Buddhist cosmology paints a vivid picture of six realms of existence, each with unique characteristics and challenges. You do not have to die to visit these realms. You do not have to wait for a next life. You actually visit them all the time, sometimes many times before lunch. And yet, in the traditional understanding, these realms are also actual places, literal dimensions where a being can be reborn after death based on their karma. A life filled with anger could lead to a rebirth in a hell realm. A life of greed could lead to a hungry ghost existence. A life of dull habit could lead to an animal rebirth. In traditional Buddhism these are real destinations. They are locations in the cosmos where you experience the fruit of your actions for a very long time.
But here is the beautiful and practical thing about this teaching. These two views are not in competition. They are not mutually exclusive. In the Buddhist understanding, they are both true. They are different ways of looking at the same truth. The traditional view is like looking at a mountain from far away. You see its whole shape. You see how it stands in the landscape over a long period of time. The psychological view is like walking on that mountain right now. You feel the rocks under your feet. You experience the steepness with your own body. Both views are true. It is the same mountain.
In the psychological way, the realms are states of mind. This is the view that makes more sense to me. They are emotional patterns that you cycle through based on how you think, how you react, and what you want. Think of them as different channels of consciousness. You tune into one, you feel it completely, and then something happens and you switch to another. You have been to all of them. You will go to all of them again. The trick is to recognise them when you are in them.
The first realm is the hell realm. This is the state of pure anger. You feel like you are on fire. Your face gets hot. Your thoughts get violent. In this state, everyone looks like an enemy. You want to blame someone. You want to hurt someone, or maybe even yourself. You feel trapped in a burning room with no door. You can experience this realm when you get cut off in traffic and you scream at the other driver and then carry that anger with you for the next two hours. You are in this realm when you fight with someone you love and all you want to do is say the most hurtful thing you can think of. It is pure aversion. It is pure heat. It is hell.
The second realm is the hungry ghost realm. This is the state of addiction and craving. You feel empty inside. There is a hole, and you desperately try to fill it with something outside yourself. It could be food. It could be shopping. It could be social media. It could be approval from other people. The problem is you can never get full. You consume and you consume, but the hunger comes right back. You are in this realm when you scroll through social media for an hour, feel jealous of everyone, feel bored and empty, and then keep scrolling anyway. You are in this realm when you eat a whole bar of chocolate not because you are hungry but because you are trying to satisfy a different kind of hunger. It is constant dissatisfaction. It is never enough.
The third realm is the animal realm. This is the state of ignorance and habit. You are on autopilot. You just react to whatever is in front of you without thinking. You are driven by simple urges like comfort and survival. You do not stop to ask why. You just go through the motions. You are in this realm when you come home from work, collapse on the couch, and watch television for four hours without really watching it, just numbing out. You are in this realm when your whole day is just a routine you follow without any awareness. Wake up, coffee, work, eat, sleep, repeat. It is a dull state. It is a fearful state. It is being stuck in a rut.
The fourth realm is the human realm. This is the state of critical intelligence and doubt. It is a mix of pleasure and pain, joy and suffering. In this realm, you are aware. You can reflect on what is happening. You can question things. You can learn. You can make choices. It is the most balanced realm, but it also comes with a lot of doubt and restlessness. You are in this realm when you feel angry, but then you stop and think, wow, I am really angry right now. Why is that? That moment of awareness is the human realm. It is the feeling of trying to figure out your life. It is curiosity. It is doubt. It is the ability to see yourself.
The fifth realm is the jealous god realm. This is the state of constant competition and envy. You look at other people, and you feel like they are better than you. They are more successful. They are happier. They are better looking. So, you strive. You work harder. You try to win. You try to prove yourself. But you are never at peace because you are always worried someone will take what you have. You are in this realm when a coworker gets a promotion and you feel a knot in your stomach, and then you work eighty hours a week just to outdo them. You are in this realm when you scroll through Instagram and feel like everyone else’s life is better, so you post a perfect picture just to compete. It is jealousy. It is paranoia. It is frantic striving.
The sixth realm is the god realm. This is the state of pleasure and pride. Everything is going your way. You feel powerful. You feel beautiful. You feel completely satisfied. The problem with this realm is that it does not last. Because it feels so good, you get addicted to it and you become terrified of losing it. And you will lose it, because everything changes. You are in this realm when you crush a big presentation at work and feel a wave of pride and confidence all day. You are in this realm when you fall in love and feel like nothing can go wrong. You are in this realm when you win an argument and feel completely right and justified. It is bliss, but it is temporary.
You move through these realms constantly. You can visit all six before mid-day. Imagine a typical morning. You wake up feeling well rested and you look at your partner with love. Life is perfect. That is the god realm. Then you check your phone and you see a friend bought a new car. Suddenly your own life feels a little less perfect. Why them and not me? That is the jealous god realm. Then you shrug it off while you make coffee. Well, I have my own goals. I wonder how I can save for that trip. That is the human realm. Then you get to work and you just go into a daze, answering emails automatically, just going through the motions. That is the animal realm. Then at three in the afternoon, you feel a slump. You desperately want a sugar hit. You feel an emptiness that only a snack can fix. You eat it quickly, but it does not really help. That is the hungry ghost realm. Then your boss criticises your work and you feel a flash of pure heat in your chest. You want to shout that it is not fair. That is the hell realm. You’ve managed to visit all six realms before dinner.
Now here is the connection between the psychological view and the traditional view. It is cause and effect. The psychological states what you cultivate today are the seeds of your future experience. If you spend your whole life living in the hell realm of anger, if you feed that anger every day until it becomes your dominant habit. In the traditional view, that momentum carries you into a next existence that matches the energy you created. The psychological realm becomes the traditional realm.
You can see it working the same way in this life too. Think of someone who lives entirely in the jealous god realm. They compete with everyone. They envy everyone. They trust no one. They push people away. They isolate themselves with their paranoia. By the end of their life, they are completely alone. They have created a personal world that feels exactly like the jealous god realm they always inhabited. Their mind created their reality. The tradition simply says that process continues.
So, you do not have to choose one view. You can hold both. You can use the psychological view right now to notice your own patterns. You can see when you are in a hell state and you can work with it. When you see you are in the hell realm of anger, you can take a breath. When you see you are in the hungry ghost realm of craving, you can stop and feel the emptiness instead of trying to fill it. When you see you are in the god realm of pride, you can enjoy it without clinging to it because you know it will pass. Awareness is the key. It is the ability to see which realm you are in right now. And in that seeing, you are already a little bit free.
And if you are a more traditional person, you can use the traditional view to remind yourself that these habits matter, that they shape not just your day but your whole trajectory. The psychological view makes it practical for today. The traditional view gives it depth and weight. The realms are a map. And like any good map, they work on multiple levels. They show you where you are standing right now, in this moment. And they show you where that path leads if you keep walking. Both views are pointing at the same thing. Your mind and what you do with it.
Here is the audio version if you prefer to listen.
I agree. These are certainly strange times we're living in. It feels like we've lost our direction. Genuine role models are hard to come by, and so much of life seems rushed and shallow. I believe we'll eventually reach a breaking point where we recognize our errors and begin to correct course. That's my hope, at least.
How strange it is that, despite knowing all this, we humans still pour enormous effort into building industries that drag us into lower states of mind. Vast amounts of energy go into producing alcohol, junk food, fast fashion, luxury goods, social networks with addictive algorithms, morally vacant TV shows, and advertisements and news devoid of truth (not to mention the military-industrial complex).
We live in a profoundly strange era: on one hand, the wisdom of all religions and traditions is more accessible than ever before; on the other, people have never been so indifferent to it.