InTurnAll

Buddhism’s approach to creation is found in texts like the Agganna Sutta from the Pali Canon, which presents a mythological explanation not as a literal historical event but as a teaching on the origins of society, suffering, and the cycle of existence (samsara). It emphasizes impermanence, karma, and craving as drivers of evolution and devolution, rather than a creator deity.

The sutta begins with the Buddha addressing two Brahmin monks, Vasettha and Bharadvaja, who seek insight into caste and origins. He describes a previous world cycle’s contraction, after which beings from the Abhassara (radiant) realm—self-luminous, feeding on joy, traversing the air without bodies or gender—descend to a reforming earth. At first, the earth is like a savory scum or ghee, sweet like honey. Out of curiosity and craving, a being tastes it, and others follow. As they consume more, their luminosity fades, bodies coarsen, and distinctions arise: some become beautiful, others ugly, leading to conceit and disdain.

The savory earth vanishes, replaced by mushroom-like growths, then creepers, and finally rice that grows abundantly without cultivation. Continued greed causes the rice to require husking and planting, leading to scarcity. Beings divide fields for ownership, but theft emerges, prompting punishment and the election of a king (Mahasammata, the “Great Chosen One”) to maintain order, marking the start of governance and social classes. The four castes—Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras—arise from actions, not divine ordinance, challenging Vedic hierarchies.

This narrative illustrates how craving (tanha) and ignorance lead to moral decline, societal structures, and rebirth in lower realms. The universe cycles endlessly through expansion (vivatta) and contraction (samvatta), without a beginning or end, driven by interdependent causes. The Buddha uses this to teach that true nobility comes from ethical conduct and renunciation, not birth, encouraging the path to enlightenment to escape samsara.