♥ The Wheel of Life : The Six Realm ( Animals )

The world of animals is classed as one of the unhappy realms because suffering and ignorance predominate there. Obviously there is a wide range of situations within this realm, as in all the realms. A pampered house pet may know more happiness than many humans. Nevertheless, for most beings in this realm life is uncertain, short and full of struggle. Furthermore, animals have only rudimentary language and cannot learn and discuss spiritual matters as we can in the human world.

The animals constitute the only other realm that is normally visible to our senses. It is worth reflecting on how vastly this kingdom outnumbers the human. Consider the insects and worms in a shovel full of garden soil, or the mosquitoes on a summer night. We may think there are a lot of human beings on this planet, but for all our so-called overpopulation we still constitute a tiny fraction of the number of beings.

Contemplating the animal realm in this way, especially the insects and other small and lowly creatures, can lead us into two important and complementary, reflections. One is the preciousness of a human rebirth, and the other is the terrible nature of samsara.

When thinking about the animal realm, we should also consider that for those currently in an animal rebirth, one of the principal agents of suffering is Man. To much of the animal realm we must appear as terrible demons who inflict the pains of trapping, shooting, mutilating and slaughtering. To counter this, a knowledge of karma and rebirth should lessen our alienation from other beings and rouse compassion to the animals, our fellow travelers on the awful wheel of birth and death.


Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering

The End of Suffering: Fearless Living in Troubled Times . . or, How to Get Out of Hell Free

♥ The Wheel of Life : The Six Realm ( Hell )

The Hell Realms are regions of great suffering. Birth here is the result of having performed evil deeds, such as acts of violence or cruelty. The tortures of fire, boiling oil, hooks and swords that beings endure are the direct result of their deeds; this is karma ripening. It should be noted that there is no eternal damnation in Buddhism. Just as in the heavens and on earth, existence here is impermanent. Beings in hell are eventually reborn elsewhere, with the expiration of their old karma.

There are various degrees and levels of hell. The deepest and worst hell is called Avici and here there are only painful sensations without a moment's respite. Since the arising of thoughts of hope would constitute at least a moment's relief, beings here believe their torment to be everlasting.

Hell is ruled by a deity called Yama who judges beings dragged before him by the warders of Hell. It is perhaps significant that he is portrayed as reluctant to admit beings into Hell. He questions each being brought before his judgement seat, and the phrasing of the text seems to imply an exasperation with the perversity of humanity, rather than a wrathfulness.

Then King Yama says "Good man, did it never occur to you - an intelligent and mature man - "I too am subject to death, I am not exempt from death: surely I had better do good by body, speech and mind? He says: "I was unable, venerable sir, I was negligent." Then King Yama says: "Good man, through negligence you have failed to do good by body, speech and mind. Certainly they will deal with you according to your negligence. But this evil action of yours was not done by your mother or your father, or by your brother or your sister, or by your friends and companions, or by your kinsmen and relatives, or by recluses and brahmins, or by gods: this evil action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience its result." (Majjhima 130)

One special hell realm is called the Inter-World Hell and is located in the dark and empty void between world systems. Here the chief suffering is loneliness, because of the vast spaces beings may live long ages without encountering another and even come to believe they are alone in the universe.


Naraka (Buddhism): Buddhist Cosmology, Hell, Purgatory, Abrahamic Religions, Di Yu, Karma in Buddhism, Jambudvipa

♥ The Wheel of Life : The Six Realm ( Hungry Ghost )

The realm of the petas, the Hungry Ghosts, constitutes one of the unhappy worlds. The ghosts are beings who suffer severely from unfulfilled desires. Traditionally they are drawn with bloated bellies and tiny mouths to signify the size of their appetites and the poor means they have of satisfying them.

One way of thinking of ghosts is that they represent an incomplete death process. When a being dies with great craving and attachment to the objects and places of his previous life, the force of his clinging may make him linger as a ghost. He is unable to continue his earthly life but he grasps at a painful shadow.

Many people all over the world and in all cultures have seen ghosts, because this realm is so close to the human. Some individuals with psychic powers can see ghosts easily and some of these have reported that our big modern cities are full of ghosts. This is because our coarse materialist culture breeds the grasping mind which cannot let go at death. A curious thing, that as people succumb to materialism, they are less likely to believe in or see a ghost, but far more likely to become one!

The proper attitude towards ghosts is one of compassion. We should endeavour to help them move on and seek a better rebirth. We can do this by extending them loving-kindness if we detect their presence. It is also skilful to transfer merit to those in the ghost realm, particulary our departed relatives. This is done by performing some meritorious deed and dedicating the merit to the departed. It is said that those in a ghostly form are aware of this and rejoice, and rejoicing in the wholesome is a karmically beneficial mind-state that can lessen their suffering or even facilitate their rebirth into a better realm.


