or drink
boiling heat that emanates from their bodies.
Some writers have seen in pretas the inversion of the Buddhist monk
(Yalman 1964). It is also apposite to point out that the preta condition
of perpetual hunger and thirst may possibly signify the extreme punishment
for withholding food from monks and for being stingy in merit-making.
Despite their sinful condition, it is felt that relatives can and should
transfer to the pretas some of the merit accruing from their merit-making
acts (such as donating gifts of food and other items to the monks).
Finally, the eight major hells of the fifth world are fiery places of
intense misery and pain. One has only to see the murals on the walls of
Buddhist temples in Thailand and Ceylon to understand that hell is no
mere abstract concept but is imagined in all its horror and sadism. In
heaven handsome men and women embrace and walk around in a garden
of wishing trees (kalpavriksha) studded with diamonds and other gems; in
hell one burns in raging fire and one's sides are pierced with weapons
by demons. A Siamese law book (Book of Indra) gives the following
description of heaven (Alabaster 1871, p. 294):
There is a celestial abode in the Dewa heavens, an aerial dwelling covered with
gold and gems, with roofs shining with gold and jewels, and roof points of
crystal and pearl; and the whole gleams with wrought and unwrought gold
more brilliant than all the gems. Around its eaves plays the soft sound of
tinkling golden bells. There dwell a thousand lovely houris, virgins in gorgeous
attire, decked with the richest ornaments, singing sweet songs in concert, with
a melody whose resounding strains are never still. This celestial abode is
adorned with lotus lakes, and meandering rivers full of the five kinds of lotus,
whose golden petals, as they fade, fill all the air with sweet odours. And round
the lakes are splendid lofty trees growing in regular order, their leaves, their
boughs, their branches, covered with sweet-scented blossoms, whose balmy
odours fill the surrounding air with heart-delighting fragrance.
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