Norris

Background

In Buddhism there is a belief that there are six realms of rebirth, also called Samsara. These realms are The God Realm, the Jealous God Realm, the Human Realm, the Animal Realm, the Hungry Ghost Real, and the Hell Realm [4]. These realms are often illustrated on the Buddhist Wheel of Life showing a circular pattern of the realms and that it is a cycle that is not often broken. All beings exist in one of these realms at any moment in time. The origin of the Wheel is thought to be that Buddha himself directed the creation of the original Wheel painting. He commissioned the painting as a gift for an Indian king in order to teach him Dharma. The king that received the painting took time to think about the meaning of the Wheel, and once he fully understood the meaning, he achieved enlightenment. He ended suffering that was caused by unconscious habitual patterns of behavior. Since then the painting has become popularized and displayed at the entrance to Buddhist temples all across Asia. The Wheel has remained relevant through the ages due not just to tradition, but because the message it teaches is important and always relevant.

The message of the wheel revolves around karma. “Karma describes how our world works, how different realities come into being, and how they change” [4]. Karma is controlled by the mind. This means it is controlled by all of the “habitual thoughts, perspectives, and impulses that drive our behavior and experience” [4]. Due to the wheel’s main influence being karma, karma explains which realm a being was in in the past, which realm they are in currently, and which realm they will be in in the future [4]. Karma is largely an unconscious process. A being’s current habits are shaped by past experiences, which in turn shape their future behavior so that they find themselves encountering familiar situations in the future [4]. This is why the realms are shown in a wheel. It is a cycle of karma where the past influences the future and no one can escape the cycle until they awaken to the forces that control it [4]. The wheel gives insight into how living beings get stuck looping through psychological and emotional states and shows them how to create positive tendencies that help beings escape from the karmic cycle [4]. The wheel of samsara is a key component in Buddhism that has lasted throughout the ages due to the important message about karma and bettering oneself it teaches.

The Six Realms

The first of these six realms is the God Realm [4]. There are actually two god realms. One of the higher gods and one of the lower gods. The beings in the God Realm are said to live in twenty-six different heavens with each higher level of heaven being more refined than the last [3]. The top five levels can only be attained as people known as “non-returners” who will never be reborn as humans [2]. The God Realm is one of the longest lasting realms as it can last for eons [4]. The time a being gets in the God Realm increases the higher the level of heaven they are in [2]. However, even though it can last for a long time, it is still temporary like all of the other realms [4]. The God Realm is the reward for good karma. It is the most pleasurable realm, offering “all kinds of physical comforts to mental and spiritual bliss” [4]. This extreme pleasure is what causes issues for those in the realm. Experiencing pleasure itself does not cause issues, but when one becomes attached to those pleasurable experiences, issues arise [4]. The God Realm has two major components. The first of these is the fulfilment of materialism [4]. People in the God Realm do not have to worry about materialistic needs because they can have what they want soon after they start desiring it [4]. The second part is becoming obsessed with the spiritual bliss that comes with the God Realm [4]. Due to the feeling of infinite ease, comfort, and joy, people in the God Realm become attached to those mental states [4]. The God Realm is the most desirable realm as it is the most enjoyable and the longest.

The next realm is the Jealous God Realm [4]. This realm is similar to the God Realm. Both of these realms are obtained with good karma [4]. However, the Jealous God Realm is a worse realm than the God Realm. In the Jealous God Realm, the gods do not have any confidence in the sustainability of their situation [4]. They are afraid they could lose their place in the realm at any time. This causes the gods to live in a constant state of paranoia, jealousy, relentless competition, and one-upmanship [4]. The jealous gods are always fighting amongst other jealous gods and trying to defeat the higher gods in the God Realm to maintain and improve the status they hold [4]. Even though the jealous gods have high status and respect, the position they hold is unstable, so instead of living comfortably like the gods, they spend most of their energy trying to stabilize their position [4]. The problem for the beings in this realm is selfishness. When jealous gods view their own achievements and how it compares to other’s achievements, they are never satisfied no matter what they have accomplished [4]. When jealous gods are consumed with the mindset of improving themselves, they find little room to care for others, unless caring for others helps the jealous gods fulfill their own agenda [4]. The Jealous God Realm is only a step down from the God Realm, but it comes with many more issues and causes those in it to act poorly and attain negative karma.

