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ABSTRACT
Throughout its long history, Buddhist meditation has been a lasting source of happiness, and its ultimate goal has been the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion and delusion have been finally extinguished. This state is called in Pali nibbāna, the place of perfect peace and happiness. In his classical book on Thai painting, Jean Boisselier confidently states: ‘Artists are of course unable to depict any aspect of nibbāna, since that world is by nature without form’. This article will show that more than two centuries ago Thai artists did just that which Boisselier proclaimed to be impossible. Thai artists drawing the cosmos in Picture Books of the Three Worlds (สมุดภาพไตรภูมิุ [Samutphāptraiphūm]) did indeed depict nibbāna. Some drew an ‘empty space’, but among the older manuscripts most drew a complex ‘City of Nibbāna’. It will be determined what this elaborate City of Nibbāna stands for. Finally, the question is raised whether or not the City of Nibbāna is part of a type of Buddhism that was suppressed in early modern times.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. In the Brahmajāla Sutta (Dīgha Nikāya, 1) the Buddha mentions five types of speculations on whether there is the feeling of joy in nibbāna and calls them vain and baseless.
2. Ireland (Citation1998). Khuddaka Nikāya, Udāna 8.1, Nibbāna Sutta: Parinibbāna 1. See also Majjhima Nikāya 49 and Udāna 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4.
3. In the Theravada cosmology, our universe consists of 31 levels, grouped, from high to low:
-4 worlds without material factors. (jhānas 8,7,6 and 5)
-16 worlds with only a remnant of material factors (4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st jhāna)
-11 realms of desire: 6 heavens of devatā, the realm of the four guardian deities and the realm of men, and finally: 4 realms of loss and woe: (asura, ghosts, animals and hells).
4. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Citation1997). Digha Nikāya: Kevatta Sutta.
5. A sotāpanna or streamwinner will at most have seven rebirths before reaching nibbāna.
6. New York Public Library, Spencer Collection, Thai (Siamese) MS 1 Phra Samut Traiphūm.
7. On 18 May 2012, in a lecture presented in the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, I discussed the history of chanting Phra Malai texts (Terwiel Citation2012). There I suggested that these texts were often chanted during funerals by Buddhist monks who guided the soul of the deceased to Metteyya. In many older Phra Malai texts Buddhist monks are depicted performing wildly. The best description of their antics is in the classical poem Khun Chang Khun Phaen (Baker and Pasuk Citation2012, 50–54).
8. The fourth of the 10 perfections (pāramitās) that lead to the shores of nibbāna. These 10 are dāna (charity), sīla (keeping precepts), nekhamma (renunciation) paññā (wisdom), viriya (energy), khānti (patience), sacca (honesty), adiṭṭhāna (determination) mettā (loving-kindness) and upekkhā (equanimity).
9. Mettā karuṇā, muditā (here: matutta), and upekkhā: loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity.
10. The Paṭṭhāna is an Abhidhamma text, analysing 24 types of conditioning. They are: hetu paccaya, ārammana paccaya, adhipati paccaya, anantara paccaya, samannantara paccaya, sahajāta paccaya, aññamañña paccaya, nissaya paccaya, upanissaya paccaya, purejāta paccaya, pacchājāta paccaya, āsevana paccaya, kamma paccaya, vipāka paccaya, āhāra paccaya, indriya paccaya, jhāna paccaya, magga paccaya, sampayutta paccaya, vippayutta paccaya, atthi paccaya, natthi paccaya, vigata paccaya and avigata paccaya.
11. These are the bodhipakkhiyā dhammā; see below.
12. The third of the 10 practices of perfection.
13. The fourth of the 10 practices of perfection.
14. The metaphor of a (five-)branched tree is well known from boran kammathan texts. See Bizot (Citation1976), and Crosby, Skilton, and Gunasena (Citation2012).
15. See, for example, the meditation manual of the sixteenth-century Lao supreme patriarch Sivisuddhisom, discussed by Phibul Choompolpaisal in this volume.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Barend Jan Terwiel
Barend Jan Terwiel, studied Cultural Anthropology, History of Buddhism and the Pali Language at Utrecht University. He obtained a PhD in 1972 at the Australian National University (Dissertation: Religion in Rural Central Thailand: An Analysis of Some Rituals and Beliefs). Held academic positions at the Australian National University, Munich, Leiden and Hamburg. Retired since 2006.