In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction    

A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts: A Collection of Deliciously Frightening Tales

♥ The Wheel of Life : The Six Realm (Asuras)

This is the realm of the Asuras, the jealous gods or titans. These are powerful demigods who are perpetually at war with the gods of the lowest heavens. These are beings devoted to warfare and everything that goes with it; anger, pride, lust for conquest and so forth. Beings in the human realm who manifest these qualities are experiencing Asura-consciousness and are laying the foundation for rebirth here.

There is a Jataka which describes the origin of the war between the gods and the Asuras. (no.31) At one time, it seems, they shared the same realm as the gods of the first heaven. This is located at the summit of the mythological Mt. Sumeru, the world-axis. On the slopes of this mountain there grows a huge tree with intoxicating fruit. The Asuras, being coarser than the devas, were more heavily affected by the fruit and lay about in a drunken stupor.

Sakka, the king of the gods, decided to be rid of these loutish fellows and had them grasped by the heels and tossed down the side of the mountain, to the roots of the tree. Coming to their senses, they realized what they had lost and have been fighting to regain their lost place in heaven ever since.

Generally they get the worst of the battles, because the gods are very hard to kill - they recover quickly from any wound and the only way to finish them off in war is to sever the head. It is indicated in Digha Nikaya 18 that at times when righteousness prevails amongst humans then many more are born into the realms of the devas and the Asura host declines. If this is so, then perhaps the are doing better these days!

Overcoming Jealousy and Possessiveness   Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames   Beyond Hatred  

♥ The Wheel of Life : The Six Realm (Heaven)

Those realms whose denizens are more subtle, longer-lived and enjoy greater pleasure than us humans are collectively referred to as Heaven. Rebirth in heaven is the result of performing meritorious actions, as for instance acts of generosity or kindness, while on Earth. There are numerous levels and stations within levels in these realms.

Broadly speaking, the Realms of Heaven may be divided into three levels. There are the Sensual Heavens （欲界）, the Fine-Material Heavens （色界） and the Immaterial Heavens （无色界）.

The Sensual Heavens are part of the kama-loka, the Plane of Sensuality which includes the human realm and the lower realms as well. The gods of the sensual heavens, known as devas, enjoy refined versions of the sense pleasures known to humans; food, sex, music, dancing and so forth. These gods live very long life spans, but they are not immortal. Also included in the sense-desire sphere are lesser deities that dwell bound to this earth, in big trees and other wild places.

The sensual heavens are six in number, in ascending order they are;

1. The Heaven of the Four Great Kings. These are the guardians and rulers of this world, and are perpetually at war with the asuras.
   
2. The Heaven of the Thirty-Three. This world is ruled by a pantheon of thirty-three gods and goddesses. This is the world of the Vedic gods, known to the west as the Olympians.
3. Yama Devas. The first realm which is completely beyond pain and negativity; the war with the Asuras never reaches this high.
4. Tusita Heaven. This is the realm where the Buddha to be spent his next-to-last lifetime. It is also the realm to which the Buddha went to teach the Abhidhamma. The beings here are of an especially refined and subtle nature.
5. The Heaven of Those who Delight in Creation. The deities here create wonderful palaces and gardens with the power of their minds.
6. The Heaven of Those who Delight in Other's Creations. These deities are too refined to bother with the messy work of creation, and dwell blissfully in mansions created by the lesser gods.

Beyond this realm we cross a threshold and come to a level beyond even the most refined sensuality. This is the realm of the Brahma gods; also called the fine-material realm. Beings here have fantastically long life-spans. They have no gender and take no material food. They are said to be self-luminous and to feed on bliss.

Even higher are the immaterial realms whose denizens are pure mind without any corporeal form whatsoever. Such beings cannot be said to occupy any definite location in space and exist as pure idea.

One interesting aspect of this Buddhist cosmology of the heavens is the gradual evolution towards more subtle and refined states of bliss. The lower levels of heaven enjoy quite worldly pleasures of music, dance, sexuality and feasting. These aspects become gradually refined as we move upward and are transcended altogether in the Brahma Realms which enjoy states of consciousness equivalent to the jhanas, or meditative absorptions. Their bliss is completely non-sensory in nature.

The other aspect to be noted is that no being in any of these realms is immortal. Even the Brahma Gods pass away after long ages and are reborn elsewhere. However, some of these beings are so long-lived that they falsely imagine themselves to be immortal.

Visions Unseen: Aspects of the Natural Realm   

Heaven: Heaven. Deva (Buddhism), Tian, Early Christianity, Heavenly sanctuary, Seventh-day Adventist eschatology, Jannah, Soteriology, Salvation, Plane (esotericism), Afterlife