It is interesting to know about this sutta immediately after the Kalama Sutta. While Kalama Sutta teaches us to think rationally, this sutta is all about the unseen and mystical. I think it reflects the uniqueness of Buddhist practices. On one hand, we are trained to examine our minds and think rationally; And on the other hand, we are taught to widen our narrow-mindedness about the Universe by sutta such as this.

The spirit world

This sutta was “volunteered” by the 4 heavenly kings to Sakyamuni Buddha, who in turn, taught it to his disciples. Some Buddhists would scorn such a sutta as irrelevant because most of us do not see spirits and moreover, there appears to be no educational value in it? But if we try to widen our narrow mindedness, perhaps we can learn a thing or two from this sutta.

Basically what happened was that the kings of spirits (the four heavenly Kings) approached the Buddha and proclaimed a retinue of spirits who are committed to protecting Buddhist practitioners from hauntings or spiritual disturbances. The four heavenly kings are heavenly spirits of the lowest heavens and are therefore, closest to earth. In that manner, they exert direct spiritual authority and lord over the earth bound spirits. Furthermore, the recitation sounds like a spiritual decree that warns lower spirits about the punishment they will receive from their powerful elites, if they harm Buddhists. Therefore, it appears that the spirit worlds also have law enforcement!

In the spirits world, there are hierarchies with spirits kings, ministers, generals, tribal heads, village chiefs, gang leaders, etc. The powerful spirits lord over the lesser ones and establish their spiritual territories on various parts of the earth. They may reside in cemeteries, trees, rivers, boulders, bridges, and even in the homes of their devotees. These spirit chieftains are territorial.

Sometimes, local spirit bosses/chief may war against each other to expand their territories. To strengthen their power, they may also recruit or lure new spirits to their gang, tribe, villages, etc! To do that, the spirit lord would approach a dying person and assume the appearance of his/her deceased loved ones. Alternatively, they may take the appearance of a god/goddess to confuse the dying into following them to the spirit world.

To a Buddhist, the risk of being misled into the spirit world is considered very unfortunate. Therefore, many Buddhist masters discourage us from practicing the occult or any invocation rituals. And we try not to participate in ritualistic prayers to pray to any god/goddesses. This is because the heavenly god/goddesses will not come. Instead, the earth-bound spirits attend in disguise. Ironically, prayers made to such spirits tend to be efficacious because these spirits are earth-bound and close to us. Unfortunately, the condition for their spiritual help comes at the hefty price of joining their gang after death. In short, we try our best to avoid and ignore them so that we do not gain voluntary acquaintance with them or become reliant on them.

Similarly, some religious people may actually be associating with such spirits even though they are praying to a god/goddess/Buddha. This is because they are ignorant of the higher qualities associated with the divine, for example, loving-kindness and compassion. In that manner, their worship or practice is not blessed by metta or Karuna or Sila (morality). Instead, they subscribe to a system of power and control; which is how the spirit world operates.

The tell-tale sign of such an occurrence, is the intensification of their craving, aversion, and ignorance. For example, exhibiting a strong sense of aversion and intolerance in the name of morality or religious alliance, or sectarian biases. And in another classic example, enjoying sexual misconduct and intoxication in the name of tantric practices.

Some Buddhist practitioners may also be reborn as powerful spirits because of the 3 afflictions in their minds, namely craving and attachment to their temple or congregation, aversion towards other religions or sects because they feel that they need to protect their congregation from straying, or out of ignorance and wrong views.

Earth bound spirits as deities

Earth bound spirits may also be worshipped as tutelary deities and in Asia, we see such spirits possessing mediums and shamans to offer spiritual protection and advice. When possessed, mediums exhibit their spiritual prowess by speaking in the tongue, clairvoyance, immunity to pain, extraordinary physical strength, etc. These spirits usually, pretend to be gods or angels or holy men.

Interestingly, many of them would declare their spiritual territories to their followers. They hand out spiritual tokens (talismans) to identify their devotees spiritually. And that is also why devotees are advised not to visit other mediums because it may create a clash among these powerful spirits.

Some religions have zero tolerance for tutelary deities and therefore classify them as demons. Since hate begets hate, the relationships between humans and spirits become hostile over a period of time.

Buddhism treats all beings with loving kindness and compassion because we are all suffering in Samsara. However, we try not to associate with them because they may influence our minds to be like them. Just like how drinking people will encourage you to drink wine or beer? That doesn’t mean we hate them. On the contrary, we train ourselves to radiate Metta towards all beings and also share merits with all beings. In that manner, we gain their respect and we co-exist harmoniously.

Ok, let’s stop the intro for now. We will explore this sutta in the next post.

May all be well and happy.