This post discusses the Three Realms and Six Destinies of samsara, which are the possible places an unenlightened person undergoing cycles of rebirth can end up in.
Samsara (Chinese=輪迴/生死輪迴), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit and Pali, ‘wandering,’ viz., the ‘cycles of rebirth.'” Furthermore, there are two kinds of cycles of rebirth: paricchedajaramarana and parinamikajaramarana.
Paricchedajaramarana (Chinese=分段生死), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, “in Sanskrit, “determinative birth-and-death. This is samsara as experienced by ordinary sentient beings taking rebirth within the three realms of existence.”
Parinamikajaramarana (Chinese=變易生死), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “transfigurational birth-and-death.” Reserved for those who are enlightened, parinamikajaramarana means that “while such beings may then appear to be reborn, these rebirths are actually transfigurations of their mind-made bodies (Sanskrit=manomayakaya; Chinese=意生身), which may be manipulated at will to change their appearances or to extend their lifespans indefinitely.”
Traidhatuka (Chinese=三界), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, the ‘triple realm’ or ‘three realms [of existence];’ ‘the three realms of Samsara, in which beings take rebirth.'” The Three Realms include all the Six Destinations of rebirth.
Gati (Chinese=道/趣), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit and Pali, ‘destiny,’ ‘destination,”‘ or ‘bourne,’ one of the five or six places in Samara where rebirth occurs.” In ascending order of less suffering, the six destinations are where the hell denizens, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, and celestial beings reside. Sometimes, asuras are added between humans and celestial beings as the sixth destination.
In the following discussion of the Three Realms, only the Five Destinies will be discussed because the asura will not be.
The Three Realms
A) Sensuous Realm/Realm of Desire (Romanized Sanskrit=kamadhatu; Chinese=欲界).
According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, the Sensuour Realm is “in Sanskrit and Pali, ‘sensuous realm”‘ or ‘desire realm’; the lowest of the three realms of existence, so named because the beings there are attached to pleasure derived from the five sense organs (Romanized Sanskrit=Indriya; Chinese=根). The dominant force among beings born into this realm is therefore sensuality (Romanized Sanskrit = kama, Chinese = 欲), and especially the sex drive.”
Below, we discuss the Five Destinations of samsara in order from the most suffering beings to the least suffering, all of which fall within the Sensuous Realm.
1) Naraka (Chinese=地獄 [有情/眾生]), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, “are the denizens of the eight hot and cold hells, of which the lowest is the interminable hell (Romanized Sanskrit=avici, Chinese=阿鼻地獄/無間地獄).” At the bottom of the Sensuous Realm, those suffering in the interminable hell are the “most ill-fated of existences.”
“In Buddhist cosmology, there is an elaborate system of hells, and Buddhist texts describe in excruciating detail the torment hell denizens are forced to endure as expiation for the heinous acts that led to such baleful rebirths.”
“Buddhist hells are places of rebirth rather than permanent postmortem abodes; there is no concept in Buddhism of eternal damnation. The lifespans in the various hells may be incredibly long, but they are finite; once the hell denizen’s life span is over, one will be reborn elsewhere.“
2) Preta (Chinese=餓鬼), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddism, is, “in Sanskrit, lit. ‘departed one,’ or ‘ghost,’ typically translated into English as ‘hungry ghost.’ Ghosts are most commonly depicted as having distended abdomens and emaciated limbs, like a human suffering from extreme malnutrition. Some traditions also say that they have gullets the size of the eye of a needle, so they are never able to consume enough to satisfy their appetites. Pretas are said to have been reborn in their unfortunate condit on as a consequence of greed and avarice in a previous life.“
3) Tiryak (Chinese=畜生), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, ‘going horizontally’ (i.e., not erect), viz. animals. The category of animals includes both land and sea creatures, as well as insects. The specific kinds of suffering that animals undergo are frequently mentioned in Buddhist texts; these include the constant need to search for their own food while always seeking to avoid becoming food for others. Unlike humans, animals are generally killed not for some deed they have done but for the taste of their flesh or the texture of their skin. The possibility of achieving rebirth out of the realm of animal is said to be particularly difficult because of either the inevitable killing in which predators engage or because of animals’ constant fear of becoming prey: neither mental state is conducive to higher realms. Despite this difficulty, there are many stories in Buddhist literature of predators who have willed themselves to stop killing (the first of lay precepts) in order to create a karmic propensity that will be more conducive to rebirth out of the animal destiny.”
