'Fight till Death' in Human/Animal World

Countless worlds in 31 Planes of Existence

What deeds (karma in Buddhism) lead to rebirth in the animal womb (tiracchana yoni). The simple answer is breaking any of the Five Precepts. Upholding these moral precepts is the basic minimum to ever be reborn on the human plane.

Animals in the Buddhist worldview are believed to inhabit a distinct "world" (loka) that is separat from humans. But the dividing line is not in space. Rather, it is in terms of state of mind. This "Animal Womb" (Sanskrit Tiryag-yoni, Pāli Tiracchāna-yoni) World is part of the downfall (apaya).

Rebirth as an animal is considered very unfortunate -- even though some animals are very beautiful, long lived, and treated well due to previous karma. In general, rebirth as an animal involves much more suffering than is found in the human world (manusya-loka).

The real "human world" we don't see

Humans live long lives in peace and prosperity...not here, but in other human worlds.

 

We think we understand the "human plane" because we are living on it. We do not. We do not understand even a fraction of human life on this plane, which we are told is a "plane(t)" and no one is allowed to question that and be taken seriously.

There are countless "human" worlds existing in "world systems" in all directions in space. But just here, wherever "here" is, the Buddha spoke of four "lights" or "islands" (dipas, usually translated as "continents," but they are more likely other divisions, places, dimensions because the strange beings that inhabit them are very different from the ordinary "humans" we take for granted all around us). What is behind the Ice Wall, the next human subdivision or "continent"?

• FOUR "HUMAN" WORLDS right here, main divisions: (1) Jambu-dīpa, located in the south (of the axis mundi Mt. Sumeru (a "mountain" too big to be an actual peak here like holy Mt. Kailash, K2, Everest, or the even taller Mauna Kea when measured from base to peak as one would normally measure anything), named after the Jambu tree, with human beings who are five to six feet tall and length of life currently at 120 years (though varying between 10 years at its lowest ebb and 80,000 at its height); (2) Pubbavideha located in the east, named after the acacia tree, similar to Yggdrasil the "world tree" in Norse mythology, with humanoid people about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in height, living for an average of 700 years; (3) Aparagoyāna located in the west, named after a giant Kadamba tree (Anthocephalus chinensis), with humanoid inhabitants living not in houses but sleeping on the ground, standing about 24 feet (7.3 m) tall and living for 500 years (though usually 500 just means "a long time"); (4) Uttarakuru, located in the north, with a giant tree called a Kapparukkha, an "aeon-tree," because it lasts for the entire kappa (Pali) or kalpa (Sanskrit) with humanoid inhabitants living in cities built in the air/sky/space (akasha), extraordinarily wealthy, not needing to work for a living – with food that grows by itself – having no private property, standing about 48 feet (15 m) tall and living for 1,000 years under the protection of Vaiśravaṇa.
• (Does any of this sound like "our 'planet' or 'human world,'" the one we know as we travel around? Or maybe The Jetsons were onto something.) More unbelievable details: The Earthly Realms in Buddhist cosmology
• There are almost certainly more of these, as spoken of in Vedic, Hindu, and Jain texts, with a series of planes inside, below ground: Agartha (Hollow Earth).

The Animal World

Help, I'm drowning, I'm drowning in samsara!

The Buddhist commentaries (tika) depict the many types of suffering associated with the animal world. Even when human beings are not present to torture, imprison, slaughter, and devour them, they are attacked by other animals and ripped to shreds -- or live in fear of it. They endure extreme changes of environment throughout the year and have no secure habitation.

Animals that live among humans are often groomed, molested, experimented on, then slaughtered for their bodies, or captured and forced to work with beatings until they are slaughtered at the premature end of their miserable lives.

This is nice. Diane and I are rich and live well!

Moreover, animals as a rule suffer from ignorance even more than humans, not knowing or understanding with any clarity what is happening to them or why. And they are unable to do much about it, acting primarily on instinct, if they can manage to figure anything out. Some animals understand what is going on, remembering past lives and wondering why humans cannot hear them or respond to their feelings and cries and complaints. (See an animal communicator if this seems impossible to believe). More

• Animals in Buddhism
• Animals in Buddhist mythology
• Animals talk in the Buddha's Jataka Tales
• Buddhist vegetarianism
• Sentient (feeling) beings (Buddhism)
• Animal rights in Indian religions
• Saṃsāra (Wheel of Rebirth and Death)
• Hayagriva (Buddhism)
• Cattle slaughter in Buddhist Sri Lanka

Slayer: “Fight till Death”

(Slayer) We were living like animals "In Praise of Death," only living to die (and Hell Awaits)

Will the Eagle conquer the Serpent?

