Six realms of existence

Six realms of existence are commonly distinguished in Buddhism. In them, the "rebirth" of all animate beings takes place according to their self-inflicted karma.

The transmigration of the soul through the six realms

It should be noted that rebirth in the six realms of existence is not necessarily a matter of incarnations in the flesh. Rather, according to the Buddhist doctrine of transmigration or metempsychosis, the karmic path of the soul is traced through the various realms of the soul world, especially those that are passed through in the life between death and new birth. There are pictorial representations of these realms in all Buddhist traditions. They are most frequently encountered in the wheel of life of Tibetan Buddhism.

According to the Buddhist doctrine of Anatta (Pali; Sanskrit: अनात्मन् Anātman), the non-existence of a permanent and unchanging core of the soul, the I, which is considered illusory, is not taken into account. The "birth" or "rebirth" meant here must therefore not be misunderstood in the sense of the modern occidental doctrine of reincarnation. There is no mention of the I incarnating in a fleshly body. The sensual-physical event has little weight here compared to the purely soul-spiritual consideration.

„First it is said that transmigration and reincarnation, repeated lives on earth, are the same thing. Transmigration of souls is understood as if the souls of human beings migrated into different animals after death. Such nonsense has never been suggested by me in any way. The repeated earth lives mean something quite different. They are that which follows precisely from spiritual-scientific documents, just as the theory of evolution in the physical world follows from physical bases of research.“ (Lit.:GA 255b, p. 117)

The most precious birth is considered to be the birth in the human kingdom, since liberation from the sorrowful cycle of existence of samsara, the cycle of rebirths, is best possible there. Only here is it actually a real incarnation in a physical body. After death, the soul of the human being can indeed temporarily take on an animal-like form when passing through the Kamaloka or appear in the realm of the hungry spirits or even in hell, as Dante, for example, so drastically describes in his "Divine Comedy" in the cantos of the Inferno. But the I never appears in an earthly animal form.

Literature

• Graham Coleman (author, editor), Thupten Jinpa (editor), Dalai Lama (introduction), Gyurme Dorje (translator): The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation, Penguin Classics 2006, ISBN 978-0670858866; eBook ‎ B002RI943C ASIN ‎ B002RI943C
• Rudolf Steiner: Die Anthroposophie und ihre Gegner 1919 – 1921, GA 255b (2003), ISBN 3-7274-2555-5 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Die vierte Dimension, GA 324a (1995) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.