Three subhuman planes of existence

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberons (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

Sept. 28th was National Ask a Stupid Question Day. This is a good one from that batch.

As bad as rebirth is among animals, it's worse in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and the hells.

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QUESTION: "Are there worlds worse than this human world of ours, or is this as bad as it gets?" (Ask a Stupid Question Day)

• ANSWER: There are many subhuman worlds categorized into various "planes," such as the three lowest:

I have no idea how I got here, just instinct.

ANIMAL WOMB - Tiryagyoni-loka तिर्यग्योनिलोक or Tiracchāna-yoni तिरच्छानयोनि (Tibetan dud 'gro, Chinese and Japanese 畜生 chikushō, Burmese တိရစ္ဆာန်ဘုံ, Thai เดรัจฉานภูมิ or ติรยคฺโยนิโลก) – This world is comprised of all members of the animal kingdom that are capable of feeling suffering, regardless of size. This realm includes mammals, insects, fish, birds, worms, vertebrates, and so on.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts

GHOST REALM - Preta-loka प्रेतलोक or Peta-loka पेतलोक (Tibetan yi dwags, Burmese ပြိတ္တာ, Thai เปรตภูมิ or เปตฺตโลก) – The pretas, or "hungry ghosts," are mostly unseen dwellers on earth, though due to their mental state they perceive it very differently from humans. They live for the most part in deserts, wildernesses, and wastelands. This is the realm where ghosts and unhappy spirits wander in vain, hopelessly in search of sensual fulfillment.

Though this plane is ironic, for the most part, hell is no laughing matter, except for this book.

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THE HELLS - Narakas नरक or Nirayas निरय is the name given to the plane of worlds with the greatest suffering, usually translated into English as "hell" but perhaps better "purgatory." These are realms of extreme suffering and torment of great duration but not eternal.

As with all of the other realms, beings are reborn into one of these worlds as a result of their karma (volitional deeds) -- engaging in any of the Ten Courses of Unwholesome Action.

Many and gory are the torments by the wardens of the hells.

Beings reside there for a finite length of time until that karma bears some (not necessarily all) of its results, plural. For example, even the chief disciple Maha Moggallana was reborn into such a world, having been Mara Dusi (MN 50). Then long after that, even as a fully enlightened being with supreme mastery of the psychic powers, he again experience more results of a previous heavy karma (for one of the Five Heinous Deeds).

After some time, often a very long time, owing to some good past karma, one may again be reborn in a better world, such as the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. That is the result of earlier karma now ripening to act the support for such a respite.

There's been a mistake. I'm Christian.

The mentality of a being in the hells corresponds to states of extreme fear and helpless anguish in humans. Physically, this plane is thought of as a series of layers extending below Jambudvīpa (our world) into the subterranean earth.

There are several schemes for counting these abysmal levels, enumerating their torments. One of the more common is that of the Eight Cold Narakas and Eight Hot Narakas... More