 |
 |
Dharma Rain - Dharma School Manual
Our Five Main Dharmic Themes
Theme #4: The Six Realms and the Wheel of Life
One of the most vivid and useful Buddhist teachings for children is the cosmology
of the wheel of life and the six realms. In this worldview, the universe is
divided into six realms: heaven, hell, animals, hungry ghosts, asuras (jealous
gods), and humans. A being is never trapped in one realm; their actions determine
where they will be reborn in the next life. The six realms are visually presented
as parts of a circle, which is called the “Wheel of Life” because
beings constantly go round and round on it. Though this may appear to be a
negative worldview, in each of the six realms there is a buddha that teaches
the specific way to achieve liberation from that realm. Significantly, the
goal of Buddhist practice is not to get to the heaven realm (because even that
is conditional and temporary), but to get off the wheel completely – that
is, to stop the cycle and achieve peace. We primarily use each realm as a metaphor
for particular states of mind, and describe how we can find ourselves in one
of the realms in one moment and in another realm the next. Children are asked
to imagine examples from everyday life that might feel like the realm that
is being discussed. For example, the heaven realm might feel like a really
fun vacation with family, and the hell realm might feel like a day at school
when everyone is being mean to you and you feel like no one on earth cares
about you. As described earlier (“Is It True?”), we hold this imagery
lightly, and do not teach the children to fear getting stranded in a flaming
hell that exists deep underground, or to believe hungry ghosts wander the earth.
We have not had any problems with kids understanding the teachings this way.

Buddhist cosmology: the world of samsara, divided into six
realms: (clockwise from top) heaven, realm of the fighting asuras, realm of
the beasts,
hell, realm of the hungry ghosts, and the human realm.
At the center of the wheel of life one finds three animals — a pig,
a snake and a rooster. The pig symbolizes blindness or delusion, the snake
symbolizes
hatred and the rooster symbolizes greed. The emotions of the three stem from
ignorance of our fundamentally pure and empty nature. Together, the triad
represents the root cause that keeps the wheel of life turning. Around the
edges of the
wheel are a series of images representing the twelve steps of dependent origination,
which explain how all of the activity on the wheel of life arises from ignorance
(of our true nature) through action, consciousness, and so on, through grasping,
existence, birth, old age and death. We do not attempt to explore this subtle
and complex teaching with children. Rather, we find that the six realms imagery
can stand on its own and provides plenty of material for a year of classes.
top
Heaven Realm
Heaven is blissful and populated by devas, or gods.
Devas are not omniscient or omnipotent creators, but they are very powerful
and live
for countless ages. They are seven times larger than humans, their bodies shine
with a brilliant light and everything around them stays fresh and beautiful.
Some reign over celestial kingdoms, while most live in delightful happiness
and splendor. Most of the devas relax in a palace in the clouds. They gather
around a musician, dancing, in a pavilion decorated with banners. Some devas
float through the sky, while others play musical instruments in the garden
or swim in a refreshing pool. A wish-fulfilling tree which is rooted in the
asura realm bears fruit in the heaven realm, and some of the devas staff a
celestial army to protect heaven from marauding asuras. However, the happiness
of the devas is not simply a matter of sensual pleasure derived from material
things, though the devas certainly do not lack such pleasure. Rather, the beings
in heaven have mastery of desire, control of themselves, joy and contentment,
and they experience progressively deeper states of meditation. Suffering is
transcended in the heaven realm.

To be reborn in the heaven realm, beings have performed austere, meritorious
and charitable deeds, but did not gain enlightenment or liberation. They are
still attached to a concept of self. They attain states of peace and bliss
in meditation, but do not drop the perception of there being some “one” who
has attained that peace and bliss. Eventually they are lulled into a sense
of complacency and neglect their spiritual practice. The merit stored up from
the good things the devas did in the past will run out, and they will begin
to descend from heaven. Their bodies become dim and become capable of producing
sweat, they get uncomfortable and ill at ease, their flower garlands fade and
their clothes, which always remained clean no matter how long they wore them,
get old and begin to smell. Descending devas are tormented by the knowledge
that they will soon lose the experience of heaven and be reborn in one of the
other realms of existence. They are engulfed in sorrow, and in a certain sense
this mental anguish is worse than the suffering experienced even in the hell
realm.
A white buddha is depicted in the corner of the heaven section of the wheel,
set off in a circle, playing a musical instrument. Inevitably the devas will
begin to descend out of the heaven realm, so the buddha depicted in this realm
is simply playing a musical instrument, harmonizing with the devas and patiently
waiting for karma to run its course. A deva who learned acceptance and patience
from this buddha might be able to move to the human realm (where there is the
most potential for ultimate liberation from the whole wheel of life process),
rather than the asura realm or one of the lower realms, if s/he did not respond
to the loss of heaven with anger, jealousy or despair.
