The Pa:isambhidāmagga describes one other supernormal power of the iddhi type not explicitly mentioned in the suttas, though implied by certain incidents. This is the supernormal power of transformation (vikubba5a iddhi). The Pa:isambhidāmagga exposition of this power reads:
He abandons his normal appearance and shows the appearance of a boy or the appearance of a Naga (serpent), or the appearance of a Supanna (winged demon), or the appearance of an Asura (demon), or the appearance of the Ruler [of Gods] (Indra), or the appearance of some [other sensual sphere]
deity, or the appearance of a Brahmā, or the appearance of the sea, or the appearance of a rock or the appearance of a lion, or the appearance of a tiger, or the appearance of a leopard, or he shows an elephant, or he shows a horse, or he shows a chariot, or he shows a foot soldier, or he shows a manifold military array.1
To attain this power, according to the Visuddhimagga, the meditator should first resolve to appear in a particular form, such as the form of a boy. Then he should enter and emerge from the basic fourth jhāna and advert to his appearance in the form chosen.
Again he should enter the jhāna, emerge, and resolve, “Let me be a boy, etc. of such and such a type.” Simultaneously with his resolution he appears as a boy or as anything else he chooses. However, it is not necessary for the meditator to effect the transformation on his own body. He can simply resolve upon showing some form, such as an elephant, a horse, etc., and that form will become manifest before himself and others.2
kammas bring happiness and success, unwholesome kammas bring suffering and failure.
In relation to the rebirth process, wholesome kammas issue in a good rebirth, unwholesome kammas in a bad one.
Of the many kammas a person performs and accumulates in the course of his lifetime, one kamma will come to the surface at the time of death to determine his state of rebirth.
The kammas that take on this decisive role are ranked into grades of precedence. Priority is given to morally weighty kamma (garuka kamma), extremely powerful virtuous or evil deeds. Weighty virtuous deeds are the attainment of the jhānas; weighty evil deeds include patricide, matricide, killing an arahat, wounding a Buddha, and causing schism in the Sangha. Next in order come morally significant deeds performed near the time of death, then habitual actions, and lastly, miscellaneous stored up kammas.1 Those kammas which do not actually generate rebirth can still produce their results in the course of a person’s life, either supporting, countering, or annihilating the effects of the rebirth-generative kamma.
According to Buddhist cosmology, there are many planes of existence where beings can take rebirth through their kamma. These planes are grouped into three general spheres:
the sense sphere (kāmāvacarabhūmi), which is the field of rebirth for evil kammas and for non-jhānic meritorious kammas; the fine material sphere (rūpāvacarabhūmi), which is the field of rebirth for the fine material jhānas; and the immaterial sphere (arūpāvacarabhūmi), which is the field of rebirth for the immaterial attainments.2
If an unwholesome kamma becomes determinative of rebirth, it will produce rebirth in one of four planes: [1] the woeful state (niraya), which itself has many subdivisions; [2]
the animal kingdom (tiracchānayoni): [3] the sphere of tormented spirits or “hungry ghosts” (pettivisaya); and [4] the host of titans (asurakāya). These four states are collectively called the plane of misery (apāyabhūmi), the bad destinations (duggati), and the downfall (vinipāta). If a wholesome kamma of a type below the level of mundane jhānas determines rebirth, it will produce rebirth in either the human world (manussa-loka) or in one of the six sense sphere heavenly worlds, namely: (1] the realm of the four great kings (cātummahārājikadevaloka), [2] the realm of the thirty-three gods (tāvati.sa); [3] the realm of Yama gods (yāma); [4] the realm of delight (tusita); [5] the realm of gods who rejoice in their own creations (nimmānarati); and, [6] the realm of gods who lord over the creations of others (paranimmitavasavatti). These seven realms, the human world and the six heavenly worlds, together make up the sense sphere plane of happiness (kāmāvacara sugatibhūmi).3
Above the sense sphere realms are the fine material realms (rūpāvacarabhūmi). Rebirth into these realms is gained through the attainment of the four fine material jhānas, providing the jhāna is still retained at the time of death. There are altogether sixteen realms in the fine material plane. These are correlated with the four jhānas in a
1. Narada, Manual., pp. 259-62.
2. For a good synopsis of Buddhist cosmology and its connection with rebirth, see Ibid., pp. 233-55.
3. Ibid., pp. 233, 236-39.
systematic way. For each of the three lower jhānas there are three realms of rebirth, graded according to whether the jhāna was mastered to an inferior, middling, or superior degree; for the fourth jhāna the division is different, as we will see.
Those who have practiced the first jhāna to a minor degree are reborn in the realm of the retinue of Brahmā (brahmapārisajja), those who have practiced it to a moderate degree are reborn in the realm of the ministers of Brahmā (brahmapurohita), and those who have practiced it to a superior degree are reborn in the realm of the great Brahmā (mahābrahmā). Similarly, practicing the second jhāna to a minor degree brings rebirth in the realm of minor luster (parittābha), to a moderate degree rebirth in the realm of infinite luster (appamānābha), and to a superior degree in the realm of radiant luster (ābhassara). Again, practicing the third jhāna to a minor degree brings rebirth in the realm of minor aura (parittasubha), to a moderate degree in the realm of infinite aura (appamānasubha), and to a superior degree in the realm of steady aura (subhaki5hā).
Corresponding to the fourth jhāna there are seven realms: the realm of great reward (vehapphala), the realm of non-percipient beings (asaññasatta), and the five pure abodes (suddhāvāsa). With this jhāna the previous pattern is not observed. It seems that all beings who practice the fourth jhāna of the mundane level without reaching any supramundane attainment are reborn in the realm of great reward.
There is no differentiation by way of inferior, moderate, or superior grades of development. The realm of non-percipient beings is reached by those who attain the fourth jhāna and then use the power of their attainment to take rebirth with only material bodies; they do not acquire consciousness again until they pass away from this realm.
The five pure abodes are called the durable realm (aviha), the serene realm (atappa), the beautiful realm (sudassi), the clear-sighted realm (sudassa), and the highest realm (akani((ha). These five realms are open only to non-returners (anāgāmis), noble disciples who have eradicated the fetters binding them to the sense sphere and thence automatically take rebirth in higher realms. From here they attain arahatship and reach final deliverance.
Beyond the fine material sphere lie the immaterial realms (arūpāvacarabhūmi). These are four in number – the base of boundless space, the base of boundless consciousness, the base of nothingness, and the base of neither perception nor non-perception. As should be evident, these are the realms of rebirth for those who, without having broken the fetters that bind them to sa.sāra, achieve and master the four immaterial jhānas.
Those yogins who have mastery over these attainments at the time of death take rebirth in the appropriate plane, where they abide until the kammic force of the jhāna is exhausted. Then they pass away, to take rebirth in some other realm as determined by their accumulated kamma.1
1. For a schematic diagram of the planes of Buddhist cosmology and their connection with kamma, see Appendix 5.