The three destinations mentioned above are collectively known as Durgati (Chinese=惡趣), which, according to the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, ‘unfortunate destinations.'”
In contrast, the term Sugarti (Chinese= 善趣), which, according to the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, in Sanskrit and Pali, ‘goog destinations‘” describes the human and celestial destinies.
4) Manusya (Chinese=人), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, ‘human.’ Human rebirth is considered a fortunate rebirth, unlike rebirth as an animal, ghost, or hell being. To achieve liberation from rebirth, human birth is considered the ideal state because a human being is not so beset by suffering that one is unable to practice the path (as are the animals, ghosts, or hell denizens) or so intoxicated by pleasure (as are the celestial beings) that one is disinclined to do so. According to the theory of Karman, rebirth as a human is the result of having performed a virtuous deed, such as keeping a vow, in a previous life. Among humans, some are more fortunate than others in terms of their access to the dharma and their opportunities for practice, described in a list of opportune births, such as a birth in a time and place where a Buddha exists and where one has the capability to understand his teachings. Rebirth as a human endowed with such prospects is said to be exceedingly rare and unlikely to occur again in the near future; therefore, every effort should be made either to achieve liberation in this lifetime or to accumulate the necessary merit to ensure rebirth as a human.”
5) Deva (Chinese=天), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit and Pali, lit., ‘radiant one’ or ‘shining one;’ a ‘divinity,’ ‘heavenly being,’ or ‘god.’ Furthermore, “rebirth as a deva is considered to be the beneficial result of vitruous actions performed in a previous lifetime, and all of the many heavenly realms in Buddhist cosmology are therefore salutary levels of existence. There are a total of twenty-seven [alt, twenty-six or twenty-eight] categories of devas, which are subdivided according to where their abode is located within the three realms of existence.”
Of the twenty-eight celestial realms, six of them exist in the Sensuous Realm, and they are:
- The celestial realm of the Assemblage of the Four Great Kings (Romanized Sanskrit=caturmaharajakayika; Chinese=四大天王);
- The celestial realm of Thirty-Three [devas] (Romanized Sanskrit=trayastrimsa; Chinese=三十三天/忉利天). The chief celestial being in the celestial realm of Thirty-three is Sakra (Chinese=釋提桓因/帝釋).
- The celestial realm of Yama (Chinese=夜摩天) is also known as Suyama (“where the seasons are always good“).
- The celestial realm of Tusita (Chinese=兜率天), also known as the celestial realm of the contented, was where the Bodhisattva Svetaketu (Chinese=白淨/白英) resided before descending to earth to be born as our historical Shakyamuni Buddha, and where the future Buddha, Bodhisattva Maitreya (Chinese=彌勒菩薩), currently resides.
- The celestial realm of “enjoying creations” or “enjoying emanations” (Romanized Sanskrit=Nirmanarati; Chinese=化樂天), where “male and female experience sexual pleasure without engaging in physical contact but merely by smiling at each other. The children produced from their union have the appearance of nine-year-old children at birth.”
- The celestial realms of “controlling the emanation of others (Romanized Sanskrit=paranirmitavasavartin; Chinese=他化自在天).” This realm is so named because the beings “there not only control their own emanations (as do the beings of the previous celestial realm), but also have the ability to control the emanations of other beings. They are the tallest and longest-lived of all celestial beings in the Sensuour Realm.”
B) The Realm of Subtle Materiality (Romanized Sanskrit=rupadhatu; Chinese=色界).
According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, rupadhatu is “in Sanskrit and Pali, ‘the realm of subtle materiality,’ or ‘form realm;’… the term is synonymous with rupavacara (Chinese=色界).” “This realm is divided into four meditative realms associated with four meditative concentrations of the subtle materiality realm.” “This realm is called the ‘subtle materiality realm’ because the beings are free of the desires of the sensuous realm yet retain at least some semblance of physicality, albeit extremely subtle, and have a vestigial attachment to form (Romanized Sanskrit = rupa, Chinese = 色).”
The four meditative realms are further segmented into eighteen celestial realms according to their level of meditative concentrations, as below:
i) The first set of dhyana celestial realm is for those who practiced the first meditative absorptions in the previous lifetime and consists of three levels:
- The celestial realm of “Brahma’s retainers” (Romanized Sanskrit = Brahmakayika; Chinese=梵眾天).
