Mahatma letter #16 (chronological\n#68), the so-called \u201cdevachan letter,\u201d refers to the \u201cTerritory of Doubt\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThus, for instance, in\nenumerating the seven lokas of the \u2018Kama-Loka\u2019 the Avatamsaka Sutra <\/em>gives\nas the seventh, <\/em>the \u2018Territory of Doubt.\u2019 I will ask you to remember the\nname as we will have to speak of it hereafter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Mahatma\u2019s answer to\nthe next question, this phrase occurs again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom \u2018Sukhavati\u2019 down to\nthe \u2018Territory of Doubt\u2019 there is a variety of Spiritual States; . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the Mahatma asks\nhis correspondent \u201cto remember the name as we will have to speak of it hereafter,\u201d\nwe do not hear of it again in either the rest of the Mahatma letters or in the\nwritings of the Mahatmas\u2019 sometime amanuensis H. P. Blavatsky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The phrase \u201cterritory of doubt\u201d comes\nfrom A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from\nthe Chinese<\/em>, translated by Samuel Beal, 1871. It occurs only once there, on\npage 120, according to a digital search:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf, however, a man prepares\nhimself to acquire merit, and prays for birth in that land [Sukh\u0101vat\u012b, the\nParadise of Amit\u0101bha], and yet afterwards goes back and loses his faith, he\nshall be born, if he again turns to the true belief, in a \u2018territory of doubt,\u2019\nwhere he shall for five hundred years neither see Buddha nor hear the Law or\nthe B\u00f4dhisatwas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was referred to earlier\nin Beal\u2019s Catena<\/em>, p. 42, footnote, as\nthe \u201ccity of doubt\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut if a man who\nreverences Buddha, and has observed the precepts, yet with less thorough\npurpose, die without any marks either good or bad on his person, but lies as it\nwere in a sleep, and, awaking for a moment, thus departs, this man, not yet wholly\nfreed from the influences of unbelief, shall be born for five hundred years in\nan external paradise,* and afterwards enter on his perfect reward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c*City of doubt, a region\nbordering on the true Paradise of Amit\u00e2bha.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea was referred to\none more time, in a passage translated in Beal\u2019s Catena<\/em>, p, 375:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd therefore the Amit\u00e2bha\nS\u00fbtra says: \u2018Every faithful person ought naturally to pray for birth in that happy\ncountry (Paradise).\u2019 . . . <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAgain there is a passage\nwhich says, \u2018If a man is well-rooted, yet if he doubts, the flower will not\nopen; but if he believes, then his heart (inner self) pure and calm, opening\nout like the flower opens from the bud, he forthwith beholds Buddha, and\ncomprehends (hears) the law.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From these references, we can see that the idea of the\nterritory of doubt comes from the Sukh\u0101vat\u012b-vy\u016bha-s\u016btra<\/em>,\nreferred to as the Amit\u0101bha S\u016btra. The Mahatma\u2019s reference to this as coming\nfrom the Avata\u1e43saka-s\u016btra<\/em> is not\nfound in Beal\u2019s book, although Beal often refers to this s\u016btra, and may be an error\n(I could not find any such thing in a digital search of this extensive s\u016btra\ntranslated into English by Thomas Cleary as The\nFlower Ornament Scripture<\/em>). This idea is explained at length in the larger Sukh\u0101vat\u012b-vy\u016bha-s\u016btra<\/em>. It is that if a\nperson has once made the wish to be reborn in sukh\u0101vat\u012b or devachan, but later\ndoubts rebirth in such a place, yet \u201cplants the roots of merit,\u201d that person\nwill be reborn inside a closed lotus in sukh\u0101vat\u012b. Thus the person will be in\nsukh\u0101vat\u012b, but will not be able to benefit from its wonderful features until,\nafter a long time, the lotus opens. The full passage explaining this is, as\ntranslated from Sanskrit by Luis O. G\u00f3<\/em>mez in The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the\nBuddha of Measureless Light, Sanskrit and Chinese Versions of the Sukh\u0101vat\u012bvy\u016bha\nSutras<\/em>, 1996, pp. 104-106:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two Kinds of Rebirth in the Land of Bliss<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7133. The Blessed One said:\n\u201cNow, Ajita, do you also see the\ndwelling of those who here in this Land of Bliss dwell inside the closed calyxes\nof immense lotus flowers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said: \u201cBlessed\nOne, I