January 19, 2024 at 1:01 pm
#47853
Keymaster
Thank you, Gad, for posting that sutta.
- The reason that many Devas visited the ‘human world” during the time of the Buddha was to learn Dhamma from the Buddha. There is no compelling reason for them to visit these days. (However, Waharaka Thero mentioned in a discourse that he occasionally had some evidence for such a visit.) Learning from a Buddha is a rare event.
- I read somewhere that an unimaginable number of Devas listened to the first sutta that the Buddha delivered. I remember the quotation (but not the source): “There were 60 Devas packed into a space comparable to the hole in a needle.” Since Devas have very fine bodies, that is not a crowded space for them!
- Of course, there were only five humans there, the five ascetics. While only Ven. Kondanna attained the Sotapanna stage that night, a vast number of Devas and Brahmas attained various magga phala.