The Ten Worlds

The Ten Worlds

Buddhism is concerned with understanding the way people change and interact with others. The concept of the “Ten Worlds” is a way to understand the potential life-states possible in all people.

In brief, these states are: hell (the worst suffering and delusion); hungry spirits, or hunger (driven by uncontrolled desires); animals, or animality (driven by instinct but lacking in reasoning); asuras, or anger (perverse egotism, which leads to hatred); human beings, or humanity (a calm but unstable state); heavenly beings (a rapturous and euphoric state one feels when released from suffering or from having fulfilled a desire); voice-hearers, or learning (self-development and reasoning); cause-awakened ones, or realization ( insight to the cause of one’s own suffering); bodhisattva (compassion for all life and the desire to see others become happy); and Buddhahood (a state of freedom, wisdom, courage and compassion).

Though once thought of as separate realms, the Lotus Sutra teaches that they are all interconnected. And each state is contained within every other state. There is learning within hunger, anger within Buddhahood and so forth. No state exists separate from the rest.

Each state contains within it latent variations of each of the others. This containment of other worlds is known as the principle of “mutual possession of the Ten Worlds” and is a key factor in the process of bringing forth our inherent Buddhahood. It means that whatever state we are in, at any moment, we have the possibility of experiencing any other state. It also means that the potential for Buddhahood is inherent in all life-states. So we have the capacity for enlightenment even amid the worst suffering, conflict or negativity. Conversely, someone in the state of Buddhahood can still experience the other nine worlds. Buddhahood is not a divine or otherworldly state but an ultimately human one.

Understanding the Ten Worlds can deepen one’s sense of self-awareness, and can bring forth compassion and hope.

Reference

Living Buddhism "Without Practice and Study, There Can Be No Buddhism". May-Jun 2007 Special Reprint.