see that these human beings whose dwelling is the closed\ncalyxes of noble lotus flowers here in the Land of Bliss enjoy dwellings like\nthose of gods\u2014just as the gods of the Thirty-Three or the gods of the\nYama Realm live in palaces fifty leagues or a hundred leagues or five hundred\nleagues wide, where they play, sport, and enjoy themselves, in exactly the same manner, Blessed\nOne, those in the closed calyxes of noble lotus flowers play, sport, and enjoy themselves in\nsimilar palaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7134. \u201cFurthermore, Blessed One, there are beings\nwho, born miraculously, appear sitting cross-legged on\nthe lotus flowers. What are then, Blessed One, the causes, what are the conditions,\nthat determine who will dwell in a closed calyx, and who will be reborn miraculously\nto appear sitting cross-legged on open lotus flowers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7135. The Blessed One said: \u201cThose\nbodhisattvas in other buddha-fields, Ajita, who entertain doubts\nabout rebirth in the Land of Bliss, but who in spite of their doubts plant the\nroots of merit, they will dwell inside the calyx. But those who, on the contrary,\nare free of doubt, who have cut through uncertainty, and who\nplant roots of merit in order to be reborn in the Land of Bliss, and trust in\nthe unimpeded knowledge of blessed buddhas, believe in it, and are committed to\nit, they are reborn miraculously to appear here sitting\ncross-legged in open lotus flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7136. \u201cThose bodhisattvas\nmahasattvas, Ajita, who abide in buddha-fields\nelsewhere in the universe, if they aspire to see Amitabha, the Tathagata,\nArhat, perfect and full Buddha, if they never entertain a doubt, never hesitate\nregarding the unimpeded knowledge of the buddhas, and believe in their own\nroots of merit, they too will be reborn miraculously, appearing cross-legged on\nthe lotus flowers, in only an instant, already possessing a body exactly like\nthat of other beings who have been born there long before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7137. \u201cConsider, Ajita, the weakness in the discernment\nof those who do not believe in the Buddha\u2019s knowledge.\nConsider the limitations of their discernment, the deficit in\ntheir discernment, the feebleness of their discernment. For, during five\nhundred years, they are deprived of seeing the Buddha, of seeing the\nbodhisattvas, of hearing the Dharma, of speaking about the Dharma. They are deprived\nof the practice of the roots of merit, of accomplishing the roots of merit. And\nall of this only because their ideas and conceptualization have fallen prey to\ndoubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7138. \u201cAjita, it is as if an anointed kshatriya\nmonarch had a prison, inlaid entirely with gold and emerald, with strings of\nsilk cloth, garlands, and tassels hanging from the walls, with open canopies of\ndifferent colors. Its walls would be covered with cotton and silk, its floors\nscattered over with open flowers of many kinds. The\nprison would be scented with excellent scents, embellished with terraced roofs\nand terraced pavilions, with skylights, railings, and gateways, decorated with\njewels of all kinds, covered with nets of bells of gold and gems. It would have\nfour corners, four pillars, four doors, four stairs. And the son of that king\nwould be thrown into that prison for some misdeed. He\nwould be bound with chains made of gold from the Jambu River.\nAnd a couch would be prepared for him there, covered with many\nthick woolen spreads, with cotton and wool coverlets, pleasant to touch like\nfine Kachilindika cloth, wrapped in covers made of Kalinga cloth, and,\non top, a silk spread, with red cushions on both sides, colorful and charming.\nHe would sit or lie on that couch. And much food and drink of various kinds,\npure and excellent, would be offered to him there. What do you think, Ajita?\nWould the prince have there fine objects of enjoyment?\u201d He said: \u201cThey would be great, Blessed One.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7139. The Blessed One said: \u201cWhat do you think,\nAjita? Would he relish this food, consume it, or feel any satisfaction from\nit?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n He said: \u201cNo indeed, Blessed One. On\nthe contrary, led away by the king and thrown in that prison, he would only\nwish for release from there. He would seek the nobles, princes, ministers,\nladies of the court, rich merchants, property owners, and lords of castles, who\nmight release him from that prison. Furthermore, Blessed One, there would be no\npleasure for that prince in that prison, nor would he be freed from there until\nthe king would show him favor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7140. The Blessed One said:\n\u201cIn exactly the same way,\nAjita, those bodhisattvas who plant roots of merit, but have fallen prey to doubt,\nhesitate in their belief in the knowledge of a buddha, which is a knowledge\nequal to the unequalled. They may be reborn in this world called the Land of\nBliss, if they have heard the Buddha’s name, and by the sheer power of a serene,\ntrusting, mind generated by that hearing; but are not born miraculously and do\nnot appear in that land sitting cross-legged on the lotus flowers. Rather, they\ndwell only in the closed calyx of the lotus flowers.