Six Realms of Existence | |||
is Wheel of Life is an unique and superb representation of Samsara, the world of Birth and Death, in it all kinds of living beings exist and are classified into six types. Samsara is held between the jaws of the King of Demons, Mara, who at empts to rule the mind of mankind and holding them in a state of delusion. Within the spokes of the Wheel the Six Realms or Karmic Destinations, which is known as Cyclic Existence, can be seen. Cyclic existence is beginingless which means that each being has lived countless lifetimes and as such there is no being who has not been his mother or father at one existence or another. Buddhism therefore teaches that every being is in fact a kind mother being who has, in the past, shown great love, kindness and protection to each one of us and that we should in turn be ready to repay them with similar acts of kindliness. is is a very important aspect of Buddhist practice that will help one to de- velop compassion and the mind of enlightenment. he ix ealms of xistence e Realm of the Devas or Gods is the happiest state as those who dwell there enjoy continual pleasure and sensual delight, mitigated only by the fact that they too must eventual y die and pass on to the other states once their karmic forces die out. Birth into this realm is mainly due to one having lived virtuously and generously towards others. e Realm of the Asuras is populated by `jealous gods' or Demi- gods' who should be as happy as the Devas, but their minds are clouded with anger and envy over the bet er fortunes of the Devas. A close look at the picture wil reveal that there is a tree growing from this realm to that of the Devas. is is a `wish- fulfil ing tree' whose fruits and flowers can fulfil every desire which they are unable to get hold of. is causes them great frus- tration, anger and jealousy and they therefore constantly wage wars against the gods to claim the fruits of their tree. However they are always defeated because the gods are far more powerful due to their karmic legacy. Despite being a heavenly realm the Asuras live in great suffering due to the delusion of anger and jealousy. e suffering is further increased by their being born with monstrous looks while their women are exquisitively beau- tiful. is situation causes their females to yearn for the love of the handsome gods and rejecting their own advances. Life in this realm is always fil ed with quarrels, fighting and great violence. e Human Realm is where we are. It is fil ed with the ups and downs of life and we should be grateful for these conditions to be around. ey bring about the awareness of the bliss of happiness and the misery of suffering and therefore become the very causes that lead to spiritual practice. It is therefore the most fortunate realm to take rebirth into, the world where one is able to listen to the Dharma and practise it to attain Buddhahood. In the heav- enly realm the Gods are far too happily engrossed with their pleasures to bother about further cultivation while the Asuras are too much affected by anger, jealousy and dissatisfactions of their existence. ose who are born into the lower or suffering realms are too concerned with their pains and survival to think about spiritual practice or enlightenment. Hell beings only await the exhaustion of their karma to end their indescribable suffer- ings while the Ghosts or Pretas are total y distorted by the deep frustrations to satisfy their unsatisfied passions. Animals, while suffering less, are born stupid due to the result of their wil ful ignorance and are therefore unable to derive any benefit from Dharma. ey live only by instinct and must face a daily reality of searching for food or mate, and kil ing or be kil ed. One's life thus move in endless cycles within these Six Realms of Gods, Asuras, Human Beings, Animals, Hungry Ghosts and Hell Beings so long as Ignorance is not uprooted and Enlighten- ment gained. In the centre of the Wheel is seen the ree Animals which rep- resent the ree Poisons or Root Causes of an unenlightened ex- istence. e Rooster represents passionate desire and attachment, the Green Snake represents hatred, emity and aversion, and the Boar represents the darkness of ignorance and ego-delusion, the blind urge that drives beings round and round in the unend- ing circle of births and deaths. ey are depicted as biting each other's tails, linking in such a way that they too form a circle be- cause Greed, Anger and Delusion condition each other and are inseparably connected. We must learn to recognise these poisons as the forces that control our quality of life and take proper steps to quell and remove them. How we perform in each life is de- pendent on these root causes, the result of which is quite clearly depicted by the figures of the outer rim of this hub -- Virtuous ¡ûBACK¡û |INDEX| ¡úNEXT¡ú |