Metal and men clash once more to the end/ Warriors above, with the power to kill, descend/ Militia of blood, troops of hate march to die/ Soldiers of Hell, veterans of death arise

[CHORUS:] Prepare for attack/ Your body will burn/ Endless war/ There's no return/ Prepare for attack/ Death will arrive/ Your orders are clear/ No way to hide/ Fight till death

Senseless death of all mankind overtakes/ Armored assassins destroy, at will, your escape/ Children of sorrow are trampled into the grave/ There is no future, no fucking world to be saved [CHORUS]

 

To reign in Hell [guitar solo: Jeff Hanneman]/ Gods of steel unleash their destruction on man/ Reign of death, what is the final command?/ Scepters of hate are dropped upon this Earth/ Clouds of terror destroy all hope of rebirth [CHORUS]

Prepare for attack/ Your body will burn/ Endless war/ There's no return/ Prepare for attack/ Death will arrive/ Your orders are clear/ No way to hide/ Fight till death/ Fight till death/ Fight till death/ Fight till death.

• Slayer; Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Actor Catherine O'Hara dead at 71 (sutra)

‘Home Alone,’ ‘Schitt’s Creek’ actress Catherine O’Hara dies

Catherine O'Hara sings the classic "Sally's Song" (from The Nightmare Before Christmas by Danny Elfman). Where has she been reborn for a life of acting? The Sixth Dimension the Elfman's warned about? The Hell of Laughter the Buddha warned about? 

SUTRA: The Hell of Laughter for actors?

Ven. Thanissaro, "Considering a career in acting? You may want to reconsider..." (edited by WQ)

I just wanted to make people laugh ('n be famous)

(SN 42.2) Then Talaputa, the head of an acting troupe, went to the Buddha, bowed, and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there, he said: "Venerable sir, I have heard that it has been passed down by the ancient teaching lineage of actors that 'When actors on the stage, in the midst of a festival, make people laugh and give them delight with an imitation [misrepresentation, lie about] reality, then with the breakup of the body, after death, such actors are reborn in the company of the laughing light beings (devas).' What does the Blessed One have to say about that?"

"Enough, headman, set that aside. Do not ask it." But a second and third time...Talaputa, the head of an acting troupe, repeated his question.

Speak truth with compassion.

"Apparently, headman, I am unable to drop this matter by saying, 'Enough, headman, set that aside. Do not ask it.' So I will address that directly:

"Any beings who themselves are not yet free of lust, anger, delusion (greed, hatred, wrong view), who are bound by lust, focus with even more lust on things inspiring lust presented by an actor on stage in the midst of a festival...such actors — themselves intoxicated and heedless, having made others intoxicated and heedless — with the breakup of the body, after death, are reborn in what is called The Hell of Laughter.

"But if one holds a view like this: 'When an actor on the stage, in the midst of a festival, makes people laugh and gives them delight with an imitation of reality, then with the breakup of the body, after death, that person is reborn in the company of the laughing light beings,' that is one's wrong view.

"Now, there are two destinations for a person with wrong view, I declare, either hell [apāya, naraka] or the animal plane."

How could no one have told me sooner?

When this was said, Talaputa, the head of an acting troupe, sobbed then burst into tears.

[The Buddha said:] "That is what I was trying to communicate by saying, 'Enough, headman, set that aside. Do not ask it.'"

"Venerable sir, I am not crying because of what the Blessed One said to me, but rather because I have been deceived, cheated, and fooled for such a long time by that ancient teaching lineage of actors who say, 'When actors on the stage, in the midst of a festival, make people laugh and give them delight with an imitation of reality, then with the breakup of the body, after death, they are reborn in the company of the laughing light being.'" Source: Right Livelihood: samma ajivo (accesstoinsight.org)

Catherine O'Hara

Yes, but I got a few good years on earth.

Catherine O'Hara (March 4, 1954–January 30, 2026) was a Canadian and American actress, comedian, and screenwriter, whose career spanned over 50 years.

She started in sketch and improvisational comedy in film and television before expanding her career taking dramatic roles. She received several accolades including two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2017. O'Hara started her career in the sketch comedy series Second City Television (1976–1984), where she won the Primetime Emmy Award. She gained acclaim acting in films such as:

• After Hours (1985),
• Heartburn (1986),

• Beetlejuice (1988),
• Home Alone (1990), and
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

She collaborated with Christopher Guest acting in his mockumentary films:

• Waiting for Guffman (1996),
• Best in Show (2000),
• A Mighty Wind (2003), and
• For Your Consideration (2006).

