189: Thirty-one Planes of Existence

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SPEAKER_00 0:02

Namo tasabhagavato rahato samma sambu dasa nammo tasabhagavato rahato samma sabudasa nammo tasabhagavato rahato samma sabudasa Tirabara Buddhism series Dhammatok number twelve Today's topic is thirty-one planes of existence Buddhist cosmology from the Buddhist point of view all beings all living beings they are caught in the cycle of birth and death called sansara. It's very hard to escape from it. And during that endless cycle of birth and death, beings were reborn at a different places based on their own actions. And these thirty-one planes or thirty-one different rums are where all the beings were reborn. So it is good for us to know the planes or the rums that one can be reborn based on our own actions. Nobody is deciding which plane to be born, but it is our actions, good or bad, direct us to these planes. So there are thirty-one planes of existence. And these thirty-one planes are divided into three divisions. One division is karma loka sensephere. Another division is rupa loka form sphere. And the third is a rupa loka, formless sphere or mind only sphere. Three divisions. The first division is called karmatloka sphere of senses. When we say senses, all five senses are in operation eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body. Of course, thought or consciousness understood. So all these five senses are in full operation and there are thirty one sorry eleven planes or eleven rums or eleven walls in it. Sivided into three again. The first one is four woeful states. In other words, they are four different planes, four different rums at the bottom. And the next one is human. It's only one by itself, human rum. So five. So five plus one plus six, sorry, four plus one plus six, eleven. Eleven planes of existent. These planes have all five senses in full operation. So let's see. Each subgroup is. Those are the main mental states that are arising in those plains. Full, woeful planes. And in there, else we say full, the first one right from the bottom is called Niriah. English equivalent is hell. But it's not like uh hell where one need to or one have to stay for eternity. One is reborn in hell, and whatever the unwholesome karma you have done, you have to stay there. So in other words, like a jail sentence. If you are sentenced for fifty years, you have to stay fifty years. And after that, all those unwholesome actions or karma one has done is all burned up and they will die in hell and reborn in a better plane. Because we have both good and bad karmas. It's endless amount. So the good karma, due to good karma, one will be reborn in a little better existence. That's hell from the Buddhist hell. And just for general information, there are five uh there are eight levels of hell based on intensity. The lowest one is awichi, like a maximum security prison. And then the more it goes up and up and up to number one, it is less restricted. Based on that, intensity of suffering is divided into eight. And again too, based on the severity of the unwholesome actions one had done in the past, brings you there. There are five, it's mentioned in the scripture. If you committed these five, it's a serious karma and it is hundred percent sure you'll be reborn in hell. One is killing parents, your father and mother. And then killing arhat, which is the highest level of noble person. And then killing Pichika Buddha or say not killing, hurting, harming Pichika Buddha. Let's call it junior Buddha. They are totally unlikely like the Buddha we know, except that they don't preach to the world. And then also hurting and harming a Buddha. You can't kill them by hurting them. And the fifth one is trying to split into various groups or fashions among the Sangha, among the monks of bhikkhus, so that they cannot be united. If one has committed one of these five, surely one will be reborn in hell. Of course, there's a lot of uh stories and hot iron and fire and oil and and so forth and so fold and in a big iron box. Those are the descriptive expressions so that we could understand. It is not built with the exact steel reinforced iron box, and inside there there's fire going, lava's flowing, oil boiling, and all the beams were like sardines. It's described in there so that we could understand, so that we could feel it, the severity of it. And of course there's a lot of paintings drawn. These are artists' rendition, the way they're perceived how hell is and they draw. And with centuries and centuries, some people believe that's how it looks. So keep that in mind. It's the constant states of intense suffering, intense stress. And you have to suffer these through, you can't die, even though there might be a ten million degrees centigrade, your body is not destroyed till your karma is exhausted. But you suffer. So there are many stories, but we won't go into details. So that is hell. Ni re N I R A Y A Ni Re The Lowest, the toughest one is Avi Chik. A V I C I A V Chik. And also going to hell is not somebody is punishing you because you're bad, you go to hell. Not that way. It is your own action. Okay, let's say one. Your mindset, your mindset is it's always in the state of intense torture, cruelty, killing. That's your mindset in this life. You kill a