Tushita

Stone relief carving of Tushita Heaven, carved during the Kushan Dynasty
Maitreya Bodhisattva in Tushita Heaven. Palm leaf manuscript. Nalanda, Bihar, India

Tuṣita (Sanskrit and Pāli) or Tushita is one of the six deva-worlds of the Buddhist Desire realm (Kāmadhātu), located between the Yāma heaven and the Nirmāṇarati heaven. Like the other heavens, Tuṣita is said to be reachable through meditation. It is the heaven where the Bodhisattva Śvetaketu ("White Banner") resided before being reborn on Earth as Gautama Buddha, the historical fourth Buddha. It is, likewise, the heaven where the Bodhisattva Nātha ("Protector") currently resides, who will be reborn as the future fifth Buddha Maitreya.

Most Buddhist scriptures state that Queen Mayadevi died seven days after giving birth at Lumbini to her son Prince Siddhartha, who became Gautama Buddha or the Buddha, and that she was reborn in the Tushita Heaven. Then seven years after the Buddha's enlightenment, Mayadevi came down to visit Tavatimsa Heaven, where the Buddha specifically preached the Abhidharma to her,[1] and to the other gods in the realm.

In Hinduism, the Tushitas are referred to as one of the nine gana deities: adityas, visvedevas, vasus, tushitas, abhasvaras, anilas, maharajikas, sadhyas, and the rudras.[2][3]

  1. ^ "Māyā". www.palikanon.com. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  2. ^ Walker, Benjamin (2019-04-09). Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism. In Two Volumes. Volume I A-L. Routledge. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-429-62465-0.
  3. ^ Danielou, Alain (2017-01-01). The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 302. ISBN 978-81-208-3638-9.

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