Tag Archive for "karma"
I was at lunch a few days ago with a friend and we were talking about Buddhism. I was telling her about my understanding of the Six Realms as stated in the teachings of Mahayana and Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism. I thought I would try to make some more sense of it for her and for me as well.
The Six Realms or Paths are as follows:
- Deva Realm, a realm of bliss and pride.
- Asura Realm, the realm of the jealous demigods.
- Human Realm, a blessed realm where we can achieve enlightenment.
- Animal Realm, a realm of prejudice and stupidity, the realm of earthly animals also.
- Hungry Ghost Realm, a realm where beings are possessive and desire all.
- Naraka Realm, the realm of hells where you are born and live until the karmic dept is paid.
In Tibetan Buddhism these realms are actual paths of rebirth. Your soul can be born into any of these realms depending on your karma. I also feel that these realms fit very nicely into view as the paths you and I take along our journey as humans.
From day to day we are prideful or prejudiced or possessive or in our own personal hell. Some of us are in the Deva Realm, some people are wealthy and famous but live within a boundary of pride and seek to attain more wealth or notoriety. How can you achieve enlightenment while you are proud of your status? The Buddha said “I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest lake on Earth as a drop of oil on my foot.”
I try to imagine the Deva Realm, I meditated upon it once and saw myself sitting upon a throne. Though I did not appear as I am today, I knew it to be me. I could wish an object in to reality with a thought. I could travel to the reaches of the realm in an instant, with only a notion. But I was unhappy. I wanted more, I needed something else, something I could not find in all the realm. So, though I was in a blissful palace with my every desire fulfilled, something was missing. This is a realm of gods, surely, but “gods” with a little ‘g’. Not creators, nor the eternal judge of Judeo-Christian heritage; but almost omnipotent beings far advanced compared to those of us in the other realms.
The Asura Realm is that of the demigods. They can see in to the realm of the devas, they can sense it and are oh, so close to ascending to it; but they can not get there in this lifetime. They are blessed with power, might, wealth and health; but they want more. They want it all, they want what you have. No matter if you have less than they do, you have something they do not.
Being able to see the devas in the realm above them compounds the matter. If you are living in a resort of luxury and wealth; heaven still looks tempting. They are willing to war with the other demigods, always vieing for position or control over this or that. Once a war is fought and over, another begins, in an endless cycle of intrigue and arms.
The Human Realm is where we are today. We are blessed, as we can achieve Enlightenment in this form. Think of it this way: we have been given another chance to change our karma for the good of ourselves and all sentient beings; we are blessed that we are able to learn the Dharma and that we can accept it and learn from the Buddha and all of the Bodhisattva’s of creation.
The Animal Realm is not such a bad place I suppose, but animals lack the basic understanding of their plight to grow and lessen their karmic burden. I am not sure, but I would think that there is no chance that an animal can attain the intellect that would be needed to ascend. But then again, maybe I need to learn that it is not intellect you need.
Some of us are trapped in the Animal Realm even though we were fortunate enough to be born as humans this go-around. If you are a person consumed by stupidity and prejudices you live in the Animal Realm, if you are a hateful person bent on cruelty and harming others around you, you live in the Animal Realm. At least you have the chance to grow and change your heart.
In the Hungry Ghost Realm souls take no joy from food or drink. The camp fire would provide no warmth, the waters of the river can never quench thirst, the sun shines and there is no light given. There have been times when I must have been walking in this realm, even here on earth. I have had times when no words offered to me would comfort my heart. Times when every look towards me contained pity and loathe, at least in my eyes. Even times when friends I hold dear seemed to turn their backs on my needs.
To be born in to the Hungry Ghost Realm would be a sad, desolate, and maddening existence; pray for the souls who walk the sands of this realm.
Lastly is the hell realm known as Naraka Realm. We can consider it a realm of different chasms, each chasm contains a variation on a theme, and the theme is always suffering. There are eight cold hells and eight hot hells. I wont go in to the exact theories of the 16 hells here, but if you wish to know more you can find a quick read here at the wiki. The cold hells have themes like chattering teeth, shivering bodies and blue skin; while the hot hells are filled with stories of hells where you are born fully grown, demons descend upon you, rendering your flesh from your body, you die and are reborn for another round.
You stay in Naraka until your karma is atoned for and then you are born in a higher realm. I wonder if you can accept the demons in the hells and show them compassion? Would you jump to the animal realm or human realm for finding a way to offer loving-kindness in hell?
I know that my friends and family would read this and think I have completely lost my mind. This is as far from Roman Catholicism as you can get, right? I don’t know. Some of this is very similar to the ideas of purgatory and hell; you just have the chance to grow and move forward in Buddhism. That is something that Christianity denies you. Get it wrong once and that is that.
If you are not Buddhist, you can still see the psychology behind the realms and how they apply to you in your life. If you are a Buddhist, you get that point and the deeper meaning as well. I think I see the deeper meaning.
Sometimes I am mindful of falling asleep, aware of the various stages as I slip into the other realms of consciousness. A few nights ago I was lying in bed, I had a large pillow beneath my knees and my hands were laid to my side. I was breathing deeply, thoughtfully. Breathe out to the count of four, breathe in to the count of four, out to the count of four, in to the count of four; over and over again until I stopped counting and let that happen as it would.