The third realm on the Buddhist wheel of life is the Human Realm. The Human Realm is where we all live. It is highly desirable and difficult to obtain [2]. The Human Realm is poignant and filled with passion [4]. Beings in the Human Realm are capable of understanding how fragile and impermanent life is [4]. Humans go through birth, the happiness and sorrow of youth, then old age, sickness and death [4]. However old age is not guaranteed as a human life can be taken at any time by a tragedy. Humans constantly experience both pleasure and pain at different intervals in a way that causes humans to feel open and vulnerable [4]. Human life is seen “as the ‘middle-way’ in offering an appropriate balance between pleasure and suffering” [2]. The Human Realm is a desirable place of rebirth because humans have reason and free will which let them seek enlightenment in Buddhist teachings [2]. While there are many higher realms of rebirth than the Human Realm that can be achieved, they can be a handicap to spiritual progress [2]. In the two realms of the gods they can become complacent with their positions [2]. This can cause them to lose the objective of reaching nirvana [2]. Due to the beings in the Human Realm’s vulnerability, they are encouraged to seek out and implement Buddhist teachings in order to reach nirvana. The problems of the Human Realm are the troubles of day to day life as a human [4]. Although humans have a great privilege of being able to learn and grow spiritually, they spend most of their time just trying to get by [4]. Humans are constantly trying to make it to the next day, to retirement [4]. As humans are preoccupied with surviving, the years go by, and they get old, sick, and eventually die [4]. Humans can come and go without ever realizing their potential for enlightenment through Buddhist teachings. The Human Realm is a desirable and difficult to obtain realm that has the most potential for spiritual progress but various obstacles that keep many from achieving it.

The fourth of the six realms of existence is the Animal Realm [4]. This realm includes almost every living creature on earth that is not a human. Its inhabitants range from insects such as ants to deer and bears, and to aquatic animals such as fish [4]. Being reborn in the animal realm is an undesirable and unpleasant rebirth that is brought on by bad karma. The experience of being an animal may seem desirable as they live simple lives in harmony with nature [4]. However, rebirth in the animal realm is thought to be similar to a rebirth in purgatory because animals prey on each other, are guided exclusively by instinctual desires, and can only create good karma in extremely rare instances [1]. The central key factor of the Animal Realm is ignorance [4]. Beings that are reborn in the Animal Realm “are focused on tried and true paths toward pleasure and away from pain” [4]. Due to this, beings in the Animal Realm develop a wide variety of poor habits [4]. They repeat whatever actions brought them pleasure and peace and avoid any new situations that are uncertain and may cause discomfort and threaten their established patterns [4]. In classic imagery, those in the Animal Realm “act just like a pig with blinders, following deeply ingrained patterns of behavior in a rigid and predictable way,” eating their way through anything that happens to be in front of them [4]. Existence as an animal in the Animal Realm consists of mindlessly repeating habits to bring pleasure and avoid pain, and that is the main problem for beings stuck in the realm [4]. The biggest obstruction beings that are reborn into the Animal Realm face is the lack of curiosity [4]. The habits and patterns animals follow are so strong that they rarely question who they are, what their purpose is, and what might be possible for them to achieve [4]. Questioning life and existence is important for spiritual growth as it can lead one to Buddha’s teachings and help one reach enlightenment [4]. The Animal Realm is obtained through bad karma because it is an undesirable realm of habit that prevents further spiritual growth and achievement of nirvana.