A positive lesson for teachers to emphasize with the heaven realm is learning
to accept when wonderful things are ending. Forecasting the loss of everything
pleasant in a child’s life is generally not an age-appropriate message,
although this important lesson can be conveyed indirectly and subtly simply
through presentation of the heaven realm mythology without over-explanation.
Teachers can delicately bring up the experience of “losing heaven,” however,
and even normalize it and make it clear that such an experience is free of
blame. The sooner we can gracefully accept that things are shifting, the happier
we will be. We can concentrate on ending up in the human realm — where
there is a healthy balance of pleasure and discomfort — instead of the asura
realm, where god-like beings are driven insane with envy for what the devas
have in the heaven realm (see below). Another teaching topic could be the fact
that the devas are primarily concerned about their own happiness, and don’t
do much to help others (although this isn’t always true). The kids could
discuss times when they have felt good because they did something nice for
someone else, and the teacher could point out that this is a happiness that
is more likely to be found in the human realm than in the heaven realm.
top
Asura Realm
The asura realm is populated by powerful beings who
experience a life that could be almost as pleasurable as that of the devas
in the heaven
realm. However, the asuras are very envious and suspicious of each other, so
they spend their time absorbed in great wars and conflicts instead of enjoying
themselves. The realm is full of assembling armies and asuras in battle gear.
Even though they value justice, wisdom and faith, they always desire to be
superior to others, so they are competitive and egotistical.

Even worse, the asuras are plagued by envy for the devas, who they can see,
just as humans can see animals. A wish-fulfilling tree grows in the asura
realm, but it bears fruit only up in the heaven realm, out of reach of the
asuras.
The asuras try to obtain the fruits of the heaven realm by chopping down
the wish-fulfilling tree and by making war on the devas. There is no anger
or hatred
in the heaven realm, but when the devas see what is happening, they enter
a magical forest that makes them aggressive. Then they defend themselves from
the asuras. The king of the devas, Indra, rides on the central head of an
immense
elephant with thirty-three heads, named Supremely Steady. His ministers ride
on the other 32 heads. An unimaginably large divine army surrounds them,
and they raise a mighty battle cry and rain weapons down on the asuras — huge
arrows, spears, thunderbolts and wheels. The devas use their powers to pick
up mountains and hurl them down on the asuras. Devas are seven times larger
than humans, can only be killed when their heads are cut off, and any wounds
they receive can be healed by divine ambrosia. Asuras, on the other hand,
are much smaller than devas and can die as easily as humans, so the asuras
always
lose their battles.
Beings are reborn in this realm after they live a life of devotion (as a
priest, monk, nun, or lay practitioner, for example) while secretly harboring
hatred
and jealousy. Or they live fairly virtuous and noble lives, but still have
a propensity for envy, fighting, ambition and competition. The green buddha
of this realm carries a sword to remind the asuras of the virtues of moral
restraint and order. The strength and energy of asuras is used for violence
and is wasted in their struggles, but that same strength and energy could be
used for self-discipline and to maintain order and justice for everyone. If
an asura managed to curb his or her envy and jealousy, he or she might calm
down enough to realize that participation in the struggles of the asura realm
is fruitless and painful, and begin to feel gratitude for what he or she has.
With children, teachers can draw out experiences where the students have felt
or witnessed envy (for something one feels one lacks) or jealousy (anxiety
about losing something one feels one has). Teachers can lead the kids into
a discussion of how these states feel: constrained, paranoid, fearful, worried,
ungrateful. Some of the kids may have had friendships break up or go through
difficult times because of asura-type behavior. Kids might respond to a request
for suggestions that could be made to the asuras to make them happier, such
as living by a promise not to hurt anyone or learning to stop comparing their
situation to the heaven realm and just enjoy what they have.
top
Beast Realm
The beast realm overlaps the human realm — that
is, animals and humans can see each other. The animals typical of this realm
are completely
driven by their instincts and their simple, physical needs and base emotions
like fear, aggression and sensual desire. In many respects this description
does not apply to the real, live animals we have as pets or respect in the
wild; this realm is often called the animal realm but may more appropriately
be called the “realm of beasts.” In this archetypal image of animals
they must always worry about being eaten or catching some other animal to eat.
