Deity Brahma is also found in the samsara doctrine and cosmology of early Buddhism. Brahma is known as Fantian (梵天) in Chinese, Bonten (梵天) in Japanese, Hoān-thian (梵天) in Taiwanese language, Pomch'on in Korean, Phạm Thiên in Vietnamese, Phra Phrom in Thai, and Tshangs pa in Tibetan. Classification The term Brahmā in Buddhism refers to the leading god, but in some Suttas the term broadly refers to all deities who live in the realm of form. Ancient and medieval Buddhist texts define seventeen, or more, heavenly Brahmā realms (along with demi-gods, hungry ghost and hellish realms), in a stratified manner, which are reached in afterlife based on monastic achievement and karma accumulation. A brahma in these texts refers to any deva in the heavenly realms. The Buddhist god Brahmā himself resides in the highest of the seventeen realms, called the Akaniṣṭha. The multitude of Buddhist brahmas refer to: Any of the deities of the formless realm of existence called Ārūpyadhātu brahma, who enjoy the highest heavenly pleasures in afterlife; Any of the deities of the anthropomorphic form realm of existence called Rūpadhātu brahma, who enjoy moderate heavenly pleasures; Any of the deities of the lower heavenly realms of existence called Kamadhatu brahma; According to the ancient Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna, Kamadhatu brahmas experience inferior heavenly pleasures and may experience minor sufferings in their afterlife, while Vasubandhu described six heavenly levels within the kamadhatu realm for afterlife; In the Niddesa, the Buddha is devatideva, the god beyond the gods including Brahma. (literally "crane-") appears in the Majjhima Nikaya, where he is a deity who believes that his world is permanent and without decay (and that therefore he is immortal), and that therefore there are no higher worlds than his. , said to be the most senior of the Mahābrahmās, was the deity who visited the Buddha when he attained enlightenment, and encouraged him to teach the Dharma to humans. (Sanskrit) or (Pāli), the "Ever-young", appears in the Janavasabha-sutta (DN.18), where he is recalled as having created an illusionary presence to make himself perceptible to the coarser senses of Śakra and the gods of . The singular leading deity and the king of heavens Brahmā is sometimes referred in Buddhist texts as Mahābrahmā. However, the Suttas are inconsistent in this regard and several early Buddhist texts depict Sakra (Pāli: Sakka) – who is same as the Hindu Vedic god Indra – as more