It includes both positive and negative mental states. This nidana refers to the volitional activities, thoughts, intentions, and habitual tendencies that arise from ignorance. This is sentient beings’ basic misunderstanding of the true nature of reality, the four noble truths, and the law of cause and effect. In Buddhist philosophy, fundamental ignorance is the root cause of suffering, driving the cycle of birth and death. This sequence operates moment to moment as well as lifetime to lifetime. With fundamental ignorance as the first cause, each link (nidana) in the cahin results from the previous link and is the cause of the next. The nidanas form the outer circle in Buddhism’s Wheel of Life, which is a pictorial representation of samara. Also known as the twelve links of dependent origination, they map the chain of causation that creates the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that sentient beings are caught in. Paragraph form with links to related content that the reader might be interested giving them contextĪnd related information here and tk copy link to article here and here tk copy here and here.The twelve nidanas describe how the cycle of suffering known as samsara is created. Tk copy here about related articles cpy here and here in This is why the Buddha urges us to put our human life to good use! A human birth is said to be so rare and precious that a turtle surfacing in a vast ocean is more likely to put his head through a small ring floating on the surface than we are to get a human birth. The human realm, the scriptures explain, is neither so pleasurable that there’s no motivation to seek liberation, like the higher realms, nor too full of suffering to attempt to escape samsara, like the lower realms. Here we find the only exit from the six realms-the liberation of nirvana. The human world is the realm of action, the only one in which practice can take place and buddhas can appear. The realm of demigods ( asuras ) is marked by constant warfare, competition, and anger it is the home of climbers on the corporate and social ladders-those who are driven to get ahead. Without adversity, the gods develop attachments and have no motivation to escape samsara. Those in the god realm ( devas ) float high above the world, free of suffering, but this realm too is ultimately unsatisfying. Hungry ghosts ( pretas ) are those driven by unquenchable desire, chasing the next possession, the next meal, the next relationship, only to find themselves dissatisfied and craving the next thing. Their own hurt is so great they may even harm those around them. The hell realm describes people living with extreme suffering, heedless of others. But for those who interpret them as metaphors rather than actual places, the six realms depict life as we are living it here and now.Īnimals are driven by their need to eat, sleep, and procreate people in this state live mechanically, controlled by basic needs. Until then, we are stuck in the six realms. Karma plays a role in determining where we are born and reborn, which keeps happening until we reach nirvana and escape the cycle. It’s important to note that some Buddhists view the realms as literally real, while others interpret them psychologically as metaphors for the emotional states of the human condition. The three “higher” realms are the human realm, where you and I find ourselves the demigod realm, where godlike beings fight for power and the god realm, where beings enjoy a life of pleasure. The other two are the hell realm, a place of constant suffering and torment, and the realm of the hungry ghosts, grasping beings who are never satisfied. The animal realm, in which inhabitants are driven by basic needs, is one of the three “lower” realms. The realms are depicted in the Wheel of Life ( bhavachakra ), a vivid representation of samsara -the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The six realms of rebirth are a schema in which beings are reborn according to the kind of life they lived. Non-Buddhists sometimes joke that being reborn as a bug is as bad it gets, but in the Buddhist depiction of the universe, it can get much worse than that! Rebirth-being born again and again until nirvana ends the cycle-can be a difficult concept to embrace if you’ve been raised to believe in an eternal afterlife in heaven or hell. The six realms depicted in the Wheel of Life ( bhavachakra), clockwise from top: the god realm, the demigod realm, the hungry ghost realm, the hell realm, the animal realm, and the human realm.
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