They also get caught, eaten or enslaved by humans. The understanding of animals
is limited, so when they are hungry, that is all they can think about; when
they want to mate, they are obsessed with sex; when they are afraid, they are
consumed with fear; when they have nothing to do they, they simply sleep. These
archetypal animals feel no shame or empathy when they cause harm (or even death)
to other beings. They often encounter situations they do not understand, and
can only react with confusion, aggression or fear. Because the beasts are always
at the mercy of their needs, desires and fears, they are caught in a cycle
of basic, instinctual self-maintenance and rarely get out of their deeply worn
habit patterns. They are involved in an obsession with “me and mine.”

Beings are reborn in the beast realm when they have acted as if there are
no moral laws operating in the universe, merely according to instinct or desire
without concern for the consequences and without remorse or shame. They are
also reborn here when they kill or harm innocent beings through obliviousness
or ignorance. The basic theme is willful ignorance of the laws of karma (moral
cause-and-effect). The blue buddha of this realm holds a book, representing
the knowledge — especially about the laws of karma, and the benefits of ethical
conduct — that could set the beasts free.
Children usually feel a special interest in and resonance with animals, so
teachers can make an effort to differentiate between real-life animals and
the “beasts” of this realm. It might help to point out that some
animals almost live more in the human realm, while some people seem to live
more in the beast realm. An important theme is that beasts don’t have
the ability or willingness to understand cause and effect, and therefore they
often act in ways that are harmful to themselves or to other beings. A good
example is that dogs will eat chocolate even though it is poisonous to them.
Even if their owner trains them not to, a dog doesn’t understand why
she isn’t allowed to eat chocolate and will probably eat it behind her
owner’s back. You can’t explain the situation to a dog. Kids can
be asked for examples of when people act like animals, only concerned with
whether something feels good or not (they might eat too much, destroy the environment
in order to make lots of money, or act with a careless disregard for the safety
of others and end up causing harm to other people). The children can then brainstorm
a list of “good ideas” for ways to not act like beasts.
top
Hell Realm
The hell realm is full of beings undergoing intense physical
and mental suffering. There are vivid descriptions in the mythology of the
numerous
and various kinds of hells and torments that can be found in this realm,
and the major theme is the absence of any hope for escape (that is, until one’s
karma is exhausted). There are hot hells, cold hells, occasional hells and
neighboring hells (classically, there are eighteen in all). In the Reviving
Hell, its denizens are tied to each other and fight each other to painful
deaths, only to have a cold wind come along, revive them, and allow the process
to
start over. Inhabitants of the Black Thread Hell are cut into pieces with
flaming knives and saws along black lines that have been drawn on their bodies,
after
which their bodies miraculously reassemble only to be cut up again. Residents
of the Crushing Hell are repeatedly crushed between two mountains or iron
plates and revived. In other hells beings are burnt with molten metal and pierced
with spikes. In the cold hells, beings are tormented with blisters, endlessly
chattering teeth, and their skin splitting open. Surrounding the hot and
cold
hells are the neighboring hells, through which beings must pass on their
way out of hell: a pit of hot embers that appears from afar to be a shady trench;
a swamp full of corpses that appears from afar to be a cool river; a plain
of razors that appears to be a pleasant meadow, and a forest of swords that
appears to be a protective grove of trees. (Much lengthier and more vivid
descriptions
of the hell realm can be found in some of the sources in the reference section;
describing hell seems to have been as much a preoccupation with Buddhists
as it has been with those in other religions.)

Beings are reborn in the hell realm when they have allowed themselves to
be overcome with hatred, anger and directed aggression. There is a qualitative
difference between this and the aggression that leads to the animal realm;
animal realm aggression is rather blind, defensive, stupid and instinctual,
and springs more from ignorance (although it may be willful ignorance) than
conscious choice. Beings headed for the hell realm, in a sense, have said “yes” to
the path of hatred and aggression, whether they are aware of it or not. This
is not to say that only perpetrators of physical violence end up in hell. There
are many other ways to act out hatred and aggression, such as deception, oppression,
verbal abuse, slander and sexual misconduct.
The indigo buddha in this realm carries a vial of water, representing the
cooling effect of patience and forgiveness, and a flame, symbolizing the light
of hope.
Only when a hell being is able to unconditionally let go of his or her anger
and hatred can he or she become free of hell. In theory, this is possible at
any moment, but the beings in hell are usually depicted as being stuck there
a very long time. This is because afflictive emotions like anger are self-sustaining;
once a being has created a hell realm for him or herself, he or she has many
reasons to continue being angry.
Kids often enjoy a good dose of the graphic depictions of hell. Teachers
can offer some of the mythology and imagery, keeping a careful eye on when
the
interest turns from a natural curiosity into anxiety or morbid distraction.
