Are Six Realms Of Buddhism Real?!?

[DalTheJigsaw123]

I personally do not believe that the six realms are actual "places" that exist outside of ourselves. That being said, I do not know for sure that they do not exist outside ourselves but I'd rather focus on the here and now then what "might" happen. I see these "realms" as states of consciousness being in our present awareness created by the power of our deluded minds. After all we are not just reborn upon our physical death--we are reborn a new each moment of our lives in the here and now. It seems to me that the concept of these realms being "out there" somewhere is a bit unskillful. That is because this idea appears to fortify the unskillful view that there are "places" that are separate from our existence in the here and now. There is no "out there." It seems to simply create worry and trepidation of ending up in a "Hell" which spurs people to follow the Dharma for the wrong reasons--out of fear and desire.

 

That being said I'd like to move on to the actual "realms" and show how they are working right here and right now.

 

First I wish to address the "God realm." This is the state of a false sense of "getting it." It is a false reality because there is nothing "to get." We experience this "realm" when everything is going our way. We have everything we could ever want or need--we lack for nothing. We avoid anything that doesn't being us happiness and affirm our feeling of permanent greatness that is manufactured by our ego-mind. This breeds arrogance and pride. We cease to follow and practice the Dharma because we feel that we have "arrived" and thus no longer need to meditate, etc. However, eventually that "happiness" fades and we are left with nothing to show for our "wealth" because we are preoccupied with nothing but our personal satisfaction. We have done nothing to help others with our great blessings and that leaves us feeling empty, hallow and lonely inside. When this realization occurs we struggle to maintain our God-like state by grasping. Thus, inevitably the more we do this the more we suffer which of course leads to falling into the "lower states of being" and the cycle of samsara continues.

 

http://thebuddhistblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/are-six-realms-of-buddhism-real_02.html

[Gerard]

I personally do not believe that the six realms are actual "places" that exist outside of ourselves.

 

And let me ask you:

 

How real are you?

 

Anything within Samsara (ego driven mind) is an illusion, outside is the real reality (end of ego-driven mind, rebirth and suffering). There are however realities that share our "space" and other "multiverses" outside ours but they are as real as is our world; but then again how real is our world and theirs? On the other hand, you have realities within your mind (heavenly, hellish) including the ultimate reality (Nirvana, end of rebirth) which is also within your mind and not located in the middle of some distant galaxy 12 billion light years away from the Milky Way.

 

IMO to understand and grasp the real workings of Samsara one must have become a Buddha; but then again how do we know that a Buddha has grasped that understanding before they reach parinirvana. This is stuff is way to complex and difficult to grasp anyway. And another question that would be impossible to answer is what caused Samsara and Nirvana to be.

[Seth Ananda]

I think of them as real in a relative sense, but not in an absolute sense {like everything}

 

And I find them to be useful as an Internal model [representational] for gauging myself, as well as a kind of 'cosmic geography' but that is because I have looser reality boundaries than some, so I meet beings from the various realms...

 

The Buddha's 6 realms work well for me personally.

 

blessings!

[ATMA]

... I meet beings from the various realms...

 

What do you mean by this?

[C T]

Because everything is transient and apparition-like, we cannot say they are real.

 

But then, we cannot, for example, say that dreams are unreal either.

 

While thoughts may be insubstantial, yet when made habitual, thoughts can become things. Hence the Buddha encouraged mindfulness with what we habitually think about, for it is said that with our thoughts, individual worlds and realms are made life-like. To agree with this, one finds oneself in one realm - to disagree, one finds oneself in another.

 

Neither agree nor disagree is the way... remain always in contemplation, and watch how things move and change from one moment to the next. Seeing one's self being carried away by change, surrender to the humor/ Almost nothing creates suffering more than taking life overly seriously: perhaps the only other factor that causes more suffering is to think that life is a just one big joke.

Edited November 16, 2011 by C T