garryageez's Journal

Jan 2007
4:11 PM GMT

Samsara the cycle of life death and rebirth. Samsara is the Buddhist word for the world of life death and rebirth. This is not the world as we know it in the conventional sense. It is the six realms of existence, the world of suffering. The six realms are as follows. 1) The realm of Gods. 2) The realm of Demigods. 3) The realm of Humans. 4) The realm of Animals. 5) The realm of Hungry Ghosts (pretas). 6) The Hell realm. Although Samsara is considered the world of suffering, the level of suffering within each realm varies. I shall now give a brief de scription of each realm and the beings that dwell there. 1) The realm of Gods is the highest of the samsaric realms. The beings here have attained a rebirth in this Heavenly realm due to good karma created through right action in their life time and having purified negative karma in this and past lifetimes. But they have not reached the state of Nirvana (The complete freedom from the cycle of life death and rebirth, through the eradication of Human desire) As they passed by this paradise during the Bardo of death, the lure of of this Heavenly realm was either too much for them to resist, or they thought, mistakenly, that it must be the highest state attainable. The beings in this realm are also subject to the laws of impermanence. Although there lifespans can reach for several aeons. 2) The realm of Demigods. This realm is situated between the realm of Humans and the realm of Gods, and the beings here are jealous Godlike beings that wage war against one another on a regular bassis. 3) The realm of Humans is considered by Buddhists to be the most desirable of all the realms, even more so than the God realms, due to the fact that it is the only realm where the conditions can be favourable for us to achieve enlightenment and ultimately Nirvana. It is a very rare and special privaledge to be born as a Human and this is why the Buddha stated that we must seize the chance in this lifetime to advance as far along the spiritual path as possible. 4) The Animal realm is the abode of all non human beings that dwell along side us in the Human realm,. Although people say sometimes that they would love to come back as a bird or dolphin or the likes, in reality the Animals are in constant danger from predators, and constantly fighting for survival, The Animal realm is not a desirable state as their inteligence is not advanced enough to comprehend enlightenment and they have very limited free will. 5) The realm of the pretas or Hungry Ghosts. The beings in this realm are portraid as having very small mouths and very large bellies. They are allways hungry and can never be satisfied. It is also said that everything they touch turns to fire or filth. 6) The last of the Samsaric realms is The Hell realm, this is the complete opposite to the God realm and is portraid as so in illustrations of the tibetan wheel of life. Beings who have created a great ammount of negative karma through murder and similar extreme negative actions find themselves in this realm of extreme suffering. They exist in a constant state of torment, where they burn freeze and die continuous horrific deaths. Once negative karma has burnt itself out a rebirth in a higher state can be achieved. All samsaric realms are impermanent. The only way to be completely free from Samsara is through the following of the noble eightfold path, as set out by the Buddha. my next entry will be on this subject. With Metta Garry D.

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Username: garryageez

Gender / Age: Male, 61

Location: United Kingdom