In recent years, I have been developing more and more interest in the Buddha’s teachings on the five realms of existence as a vitally important feature of Dharma teachings and exploration triggered by recollections of experiences of my years in the monkhood, including the time in the Vipassana monastery, the cave and forest.
I have also been working systematically through the discourses of the Buddha, and the emphasis he gave to the realms, and the circumstances for their presence.To the credit of the Theravada and Tibetan Mahayana tradition, Asian teachers often do not exclude teachings on the realms but Western dharma teachers often hesitate to include the cosmology of the Buddha when speaking in the West. We could be making an error of judgement.
I found myself now taking steps to bring the five realms into the body of the teachings through talks and articles. In case, you don’t know, the five realms are the hell realm, animal realm, hungry ghost realm, human realm and heavenly realm. The exploration of the realms includes the inquiry into karma, rebirth, mara, devas, asuras, hungry ghosts, gods and goddesses.
There are some Buddhists who take the view that these are actual realms, actual places, actual realities. There are other Buddhists who take the view that the realms only refer to states of mind. It often begs the question of whether the view arises from a religious interpretation (actual places) or psychological interpretation (states of mind).
It seems to me that both are extreme positions that fail to reflect the middle way of the Buddha’s teachings and the significance of the realms and the influencing forces that generate the construct of the realms. We express a small mind when we conclude that the world is only constructed of sentient life in the midst of nature. That is one interpretation. That’s all.
The realms are mutually interactive, mutually supporting and influence each other. From that standpoint, the human realm is no more or less significant.
Surely, we express a narrow mind when we assume that our eyes and ears reveal the real world. This realm is no more or less real than any of the other four realms. We have identified with an exclusive perception of a single realm called living the real world. We have to free ourselves up from this material nature view of things There are forces influencing and giving shape to circumstances that deserve acknowledgement. The heavens and hells are neither within nor without, nor is the world within nor without.
Dharma practice is to open our mind up, to liberate our consciousness from set views, either religious or psychological, so that we have a totally different sense about unfolding processes.
The Buddha said frequently that he gave teachings to devas and humans. He meant what he said. Humans are no more substantial than devas (angels, gods, goddesses). If were not so identified with the human form, it would be obvious to us.
Perception neither creates karma, rebirth, Mara, the gods and the devils, nor do perception determine karma and its consequences.
As teachers, some of us have been overlooking the Buddha’s frequent reference to the five realms. Perhaps we want to concentrate on gaining widespread acceptance in the West. It might sound like flights of imagination if we talk publicly about angels, devils, gods and goddesses. We need to start opening up the doors of perception, trust in our experiences of altered states of consciousness and let go of clinging to human forms. We have much to explore in terms of karma, rebirth, Mara, heavens and hells.
Conscious life is more diverse than we dare admit.