Do Devas Really Exist?

Deva (devatā) means a being who revels in sense pleasures (kāmaguṇa). Devas are born spontaneously (opapātika): they are born and fully grown at once. In the deva world, devas do not age and do not decline. They enjoy lovely sights, sweet sounds, fragrant scents, delicious tastes and soft touches. The sense pleasures of devas are dazzling.

In the Buddha’s teaching, devas are grouped in three kinds:

1. Devas by convention (sammati-deva): kings and monarchs.
2. Devas by birth (upapatti-deva): devas and Brahmās, by arising in the various realms of existence.
3. Devas by purity (visuddhi-deva): devas through purity, free of defilements.

Whoever wishes to be a deva can train themselves to become one, by removing the defilements of lust, aversion and delusion (rāga, dosa, moha) from the mind through the power of wisdom and insight. Whenever you cleanse away the defilements, you become a deva by purity, which means one free of defilements, such as the Buddha, the Silent Buddhas (paccekabuddha) and the arahant disciples.

The Heavens

A heaven is a place of delight, of merriment and happiness, the home of the devas. There are six heavens: Cātumahārājika, Tāvatiṃsa, Yāma, Tusita, Nimmānarati and Paranimmitavasavattī. Some sources count the deva realms as extending up to the fine-material and immaterial Brahmā realms. All the heavens are very beautiful, with heavenly flowers and heavenly music.

The Qualities of Devas

A person who is to be reborn a deva must have hiri and ottappa, moral shame and fear of wrongdoing, being ashamed of and afraid of evil. They keep the precepts, practice the wholesome courses of action, have mindfulness and clear comprehension, patience and gentleness (khanti, soracca), and gratitude that recognizes and repays kindness, among other qualities.

The Qualities of Sakka, Lord of the Devas

Sakka, lord of the devas, is greater than all other devas. He rules the Cātumahārājika and Tāvatiṃsa heavens, because while he was still a human being he undertook seven vows (vatapada):

1. To support his mother and father for as long as he lived.
2. To be humble toward the elders of his family for as long as he lived.
3. To speak gently for as long as he lived.
4. Not to speak divisively, not to stir people up, not to lead people into conflict and quarrels, for as long as he lived.
5. To have a mind free of stinginess, delighting in giving, delighting in generosity, for as long as he lived.
6. To speak the truth for as long as he lived.
7. Not to get angry, and if anger arose, to calm it at once, never letting anger linger in his mind.

The Dangers of Being a Deva

1. Merit runs out: when their lifespan ends they must die, and are reborn according to whatever merit gives its result next, which may be in the lower realms, the bad destinations. A deva of great merit and high rank can know what it will be reborn as after death, but a deva of little merit does not know what it will become after dying from the deva world.
2. Some devas die before their lifespan ends, because they let their minds revel in the beauty of heaven and in heavenly music until they forget to take heavenly food to nourish their bodies. They are then burned up by the element of fire called the digestive fire (pācaka-tejo) until they die. (Devas of this group are called khiḍḍāpadosika devas, those corrupted by play.)
3. Some devas die before their lifespan ends, because they let defilements arise in their minds: aversion, anger, envy (issā), jealousy. Because a deva’s body is so delicate, when anger arises the fire of aversion burns the deva’s body until it cannot bear it and dies. (Devas of this group are called manopadosika devas, those corrupted in mind.)

Signs That a Deva Is Near Death

1. The celestial mansion it lives in begins to grow dull.
2. Its clothes grow dull.
3. It becomes restless and uneasy.
4. Sweat comes from its armpits.
5. The seat it sits upon grows hard.

Can Devas Make Merit?

Devas can cultivate wholesome states, for example by listening to the Dhamma and rejoicing in merit (anumodanā), and they can keep the precepts. But most of them get lost in reveling in the beautiful things of heaven. If they have mindfulness and good spiritual friends (kalyāṇamitta), they can realize the Dhamma even in the deva realms.

Once You Are a Deva, How Do You Keep from Getting Lost in Pleasure?

You must train in the foundations of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna) until they are strong, have shame and fear of evil, and truly bring wholesome virtue into being. If we practice the foundations of mindfulness diligently until they are strong and well accumulated, then even when we meet the beautiful things of the deva realms, our disposition will be not to become intoxicated or infatuated, not to get stuck in sense pleasures and beautiful things.

Why Don’t Devas Appear to Humans to Prove That Other Realms Exist?

Because humans have coarse bodies that are dirty and foul-smelling, devas do not want to come near. The exception is when devas choose to appear to people with the power of merit to help them; for example, in the Buddha’s time, devas came down to attend on the Buddha. Another reason is that when ordinary worldlings are reborn as devas, they are so happy and absorbed in pleasure that they forget their former existence. By the time they come to their senses, so much time may have passed in the human world that their relatives and acquaintances have all died.