Layers & Levels Chapter Three
Introducing the Six Realms of Samsaric Existence
"As we go along from moment to moment, day to day, life to life, awareness and our thoughts keep shaping the life we lead. Cumulatively, the effect is tremendous. We can create for ourselves a tunnel lined with rags and deprivation or an open world of wealth and genuine communication - dark worlds, bright worlds, moderate worlds - so many different worlds can be created based on karma 1 we keep creating through our thoughts and projections." 2
"Big fleas have little fleas
upon their back to bite 'em;
And little fleas have smaller fleas
and so ad infinitum" 3
From non-materialist philosophy, and as part of continuing to draw the inner swirl of a Vortex Logo wherein we muster initial vocabulary and perspective, in this Chapter we now explore a little non-material cosmology.
Below is something written thirty years ago for an almost published book entitled ‘When the Iron Bird Flies’ 4, intended as an introduction to Buddhism for younger readers. The entire section, wherein each of the Six Realms gets its own chapter and is treated in a somewhat imaginative way, is linked here. (If I say so myself, it’s worth reading!) The following excerpt introduces the topic.
The Buddha noticed that everything arises, lasts for a while, and then goes away. Everything. Whether you believe in a solid, permanent ego or not, it still works that way from birth, to living and through to death. Each thought or feeling is that way too. It arises, it goes along for a while and then something else comes up - perhaps you suddenly fall off your bicycle - or a pterodactyl lands in your lap! The key word here is 'everything': people, flowers, buildings, bees, love affairs, football games, breakfasts, lunches, picnics, moods, moments, conversations, dinosaurs, planets, stars and solar systems. Everything. This is a simple but also profound point. The very last statement that the Buddha uttered before dying was: "whatever comes together falls apart."
Egos also seemingly arise, dwell and then cease. According to the Buddha, sentient beings - those beings who are alive, who feel things, who are born, live and then die - dwell for a while in the following worlds, or realms, known as the Six Realms, one of which is the Human Realm. These realms too arise, dwell and then cease no matter how real and permanent they might feel. They are the living dreams in which we play out our lives. We mentioned passion, aggression and ignorance as being perhaps the driving force behind evolution. From the point of view of the teachings which follow, the realms are the many dramas they direct and produce, the creative force which results in the endlessly ongoing cycle of birth, dwelling and dying.
These Six Realms of Existence are a description of where we find ourselves now as human beings. They can be regarded as a scientific definition of the external world, 5 but it is not necessary to do so. If you find the following descriptions of the hell or god realms unbelievable, that is fine. In fact - and this is definitely the most helpful way to look at them - they also describe the six main emotional states that we go through as humans, day after day, mood after mood, moment after moment.
The Buddha's teachings help us to understand and really appreciate our human-ness rather than encourage us to 'transcend' it. As you will see, the main saving grace about being human is that we have such a broad range of experience. The palette with which each of us paints our lives offers a complete range of emotional states leading from hell to heaven and back again. Indeed, it is said that humans are the only beings who taste all six; that is what is so special about them, since only in a realm where you are not completely stuck do you have a chance to wake up out of the dream.
However, all is not rosy. It is said that all of these realms are part of the 'Realm of Desire'. The problem with desire is that it creates an endless cycle, or self-perpetuating loop, of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Before you get what you want you have a sense of need, which is also a form of insecurity. After it is over, you again feel insecure and want something else. So there is constant need and alternation between satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Simply put, these six realms are descriptions of various levels of intensity from the most subtle, mental, exquisite and pleasurable to the most intense, solid, excruciating and painful. Although somewhat a factual description of our world, their main service is to point out the endlessly cyclic nature of our minds and experience. For example, your household may be somewhat stuck in one type of realm or atmosphere, and then you go off to school which is another; then you have a jolly meeting with a group of friends and that is yet another. They can be described and experienced separately, but, like primary colours, they can mix themselves one with the other to create endless combinations.
