Rebirth in different planes of existence. (part 1)
Akusala kamma and kusala kamma of different beings can produce
nineteen different types of rebirth-consciousness, pa.tisandhi-citta,
in all, arising in different planes of existence. The
pa.tisandhicitta is vipaakacitta, the result of kamma. One
pa.tisandhi-citta is akusala vipaaka and eighteen types are kusala
vipaaka. There are many degrees of each of these nineteen types of
pa.tisandhi-citta because the kamma that produces them can be of many
degrees.
Birth in a woeful plane is the result of a bad deed and birth in a
happy plane is the result of a good deed. Since the deeds of beings
are of many different degrees of kusala and akusala, the results are
of many different degrees as well. The pa.tisandhi-citta that is
akusala vipaakacitta arises in an unhappy plane of existence and the
pa.tisandhi-citta that is kusala vipaakacitta arises in a happy plane
of existence. A plane of existence is the place where one is born.
There are different woeful planes and different happy planes of
existence.
Only one type of pa.tisandhi-citta is akusala vipaaka, but it is of
many degrees. There are many varieties of akusala kamma and thus
there must be many varieties of an unhappy rebirth. The unhappy
rebirth we can see in this world is birth as an animal. Apart from
the animal world there are three more classes of woeful planes, which
we cannot see; they are the world of petas (ghosts), the world of
asuras (demons), and the hell planes. There are different kinds of
hell planes because there are many degrees of akusala kamma which
produce different kinds of unhappy rebirth.
The akusala vip�ka in hell is more intense than the sufferings which
can be experienced in the human plane. The descriptions of hells in
the Buddhist teachings are not merely allegories; the experience of
unpleasant things through eyes, ears, nose, tongue and bodysense is
akusala vipaaka and akusala vipaaka is reality. Life in a hell plane
is not permanent; when one's lifespan in a hell plane is over there
can be rebirth in another plane.
Birth as a human being is a happy rebirth. In the human plane there
is opportunity for the development of kusala. One can study Dhamma
and learn to develop the way leading to the end of defilements, to
the end of birth and death. Birth in the human plane is kusala
vipaaka, but during one's lifespan in this plane there are both
kusala vipaaka and akusala vipaaka. Each person experiences different
results in life: there are gain and loss, honour and dishonour,
praise and blame, happiness and misery. It is due to kamma whether
someone is born into pleasant or unpleasant surroundings, whether he
belongs to a family which is well-to-do or which is poor. The
experience of pleasant and unpleasant things through eyes, ears,
nose, tongue and bodysense are the results of kamma.
Other happy planes, apart from the human plane, are the heavenly
planes. In the heavenly planes there is more kusala vip�ka than in
the human plane and less akusala vip�ka. There are several heavenly
planes and although life in a heavenly plane lasts a very long time,
it is not permanent. The woeful planes, the human plane and the six
heavenly planes which are deva planes, are sensuous planes of
existence. Sensuous planes of existence are planes where there is
seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, the experience of tangible object
through the bodysense and other kaamaavacara cittas (cittas which are
of the sensuous plane of consciousness). There are eleven classes of
sensuous planes of existence in all.
In the �Discourse on the Lesser Analysis of Deeds� (Middle Length
Sayings III, number 135) we read that Subha asks the Buddha what the
cause is of the different results human beings experience from the
time of their birth:
�Now, good Gotama, what is the cause, what is the reason that lowness
and excellence are to be seen among human beings while they are in
human form? For, good Gotama, human beings of short lifespan are to
be seen and those of long lifespan; those of many and those of few
illnesses; those who are ugly, those who are beautiful; those who are
of little account, those of great account; those who are poor, those
who are wealthy; those who are of lowly families, those of high
families; those who are weak in wisdom, those who are full of wisdom.�
The Buddha answered Subha:
�Deeds are one�s own, brahman youth, beings are heirs to deeds, deeds
are matrix, deeds are kin, deeds are arbiters. Deed divides beings,
that is to say by lowness and excellence.�
*********
Nina.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]