lot and you enjoy that killing. You are cruel, not only just simply kill, you're cruel, you torment people. And you love it, you like it. In other words, even though you are a human, your mindset is like that. You are apart from the rest of the human race. That is the mindset you are developing. That is the kind of consciousness arising in you. And when one person dies with that kind of consciousness, that person will be reborn in niriya, hell. Because that is where most of that kind of mindsets and consciousness arises. So that's how rebirth takes place. That's how one went to hell. It's not a punishment, it's not somebody is ordering and sentencing you, a judge is sentencing you. Your own mindset takes you there. That is very important. We show this one, but same thing, the mindset we built, we repeat so often in this life. We are directing ourselves to the type of existence will be reborn. Next is Drichana, in other words, the realms of the animals. When we say animals, it is every living being that we can see with our human eye. Let's put it that way. Our human eyes, we have a certain range of materiality we can see. So we can see four-legged animals, two-legged animals, no-legged animals, snakes, many-legged spiders, we can see fish and all sorts assorted in the sea. We can see some insects, worms, anything that we see, that we let's call it English word, we just use animal kingdoms. Pali word is strichana. You were reborn there. And that's not a desirable place to be reborn, just like hell. Because most animals, they engage their life, always searching and hunting for food. Constantly, every day, you have to go out look for food. You don't have a superstore. And you may or may not get it. Whether another animal or whether some grasses, green grasses, you don't know whether it's a drought, always struggling for food to stay alive. And also fighting for food to stay alive. Fighting for mating. So that you have whatever that little pleasure that brings about during the mating. Illusion of pleasure. And always you are in a state of fear for life, except for the top predators. State of anxiety and worry. That's animal kingdom. And the third one is called Beta. English translation is hungry goals. Hungry goals is the closest to the human realm, closest in the sense of beings that we cannot see. Animal kingdom is even though they are two different realms, it's on the same plane. We human and the animal live on the same plane and we can see each other, one another. Hungry ghosts we can't. The rest of the realms we cannot see with our eyes. But hungry ghosts run. Sometimes we cross paths, sometimes a sense of their existence. Sometimes people say they see ghosts. That's hungry ghosts. And these are the reason is when humans died. Some humans are very attached to their property or to their family or something in an extreme grasping upadana to the point of obsession. And when they die, they cannot let go of that attachment so strong. In their mind, they still believe they are alive. So there's a in Tiravara tradition, there's a one tradition is one system is that whenever our beloved departed, we offer food and generosity, charity, alms to monks and people and so on. In memory of them and share our merit. The merit that we do is for us. You can't share with anybody. What you did is what you get. What somebody does is what somebody gets. They cannot get it. But by sharing merit and if they happen to, the key word is if they happen to hear it or feel it or sense it, they can rejoice in the act of generosity and charity. They rejoice it, they feel happy, simply put. And when they rejoice, when they feel happy, they call it anumordana. Buddhist word is. Asura is an interesting Ram. The closeless I would draw in from the West is the fallen angels. The fallen angels. But they are warlike, angry easily, and they are always in a state of conflict among themselves. Don't worry about these asura. They don't come and bother you or disturb you. They live their own runs and they have their own conflicts and affairs. They are quite busy among themselves. It said long, long time ago, there was a war bridge between this asura and the current residents of the one of the Dewar Ram, Dava Dingsa. It was mentioned in the Jaga Sutta, discourse on crest banner and flags. From there we had a glimpse how Asura fights with the Deva from the 31 Gods plane. And also their structure. And also they have their own organization, they have their own structure, hierarchy, ruler, subject. Those are the little glimpses we get from the scriptures or from the sutra. How Dewa and Asura was alike. So those are the four woeful planes. Lowest one hell. Second lowest, hungry ghost. Third, animal. Fourth is Asura. Four woeful plains. A plains that is not desirable to be reborn. And number five is Manusa, human Ram. According to the Buddhist Buddhist teaching, it is very, very rare to become a human. To be reborn as a human. But some people argue human races growing from a billion now to seven billion. Where are they coming from? So easy to be human. Yeah, if you only look at that number, yes. But look at it in terms of the universe. Forget about the universe. Just look at the insects run. A hive of bees, a hill of ants. They have millions and millions and millions, and that one or