Samsara is a Pali word which means the cycle of existences. It is based on life, death and rebirth and the chain of cause and effect. Because we die with desire, aversion and confusion we can't let go of life, this tenacity propels us into a new existence according to the quality of our heart at the time of death. This quality determines the quality of the next existence and so we may be reborn into a pleasant or unpleasant existence. We are reborn with a pre-existing disposition or inclination which explains why we all have an individual character right from birth. The Buddha fully understood the natural way that beings constantly perpetuate their own suffering from life to life. He taught that if we can completely purify the mind of selfish attachment we will be self-liberated and experience the peace and freedom of Nibbana (enlightenment), the cessation of suffering and the end of rebirth, the end of samsara.

       The Thirty One Planes of Existence as a subject is as vast as the universes themselves so please take this brief and simple description as merely an overview of Buddhist cosmology in layman's terms. This lecture was initially prepared for young students.
       Here existence means, life or living. Planes means realms, levels or worlds, places. In Pali we use the word Loka, it's the best word, the English words are not exactly right. Human beings like to put things in order so here is the order of the realms of all beings. We can say that these are not so much places as they are mental states. For example, if your mind is evil, nasty or unwholesome then you will live in or be reborn in a place of suffering, a hell realm. If you are honest, virtuous and your mind is quite pure, then you will live in or be reborn in a clean, beautiful and pure place, a heaven realm. This cosmology and natural "law" applies to all beings not just Buddhists.
       One thing that we should remember is that ALL of the beings living in all realms are impermanent, they don't live forever. Some beings in the heavens can live for aeons but once you die in one realm, you must be reborn, as another being unless you have attained to Nibbana which means that you don't have to suffer in or be reborn in any of these realms, you reach "non-existence".

NIRAYA - HELL

        Again, according to human nature, we like to grade things and so we usually put hell at the very bottom and we often think that hell is inside a volcano or under the ground or the ocean but it doesn't have any one place. Besides
there are about a billion solar systems so why does hell have to be under the ground on earth, it could be anywhere and the heavens could be anywhere too, not just up in the clouds. We should try to understand these realms, more as states of being, not places or up and down.
       Getting back to hell, Niraya is the worst place of all to be reborn. There is no happiness (sukkha) at all, only suffering (dukkha). In this life, if you do very harmful things, like killing with hatred, then your mind is negative, unwholesome. If you die with that state of mind, you will be reborn in a realm according to your temperament and join all the other negative minded beings where you will have to suffer for a long time, until your wicked mind becomes more clear again and you might be reborn in another realm. An important point here is that you are not punished by anyone, it's a natural process of cause and effect. Just as similar grains of sand gather to form a beach and birds of a feather flock together, so do evil beings naturally attract to and end up with other evil beings. The same natural "law" applies to all realms.

TIRACCHANA - ANIMALS

        The animal world is also not a pleasant place but often we think that it is. We look at birds flying in the sky and we say, "Ah, so beautiful, they are free and can go anywhere they want to." Flying is not as easy as it looks. Imagine putting a set of wings on and trying to take off, could you keep your arms out stretched for even 5 or 10 minutes? Birds do it for hours sometimes days! Besides, why are they flying around up there anyway? They're not doing it for fun, they're working. They're searching for food or something to build their nest with, looking after their kids, and looking out for danger. Birds and animals are always afraid that someone or something is going to get them, so they live with fear and worry.
       Animals lives are not so great, they have no choice but to search for food, fight and kill to stay alive. They must mark and guard their territory and then become hostile to intruders. We think that some animals are lucky, like house pets but are they really happy? Maybe they would prefer to be out in the wild or catching their own food, we don't know. I know that they are dependent upon us and when we go away, they fret and worry. I once met a man who said that he wanted to be reborn as a lion, king of the jungle. I said that lions have to kill for their food and fight the other lions to continue to be the king, it's not an easy life. Also, animals don't have many options in life, they are bound and restricted by their environments, their intelligence and instincts.

PETA - GHOSTS

        The next realm is that of the peta, often referred to as hungry ghosts. It is said that hungry ghosts have big, fat stomachs and tiny, little mouths. They are never satisfied, always hungry and can never get enough to eat. So if people are very greedy and don't practise dana (sharing), then they might become one of these beings. Sometimes people have pity for the petas because they can't do good deeds for themselves so they try to help them by doing good deeds and sharing the merits with them, particularly if they think that their departed relative may have been reborn as one.
       Generally speaking, ghosts are the humans who have a very strong attachment to human existence or a particular place and although they are dead, they can't leave. I think that friendly ghosts exist in this realm too, the ones who have lost their way. Or those who died suddenly and don't know that they're dead yet or who have "unfinished business" to do. For these "trapped" beings we can just do metta (loving kindness) for them to help them along, there's no need to be afraid of ghosts.

