Related:: [[Samsara|Saṃsāra]], [[Jati|Jāti]], [[Kappa|Eon]] Child:: [[Brahma]], [[Deva]], [[Manussa]], [[Animal]], [[Peta]], [[Apaya]] # Loka (Existence, or commonly as World and Cosmos) — The 31 Realms of Existence > [!example] Map of 31 realms > - https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sagga/loka.html > - https://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh180x.html ([[The Thirty-one Abodes (31 Realms)|clipped]]) ## Summary > [!tldr] 1\. *Apāya — Kāma-loka (Duggati)* — **States of Deprivation** (4 realms total) > **Residents**: > - ***Niraya*** — Hell — consumed by endless suffering in flame and pain > - ***Tiracchānayoni*** — Animals > - ***Peta*** — Hungry ghosts — engaging in hopeless hunt for sense pleasures > - ***Asura*** — Titans — engaging in endless fights > [!tldr] 2\. *Kāma-loka (Suggati)* — **Good Sensuous Planes** (7 realms total) > **Residents:** > - **Human** and **Deva's** enjoying various level of sense pleasures > [!tldr] 3\. *Rūpa-loka* — **The Fine-Material World** (16 realms total) > **Residents**: Those who have attained the [[Jhana#1st Jhāna|1-4th Jhāna]] > - Including [[Brahma]] (See [[Brahma Vihara|Brahma Vihāra]]) > [!tldr] 4\. *Arūpa-loka* — **The Immaterial World** (4 realms total) > **Residents:** Those who have attained the [[Jhana#5-9th Jhāna Arupa|5-8th Jhāna]] ## Summary of the 31 Realms ![[MN41 Sāleyyakasutta#^realms]] ## 62 Wrong Views (In Brahmajālasutta) ![[DN1 Brahmajālasutta#^62-wrong-views]] ## Cycles of the Universe ![[Kappa#Cycles of the Universe Saṁvaṭṭa vivaṭṭa]] ## [[Samsara|Transmigration]] ![[Samsara#Saṃsāra is Beginningless]] ## Articles - Buddhism and Evolution – Aggañña Sutta (DN 27) ([Puredhamma.net](https://puredhamma.net/sutta-interpretations/buddhist-cosmology-agganna-sutta/)) ## Videos - **(Superb)** [[(2021-09-04) (BEST EVER) (12-day Series) Buddha Dhamma - Where to Start & What to do @Beginner#(2021-09-06) Day 2 - Superb talk on Loka and Dasa Akusala]] ## Suttas ### Loka / Realms of Existence (Hell, Animal, Human, Heaven, etc.) - SN12.44 Lokasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn12.44/en/sujato)) - What is meant by "Loka" (World)? (It's not the "Universe" as we understand it) - MN129 Bālapaṇḍitasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/mn129/en/sujato)) - Buddha on the pain of the 4 lower realms and the pleasure of heavens - The suffering had by a man stroke with **300 spears** a day, when compared with the hell, is like a stone is compared to the Himalayas. - Buddha gave #simile on a **turtle** coming up every 100 years to a floating yoke in the ocean — it's still higher than the chance of rebirth as human from the apayas. - Hell - AN10.211 Paṭhamanirayasaggasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/an10.211/en/sujato)) - MN130 Devadūtasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/mn130/en/sujato)) - More descriptions of Hell (and on the 5 Messengers of the Gods) - Heaven - AN3.37 Catumahārājasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/an3.37/en/sujato)) - Revere one's parents and brahmins, observe sabbath and make merits — it leads to heavenly realms - SN5.7 Upacālāsutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn5.7/en/sujato)) - Heavens are still bond by sensuality and Mara — transcending all existences is the only sanctuary - [[AN3.70 Uposathasutta]] - Descriptions on the life of heavenly realms - Vilas: - DN28 & DN29 apart from DN31 ### Cosmology & [[Samsara|Saṃsāra]] (Transmigration) - [[DN27 Aggaññasutta]] - Overview of the cycle of the universe - (Related to DN27) DN26 Cakkavattisutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/dn26/en/sujato)) - How human had 80,000 lifespan then keeps on reducing - AN3.80 Cūḷanikāsutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/an3.80/en/sujato)) ^kl7er2 - Buddha on different **"Galaxies"**, "galactic cluster", and "galactic supercluster" (loka), and how Buddha can make his voice heard throughout the entire world system - - AN7.66 Sattasūriyasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/an7.66/en/sujato)) - Buddha describes the "doomsday" scenes on what happens when there are 7 suns. - Length of Samsara (Anamataggasaṁyutta, Unknowable Beginning) - SN15.3 Assusutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn15.3/en/sujato)) - The tear a being has shed during the endless cycle of rebirths is more than the water in the 4 great oceans - SN15.5 Pabbatasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn15.5/en/sujato)) #simile/buddha - SN15.6 Sāsapasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn15.6/en/sujato)) — mustard seed - Buddha on how long a Eon is and how [[Samsara|Saṃsāra]] has no known beginning. - Painful births in Samsara is WAY MORE than pleasure - SN56.102 Manussacutinirayasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn56.102/en/sujato)) - SN56.103 Manussacutitiracchānasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn56.103/en/sujato)) - (... and a lot more) - SN22.99 Gaddulabaddhasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn22.99/en/sujato)) - Buddha on how [[Samsara|Saṃsāra]] has no beginning and end, even when the ocean is dried and the world is destroyed. - [[SN22.100 Dutiyagaddulabaddhasutta]] - [[AN10.29 Paṭhamakosalasutta]] - Buddha explains how everything perishes — so even the foremost realm is not worthy - and how universe contracts and beings migrate - MN120 Saṅkhārupapattisutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/mn120/en/sujato)) - Buddha on how one can meditate on their destination of rebirth and reach there - [[MN41 Sāleyyakasutta]] - Moral acts aligned with Dhamma (dhammacariya) leads to good birth, and vise versa - Vb18 Dhammahadayavibhaṅga — Lifespan ("Age Limit") of each states of existence ([link](https://suttacentral.net/vb18/en/thittila)) ^sutta-lifespan - AN4.123 Paṭhamanānākaraṇasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/an4.123/en/sujato)) - Buddha on how even Puthujjana can attain all 4 Jhanas, and what's their respective lifespan - AN3.116 Āneñjasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/an3.116/en/sujato)) ^136k5l - Lifespan of 5th, 6th, 7th Jhana realms :) - 5th jhana — 20,000 Eons, 6th jhana — 40,000 Eons, 7th jhana — 60,000 Eons - Samsara is "Beginningless" — the Earliest point cannot be identified - https://suttacentral.net/mil3.2.9/en/kelly - https://suttacentral.net/mil3.3.1/en/kelly - https://suttacentral.net/mil3.3.2/en/kelly - https://suttacentral.net/mil3.3.3/en/kelly ### Metaphysics ![[Wrong Views (Metaphysical)#Wrong Metaphysical views Afterlife Nihilism Eternalism Dualism etc]] ##### Cautions on Metaphysics / Afterlife! - 10 Questions not to be answered - [[MN63 Cūḷamālukyasutta]] - Buddha on things he doesn't answer, using the simile of a person struck by a Poison Arrow but still asking many questions before trying to treat his wound. - [[MN72 Aggivacchasutta]] ([link](https://suttacentral.net/mn72/en/sujato)) - SN56.31 Sīsapāvanasutta ([link](https://suttacentral.net/sn56.31/en/sujato)) - Buddha on the #simile of what he knows being the whole forest whereas what he teaches is a handful of leaves. ### More on Realms ![[Suttas#Stories of Deva (Gods)]] ![[Suttas#Stories on Peta Hungry ghosts]]