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Min Wei: In the concept of Buddhism, all living beings Do they have power over humans, both in a positive
are trapped in the circle of birth, death and rebirth sense such as helping to heal the sick or in the negative
into one of the “six realms” of existence. They will sense such as causing harm to human beings?
be reborn according to the deeds committed in their
previous lives. However, according to the Lotus Sūtra, Aggacitta: There is no mention in the suttas of non-
there is a list of ten realms of existence which consists human beings helping to heal the sick, but there are
of four higher realms and six lower realms. The six several cases in Saṁyutta Nikāya and a few in Majjhima
lower realms are those of heavenly beings, asuras, Nikāya where they appear to criticize, admonish or
humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings which assist certain monks.
are derived from the standard Indian concept. To these
were added Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas, Āṭānāṭiya Sutta (DN 32) warns of unsympathetic
and Buddhas. demons (yakkhā) who may cause harm to Buddhists
and there are a few recorded cases of them actually
Geshe Dadul: The reference to “six realms” in the doing so elsewhere. And of course, there are numerous
Mahāyāna/Vajrayāna is a matter of translation choice. instances where Māra (sometimes together with his
It’s not that there exists six separate dhātus; rather six followers), from the highest heavenly plane in the
(broad) categories of sentient beings within Saṃsāra. sensual realm is reported to have challenged the
The fundamental vehicle also accepts this. In English, Buddha and his monks and nuns.
we can speak of animals and humans as having their
own realms of existence. However, that does not mean Nonetheless the life experiences of some people
they belong to separate dhātus (world spheres), of (excluding psychiatric cases) seem to attest to the
which there are only three in Buddhism (kāma, rūpa, veracity of both benevolent and malevolent influences
and arūpa), and for which we unanimously use the term of non-humans on humans.
‘realm’ in English translations. There are six general
categories of sentient beings. Min Wei: A genuine Buddhist is one who molds his
life according to moral causation laws discovered by
Each one of these types can have numerous sub-types. the Buddha. He should not concern himself with the
Many of these beings are usually unseen through our worshipping of gods and spirits. However, this kind of
human biological mechanisms, which are themselves worshipping is of some interest and fascination to the
very limited in scope and potential. However, that does multitude and has naturally attracted some Buddhists.
not make them invisible or unobservable per se, even With regard to the protection from evil spirits, goodness
by the standards of some ordinary beings under certain is a shield against evil. Goodness is a wall which evil
circumstances, or by others with extra sensitivity, and fails to penetrate unless a person welcomes it through
surely not by their own peers. an open door. Even though a person leads a truly
virtuous and holy life and has a good field of moral and
The sūtras spoken by Buddha are explicit in discussing noble qualities that person can still lower his shield of
these non-human beings from different realms of protection by believing in the power of evil that would
existence, the karmic causes leading to such rebirths, do harm to him.
and the particularities of their experiences, etc. Often,
the colophons of almost all the sūtras recount the Geshe Dadul: They don’t necessarily have negative
presence, not just of humans but also, of numerous or positive power over humans as such. They are just
types of saṃsāric beings such as devas, nāgas, asuras, temporarily different from us, differently conditioned
gandharvas, etc. at different teachings of the Buddha, -- physically, mentally, and spiritually, nonetheless
and expressing their appreciation of the Buddha still under the influence of dissonant mental states,
and rejoicing at the rare opportunity of hearing the their root ignorance, and karmic forces induced by
profound teachings. them, though at a different level of subtlety and depth.
Thus, they have different sensitivity, capacity, needs,
History of Pali Literature, Varanasi: Indica Books.