Deva · Pāli/Skt: deva

Access to Insight’s glossary of Pali terms gives deva, and its close relative devatā, as “Literally, ‘shining one’ — an inhabitant of the heavenly realms”. The Pali discourses use the word freely: devas appear throughout the early texts as radiant beings inhabiting the heavens. The same glossary calls their dwelling place, sagga, “Heaven, heavenly realm. The dwelling place of the devas”, and adds a caution: “Like all waystations in saṃsāra, however, rebirth here is temporary.” What those texts withhold from devas is the one thing a god is usually granted, which is permanence.

The Itivuttaka makes the point unforgettably. When a deva is about to pass away from the company of devas, five omens appear: “his garlands wither, his clothes get soiled, sweat comes out of his armpits, a dullness descends on his body, he no longer delights in his own deva-seat.” A god dies and is reborn like anyone else, which is why a heavenly rebirth is treated as a fortunate turn within the round of rebirth rather than as the goal of the path.

The discourses are just as firm about the highest gods. In the Brahma-nimantanika Sutta (MN 49) Baka Brahmā says of his realm, “This is constant. This is permanent. This is eternal. This is total. This is not subject to falling away”, and the Buddha’s response is blunt: “How immersed in ignorance is Baka Brahma!” So in the Pali texts devas are neither creators nor saviours. They are powerful, fortunate fellow beings, and impermanence reaches them too.