In the folklore of Eastern religions, Rajagriha is an axis mundi (center of the universe) much like Jerusalem is to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Rajagriha, we have stories of the historic Buddha and the Jain messiah Mahavira living here for some time. The first Buddhist council, a congregation of 500 monks are said to have met here in a cave after the Buddha's death to verify which teachings were authentic. As a side note, the 500 number always struck me. There is no known correlate in gematria or numerology for the importance of this number-value in antiquity in ancient cultures. Yet it is the same number of witnesses said to attest to the authenticity of Jesus' resurrection according to Saint Paul.
What is interesting in the Sutra of Golden Light is the vision had by the bodhisattva Ruciraketu. According to the sutra, he envisions Rajagriha as a great palace. In the following passage, the details stand out and are worth considering before we move into a familiar Christian text.
Then, while this sublime being entertained such thoughts with regard to the Buddha, his house transformed into a vast and expansive palace made of lapis lazuli, embellished with numerous divine jewels, its color transformed by the Tathagata and filled with perfumes surpassing those of the gods. Inside, in the four directions, there emerged four thrones made of divine jewels. These thrones came to be covered with mats of divine jewels and fine cotton raiment; and on those thrones appeared divine lotuses adorned with numerous jewels, their color transformed by the Tathagata. From those lotuses arose four Transcendent Victor Buddhas. In the east appeared the Tathagata Akshobhya; in the south appeared the Tathagata Ratnaketu; in the west appeared the Tathagata Amitayus; and in the north appeared the Tathagata Dundubhisvara. At the very moment these buddha lords appeared on those lion thrones, the great city of Rajagriha was filled with bright lights. The lights pervaded all the triple-thousand, great thousand world systems, the world systems in the ten directions, world systems as many as the grains of sand in the Ganges river. In addition, divine flowers rained down and divine music resounded. Through the power of the Buddha, all sentient beings in the triple thousand great thousand worlds too became possessed of the joy of the gods. Beings whose senses were incomplete became possessed of complete senses; beings blind from birth saw forms with the eyes; deaf beings heard sounds with the ears; insane beings regained their sanity; distracted beings became focused; naked beings became clothed in garments; hungry beings became full- bellied; thirsty beings were quenched; beings afflicted with diseases became free of disease; beings whose bodily organs were defective became possessed of complete organs. Many astounding events took placed in the world.
What we have here are heavenly buddhas enthroned on four seats of power protecting or watching over the holy city of Rajagriha. Interestingly this change also promotes moral and physical healing. The deaf have their ears open, hungry beings became satiated, and thirst was quenched. There is a sort of universal justice that occurs. There is a notable reference to the Ganges River, the spiritual center of Hinduism and comparison to "grains of sand" can't help but remind us of the promise of descendants to Abraham, a promise repeated by Saint Paul about the number who will come to believe in Christ.
Moving on, let's look at the image of heavenly Jerusalem. Here too we have an anonymous writer, though some say John imprisoned on Patmos, who has a heavenly vision. Pay attention to the details. This is the full chapter of Revelation 21.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
And just so we have our bases covered, let's not forget Matthew 19:28:
Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Sutra of Golden Light also tells us that one disciple wishes to obtain knowledge to gain ascendancy over Trāyastriṃśa. This word in Sanskrit means "thirty three " and indicates the same number of gods in Hinduism, but more generally in Buddhism, just the "pantheon of gods." So here too, there is this desire or promise to rule over all others. The thirty three were considered devas who were often entangled (for better or worse) in human affairs and so to have power over them could infer some sort of spiritual liberation as well.
The Sutra of Golden Light also tells us that one disciple wishes to obtain knowledge to gain ascendancy over Trāyastriṃśa. This word in Sanskrit means "thirty three " and indicates the same number of gods in Hinduism, but more generally in Buddhism, just the "pantheon of gods." So here too, there is this desire or promise to rule over all others. The thirty three were considered devas who were often entangled (for better or worse) in human affairs and so to have power over them could infer some sort of spiritual liberation as well.
There are a number of interesting comparisons to make. Perhaps the first is the level of detail to impress just how beautiful these cities are. There is something about precious stones and jewels that somehow speak to the heavenly, even among two cultures being completely separated by time and space. Just like the gold standard used on the international economic and currency markets, there is universal agreement that a heavenly place must be adorned in the most precious elements the human mind can conjure. While there is no more death and crying in Jerusalem, in Rajagriha, there are physical miracles. We have divine beings dwelling in the presence of their people. There is this strange notion that light and the image of light pervading from the city is not caused by the city per se, but comes directly from God in Jerusalem and Tathagata (the Buddha) in Rajagriha. Why is light important? In ancient cultures, light is more than a physical phenomenon. It also has spiritual meaning and is indicative of purity or holiness/separation.
Notable differences include a judgment of the good and wicked in Jerusalem, something that is lacking in Rajagriha. Also, as a technical point, not all of Rajagriha is transformed, only the house of Ruciraketu. But the importance of this may be negligible given the status of Rajagriha at the time.
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| Vulture's Peak, Rajagriha |
What does all this mean? As any comparative scholar knows, ancient people were limited by their imaginations, just as we are about the future, and so we don't get images of machines in the Bible or towering skyscrapers or cellphones - we get an agricultural society with parables from that culture which we suppose contain universal truths that somehow translate into our own situations. But agriculture is just one truth of most cultures at this time. Water, fire, earth, wind - the elements become intimately part of the fabric of religion. The idea of precious stones are important as they dispel the realities of poverty and pronounce kingship and royalty, not necessarily true in today's culture where ownership has increased for more people than any other time in history. Food is also a heavenly promise. Jesus describes heaven as a banquet and the Buddha talks about hungry bellies being fed - an important promise considering many were living in poverty, disease, and were residents of subsistent living.
On a theological level, one might point to the Buddha's words (Buddhavacana). In the Lotus Sutra (a Chinese and Japanese Buddhist document), it is clear that the Buddha believes he came to the earth in different forms and that the dharma is spread in many forms, some less potent, and of those that do not teach the Four Noble Truths, less likely to succeed. This tension can also be found in the Christian scriptures where Jesus points to his love of Jerusalem but calls himself the way, truth, and the life. Or we can look at Saint Paul who in Romans 11 proclaims that Israel is the root of salvation and the Christians are but grafted in. The tension concerning the rise of Christ followers against the backdrop of the historical promises made to Israel is a palpable dilemma.
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