Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c36.3727

v2.c36.3727

**Suddhāvāsā.**—The "Pure Abodes"; a name given to a group of Brahma-worlds—the five highest Rūpa-worlds—consisting of **Avihā, Atappā, Sudassā, Sudassī** and **Akaniṭṭhā**.¹ There *anāgāmins* are born, and there they attain arahantship; such *anāgāmins* are divided into twenty-four classes.² Bodhisattas are never born there.³ The Suddhāvāsā are described as *buddhānaṃ khandhāvāratṭhānasadisā*. Sometimes, for *asaṅkheyyas* of kappas, when no Buddhas are born, these worlds remain empty.⁴ The Buddha is mentioned as having visited the Suddhāvāsā.⁵ When a Buddha is about to be born, the inhabitants of the Suddhāvāsā insert a knowledge of the signs of a Great Being in the Vedas and teach this among men in the guise of brahmins, calling such knowledge *buddha-manta*. Men learn it and are thus able to recognize a Great Being.⁶ The inhabitants of the Suddhāvāsā know how many Buddhas will be born in any particular kappa by observing the number of lotuses which spring up on the site of the **Bodhi-pallaṅka** when the earth gradually emerges after the destruction of the world.⁷ It is the Suddhāvāsā Brahmās who provide the four omens which lead to a Bodhisatta's renunciation in his last lay life.⁸