Belief in Creation
ORIGIN OF THE BELIEF IN CREATION
After the previous world has perished away, there was a time when a new world began to evolve. The first Brahma who made his appearance with this thought and believed thus:
"I am a Brahma, a great Brahma, a conqueror invincible by anyone, who can see everything, almighty to have every wish fulfilled, a Lord, a maker, a creator, the noblest of all, and one who assigns to each of his station. Accomplished in attainments, the father of all the past and the future beings."
The Brahmas who had made their appearance later in the realm of the Brahmas also thought and believed likewise. Of those Brahmas, who had passed away from the realm of Brahmas to be reborn in the human world, there were some who could recall their past existence in the Brahma land. These persons boldly announced that,
"The great Brahma created the beings in the world. The Creator himself, the Great Brahma, is permanent, eternal; the creatures he has created, however, do not last permanently; they die and pass away."
These bold announcements from their personal experience were believed and accepted by those who heard their teachings. The Blessed One explained that this was how the notion of 'only the creators who first created things are permanent, eternal,' originated. From the Pali Canon we have just quoted, one can surmise that the so-called God who is said to have created the beings and the God who is said to be in the Heavenly abode, could be the great Brahma who first appeared in the realm of the Brahmas in the beginning of the world.
It is clear from the teachings of the Buddha that, 'The self of the great Brahma is of the same kind as the self of other beings; it is just misconceiving the continuous flux of material and mental processes as self. Actually, there is no such thing as self apart from the psycho-physical phenomena; it is mere figment of imagination.'
Furthermore, the mind-and-body of the great Brahma is just like the mind-and-body of other beings that is subject to the law of impermanence. When his lifespan is exhausted, the great Brahma also faces death and has to pass away. In reality, the great Brahma cannot have every wish of his fulfilled, he cannot maintain his body according to his wish. Therefore, the body of the great Brahma is also not self or his inner core, but is only non-self.