two square foot. Amount and numbers of fish and creatures in the sea, countless. And if you look at the ratio, we are nothing. Not only that, we are talking only about this, in the whole universe, there's a hell rams. There's a dewa rams. In the hell rams, they are endless because Buddha said hell ram is the most frequented Rams that we do. We are only a guest in a human realm. And Devas. That much. So compared to that, our humans are very, very scared. And there's a reason too. Because human realm is the only realm where both pleasure and suffering exists. Pain and pleasure. You can experience both. And based on that, people who want to walk out can climb out of it. And we have the enough brain capacity. Enough brain capacity to enlighten, to go as far as we can. Now science proved that we have only used only about five or ten percent, I think. I could be wrong, but just around there of the capacity of the brain we are using. Let's say ten percent. Imagine what the the remaining 90% scan takes you to what level. So that's human. We are still in the sense sphere so far, five. And the remaining six is Dewar Ram. In a Dewar Ram, they are born instantly, fully grown, they don't grow all. Fully developed, fully grown, they don't grow old. Only when they are about to die. It said there are five signs. The clothes that they wear become wrinkled, they sweat. And also they have a very lovely smell. Body smell is very lovely. That smell, lovely smell starting to faint, and they become restless. Restless mind coming. Even though when they are sitting, they become jittery. And the devas, in one way, they are called the beams of lights. Their radiance began to faint. Those are the five sins that they are about to die. And only then they realize that they are not permanent, they will die. Before that, they have no idea, no clue, just enjoying life. Because they never grow old, so they don't think anything is creeping up on them. And at that time it's a great shock and suffering. And they die. And based on the karma, they will be reborn somewhere. That is Dewaram. There are six planes, and the lowest of the Dewaram is called the Plains of the Four Kings. Stu Maharaja. Stu is full Maharaja is great kings. And that plane is at Naga, something like something like dragons or big birds, Gandaba, Yakat, something like a giant and great celestial musician. And also three. Spirits of various ethical quality. Those lives in that plane. And in that plane is directly connected with our earth. It's on this earth, on the ground. But we cannot see them because they have a different let's call it atomic boding bonding for their bodies, which is out of face from us. That's uh the lowest plane of Dewa. Davading Davading. Da is a Burmese sounding. Davatimsa. I think Pali. That's a second Dewa Ram. That Ram is a we call it 31 Gods Ram. There are 31 powerful gods. Under them, there's a lot of followers and attendants. Who is ruled on top by the king of Dewa called Sakha? This king, Sakha is the devotee of Buddha. So in other words, there's a lot of Buddhists in that realm. Buddhist Dewa in this realm. Not necessarily everyone, but a lot. Because the king themself is a Buddha's devotee. Let's say if a country here, this is the Catholic country. Majorities are Catholic. That's a Protestant country. Majority are Protestant. This is the Islamic country. Mostly are Muslim. But there are exceptions, of course. The same rules. And these beings live in a great mansions in the air. It's not connected with earth now. In the air. Great mansions. That's a second Dewa Ram. The third one is called Yama. Yama is they live, these Dewa live in the air. Free from all difficulties. I think the lower one is even though they are in the air, they have a mansion. So there's a some base. But this Yama, they are free of difficulties, but still in the air. Didn't describe much from that Ram. And another one above that's called Tusita. T-U-S-I-T-A. Tusita. It's translated as contented Deva. In this Ram all the Devas are quite contented. When you're contented, what happened? You're happy. Contented Deva or always happy Dewa. And they live contented and with pure delights. This one is interesting because in the scripture it stated, bodhisattva, Buddha to be, a person who is trying to become a Buddha. He was and he will be reborn in that Ram. One life before he became or he becomes a fully enlightened Buddha. Let's say Buddha Gautama. Before he became a Buddha Gautama, he was a Deva at that Ram, two Sita. Our next coming Buddha is named Rimitya or Mitriya, some call it. Right now he is living, he's alive in this two Sita Ram as a Dewa. When the right time comes, he will die from there and will be reborn in the human realm. Human realm is the only one that you can climb up and you can climb down. You have a free choice. That's human Ram, very special Ram. All Buddhas, they become Buddhas only in the human Ram. Okay. So this is the two Sita, number four, highest Dewar Ram. Number five. Nimarati. Nimanarati, I believe. It's a little difficult for me to pronounce. In Pali, my sounding is like a Burmese. These Devas delight in their own creation, which means they can create anything they want. Whatever they imagine, they can create it. And they take the lights and the object that they created. More