The Six Realms of Rebirth

In Buddhist cosmology, ordinary existence turns on the wheel of samsara — the beginningless cycle of birth, death and rebirth driven by karma. Beings are reborn into one of six realms according to their deeds: as gods (devas), as jealous demigods (asuras), as humans, as animals, as hungry ghosts, or as beings in the hells. None of these states is permanent, not even the heavens; every one of them is eventually exhausted, and the wheel turns again.

This is a very different picture from the single heaven-and-hell of much Western religion. The realms are not final destinations but temporary conditions, and the whole point of the Buddhist path is release from the cycle altogether rather than promotion to its top floor. The human realm is prized precisely because it offers the best chance to practise and to awaken.

The buddhas and bodhisattvas gathered here are revered as beings who act within this cosmos to help others across it — Guanyin answering cries throughout the realms, Dizang descending to the lowest of them, Amitabha offering a pure land as a refuge beyond ordinary rebirth. We describe how the tradition understands these figures; we do not present the cosmology as established fact.

A note on scope: Buddhism is internally diverse and has changed over two and a half millennia. The account here follows the Chinese Mahayana tradition that shaped East Asia. Theravada and Tibetan Buddhism picture some of these same figures differently, and this site does not speak for any temple, lineage or teacher.