Questions were raised about just who the Jade Emperor is at our recent ZOOM discussion on Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra. He has a complex and detailed history in China and is often presented as the supreme ruler of Heaven, a figurehead of power, morality, and justice, overseeing the cosmic order and the fates of both humans and deities. Though the Jade Emperor is ruler of Heaven and Earth, he is, according to Wikipedia, not so much a supreme God as a supreme administrator. In fact, he is outranked by the three top divine beings of the Chinese pantheon, Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Confucius—who are themselves subject to higher universal forces.
Wikipedia also reports that “early Catholic missionaries to China wrote often about the Jade Emperor. They noticed that, ‘the stories of Jesus and the Jade Sovereign are, in certain aspects, quite similar. In both cases it is claimed that a god incarnated as a human being.’ On the other hand, they denounced the cult of the Jade Emperor as ‘superstitious,’ and compared unfavorably the ‘legends’ about the Jade Emperor with what they claimed was a solid historical record documenting the existence and life of Jesus.[1]
The following are the 11 times the Buddha Master mentioned the Jade Emperor in Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra:
DCB21-Forewords, Introductions, & PART ONE—Title
1-3. The ancient Indians thought that they were the descendants of Brahman and that the written and oral language they used was formulated by Brahman. They believed that they were the descendants of Brahman and that only they were the offspring of Brahman. Therefore, they thought that even their language was given to them by Brahman. What is meant by Brahman? Brahman is even one level higher than the Jade Emperor.[2] Everyone knows of the Jade Emperor. Brahman is even more amazing and is the master of the Jade Emperor. [3-118]
DCB22-PART TWO—Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra-I
4. King Yama said that such an outcome was unacceptable and immediately reported the matter to the heavenly court. He immediately reported to the Four Heavens of the Four Deva-Kings. From the Four Heavens of the Four Deva-Kings, the matter was relayed to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. It was reported up this way. The report eventually made its way into the hands of the Jade Emperor, who immediately instructed his Clairvoyant Watcher and Clairaudient Listener to use their powers of observation to look into the matter. After doing so, they said, “Highest lord, there is no such person as this Zhang Zaixi. In the three spheres, there is no such person.” [10-150]
5. Practitioners should regard such phenomena as a mirage city. Living beings should also regard their practical lives of matters and things that they are in the midst of as a mirage city. Upon reaching this stage, practitioners are able to do things at will and with ease. You can travel to a heavenly realm. The Jade Emperor will invite you to dine and be entertained. Celestial nymphs may present offerings to you. You can to go to the Western World of Ultimate Bliss, the land of the asuras, and so on. Still, all these must be regarded as illusions. Even at this stage, you must regard them as illusions. Otherwise, if attachment again arises in your deluded consciousness, you will perhaps again be in an awful state. [13-255]
DCB23-PART TWO—Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra-II
6. The three spheres have all together twenty-eight heavens and five realms. Living beings live within the three spheres that are composed of all together twenty-eight heavens and five realms. The twenty-eight heavens refer to celestials in the twenty-eight kinds of heaven. At this point, I want to mention that the highest state of the three spheres is the fourth formless dhyana state, the Abode of Neither Conceptualization nor Non-Conceptualization. All who attained such a state are unenlightened living beings who have not ended the cycle of birth and death. Have the celestials at the level of the Heaven of the Jade Emperor ended the cycle of birth and death? They are even further away from being able to do that! [21-269]
DCB24-PART TWO—Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra-III
7. I am not asking you extend your arm to the Fourth Dhyana Heaven, but if I told you just to extend your arm to inside that pool, you would not be able to do it. That pool is about ten or twenty feet in front of you, yet you still would not be able to do even that. Even if you had the state of realization of a practitioner of non-Buddhist ways and I told you to extend your arm to the sky, you would still not be able to do it. Even if you could extend your arm to the sky, you would still not be considered as very remarkable. If you could extend your arm to the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings, your reach would still be terribly low. If you could extend your arm to the Heaven of the Jade Emperor,[3] your reach would still be very low. Ksitigarbha extended His arm to the Fourth Dhyana Heaven. How astonishing that is! However, at the place of Layman Vimalakirti, He still failed, for He could not even climb onto a stool. How pitiable that is! Thus, Buddha Dharma is used to transform the two realms of sentient beings and insentient things. One should have such cultivated powers. [28-191]
DCB25-PART TWO—Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra-IV
8-9. What kind of being is Brahma? Brahma is amazing. One way to put it is that the Four Heavenly Kings must obey the commands of the Jade Emperor, while the Jade Emperor must obey the commands of Brahma. Thus, this is no ordinary status. However, Brahma has no way to prevail against the mighty supernormal power of Buddha Dharma. We can also see something else. Why were those Bodhisattvas unable to capture Brahma? The good karma of Brahma and his conditioned rewards of good fortune were able to obstruct some of the unconditioned light of others. So, there is also an issue of magnitude of power in this case. [34A-169]
Footnotes:
[1] Bony Schachter, “Beyond the Kingly Metaphor: A Sociological Reading of the ‘Scripture of the Jade Sovereign,'” Journal of Chinese Studies 60 (2015), 95–157 (145–155).[2] The (10-) Jade Emperor is the supreme deity of Daoism.
[3] The Heaven of the (11-) Jade Emperor is one of the heavenly worlds in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.
[The above text is from quotes taken from a preliminary translation of Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. This holy text has not been published in English, but is available in Chinese. The preliminary English translation that is the source of this article may be read at the Holy Vajrayana Temple, Sanger, California and studied through courses at the Learning from Buddha College and Seminary (LFBCS). Because this text has not been authorized or approved by His Holiness, the following cannot be considered Buddha- Dharma, but is offered as background reference only until such time as an approved translation is available. Please seek such a translation and read the entire text to put in proper context. His Holiness stressed that it is important to read this sacred text in the sequence it is presented in order to receive the intended understanding and benefits there of. The following excerpts are arranged accordingly. Bracketed material has been added to help locate sources with lesson number followed by question used in respective LFBCS courses and to provide clarity and continuity to the following quotes.]
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