like a great artist. Whatever their mind imagined, they created. On that object, they take the lights in it. They likes it, they enjoyed it. That is the number five. Number six is Burina Mita. It's a power over the other creations. And these dewa they don't have to even create for themselves. They can get anything that anybody creates. And he is always tempting in the scripture the Arahat to be, Buddha to be any holy person who is going to go forth beyond. He always tried to tempt so that they won't follow that. That's why he had a great battle with the Buddha before Buddha became the fully enlightened Buddha. He's on his own on that plane. But there's a overlord, of course. So those are the six Dewar Rams in short. And the next one is Rupa Ram. Fine material Rams. So it's a little confusing, but that's how it's stated. That's how it is. Sense Ram also have a form, material form, but they don't call it. But they emphasize with the five senses. Four five senses are operating. And this Brahma Ram, which is the 16 Rupa Ram, they still have the body. But they are called form. But their material is so fine, even the Deva cannot see it. Even the Dewa cannot see these Brahma or Rupa Ram beings. So fine. Until and unless they wish to show themselves. That's fine. Just like we can't see the Dewa and the same thing Dewa can't see these beings. Sixteen of them. And these sixteen Rams are divided according to the Jhanic power one has attained in the human realm. They go up to those places from the human realm. To Dewa Ram, you can go there by doing generosity and morality. Dana and Sila. But Dana and Sila cannot take you to this fine material, form Ram or Brahma Ram. Only the deep meditation can take you there. Meditation, Samata meditation. So these Rams are divided according to the jhana one attain. People who are master in the first jhana were reborn in the first three Brahma planes. I will start with the third Brahma Ram from the bottom. The third Brahma Ram is called Mahabrah. In other words, great Brahma. They are so powerful and they live so long they believe they are the creator, destroyer, and they are eternal. In other words, they are the king, Brahma kings. That is the third Ram. And the second lower people, the Lua is, I won't say Paliwarts is too confusing. It is the Brahma who are ministers and advisors to the great Brahma, the Brahma King. That is the second. And the first and the lowest Brahma Ram is the followers and attendants, musicians, entertainers, entertaining Brahmas. So those are the first three Rams. You can get there, reborn there based on the mastery on the first jhana, and the plane spirited based on their previous wholesome karma as well. But it is said all these three planes, all these three Rams are in the same plane. Just like we human, animals, and insects are on the same plane of earth. We are different Rams, same plane of earth, human, animals, fish, insects. Just like that, these Brahma, three Brahma Rams are on the same plane, but they have this different status and power. So the first three Brahma Rams. Requirement, first jhana. And the second three Brahma Rams, five, six, and seven. Requirement is mastery of the second jhana. Five, six, and seven. And these beings are called again divided into three levels. They are defined with their radiance. Their bodies, the radiance, limited radiance, unbounded radiance, and streaming radiance. Of course, limited is number four, unbounded is number five, streaming is number six. So so far we cover six Brahma Rama or six great beings. And the next three is seven, eight, and nine. Requirement is mastery of the third jhana. And this six, seven, and seven, eight and nine is defined with glory. English word glory. Again, limited glory. Unbounded glory eight. Streaming glory. So we cover three Brahmarans based on the three level of jhana. Now the next one. The next one is only two rums. Of course, you know by now the requirement is fojana. You must become very skillful with the fourth jhana. Two rums. And that one is explained or defined as very fruitful Ram. And here fruitful means in Pali is called Pala, fruition. Whatever their Jhanic they have practiced, there's a result. That result, they are always in the state of that result. Fruitful. Or in other words, they are always in the state of the Jhanic bliss. Of the fourth Janic bliss. Always in there, that nothing else. That's it. And they are called or let's call it ordinary, fourth Janic Brahma. We call it ordinary because there is another kind of Brahma in there with a fourth Janic level. It's called mindless being. Because when in a human life they consider the minds give you a lot of suffering. So they practice meditation to eliminate the mind. So when they die, they were reborn as a body-only being without the mind. That's a very interesting concept. So those are the two result out of the fourth jhana. So altogether, eleven so far. And then there's the another five Rams. Another five Rams. And these five Rams are separated out from the first two. That ordinary Brahma and the body-only being. Because those two are also for jhana. These five Rams are also requirements for jhana. But the exception, the special case is in this one, only the Ariya, noble person. And even the anirya is anagami, non-returner, and arahata.

