31 Realms -Buddhist Cosmology Explained by Delson Armstrong

Yeah, so in the context of the Buddhist teachings we have these thirty-one realms, right? And so the very lower realms are the hell realms, and within those hell realms there are different kinds of sub-hells. So depending upon, you know, what you've done, you'll go to a certain kind of hell. And there's hot hells, there's no warm hells, there's hot hells or there's cold hells. There's all kinds of disgusting things that happen in those hellish realms. And Yama over there is the one who's, like, he's the concierge, the receptionist of hell. You go there and he just writes down who you are and everything. All right, this is where you check in, right? He doesn't judge what you did. He just says, did you see this, did you see that? And you say no, and he says, well, didn't you see old age? Didn't you see death? Didn't you see what happens when you get punished? And you say yes, I did. Well, that was your message. You obviously didn't get the message, that's why you're here. So

Here I check you in, so that's the hell realms. Above that is the hungry ghost realms. So the hungry ghost realms are those beings who are hungry all the time. They're just never satisfied, and they have a lot of suffering, and there's nothing they can do about it. And there are different ways you can see a hungry ghost, let's say. I mean, there are different forms, and usually what happens is they have this very, very small craning neck and a pinhole for a mouth and really huge bellies, but they're never satisfied. So you have to look at it from the idea that there are physical realms but also psychological. So think about a psychological state of a hungry ghost: you have everything you need but you're still hungry for more, you're never satisfied. And above that is the animal realms, so those are all of the animals we see here. In this realm, above that is the human

So the three lower realms, those are the realms of unhappy destinations. Now above the humans there are the six central heavens. There's the Tavatimsa, Tusita, well, then there's the realm of the Four Great Kings, which is right below Tavatimsa. So the realm of the Four Great Kings, that's where all of the things that you hear in legends, you know, dragons and fairies and leprechauns and genies and all of these magical creatures and things like that, that's where they kind of reside, if you will. And the Four Great Kings basically preside over that realm. Above that you have the Tavatimsa, the gods of the thirty-three, where Saka is the leader. You have Tusita, where the present Bodhisattva is, the Buddha to become, is there right now, just chilling out with his buddies.

And then above that, you have the other sensual heavens related to other things that you've done in your life, which have been, you know, beneficial for you and beneficial for others. So now again, the deva mindset is a mindset that keeps its precepts, is generous, is compassionate, is forgiving, is patient, is loving and kind, and so on. If you have that kind of psychology, then you are already set to have heaven on earth, in that sense. So you have a deva kind of mentality.

Now above that, you have the different brahma lokas. So each brahma loka is associated with a jhana. The first jhana is related with the brahmas and the mahabrahmas. And then the second jhana is related to the abhasara beings. The third jhana is related to the subhakinna beings. The fourth jhana is related to the fourth jhana. Actually, the fourth jhana realm also has the pure abodes.

So some of the Anagamis and Arahats who wore Anagamis there and then became Arahats live there. And out of that, there's a subset of the pure abodes, which are five pure abodes. And then there's the realm of the unconscious beings. And then above that, there is the formless realms related to infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness and neither perception or non-perception. So these are basically just a good summary of all of the realms that are there. And they also have to do with your psychology, right? You can still experience those realms depending upon whether you're in jhana or whether you're in a certain kind of psychological state. In the animal realm, there's a hierarchy too, right?

Not all animals are equal? Well, I mean, you think about the animals we have here, they've got a pretty good life. Sukha and Duke and... Sukha especially, I mean, look at him. Right? So there are some animals who are well tended for, well cared for, and there are some animals who live in the wilderness, and it's just a really terrible place to be, a terrible state to be in. And there is another one, Asuraka, is there? Yeah. So some people, you know, they think that it's there below the human realms, but it's actually just below the Tavatimsa. So those are the asuras. They're always in rivalry with the gods of the thirty-three. So Saka and the asuras are always fighting.

This is the idea. It says like they are not continuous suffering, but it's suffering asuras. Yeah, they have some suffering. So, people who are still generous, people who are still compassionate, people who still have their precepts, but who still have some defilements in them, like jealousy or anger and things like that, they could get into that state of the asura.

So it's a mix. And then there are some beings, like Yama, the king. In the daytime he's living in his celestial mansions in the deva realm. And at night he has to... Well, actually, rather, his day job is being the manager of hell. And then he goes back to his palace at night, and he comes back. So you have mixed karma there as well. Some beings experience being hungry ghosts for some time, and then go into the celestial palaces and come back as hungry ghosts. So it's not always so clear-cut, this whole process of karma.

The asuras actually are underwater. The idea is they're underwater, because they fell from Tavatimsa and they resided into... They're like the modern-day understanding of the Titans, the gods who took over, or were taken over by... Yeah. And what I'll also say is they're actually very similar to the cosmology of the Egyptians and the Greeks and the Romans and the Vikings as well. Like Saka, for example, who is the king of the gods in the thirty-three, is very similar to Zeus, very similar to Indra in Hinduism, who wields the thunderbolt, or who is very similar to Thor, the Norse god Thor.

Whether they're real or not, the idea is that they are present both as psychological states as well as outside of our experience here. Yeah, right. The Mahabrahma, he thought that he was the creator. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so. He had a lot of conceit, and the idea is that he fell into this particular brahma loka, and he was the first one there, and he's like, oh, what's going on over here? And then he thinks, maybe I should have some friends, maybe I should have some more people here, and other people pop up there, and he thinks that because he thought that he created them into existence. So these are the ideas about the brahma loka. Thank you.