Expert: Justin Choo - 9/20/2007

Question
QUESTION: hey justin = ]
i have couple of questions
i hope you can answer

i've always thought that the buddha came from a priestly family but the book i'm reading for my eastern religious studies class says he was part of the warrior class
The area he was from was not known as a monarchy..
can you please clarify?

also why is there Hindu devas in Buddhist scripture
if buddhist's deny the Vedas
shouldn't they also deny the existence of the gods found in them?

thanks alot!

ANSWER: Hi Artin,

Thank you for asking me.

The Buddha came from a warrior class called the Sakya Clan.  During his time India was controlled by numerous powerful tribes ruling over their respective territories as kings.  The Buddha belonged to one of these tribal states.  Wikipedia gives a reasonably good account of the Buddha's life  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha#_note-8)
Any attempt to tell the story of the Buddha in great detail will fall into the trap of exegeration and dramatization because there was no clear written record of the Buddha's life in detail.

"Deva" is Pali term for higher beings or "angels" (for lack of a better term in English).  The Buddha acknowledged the existence of other beings in different realms of existence.  Our "nearest neighbours" are the devas or heavenly angels who may assist us in worldly affairs.  

Hope that answers your queries.

Smile from justinchoo :-)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: just a quick follow up
what i mean about deva is like
why is Indra in buddhist scripture
he is a Hindu deva
if Buddhists deny the vedas
and Indra is mentioned in the devas
how does that work?
is it something like trying to tell hindus that even their gods bow down to the buddha?  

Answer
Hi Artin,

I don't know which scripture you referred to.  Perhaps you can give me the name of the scripture and I shall try to read it and see what it means.  In the meantime, I would say that as with names, it is common to have different people with similar names. Devas as I said are "angels" or celestial gods, or spirits.  They are in existence in a different plane of existence.  Devas are devas, whether mentioned in Hinduism or Buddhism.  They are just devas.  The fact that they are mentioned in Buddhism or Hinduism, doesn't mean that they belong to Hindus or Buddhists.  Just like humans; any religion can mention the existence of humans (which is a fact) but the mere mentioning does not make humans belong to a certain religion.

Smile from justinchoo :-)