\nAlthough they reside there, inside the lotus flowers, with a\nmental image of the palaces and the gardens of the Land of Bliss, and no excrement\nor urine is discharged from their bodies, no phlegm or mucus, and\nnothing disagreeable to the mind is found on their bodies or in\ntheir dwellings, still, for five hundred years they\nare deprived of seeing buddhas, hearing the Dharma, seeing bodhisattvas,\nspeaking about and ascertaining the Dharma, and practicing any of the best virtues\ntaught in the Dharma . Although\nthey do not rejoice there or find satisfaction, still,\nwhen their previous transgressions have been exhausted, they then, at last,\nleave that calyx; and, as they leave it, they\ncannot tell if they are leaving from above, from below, or across.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7141. \u201cConsider this,\nAjita. If one did not dwell inside a calyx for five hundred years, one\ncould wait upon many hundreds of thousands of millions of trillions of buddhas\nduring those five hundred years. One\ncould plant an immense, innumerable, immeasurable number of roots of merit, and\none could gain all the qualities of a buddha. Now,\ninasmuch as these bodhisattvas will miss all this by reason of their doubting,\nconsider, Ajita, how great is the misfortune to which the doubt of a\nbodhisattva can lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7142. \u201cTherefore, Ajita, bodhisattvas who are free\nfrom doubts should generate this aspiration to attain awakening. And, in order to\nobtain quickly the capacity to confer benefit and happiness\non all living beings, they should dedicate\ntheir roots of merit to rebirth in the Land of Bliss, where the Blessed One\nAmitabha, the Tathagata, Arhat, perfect and full Buddha dwells.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One must wonder if the Mahatma\nintended to link this territory of doubt to the gestation state that he\ndescribes as taking place after death and before the person is reborn in\ndevachan, i.e., sukh\u0101vat\u012b. Certainly, being in a closed lotus bud can be\ncompared to a gestation state, whether in the womb or between lives. Indeed,\nthe word that Luis G\u00f3<\/em>mez\ntranslates as \u201cclosed calyx\u201d is garbha<\/em>,\nwhich is also the usual Sanskrit word for \u201cwomb.\u201d Moreover, the Mahatma writes\nin this letter that the gestation state is \u201cvery long,\u201d and the Buddhist text\u2019s\n\u201cfive hundred years\u201d would suggest a very long time to its readers. When a\nperson enters the gestation state between lives, we are told, the cast-off\nfourth and fifth principles consisting of lower thoughts and emotions go on\ntheir way to eventual disintegration. Doubts would naturally be part of the discarded\nlower thoughts that are slowly fading away while the real person, consisting of\nthe higher principles, is in the gestation state. When the gestation state is\nover, like when a lotus bud opens, the person is in effect reborn in sukh\u0101vat\u012b,\ni.e., devachan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note on References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sanskrit text of the\npassage quoted above as translated by Luis O. G\u00f3<\/em>mez\nis found in the edition by F. Max M\u00fcller and Bunyiu Nanjio, Sukh\u0101vat\u012b-vy\u016bha<\/em>, Oxford, 1883, pp. 65-69,\nand in the edition by Atsuuji Ashikaga, Sukh\u0101vat\u012bvy\u016bha<\/em>,\nKyoto, 1965, pp. 57-60. It was also translated from Sanskrit by F. Max M\u00fcller\nin Buddhist Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na Texts<\/em>, Part II (Sacred\nBooks of the East, vol. 49), 1894, pp. 62-65. Luis O. G\u00f3<\/em>mez additionally provided a translation\nof it from its most widely used Chinese translation in the same book cited above,\npp. 217-219. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mahatma letter #16 (chronological #68), the so-called \u201cdevachan letter,\u201d refers to the \u201cTerritory of Doubt\u201d: \u201cThus, for instance, in enumerating the seven lokas of the \u2018Kama-Loka\u2019 the Avatamsaka Sutra gives as the seventh, the \u2018Territory of Doubt.\u2019 I will ask you to remember the name as we will have to speak of it hereafter.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1802,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions\/1802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}