ivory:
Does anyone here have any good resources that would help me understand the six realms? I did some research on the internet but it seems that there is a lot of contradictory information. I spoke with Kenneth Folk a while back and we discussed the six realms, but I totally forgot what each realm was about.
aloha ivory,
Sure, the six realms. The whirlpool of samsara. Chogyam trungpa calls the six realms, "styles of imprisonment." He discusses the realms extensively in "the myth of freedom." As we experience each realm we cling to the comfort and familiarity of habitual patterms of thought and behavior. We are afraid of the spaciousness and insecurity of the awakened state and cling to our prisons, finding comfort and security in being occepied with confusion and suffering. Secure and comforted by the fact that we are just like everyone else.
They are called "realms" because they are worlds in which we live, collections of emotions and attitudes and habits, each one a particular version of reality. We have 1) the realm of the gods, 2) the realm of jealous gods, 3) the human realm, 4) the realm of animals, 5) the realm of hungry ghosts, and 6) hell.
The realm of the gods is pre-eminently one of spiritual materialism. We believe we have achieved. We become one with our ego and pain is experienced as pleasure. It's all one and we are blissed out, satisfied, fulfilled. Ego completely bloated, we become insufferably smug. Trungpa calls this realm "self-absorption." One practices meditation and achieves great things, visions, transformation, rebirth. Hope and fear lead the struggle for higher achievement through meditative practices. We imagine we have transcended ego and are permanently high, and feel tremendous satisfaction. Trungpa calls this "the self-destructive perversion of spirituality into materialism." Eventually karma brings about irritations and we lose faith in our enlightenment, we begn to doubt.
We enter the realm of the jealous gods, another style - this is the whirlpool of samsara. The realm of the
asuras is characterized by paranoia. We see others as competitors, as critics. We want to confront them, attack, justify. Everyone is our enemy, not to be trusted or listened to. Life is a game, and others are our opponents. We are preoccupied with comparing and measuring our progress.
The human realm is characterized by passion and the rational pursuit of happiness and avoidance of pain. One admires people who have achieved and wants to emulate them. One has high ideals and strives by thinking and contriving to bring them about. One is overwhelmed by ideas and possibilities. One searches but finds no satisfaction. One suffers and knows it, and is dissatisfied.
The intellect and passion of the human realm fades into the ignorance and stupidity of the animal realm. We respond automatically to stimuli and refuse to see ourselves from another's point of view. We plod along without awareness or understanding, stubbornly clinging to what has worked in the past. Honest, sincere and serious, one pursues oes desires unreflectively and defends oneself without openeness or humor.
The preoccupation with one's desires leads us to the realm of the jealous gods, characterized by poverty. The
preta seeks fulfillment which is never enough. Every morsel only whets the appetite for more: the
preta is characterized by a being with a tiny mouth and neck and a huge belly. Always hungry but never able to be satisfied. Everything is attractive and nothing is obtainable. We have teachers, we have methods, we have notes; we consult them obsessively, ponder them and draw comfort, but we just can't get there.
The hell realm is characterized by anger, by aggression. Hatred. We feel stuffy and claustrophobic. The anger seems to come from outside us, people are aggressive, demanding. We want to kill others, kill ourself. We flame out at people, and they flame us. We communicate anger and oneupsmanship. When we win our wars we drive people off and are alone. We have to fight constantly to feel real.
Tiring of hell, we engage in practice, rediscover spiritual materialism, achieve happiness and satisfaction once again.
Rinse and repeat.
terry
They asked salvador dali if he took drugs. "Drugs?" he said. "Me, take drugs? I don't take drugs, I
am drugs!"
