A mythology of cultural transformation in the Ghaṭīkāra Sutta

[sujato]

@Jacques

a friend and I were wondering if you meant that Kassapa (as the Buddha that preceeded our Buddha) was also of mythological origin?

He is spoken of in mythology, and nowhere else, so he’s not amenable to the kind of fact-checking which might even potentially qualify him as a subject of “history”. But discussion of mythology has nothing to do with the question of whether someone “exists”, only what their story means.

@Jacques

I was wondering if you might give a more precise explanation of what Ajahn Brahm means by mind made realms when he refers to the lokas of rebirth.

Here is an answer I made earlier on the mind made body.

The Mind-Made Body (manomayakaya)

The mind-made body is not clearly defined in the early texts. However, it refers to something similar to what in Western esoteric traditions is called the “astral body” or “subtle body” (sukhumarūpa). It’s a mental image that corresponds with the physical body. However, in the Buddhist sense, it is part of rūpa, i.e. the physical realm, even though it is created by and perceived by the mind. This is because it has physical properties like shape, position, color, etc. It takes on the same physic…

In discussions of rebirth, a mind made body has the same meaning: it is a subtle energetic form. It refers to any realm of rebirth that is more subtle than, say, ours, but that is not yet formless. This includes the jhana realms.