ASURA - DEMONS

        Asura demons or titans are powerful and warlike but it seems that they don't harm humans. Some people are afraid of these beings but few beings can go from one realm to another. We can't become an animal or just go and visit heaven or hell and come back again so neither can they, don't be afraid, be friendly.
       These four lower realms are unhappy or dukkha (suffering) realms. There is no chance to be good or to do good. When we do metta bhavana (loving kindness meditation) and we say, "May ALL beings be happy and peaceful, healthy and strong", it includes ALL of these beings too.

MANUSSA - HUMAN BEINGS

        The human world has a mixture of dukkha and sukkha but also, upekkha which means balance, neutral or equanimity. Humans can live very different lives. Some might be born in a poor village or country, without food, clean water, clothes, money etc., it's like hell on earth, all dukkha. We are average, we have good families, clothes, school, we're not rich, not poor and everything is OK. While some other people are reborn as a prince or princess and have the best of everything, very little dukkha and lots of sukkha, like heaven. Only in this human realm, there is pleasant and unpleasant, happy and unhappy, good and bad, and everything in between, therefore beings can only really understand the true nature of existence from the human realm. We can realise the imbalance of existence and restore the balance, particularly in our own mind.

DEVA LOKA - LOWER HEAVENS

        There are many different realms included in this group. In other religions when they talk about heaven, (only one), they are talking about this deva loka. Here, there is very little dukkha, it's mostly very pleasant. The beings here are not born as babies, they are already adults and they stay the same age until they die. There may be beautiful golden mansions with gardens and angels playing lovely music. Some people have physically or clinically died and they "left" their body (the rebirth process had already begun) and seen these heavens but meanwhile their body recovers and they have to "come back" to their body again, this is called a near death experience, it's not strange, it's natural. A person might end up in these realms by following their religion correctly. Buddhists who practise a little bit of dana (sharing), sila (morality) and bhavana (meditation), particularly metta (loving kindness) bhavana may be reborn in the deva loka.

BRAHMA LOKA - UPPER HEAVENS - GODS

        In Buddhism, we don't say that there is just one God but we say that there are many gods, in many godly realms. Buddhists don't pray or worship any of these beings. Remember, that it is very rare that beings can go from one realm to another, in the same way, the gods don't rule over humans, they rule over the heavens. Most religions teach that there is one God who made everything and is the ruler of all. An explanation for this may be; once, a Brahma (god) died and re-appeared in the deva loka and the devas (angels) thought that he was the creator God, and when asked, he said "Yes I am God". Then one deva was reborn as a man and when he practised concentration meditation, he could remember his past life as a deva so he told everyone, "I am a descended angel, I've seen God in heaven he is eternal and all powerful, if we pray to him he will save us and we can all go back to heaven and live in eternal peace." The Gods and divine beings still have pride and ego, they're not enlightened and so they like to have large retinues, even humans. Thus religions form around the belief that there are eternal and omnipotent beings that created and rule over everything and everyone. Buddhists don't live in the shadow of or obey any other beings with selfish pride. Everyone has the power to become enlightened which is greater than mere godly status.
       The beings in the heaven realms have very fine material bodies, they can go anywhere, they just think about where they want to be and they are already there, like in our imagination or in a dream. Do you see why heaven is so popular? If we want to go somewhere, we have to take this heavy body with us and we have to walk or run, take a car or an aeroplane, that's dukkha.

ARUPA LOKA - FORMLESS REALMS

       These are the most pure of them all. Arupa means no-bodily form at all, these beings have only mind, no body. If you have no body, then you have no physical dukkha. Life here is very pleasant but it's extremely long and when you die you have to be reborn again, boring. One may be reborn in such a realm by practising strong and deep absorption concentration meditation techniques known as jhana in Pali. These states are very pure and light and having become adept at entering into these states one may, upon death, choose to die in this state and be reborn in such a realm.

       All of this information is not really important if you want to attain enlightenment, it's just an interesting subject that many people like to philosophise over but Buddhism is not merely a philosophy it is a practice, a blueprint for happiness. Meditation is the way to become enlightened and to achieve the goal of the Buddhist teaching.

Related articles for further reading selected by the Course Organizer:

           Of Gods and Men, Francis Story, 1961,

           Four Planes of Existence: Chart, by Nibbana.com

(Next Week: "Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta")

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