The emphasis here should not be on all the terrible things people can do that
might cause them to wind up in the hell realm. In fact, effort should be made
to communicate that the Buddhist hell is not a punitive one, even though some
of the imagery suggests punishment. The experience of harboring and acting
out anger, hatred and aggression is, in and of itself, hell. This is an easy
truth to draw out of the kids if teachers ask them how these emotions feel
physically and mentally. One valuable teaching point is that people who do
hateful things punish themselves, even if it appears that they never suffer
consequences for their actions. This can inspire the kids to feel compassion
for wrongdoers, rather than a sense of judgment or a need for revenge. They
usually find it easy to imagine that someone who steals something will experience
inward consequences even if they never get caught, such as a sense of pervasive
guilt or a paranoia that someone, in turn, will steal from them.
top
Hungry Ghost Realm
Hungry ghosts (also known as pretas or gakis) are strange
and pathetic-looking creatures that are consumed with hunger and thirst. There
are three types of hungry ghosts: those with external obstacles, those with
internal obstacles, and those with specific obstacles. Ghosts with external
obstacles never find the food and drink they crave. They may not hear news
of food or water for centuries. Occasionally they glimpse a stream from afar,
but it takes them a long, painful time to get there because their joints are
so fragile. When they finally arrive, the water has dried up. Similarly, they
sometimes see an orchard of trees but arrive to find the fruit has dried up
and withered. They may see an abundance of food and drink somewhere, but when
they approach it, they are driven away by men who attack them with weapons.
Everything is agony for them, and if a traveler from another realm comes near,
the desire of the ghosts produces a fever in the traveler. Ghosts with internal
obstacles have gigantic bellies, necks as thin as a hair, and mouths no bigger
than the eye of a needle. No matter how much water these ghosts find to drink,
by the time it gets down their tiny throats, the heat from their breath has
evaporated it. They can never force enough food through their tiny mouths to
satisfy them, and once the food reaches their stomach it bursts into flames
anyway. They can hardly move because their bellies are huge but their limbs
are as thin as grass.

Ghosts with specific obstacles have various kind of experiences, depending
on the nature of their previous deeds. A classic Vajrayana tale (found in Words
of My Perfect Teacher by Patrul Rinpoche) is told about four ghosts that were
chained to the four legs of throne. The throne belonged to a beautiful woman.
A traveler from the human realm named Shrona happened by as the beautiful woman
was leaving for a period of time. She offered Shrona food but told him not
to share any of it with the ghosts. The ghosts begged Shrona, however, and
he took pity on them and gave them some of the food. When one of them tried
to eat it, the food turned into chaff. For the next ghost it turned into a
lump of iron, for the next a lump of flesh, and for the last ghost the food
turned into pus mixed with blood. When the woman returned she admonished Shrona,
saying, “Do you really think you are more compassionate than I am? These
four ghosts were people I knew my past life, and they have all been reborn
here because of their stinginess and greed. The first was my husband. When
one of the Buddha’s disciples came on his alms round, I offered him food.
Thinking my husband would like to share in this opportunity, I suggested he
also make an offering. My husband yelled at me, saying, ‘What are you
doing offering food to that worthless monk? You should save it for your own
family, and stuff his mouth with chaff!’ My son reacted that same way,
saying, ‘You should feed that bald-head lumps of iron.’ Later,
my parents sent me some delicacies to eat, and my daughter-in-law ate the best
parts before she gave them to me. When I asked her about it, she said, ‘I
would rather eat my own flesh than take something meant for you!’ The
fourth ghost was my servant, who ate a meal I was sending to my family. She
denied it, saying, ‘I would rather eat pus and blood than steal from
you.’” Shrona asked the woman why she was in the hungry ghost realm. “I
vowed to be reborn where I could see what fate awaited these four as a result
of their actions,” she replied.
Beings are reborn in the hungry ghost realm because they have acted with
extreme selfishness and greed, and refused to share their blessings with the
less fortunate.
This greed is a feverish, passionate greed, where the animal realm greed is
more immediate, basic and instinctual. To become a hungry ghost a being had
to be more conscious about their greed, often manipulating, scheming, lying
and withholding in order to obtain (or keep) what they wanted. This greediness
explains the reason why the hungry ghost realm is so desperately unsatisfying:
an attitude of greed and stinginess creates a worldview centered on lack, so
no matter how much one obtains it is never enough. Therefore, the red buddha
of this realm carries a container filled with celestial nourishment and teaches
the virtue of generosity and sacrifice.
Children immediately understand the significance of the hungry ghost imagery — the
tiny mouth and narrow throat, the food and water turning to fire or blood and
pus. They appreciate that a hungry ghost is a very sad and needy being, and
are moved to a natural pity for them. A valuable lesson that can be conveyed
with this particular teaching is that greed and stinginess don’t pay.