unknown 48:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

Arahan. Only those noble person are reborn there, exist there. You might be an arahan and you will be born as a die as an arahan and born as an arahan and then sorry not die. You live there in the human world, attain anagami, once returner, and they die with anagami, and they are reborn in this five plane as the anagami brains. So only for the Ariya Nagami. And they live very, very long, and in there they live and they practice and they die from one plane and reborn in another asagami, or they die in one plane as Nagami and reborn as an arahat, or in there in one of the plane they become arahat. And when finally when they die as an arahat, they escape from the sansara. Ramsa very pure, they call it pure aboard. Requirement is the fourth jhana plus anagami once returnal status to be reborn there. So those are sixteen Brahmara. Sixteen Brahmara. And in those planes, okay, they don't need to eat substance. So in general, let's call it they have no mouth and eye. Or they don't smell, no nose. But they have ears. And they have ears to hear the Dharma of the Buddha, it was said. So all the five senses are not in full operation. And also on all these Brahma Ram, they are neutral gender. It is neither male nor a female, neutral in gender. In Dewa Ram, there's a male and female. Because they are one to enjoy full senses. And here they live in bliss. Instead of food, they live in bliss. Bliss is the energy nutriment. They are not bothered by much. And the next one is the highest one. The highest is called Aruparram, full aruparram. In other words, without the body, mind only beings. My only being is I'll make it very simple. In the human world one practice and attain the fifth jhana. The fifth jhana is you have to practice the meditation object is not material, not rupa. It's immaterial meditation object. The first one is akasa space. Space is a meditation object. And if one master that using meditation object as a space and attain fifth jhana, you are reborn in the this arupa. The lowest of the four space. And they keep on practicing. What do I have to do? What it is is they focus, the meditation object is the consciousness that know the space. That is the meditation object. Consciousness that know the space. And if you master that, you are born in that second aruba ram, formless Ram. And then third one. Once you have mastered the space and consciousness, you begin to observe on the object. The consciousness becomes the object. You observe and observe and observe till the consciousness totally disappears. So when it is disappeared, what happened? There is nothing left. The void. So that Brahma Ram is called Nothingness Ram. Brahma Ram. And the fourth and the highest sphere of neither perception or non-perception. That is the object, neither perception or non-perception. You are totally floating in between, I guess. I'm just guessing. Those are the four realms defined by the difference in meditation object. One is the sphere of infinite space. Another one is the sphere of infinite consciousness. And the third one is sphere of nothingness. And the fourth one is sphere of neither perception nor non-perception. For altogether thirty-one planes of existence. So if you want to go direct to nibbana, the end of all suffering, the end of birth and death, practice vipassana. If you want to go to the Brahma prayings, practice meditation, samatha meditation. If you want to go to the Dewa Rams, do a lot of generosity and morality, lift these sins, give, share. If you want to be reborn in the human realm, dana sila bhavana. Generosity morosity as as well as mental development. And when you're practicing, you have to dedicate. Whatever you practice, you dedicate it to what you wish. Some people wish for Dewaram, some people wish for Brahma Ram. Some for Brama Ram with form, some for Brahma Ram without form. And in the human too, you can dedicate it to be reborn as a human so that you can keep on practicing the Dharma. If you dedicate it in your mind, that's the basically you are knocking the door. Knocking the door. If you knock the door, the door will open. If you don't knock it, any door can open. Of course, we won't dedicate it to the full woeful planes. As long as you do unwholesome actions, the door for the full woeful plane is open. So we as human have choices. First of all, we must know what the choices are. Secondly, we must know what to do to have the choice that you want. And thirdly, we can do it. Simply just do it. Human Ram, according to the Buddha, is the best Ram to be reborn. May all of you be able to practice Satipattana Vipassana, mindfulness inside meditation, and may you be able to attain nibana as soon as possible. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu. Thank you very much.