She also voiced roles in films such as:

• The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993),
• Chicken Little (2005),
• Over the Hedge,
• Monster House (2006),
• Where the Wild Things Are (2009),
• Frankenweenie (2012), and
• Elemental (2023).

O'Hara gained a career resurgence for her role as Moira Rose in the CBC sitcom Schitt's Creek (2015–2020)... More

• Catherine O'Hara dead: 'Schitt's Creek,' 'Home Alone' star was 71 (Variety)
• "Beastly talk" more worthy of animals than humans (tiracchāna)
• Catherine O'Hara starred in Beetlejuice
• Netflix Is A Joke Festival 2026

Talking to the Dead (pets, for profit)

(The Daily Show) Ever wonder what pets were thinking? Michael Kosta tries a pet psychic

Dead University? (Allison DuBois) Pet Psychic: Where do they go?

(The Pet Psychic) The Pet Psychic talks to police horses in Los Angeles

Monkey darkens Buddhist Sri Lanka

In the sacred city of Anuradhapura: Buddhism in Sri Lanka (Ep. 6) 🇱🇰

Buddhist Sri Lanka faces a nationwide blackout because, officials claim, a monkey caused a power outage (WION Dispatch)

(WION) Feb. 10, 2025: The Buddhist majority island nation of Sri Lanka (the teardrop off the tip of southern India formerly named Serendib and Ceylon), not far from the Maldives, was plunged into a nationwide power crisis. A monkey did it, allegedly. The unexpected electrical outage has sparked debates over infrastructure security and energy reliability in the island nation. #srilanka #poweroutage #blackout

Remembering Los Angeles' own lion, P-22

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; LAist 89.3 FM (scpr.org), 2/4/23

Why did you have to kill me on purpose, why?

Los Angeles lost its lion, Puma 22, to its favorite sport -- driving too fast on the freeway. P-22 could cross on his own, but 200 ponies were too much for him to absorb. His injuries led to erratic behavior and misguided veterinarians euthanized him. They give their reasons, couched in compassionate terms, but he could have lived. And this past weekend, he was eulogized at his former home, Griffith Park. The Greek Theater is on the other entrance to the park, behind the hill where the Hollywood sign shines. It was full of well-wishers and many beautiful speeches in memento mori, simulcast live by the local NPR affiliate (scpr.org).

• More: P-22 Memorial: Thousands gathered to remember LA’s famous mountain lion (LAist)
• What the death of P-22 means for Los Angeles, and how its life can teach us to better care for our big cats
• We rename P-22 the mountain lion on Off-Ramp for 2015 (AUDIO: "Puma Thurman," "Felix," "Pounce de Leon"?)
• The hunt for killer mountain lion P-45, what to do with CA's 102 million dead trees... (KPCC/SoCal NPR)

The Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory by day, with the Valley (SFV) behind the hill.

LA's "Central Park" connects to the Santa Monica mountain range, home to wild cats.

Maybe we're taking this too far? Suddenly everyone loves a killer in the city? Save our wildlife!

Zen Buddhist cat found (video)

But I don't even "believe" in reincarnation...I know for a fact that it's true. Just ask Eben.

Meet this Buddhist cat that will find the Buddha inside you

(SBS TV동물농장x애니멀봐) Haetal the cat renounced the world, so full of alluring cat snacks, and became a Buddhist saint-in-training. The cat doesn't even crave fish anymore. It prefers peace and compassion.

Killer whales love to be loved (photo)

Xochitl, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Killer whale comes to greet native Tulalip Nation canoe families.

.

The killer whale-loving Tulalip Tribes of Washington is a federally recognized tribe of Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, and Stillaguamish people.

They are South and Central Coast Salish peoples of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their tribes are located in the mid-Puget Sound region of Washington. More

Animals in Buddhism (video)

Joel Kincaid (Earth documentaries); Amber Larson, Ananda and Jen (Dharma Meditation Initiative), Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

Animals in Buddhism

The position of Animals in Buddhism is important for the light it sheds on Buddhists' perception of our relationship to the natural world, Buddhist humanitarian concerns in general, and the relationship between Buddhist theory and practice.

• Eat Drink Vegan @ Rose Bowl (Saturday, May 26, 2018)

In Buddhist doctrine

Animals are sentient beings in Buddhist. That means they can feel, experience karma, and are reborn again and again like humans and other beings.

Moreover, according to the Mahāyāna school in particular, animals possess Buddha nature (the innate ability to one day become a buddha) and therefore reach enlightenment.