Teachers can ask kids what stinginess means and pick a concrete example to
use. Then the kids can be led easily through the process of discerning what
frame of mind one has to have in order to be stingy (namely, one bases one’s
actions on the assumption that there isn’t enough to go around), and
then to the necessary corollary to that (therefore there may not be enough
for one in the future, so one has to be vigilant and try to get more). This
can be compared step by step with the assumptions made with an act of generosity
(there is enough, or at least I will have whatever I need). Teachers can ask
the kids which feels better. Which makes them feel happier? In an instant,
with one small act of generosity, we can transform the world from a place of
lack into a place of plenty — just by changing our own minds.
top
Human Realm
The human realm, as most of us realize, is the quintessential “mixed
bag.” This, in itself, is the source of the difficulty in the human realm.
Here, beings experience some aspects of all of the other five realms: bliss,
delight, sorrow at losing pleasure, envy, jealousy, obliviousness, stupidity,
ignorance, aggression, hatred, anger, greed, stinginess, hunger and thirst.
They also experience love, equanimity, generosity, wisdom, patience and satisfaction,
among many other things. The human realm is defined by constant change, which
is the source of much suffering. Just as the devas feel intense grief as they
realize they are inevitably descending from heaven, human suffering springs
as much from the loss of wonderful things as it does from the presence of terrible
things. The eight uniquely human kinds of suffering are said to be: birth (or
any beginning, which is often marked by awkwardness and stress), old age, illness,
death, being separated from those dear to us, meeting those who are not dear
to us, and having to guard our possessions.

The beings reborn as humans have pasts that are similarly a mixed bag — some
merits, some shortcomings. Ironically, though technically the “highest” and
most pleasant rebirth is as a deva in the heaven realm, a human rebirth is
considered to be by far the most fortunate. This is because the ideal is to
get off the wheel of life, not to keep playing the game and ending up in the
heaven realm as often as possible. In the heaven realm one is easily lulled
into complacency, and eventually even a deva’s good fortune runs out,
and he or she is reborn in a different realm. In the human realm, on the other
hand, there is just enough difficulty to inspire us to devote ourselves to
spiritual practice, but not so much strife or suffering that we have no energy,
time or inclination to practice. This is why the yellow buddha of this realm
holds a begging bowl, symbolizing spiritual practice and renunciation. Humans
have the opportunity to renounce all self-serving activities, including the
effort to get reborn in the heaven realm. They can practice the virtues of
self-discipline, generosity, patience, forgiveness, zeal and concentration
that will serve them well should they be reborn in a different realm. They
can train in wisdom in order to see that everything is impermanent and there
is no inherent self to which they must cling. They have the potential to achieve
the ultimate peace and liberation of stepping off the wheel of life.
Explaining this realm’s teaching to children presents the same difficulties
as explaining the related teachings of impermanence and renunciation. It can
sound to a child (or adult) like “stepping off the wheel of life” means
removing oneself from this flawed existence by becoming more or less “dead:” without
desires or cares, without any efforts to protect or create, without any investment
in the world (because anything invested will eventually be lost). This, fortunately,
is a misunderstanding of the teaching, at least from a Mahayana point of view.
The Mahayana ideal is the bodhisattva, who practices vigorously to give up
attachment to self and to the world and indeed could step off the wheel if
he or she chose, but who stays in the world to help other beings. The world,
with all of its suffering, is called “the bodhisattva’s playground.” The
experience of the bodhisattva is one of deep engagement, boundless energy,
bright joy and profound gratitude – even as he or she empathizes completely
with the suffering of other beings. That is because the bodhisattva has realized
that the ultimate liberation from self-concern was not to achieve peace for
himself by getting off the wheel, but by renouncing even that peace. Ironically,
by that very act the peace is attained.
Teachers may find children can relate to the human realm more easily if it
includes the bodhisattva image, although the six realms is a pre-Mahayana teaching
and the two are not typically presented together. (Theravada teachers can probably
find some other way to make the same point.) Kids easily pick up the “mixed
bag” concept of the human realm; teachers can ask them to give different
examples of experiences they have had about which one could say, “Well,
______ part was wonderful, but… _____ part was not.” If this realm
is taught last, the kids can be asked to remember things from the other realms
(which also show up in the human realm) that keep people from wanting to do
spiritual practice. This can lead to a discussion of the bodhisattva ideal,
which actually becomes particularly easy to conceptualize against a backdrop
of the six realms teaching. Kids might be asked if they know of any bodhisattva-like
people that seem very happy living in the human realm.
top
Copyright
|
 |