The next realm is the Hungry Ghost Realm. This realm is another one that beings go to when they have accumulated bad karma. This realm consists of ghosts who hover around the edges of the human world [2]. A majority of these ghosts are former humans who developed strong attachments during their human life which bound them to the earth [2]. The ghosts in this realm “crave voraciously” but can never satisfy their cravings [4]. These ghosts are normally portrayed as starving wraiths that have small mouths, thin necks, and extremely large stomachs [4]. All of these features are used to portray the hungry ghost’s insatiable hunger [4]. The state of the Hungry Ghost Realm can be viewed as a metaphor for addictive personalities because the hungry ghosts are endlessly tortured by hunger and thirst but can never gather enough of what they crave to satisfy their desire [4]. The problem that arises in the Hungry Ghost Realm is that the constant anxiety the hungry ghosts feel over their dissatisfaction of never getting enough does not leave any space for proper appreciation or for the development of perspective [4]. Like in the Animal Realm, the beings in the Hungry Ghost Realm are stuck repeating the same habits over and over again because the feeling of emptiness the hungry ghosts constantly feel reinforces their habits of craving [4]. The Hungry Ghost Realm is a punishment for beings with poor karma by forcing them to have strong desires that can never be satisfied, leaving them feeling empty and hopeless.

The last of the six realms on the Buddhist wheel of life is the Hell Realm [4]. This realm is the most unpleasant realm to be in. The chance of any kind of pleasure at all is completely gone [4]. It is one of the longer lasting realms as it can last millions of years [3]. In this realm existence is dominated by constant pain and suffering [4]. In common imagery, there are a variety of hell realms, which are split up into hot and cold realms [4]. The hot hells consist of extreme violence and hatred where the beings in the realm are flayed alive, have molten lead poured down their throat, and are beaten into unconsciousness by demons before they are revived and beaten again [4]. Cold hells are wastelands that have been frozen over with no warmth or sustenance for its inhabitants [4]. In the cold hell realms beings are exposed to the excruciating cold until their bodies freeze, their skin cracks, and they eventually shatter into pieces before being revived and forced to repeat the process [4]. No matter which of the two realms a being is put in, the Hell Realm causes feelings of imprisonment, terrifying fear, silent rage, and hopelessness [4]. The main problem beings in the Hell Realm face is the mindset that there is no possibility of change [4]. The hellish experiences feel like dead ends to those who go through them [4]. Due to the repetition of the tortures for millions of years, the inhabitants of the Hell Realm are unable to believe any of it can change, so they have trouble being hopeful and trying to redeem their karma. The Hell Realm is the worst possible realm to be born in as it is a realm of constant torture and pain with no source of pleasure or hope.

Modern Interpretations

One modern representation of the Buddhist wheel of life is the 2011 film Samsara [5]. This film is a non-verbal documentary that communicates its message through only images and scenes. It spans a wide variety of locations from unpleasant disaster zones to beautiful scenery. This film illustrates the idea that life is universal across the world. Samsara is used to show how humans are connected with the rest of nature and that the life cycle of humans reflects natural processes on the rest of the planet. Through its expression of interconnectedness, Samsara shows that no matter how different humans may seem from one another, everyone is not only connected to each other but also the rest of the world through a spiritual cycle of life.

Another modern interpretation of Samsara is a musical piece composed by Paul Lieberson in 2000 titled “The Six Realms” [6]. This is a piece composed of six different parts. The first part is an introduction, but after that, every part represents one of the six realms with the last part representing both of the god realms. Each part is made to have the listener feel the emotions of that specific realm. The part for the Hell Real focuses on aggression and anger. The Hungry Ghost Realm part exemplifies a desire that can never be satisfied. The Animal Realm part expresses ignorance and a need to find security and feel safe. The part for the Human Realm focuses on the desire for something greater in life, the lessening of being self-absorbed, and being more concerned with achieving enlightenment. The final piece that encapsulates both of the god realms shows the self-absorption that the gods have and the paranoid feelings and behaviors of the jealous gods. This composition is made to make the listener go through the emotions that beings in the rebirth cycle would feel.

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