Dharma Rain - Dharma School Manual

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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