- The celestial realm of “Brahma’s ministers” (Romanized Sanskrit = Brahmapurohita; Chinese=梵輔天).
- The celestial realm of the “great Brahma” himself (Romanized Sanskrit = Mahabrahma; Chinese=大梵天).
According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Mahabrahma, “the inhabitant of the highest of the first dhyana celestial palace, presumed himself to be the creator of the world and father of all beings, but after being taught by Buddha, he subsequently realized how arrogant had been his misapprehension; he became Buddha’s follower and protector of his teachings, along with the four celestial kings and Sakra (Chinese=帝釋).“
This story is recorded in “The Sutra of MahaBrahma Asking the Buddha (Chinese=梵天請佛經).”
ii) The second set of the dhyana celestial realm is for those who practiced the second meditative absorption in their previous lifetime, and it also consists of three levels.
- The celestial realm of “lesser radiance” (Romanized Sanskrit=parittabha; Chinese=少光天)
- The celestial realm of “immeasurable radiance” (Romanized Sanskrit=apramanabha; Chinese=無量光天)
- The celestial realm of “ultimate radiance” (Romanized Sanskrit=abhasvaraloka; Chinese=光音天/極光淨天)
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According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, “the inhabitants of these celestial palaces lack olfactory and gustatory sense organs, and thus do not need to consume food but do possess the other sense organs of sight, hearing, and touch, as well as mentality.”
iii) The third set of the dhyana celestial realm is for those who practiced the third meditative absorption in their previous lifetime and consists of three levels also.
- The celestial realm of “lesser purity” (Romanized Sanskrit=parittasubha; Chinese=少淨天)
- The celestial realm of “immensurable purity” (Romanized Sanskrit=apramanasugha; Chinese=無量淨天)
- The celestial realm of “pervasive purity” (Romanized Sanskrit=subhakrtsna; Chinese=遍淨天)
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According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, the “inhabitants also possess only the mind organ and experience great joy.”
iv) The fourth set of the dhyana celestial realm is for those who practiced the fourth meditative absorption in the previous lifetime, and consists of the following nine levels.
- The “cloudless” celestial realm (Romanized Sanskrit=anabhraka; Chinese=無雲天)
- The celestial palace of the “merit born” (Romanized Sanskrit = punyaprasava; Chinese=福生天)
- The celestial palace of “great fruition” (Romanized Sanskrit=brhatphala; Chinese=廣果天)
- The celestial realm of “free from discrimination,” or “nonconceptual.” (Romanized Sanskrit=asamjnika; Chinese=無想天) （some considered it as non-Buddhist dhyana)
- The celestial realm that is “free from afflictions” (Romanized Sanskrit=avrha; Chinese=無煩天)
- The celestial realm that is “not burning” or “without torment” (Romanized Sanskrit=atapa; Chinese=無熱天)
- The celestial realm of the “perfect form” or “skillful manifestation” (Romanized Sanskrit=sudrsa; Chinese=善現天)
- The celestial realm of “perfect vision” (Romanized Sanskrit=sudarsana; Chinese=善見天)
- The “highest” celestial realm of Subtle Materiality (Romanized Sanskrit = akanistha; Chinese = 色究竟天)
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C) Immaterial Realm/Realm of Formlessness (Sanskrit=arupyadhatu; Chinese=無色界).
According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, arupyadhatu is “in Sanskrit, ‘immaterial,’ or ‘formless realm’, the highest of three realms of existence within samsara, along with the Sensuous Realm and the Realm of Subtle Materiality. The Immaterial Realm is composed of four classes of celestial beings whose existence is entirely mental, no longer requiring a body or even a subtle material foundation for their ethereal states of mind.”
These four classes of celestial beings of the Immaterial Realm are:
- The sphere of “infinite space” (Romanized Sanskrit=akasanantyayatana; Chinese=空無邊處天).
- The sphere of “infinite consciousness” (Romanized Sanskrit = vijnananantyayatana; Chinese = 識無邊處天).
- The sphere of “nothing whatsoever” or “absolute nothingness” (Romanized Sanskrit=akincanyayatana; Chinese=無所有處天).
- The sphere of “neither perception nor nonperception” (Romanized Sanskrit=naivasamjnanasamjnayatana; Chinese=非想非非想處天).