In the title to this chapter, you might have noticed the word samsaric, which comes from samsara. Samsara literally means 'journeying', but in this context it also means 'cycle of existences'. It is as if we are on a spinning wheel. Sometimes we are on top and everything is fine and heavenly, but then, gradually or suddenly, we are going deeper and deeper down and everything is negative or hellish. It is constant. It never stops. The Hindu beliefs were that if one did good deeds, one could end up on top of the heap and stay there forever, which is similar to beliefs about heaven in so many other traditions. What the Buddha discovered was that because all states of mind are impermanent you cannot find a permanent resting place even in a trance or god realm; sooner or later you have to come down again, which is why it is described as a spinning wheel rather than a one-way ladder going up to heaven.
By cutting through the chains of desire that bind us to the constant craving for experience, we get off this wheel altogether. But that is later on. First, we need to examine our spinning journey on the wheel. Just for fun, let's start at the bottom...
We will doubtless encounter this Six Realms later on, but at this point in the Series they serve simply as another initial example of Layers and Levels, in this case at more psychological and emotional levels. The picture above is linked to a public domain article with a traditional explanation. Here follows my own brief description of each realm:
Hell Realm: one of extreme pain, as intense as can be imagined and then some. There are two types of hell: hot and cold, burning or freezing. Traditionally depicted as one of unending torture with Hell Realm Guards whipping, slicing, burning, boiling, severing limbs, poking out eyeballs, ramming hot metal rods up various orifices and so forth. Every day you wake up it starts all over again, except of course in Hell you never get a minute off: each hour feels like a decade and each year an eternity. No rest for the wicked!
Hungry Ghost Realm: pretas have huge bellies but mouths only the size of pin holes; even if they do find water, they cannot slake such intense thirst through such tiny mouths! No matter how much they have of anything desirable they want more, though most of the time they desperately crave what they don’t or cannot have feeling its lack. So they are always thirsting, questing, yearning, craving, complaining, moaning, depressed, addicted. They live in a constant state of restless dissatisfaction, yearning for better experiences which never come but even if they do either they are soon disappointing or, if satisfying, they are immediately desperate to hold onto the experiences lest they slip away, which means they miss out on any fleeting pleasure for fear of losing it and are thus dissatisfied and disappointed all over again – and again – forever ghosts of the person they really want to be.
Animal Realm: Animals perform according to the specifications of their genetic design, making for a cornucopia of extraordinary productions – butterflies, tigers, peacocks and so on. Birds can navigate thousands of miles across oceans with nary a landmark; insects construct entire cities. Some creatures deep under the ocean live for centuries, others, like certain moths, for only twenty four hours, all following their genetic programming. So even though they can do so many incredible things in so many incredible bodies, it all ends up being somewhat mechanical, habit-driven and humourless; they come in all sorts of imaginative shapes and sizes, but lack any true imagination of their own - including that required to crack and laugh at jokes.
Human Realm: humans, on the other hand, are highly imaginative, perhaps too much so. No two humans are the same: some are rich, others poor, some honest, others lie all the time. Emotionally we go up and down like yo-yos changing from minute to minute, hour to hour and day to day. Although born into a relatively basic body, outside of ourselves and usually working with others in complex social dynamics, we are so skillful and creative that we can build houses, machines, entire cities and indeed civilizations. We can be extremely kind or unbelievably cruel making this world a paradise or living hell. In the Buddhist tradition it is said that only in the Human Realm can one attain enlightenment because here we can become aware of change, and thus of the insubstantiality of all creation, including both inner confusion and seeming external solidity, which seeming obstacles trap beings in the other Realms.
Jealous God Realm: asuras, or titans, are very powerful and proud of it. They are constantly on the lookout for anyone around who might be more powerful, or about to climb higher, than themselves, so they are also highly paranoid. Traditionally depicted as warrior types shooting arrows at the gods in towers above them, they strive to reach up and pull those gods down, trampling on those lesser than themselves in their zeal to ascend higher and take what they claim is rightfully theirs. They laugh at others’ misfortune; if they see someone slip on a banana peel, they find it amusing to imagine that they placed it there themselves - and even more funny if the victim is badly hurt.