I was having a conversation with some one about something and I suddenly realized it was not real, it was something that could not be happening as I was laying in bed beside my wife as she slept quietly. So I slid back up the consciousness scale to remember I am there, lying in bed with my knees on a pillow to support my legs and the small of my back. The conversation was lost to me, only knowing that I had been speaking to someone and that it was a dream was left now.
My eyes fluttered open for a moment and then they closed themselves again, down the rabbit hole.
I stand on the wooden deck of a great old ship; the kind that pirates sail into the rough seas looking for adventure and freedom. It’s dark, middle of the night dark, with low clouds on the waters as we list and roll over the waves.Ropes hang from the mast and the sails, rigging to and fro in every direction it seems as I walk down the middle of the bough. I am alone on the deck, and that is odd to me even here, in my dream. Everything is either wet or has the feel of moisture through and through. In the dimness of the cloud covered night the only light above deck comes from a few hanging lanterns as they flicker, their wicks trimmed to conserve oil in the heart of the night.
Something catches my eye, in the rigging above the sterncastle there is movement. I make my way up the ladder to find out what or who is moving from rope to rope, hoping to find nothing.
Nothing finds me first though, and in this case, Nothing is something horrible.
She stands taller than I can grasp at first. Her chest is covered with colorless feathers while the skin on her arms and face are darkly tanned and cracked.
“No fear,” she sings out effortlessly and with love. She beckons to me, asking for me to come closer, to her protection, to her warmth and love.
My feet guide me and I am happy to be near her, in her aura of protection.
Her left wing opens to reveal her breast; shapely and supple. Strange feelings stir in my gut: desire, hunger and motherly tenderness all at once.
I find myself against her, suckling at her. Warmth and light flow in to my body; I am free, I am secure and home and in love and lost and found, all at once. In an instant I am these things.
She bends my body backwards, supporting my weight on her arms, it is nothing for her. I can feel the strength in her grip and I am happy for it. Safe, secure.
My body starts to transform, I am becoming like her. Wings are growing from my back, a new found strength is coursing in my veins. My muscles becoming like stone and iron with each drink I pull in to my mouth.
And then her look changes, something in her eyes shows me sorrow and pain. She is torn, upset that she is about to ruin my world. Her face distorts and hardens, she is no longer the beautiful woman-bird, but now, suddenly a wrathful demon of red eyes and sharp beak.
She bites in to my stomach, eating my insides as I try to drink in the last drops from her chest. Her eating my flesh is not to bother me, but losing the nectar, that is catastrophe.
And then I am awake. Lying in bed beside my wife, wondering at my dream.
Last night while working in the backyard my mother-in-law stepped on a rather large copperhead snake. My daughters came racing in to the living room screaming about the snake trying to kill them.
By the time I get a shovel from the garage and run to the backyard the poor snake is coiled and hissing mad. I know I should have simply scooped it up and flung it deep in to the ravine, but instead I whacked it over the head and proceeded to kill it.
My ‘daddy-instinct‘ was to remove the threat. I listened to that instinct before I had time to see the beauty of the snake and let it move on.
When it was all over one of my daughters asked me why I had to kill it. I gave her the whole ‘to protect you darling’ speech, warned them never to go near a snake and then walked back to the house.
Already I felt horrible. The snake was terrified. It really just wanted to get away from the giant animals - my family. In fact, when my mother-in-law stepped on it before she saw it, the snake didn’t bite her, it just coiled up and hissed. It was telling her and my girls to leave it alone.
“Go away, leave me,” it had tried to say to them.
Later in the night the snake talked to me in my dreams.
I was walking to a neighbors house, intending to dine with them that night. When I came close to their front porch a large snake was resting quietly on a flat rock inside the entryway. At first the snake’s head was facing the other direction but before I could move away it turned, looked at me.I stood, transfixed by its’ gaze, eyes locked on eyes. The snake’s body rose now, bringing its’ head even with mine. I didn’t move, I couldn’t think, I simply stood there in its’ presence.
Suddenly I passed the snake, walked in to the home and found the rooms all filled with people enjoying the food and company. As I tried to do the same myself I was continually reminded of the snake just outside the door.
All of the pictures and paintings in the house were snakes. All of the statues in the house were snakes as well. The print on the love seat was of leaves and snakes; the snakes on the print were alive and slithering in and out of the leaves as people sat on the furniture; unaware of the moving snakes below them.
Finally I could take no more and I went to leave. Seeing the snake, still at eye-level with me in the doorway I turned to find the back door.
Leaving the backyard I crossed in to my lawn again and that is where I found a little clutch of tiny baby copperhead snakes. Wriggling and writhing atop the freshly mowed grass.
I woke then. In the pre-dawn light I wondered about the copperhead I had killed earlier that night. Had there been a clutch somewhere? Are there even now eight or ten tiny copperheads out in the creek behind my house?
Something I had not thought about in 20 years popped in to my mind. When I was little I actually had a pet copperhead for a while. I caught him, spitting and furious on a sandy bike trail not far from my house. I kept him and played with him for a while, until my grandfather realized what it was and he killed it while I watched. I was heart broken.
That little snake had calmed down and even swam on the water in my bathtub. He never meant to harm any one and yet my wanting him as my own had ended his young life.
And now I had brought about the death of another snake. With out thinking.
I wish I had let the snake alone. Brought in my family and told the girls to just back away when they see snakes, to leave them alone.
I wish I had left the first snake alone all those years ago as well.
