Knowra Buddhist cosmology Buddhist cosmology Buddhist cosmology describes cyclical worlds and realms in which beings are reborn according to karma, alongside paths toward liberation from cyclic existence.
Saṃsāra : The beginningless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth shaped by ignorance and karma. The realms form the arenas through which beings cycle in saṃsāra.
Thirty-one planes of existence : A Theravāda scheme dividing existence into thirty-one planes, from hells to formless heavens. This detailed map makes the range of Buddhist rebirth destinations explicit.
Aggañña Sutta : A Pali discourse describing the emergence of the world and social institutions through a mythic narrative. It offers an early account of cosmic origins and human society.
Buddhist ethics : Buddhist principles and practices for reducing harm and cultivating wholesome conduct. Karmic destinations give ethical actions consequences beyond a single lifetime.
Karma in Buddhism : Intentional actions and their consequences, which shape future experience and rebirth. Karma helps explain why beings are born into different realms.
Six realms of rebirth : A common Buddhist scheme of gods, demigods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings. Its six destinations condense the wider cosmology into a widely used teaching map.
Buddhist cosmology in the Pali Canon : The cosmological teachings scattered through the early Buddhist discourses and other canonical texts. These texts provide foundational descriptions of realms, cycles, and rebirth.
Human realm (Buddhism) : The plane of human birth, regarded in many Buddhist teachings as especially favorable for awakening. Its balance of pleasure and suffering makes practice possible.
Rebirth (Buddhism) : The continuation of conditioned existence through successive lives, without an unchanging self passing between them. Rebirth connects successive lives across the cosmological realms.
Deva (Buddhism) : A long-lived celestial being who remains subject to karma, impermanence, and rebirth. Devas occupy exalted realms without escaping saṃsāra.
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