Six lower realms: Encyclopedia II - Six lower realms - Evil realms

Six lower realms - Evil realms

Six lower realms - Hungry ghost realm

Hungry ghost realm (also Pretas realm) is based on possessiveness and desire.

The reason why sentient beings in this realm are known as hungry ghosts is because they cannot enjoy food or drink. In Tibetan versions of Wheel of Life they are drawn with narrow necks to represent that condition.

When making a graphical representation of Wheel of life (example) hungry ghost realm is placed at 4 o'clock, with Asura realm above, and Hell realm to the left.

Six lower realms - Animal realm

Animal realm (also Tiryakas realm) is based on stupidity and prejudice. Buddhists believe that this is a realm of non-human animals on Earth.

When making a graphical representation of Wheel of life (example) Animal realm is placed at 8 o'clock, with Human realm above, and Hell realm to the right.

Six lower realms - Hell realm

Hell realm is based on hatred.

Note that the sentient beings in the hell realm are sometimes referred to as demons, which can cause confusion, because this term is also used to refer to beings in the asura realm.

Buddhist view of hell realm differs significantly from monotheistic religions in that beings in this realm are not there permanently. Rather, they remain there until their negative karma is used up, at which point they are reborn in another realm.

When making a graphical representation of Wheel of life (example) Hell realm is placed on the bottom, with Animal realm to the left, and Hungry ghost realm to the right.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Evil realms", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki