📖 The book The Buddha Teaches Once More
🔹 Part 1: The Mystery of Origins
📜 Chapter 4: The Six Realms of Reincarnation
The Six Realms of Existence
1️⃣ The Heavenly Realm (28 – 33 Levels)
Buddhist scriptures describe the Heavenly Realm as having approximately 28 to 33 levels. However, the exact number can only be known upon attaining Buddhahood. Beings in this realm live a life of pleasure and bliss, free from suffering.
2️⃣ The Human Realm
The living space in this realm includes both the physical world (yang) and the spiritual world (yin). Here, beings experience both joy and suffering, and they possess intelligence. The Human Realm is the only realm where sentient beings can cultivate and attain Buddhahood.
3️⃣ The Asura Realm
The Asura Realm lies between the Heavenly and Human Realms. Beings here possess supernatural powers but are prone to anger and frequent conflicts. Although they have divine abilities, Asuras are ranked below humans due to their inferior wisdom.
4️⃣ The Animal Realm
The living space of this realm includes both the physical and spiritual worlds. This realm exists so that sentient beings can experience the pain of having their physical bodies consumed by others.
5️⃣ The Hungry Ghost Realm
Beings in this realm suffer as starving ghosts, enduring endless hunger and misery. The purpose of this realm is to teach sentient beings that greed, selfishness, and a lack of generosity will lead to being condemned as hungry ghosts.
6️⃣ The Hell Realm
The living space of this realm exists entirely in the spiritual world (yin). Its purpose is to help sentient beings realize that evil deeds result in severe punishment. This suffering inspires repentance and a desire to turn toward goodness.
Minh Nguyet: Venerable Buddha, whenever I hear teachings about the six realms of samsara and read scriptures about the three lower realms, I feel deep fear knowing the immense suffering that sentient beings endure there.
The scriptures are a means by which God educates and guides sentient beings, just as the six realms of samsara serve as a training ground for beings to attain Buddhahood. Through the six realms, sentient beings gain a full range of experiences necessary for their spiritual evolution.
However, the suffering described in the scriptures is not as terrifying as it may seem. These hardships do exist, but only to the extent necessary for beings to realize the truth and deeply absorb the lessons they must learn. God is a compassionate Father, and His purpose is for sentient beings to grow in wisdom through hardship and ultimately attain enlightenment.
As you already understand about the six realms, only the Human Realm allows beings to cultivate their minds and virtues while accumulating great merit. Because both joy and suffering exist there, you must cherish your human existence. Learn to overcome the adversities that arise in life, for by doing so, wisdom will gradually unfold. By accumulating merits, your inner compassion will also awaken.
When you have matured—after countless cycles through the six realms, when your wisdom and compassion have fully blossomed—God will descend into the world to preach the Dharma and guide you toward liberation from samsara.
Minh Nguyet: Venerable Buddha, if sentient beings have already experienced enough cycles within the six realms of samsara but still have not attained diligent cultivation, what will happen to them?
They will continue to undergo trials and hardships within the six realms of samsara. God, as the Divine Father, will arrange additional lifetimes according to each being’s capacity, ensuring that they receive the necessary lessons to complete their spiritual growth.
Minh Nguyet: Venerable Buddha, may I ask what happens to sentient beings who have already attained Buddhahood? What will they do next?
Once a sentient being attains Buddhahood, they gain self-awareness and the freedom to decide whether or not to reincarnate.
Usually, upon becoming a Buddha, one’s compassion expands infinitely. At that point, looking back at the sentient beings still trapped in the six realms, you will feel deep compassion and a desire to return to the human world to help guide them toward liberation.
For example, you may choose to be reborn to help your parents, support loved ones, or repay karmic debts of gratitude and affection to those with whom you still have unresolved ties.
Minh Nguyet: Truly, karmic debts from past lives in this world! Hearing this, I feel a sense of uncertainty about the concept of karmic force. I once believed that we are completely bound by karma, which would inevitably lead us to reincarnate into new lifetimes under its influence.
Indeed, karma must be repaid. However, the concept of karma and the law of cause and effect is not absolute but rather relative. I will explain this in greater detail in future teachings.
Minh Nguyet: I humbly express my gratitude to You.
Conclusion: The six realms of samsara, created by God, serve as a means to cultivate sentient beings into Buddhas. Every sentient being must experience all six realms to complete the necessary lessons in the training program for Buddhahood. If a being has not yet achieved diligent cultivation, the divine beings will arrange additional lifetimes to supplement the missing lessons.
By understanding the existence of the six realms, we come to realize the guiding hand of God and the Buddhas. If not for the purpose of spiritual training, the six realms would not exist—especially since they have been specifically structured into realms of virtue, partial virtue, and suffering as part of this divine program.
In this teaching, the relative nature of the law of karma has been mentioned. To gain a deeper understanding of this concept, readers are encouraged to explore the discourse on “The Law of Karma”.