The Cycle of Rebirth as a doctrine holds that any human (other than the noble ones who have reached the first stage of enlightenment called "stream entry" or higher) can be reborn as an animal, and any animal can be reborn as a human.

An animal might be a relative who passed away long ago and is now reborn, and anyone who looks far back enough through this extensive series of lives might come to understand that nearly every animal (and every other being) is a distant relative. So it is a very good idea to be a vegetarian.

Animals are just below humans in the 31 Planes

The historical Buddha taught that sentient beings currently living in the Animal Realm (tirrachana womb) have been our mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, children, friends in past rebirths. One cannot, therefore, make a hard distinction between moral rules applicable to animals and those applicable to humans.

Ultimately, humans and animals (and devas and narakas and others) are part of a single "family." We are all interconnected and interdependent.

In Buddhist cosmological terms, animals are believed to inhabit a distinct "world" (loka), separated from humans not by space but by state of mind.

That world is called tiryag-yoni in Sanskrit, tiracchāna-yoni in Pāli (the only exclusively-Buddhist language). 

Grumpy Cat: I love math because... (lol)

But rebirth as an animal is considered one of the unhappy rebirths (part of the Downfall), usually involving much more suffering than is found in the human world (manusya loka).

Buddhist commentarial texts depict many kinds of suffering associated with the animal world: even where no humans are present, animals are often attacked and eaten by other animals or, in any case, live in fear of it.

They endure extreme changes of environment throughout the year, living outside in nature, and they have no secure abode.

Wait, humans are going to eat me?!

Those that live among humans are often slaughtered for their flesh, or taken from their family and friends and enslaved, forced to work with many beatings until they are slaughtered at the end of their brief lives.

Worse than this, they suffer from ignorance, not knowing or understanding with any clarity what is happening to them or why. And they are unable to do much about it, acting primarily on instinct rather than reason, wisdom, or cognizant of karma and its consequences.

 

The Chinese scholar Tiantai taught the principle of the "Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds." This meant that all living beings have buddha-nature "in their present form."

In the Devadatta (Buddhist Judas figure) chapter of the Lotus Sutra the Dragon King's daughter attains buddhahood in her present form, thus opening the way for women and animals to attain buddhahood.

In the "Rebirth Stories" (Jatakas)

6 realms of samsara consumed by Death (Yama/Mara)

The Jātaka stories, which recount some of the past lives of the Buddha in folktale fashion (which served as the inspiration for Aesop's Fables, according to British scholar Rhys Davids), frequently involve talking animals as peripheral or main characters.

It is common for the Bodhisattva (the "Buddha-to-be") to also appear as an animal. The stories sometimes involve animals alone and sometimes involve conflicts between humans and animals. In the latter cases, the animals often exhibit characteristics of kindness and generosity that are absent in the humans.

Also recorded in the Jatakas is how, in a past life as King Shibi, the Bodhisattva sacrificed himself to save a dove from a hawk.

Recorded in Mahayana's "Golden Light Sutra" is how Shakyamuni, in a past life as Prince Sattva, came across a starving tigress and her cubs. He is said to have been fulfilling the "perfection" of generosity (dana paramita), so he offered his body to them so that they would survive.

• [This beautiful and very popular story of self-sacrifice was actually taken from a non-Buddhist source and adopted into the mythology of the Bodhisattva.]

Behavior toward animals

Even brutal Neo-Nazi police can be kind.

The first of the Five Precepts is about abstaining from taking the life of living beings. As most narrowly interpreted, it is applied to not killing humans.

However, the better and broader interpretation is that it applies to not killing ANY sentient being, which includes those currently reborn in the Animal Realm.

• What karma leads to rebirth in the Animal Realm and lower? Violating the Five Precepts, which means excessive greed (craving), aversion (ill-will), and delusion (ignorance).

This is not just mammals like us, but all animal taxa including fish, insects, and invertebrates.

From the beginnings of Buddhism, there were virtues intended to prevent the harming of ALL sentient beings in the Animal Realm for various reasons. More

India declares DOLPHINS "non-human persons"

Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; TheMindUnleashed.com (facebook.com)

Dolphins can sleep with half their brain and can therefore stay awake for at least two weeks (S.D. McCulloch/earthsky.org)

Dolphins (Jesslee Cuizon/earthsky.org)

India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests has decided to forbid the keeping of captive dolphins for public entertainment anywhere in the country.