God Realm: devas live in a realm of ethereally exquisite tastes, smells, touches, sounds, colours and ideas. They are seemingly in paradise, living on pastel-toned clouds sipping delicious ambrosia, every sensation perfect pleasure. But as soon as even the teeniest tiniest thing goes wrong the perfectionist spell is broken and either they instantly plunge down into the phantasmagorical freak-out of Hell or they find themselves fighting alongside the asuras struggling to get back where they belong; but the more they struggle the further they are from being gods anymore which triggers intense anguish which, again, projects them all the way down into the agonizing Pits of hot or cold Hell. They may well enjoy dwelling in the God Realm for what feels like an eternity, like a young couple in the ecstasy of first love, but that seeming eternity actually lasts only a few minutes in Hell Realm time where each moment lasts an eternity of excruciating, unrelenting painful agony.
This fundamental pain of the endlessly spinning wheel of samsaric alternating pain-or-pleasure existence is why the Buddha developed a system for getting out of its clutches; but that’s Buddhadharma, which is not the topic here. In terms of Layers and Levels, one fascinating thing about the Six Realms is that, like colours, they mix and blend with each other. You can have a more or less human realm personality – intelligent, playful and with sense of humour etc. - but suddenly find yourself consumed by a hellish temper tantrum hating the spouse who only a few hours ago you dearly loved. Or: you step out of your god realm mansion into your super fancy luxury car only to take the wrong highway exit by mistake (because some joker replaced the sign) and find yourself off-ramping into a dangerous neighbourhood known for its violent street gangs and then as you wait white knuckling it, doors locked, at the first red light, increasingly frightened that you won’t make it alive for another five minutes, you realize that you’ve totally lost that God Realm feeling and are now in an entirely different emotional realm. Such rapid changes happen all the time along with combinations of realms happening at once. You ARE a god realm like millionaire sitting in a super-comfy luxury car and you ARE in danger of being attacked any second whilst the comic on the radio really IS very funny and on top of it all you are suddenly VERY hungry and want to get to the nearest hamburger joint! Or you go into a truly destitute third world neighbourhood, garbage, disease and poverty all around, to meet a young violin playing prodigy who looks as lovely as any Princess ever painted, but whilst you are still catching your breath from marveling at her beauty you whiff the repugnant stench of dog shit which somehow got stuck to your shoe.
Also, you can have, say, an animal with god realm tendencies (a peacock, an eagle) or a god realm with hungry ghost – someone who has it all but is never satisfied, always questing for the next fascinating experience. Especially in the Human Realm, where most of us reading dwell, there are no end of layers and levels like this continuously unfolding.
So here we have a more fluid type dynamic which, like paints or emotions, blend into each other in no end of different combinations creating no end of ever-changing colours and landscapes, like civilizations which come and go across the historical landscape. Our mental and emotional states effect our surroundings, both their actual nature and how they appear to ourselves and others in this our mutually co-created experiential continuum. Moreover there is variance, depth, texture, morality, alternating joy and suffering, levels of intensity, layers of subtlety and crudeness. Just as no two places are the same in terms of physical terrain, so no two moments in time are the same nor any two experiences, individual or collective.
In this collectively shared Dream, we are all passaging through a world of experience shaped and coloured by varying manifestations of pain and pleasure. As the quote at the beginning reads:
"As we go along from moment to moment, day to day, life to life, awareness and our thoughts keep shaping the life we lead. Cumulatively, the effect is tremendous. We can create for ourselves a tunnel lined with rags and deprivation or an open world of wealth and genuine communication - dark worlds, bright worlds, moderate worlds - so many different worlds can be created based on karma we keep creating through our thoughts and projections."
I also wrote a short piece on the Six Realms a while back on this blog at: https://baronbrasdor.art/2021/06/23/of-realms-humans/
1 Karma means action, also known as the law of cause and effect. See Chapter 11.
2 Entering the Stream, p 66, Shambhala Publications. Section written by Sherab Chodzin Kohn.
3 Edgar Allen Poe.
4 A prophecy by 8th century teacher Padmasambhava: “When the Iron Bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Teachings will come to the land of the Red Man.”
5 For those who like cosmology : according to Buddhist cosmology, we are in Jambudvipa, the Realm of Desire. Desire is that we want things, we want to live. See Prologue, The Birth of the World..