With six levels of celestial palaces in the Sensuous Realm, eighteen in the Subtle Materiality Realm, and four in the Immaterial Realm, Buddha enumerates twenty-eight levels of celestial palaces. It is worth noting that the two highest celestial spheres, the sphere of absolute nothingness and the sphere of neither perception nor nonperception, were what Buddha’s two gurus taught him when he was with them. In both cases, Buddha quickly picked up their teachings and abided by them. However, he rejected both gurus when they offered him leadership positions in their hermitages to teach. After abiding in these two meditative states, Buddha realized they were insufficient for liberation from samsara.
According to author Pankaj Mishra of the book An End to Suffering, Buddha felt that the meditation these gurus taught, “no matter how deep,” was “temporary, comfortable abiding, in the here and now.” However, “one emerges from them, even after a long session, essentially unchanged.” These states were “without a corresponding moral and intellectual development; they by themselves did not end suffering.“
Indeed, as Buddha teaches after his enlightenment, and as can be verified by the enlightenment experiences of Adyashanti and two monks from ancient China, these two realms are just shy of the necessary meditative state to be enlightened and be liberated from samsara.
However, enlightenment is not easy. Many have tried, and only a few have succeeded. Therefore, given that “among humans, some are more fortunate than others in terms of their access to the dharma and their opportunities for practice, described in a list of opportune births, such a birth in a time and place where a Buddha exists and where one has the capability to understand his teachings. Rebirth as a human endowed with such prospects is said to be exceedingly rare and unlikely to occur again in the near future; therefore, every effort should be made either to achieve liberation in this lifetime or to accumulate the necessary merit to ensure rebirth as a human,” every one of us born unenlightened in an era when Buddhism still exists must exert every effort “either to achieve liberation in this lifetime or to accumulate the necessary merit to ensure rebirth as a human.” Since Buddha teaches that Buddhism will one day disappear, one needs to do meritorious deeds to ensure rebirth as a human, such as making every effort to cultivate compassion, kindness, altruism, and helping others, while avoiding attachment to greed, hatred, foolishness, and other negative traits.
The future “you” will thank you for not getting them into the “unfortunate destinations.”
As the definition shows, the term Deva is often translated in the West as if it were a religious concept where divinities reside. However, Deva and Heaven are two different places. Not only are there no religious deities in deva, but deva also has features that religious followers may not desire for their heavens.
In contrast to religious heavens, the twenty-eight levels of the celestial realms are all impermanent. Neither do any superior-to-human divinities or anthropomorphic creators reside in the celestial realms, as Buddha’s lecture to Mahabrahma testifies. Buddha never claimed to be superior because all beings in Buddhism are equal. They differ only in the level of their enlightenment. However, all beings have the potential to be enlightened, just as the Buddha.
Most importantly, Buddha’s celestial realms are as illusional as the universe humans experience. It is a fact that the enlightenment of Grandmaster Yong Jia (Chinese=永嘉大師) can verify. As discussed earlier, the Grandmaster wrote the following in his Songs of Enlightenment (Chinese=證道歌), “While dreaming, the Six Destinies are obviously there, after enlightenment, everything is empty, including the Trichilicosm.” (Chinese=夢裏明明有六趣. 覺後空空無大千). In other words, the Grandmaster realized upon his enlightenment that the Six Destinies and “the largest possible universe,” which is the meaning of Trichilicosm, are all gone. The Six Destinies and the universe are both illusional.
Buddha makes that very clear in the Diamond Sutra, as he said:
“All conditioned phenomena (Romanized Sanskrit=dharma, Chinese=法) are like the illusions of dreams and shadows of bubbles (Chinese=一切有為法; 如夢幻泡影),
like dew and lightening, this is how to have insight into all phenomena (Chinese=如露亦如電, 應作如是觀.”)
Deva, being an unenlightened realm, is, like the universe, a conditioned realm. In fact, all the Three Realms and the Six Destinations are conditional realms. Therefore, they are all illusions.
Do religious believers desire their deities to be in a heaven that is illusional?
The Chinese translation of deva is celestial (Chinese = 天). Therefore, calling the denizens of deva “celestial beings” is preferred to “heavenly beings” to avoid some of the features of deva that may not be desirable to some religions.
However illusional though the Three Realms and Six Destinations may be, it is important to understand that as long as one is in one of them, whatever one experiences, whether extreme suffering in the baleful realms, bliss in the celestial spheres, or something in between that humans experience, they are real at the time you are in it, illusional though they may be.
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