 

In a policy statement released Friday, the ministry advised state governments to reject any proposal to establish a dolphinarium “by any person / persons, organizations, government agencies, private or public enterprises that involves import, capture of cetacean species to establish for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition and interaction purposes whatsoever.” Why?

Social dolphins (cutepictures.co)

“Whereas cetaceans in general are highly intelligent and sensitive, and various scientists who have researched dolphin behavior have suggested that the unusually high intelligence; as compared to other animals means that dolphins should be seen as ‘non-human persons’ and as such should have their own specific rights and is morally unacceptable to keep them captive for entertainment purpose,” the ministry said....

India and landlocked Nepal have an indigenous freshwater Ganges river dolphin.

 

(Jessa Gamble/lastwordonnothing.com)

[This] happened back in May and somehow escaped worldwide attention and the 24-hour media hoopla. The effort to re-categorize cetaceans (dolphins, whales, porpoises) as non-human persons has been gathering steam since a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011, when a group of philosophers, conservationists, and animal behaviorists attempted to gather wide support for a Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans from the scientific community.

 

The Declaration for Dolphins

1. 

   The cetacea, evolving family (wiki)

   Every individual cetacean has the right to life.
2. No cetacean should be held in captivity or servitude; be subject to cruel treatment; or be removed from their natural environment.
3. All cetaceans have the right to freedom of movement and residence within their natural environment.
4. No cetacean is the property of any state, corporation, human group, or individual.
5. Cetaceans have the right to the protection of their natural environment.
6. Cetaceans have the right not to be subject to the disruption of their cultures.
7. The rights, freedoms, and norms set forth in this Declaration should be protected under international and domestic law.

And what does it mean to say an animal has “rights”? More

Bunny flies: "Breaking Bad' (video)

Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

WARNING: Extreme violence! Not suitable for children or lovers, but hunters may like it.

  .

Will "Walter" (Bryan Cranston) ever learn? Meth is an allopathic Nazi medication that makes people sick and susceptible to all manner of negative influences. Why would we worship anti-heroes in an age of disintegration? Might we be finding a way of saying to ourselves that we are not so bad because, look, he's worse?

After all, humans are not rational beings; we are rationalizing beings.
 
Walter "did it for his family" -- that what he explains -- not because he was selfish or out to harm anyone. Harm done for the sake of profit (selfish or unselfish, harming others to help ourselves or others) is called "evil wishes," the harm being incidental to the act rather than the goal of it. Harm done in anger is the goal.
 
The ridiculous excuse that we we would somehow be blameless when we do harmful, unskillful, unwholesome acts to feed or help our families is misguided. It is delusion. It is harm just the same. It is not even likely to be the result of caring for others, that "caring" just being a convenient excuse to rationalize and live with our decision. If it is sincere and in the service of others, it is still unwholesome karma on our part -- motivated by delusion.
 
It may also, however, to some small measure, be wholesome in that we help someone and thereby care, but that is not the same act.

If I rob a bank, beat someone up, or sell meth in the Albuquerque, that is an unskillful deed with unwelcome consequences when those deeds ripen (which may, admittedly, take a long time). Because what ripens depends on cittas, "mind moments," there are many of them; one unskillful act breeds MANY unwelcome results. Similarly, a  Supporting others with ill gotten gains may be wholesome, just as offering any kind of help or support might be, but it is offset by the harm we are doing, and that harm will come back on us many times over.
 
This is TV, but obviously it reflects tangible realities in a country that glorifies getting rich (by any means necessary) and squeezes its citizens so that they can barely survive. If we take the bait, sell drugs or do other harm, we may get rich. But what would it profit us if we will have to endure states of severe deprivation as a result? It would have been better to be poor.

 

Lordy, can we be reborn as something better?

This is likely why we, as Americans, cannot believe in rebirth (even in modern Christianity, which insists rebirth is real but limited to two planes of future existence awaiting us, celestial or abysmal; ancient Christianity did teach rebirth). It seems to mean there are results of our actions. If we refuse to believe, we comfort ourselves that there is nothing more to come as a result of our choices.

 

What is "Breaking Bad" teaching us? To consider the consequences or to live for today, say there are no consequences, and simply live with the inconvenience of cancer, prison, remorse, or whatever petty comeuppance this life can deal us?

• How will "Breaking Bad" measure up to other TV endings?
• "Breaking Bad" finale: Revenge, redemption, release
• Breaking up with "Breaking Bad" is hard for Albuquerque
• The German granddaddy of crystal methamphetamine

(NY Times) The popular series, which showcased Albuquerque New Mexico's grit and high-desert beauty, has helped the city become a star in its own right and given...