Six heavens of the desire realm: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 08:10, 14 September 2023

Depiction of the gods from a thangka of the Wheel of Life

The six heavens of the desire realm are (from lowest to highest):

Terrestrial Heavens

1. Heaven of the Four Great Kings

Skt. Caturmahārājakāyika; Tib. རྒྱལ་ཆེན་རིགས་བཞི་, Gyalchen Rikshyi; Wyl. rgyal chen rigs bzhi

The Four Great Kings, along with their retinues, reside upon the fourth terrace of Mount Sumeru. Upon the lower terraces live, in descending order, the gods of the Ever-Ecstatic, Garland-Bearers, and Vessel-Bearers. The crests of the seven mountain ranges, the sun, the moon, and all the stars also belong to the abodes of the Four Great Kings.

It is said that Vishnu resides in this realm.

Fifty human years equal one day in this realm.

2. Heaven of the Thirty-Three

Skt. Trāyastriṃśa; Tib. སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ་, Sumchu Tsasum; Wyl. sum cu rtsa gsum

This is the uppermost terrestrial heaven, and is located on the peak of Mount Sumeru.

It contains the city Fair to See, in which Indra is King.

A hundred human years equal one day in this realm.

Celestial Heavens

3. Free of Combat

Skt. Yāma; Tib. འཐབ་བྲལ་, Tabdral, Wyl. 'thab bral

This is the first celestial heaven. It is located in the space above Mount Sumeru and, as such, it is no longer subject to the attacks of the demi-gods.

Two hundred human years equal one day in this realm.

4. Joyous Realm

Skt. Tuṣita; Tib. དགའ་ལྡན་, Ganden, Wyl. dga' ldan

The Buddha resided here until the time came to take rebirth in the human realm, and demonstrate the twelve deeds of the supreme nirmanakaya. Before passing from Tushita he prophesied the bodhisattva Maitreya's enlightenment as the buddha to follow him, and placed his crown on Maitreya's head, making him his regent. Maitreya will abide here until the time has come for him to demonstrate the twelve deeds.

Later, the Buddha returned to give teachings to his mother, who had been reborn here after giving birth to him.

It is said that wicked Mara also resides in this heaven.

Four hundred human years equal one day in this realm.

5. Enjoying Emanation

Skt. Nirmāṇarataya; Tib. འཕྲུལ་དགའ་, Trulga, Wyl. 'phrul dga'

Gods in this realm create and enjoy their own objects of pleasure.

Eight hundred human years equal one day in this realm.

6. Controlling Others' Emanations

Skt. Paranirmitavaśavartin; Tib. གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད་, Shyentrul Wang Jé, Wyl. gzhan 'phrul dbang byed

This is the most refined state in which one can be reborn within the desire realm. Gods in this realm enjoy pleasures created magically by other gods.

Sixteen hundred human years equal one day in this realm.

Alternative Translations

3. Heaven Free from Strife (Dharmachakra Translation Committee)
5. Heaven of Delighting in Emanations (Dharmachakra Translation Committee)
6. Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (Dharmachakra Translation Committee)

Sources

Kangyur Rinpoche, Treasury of Precious Qualities
Mipham Rinpoche, Gateway to Knowledge, Volume II
Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher
Gampopa, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+[[Image:God_realm.jpg|frame|Depiction of the gods from a [[thangka]] of the [[Wheel of Life]]]]
 The '''six heavens of the [[desire realm]]''' are (from lowest to highest):
 ==Terrestrial Heavens==
-===Heaven of the Four Guardian Kings===
+===1. Heaven of the Four Great Kings===
-*Skt. ''Carturmaharajkayika''; [[Wyl.]] ''rgyal chen rigs bzhi''
+*Skt. ''Caturmahārājakāyika''; Tib. རྒྱལ་ཆེན་རིགས་བཞི་, ''Gyalchen Rikshyi''; [[Wyl.]] ''rgyal chen rigs bzhi''
 The [[Four Great Kings]], along with their retinues, reside upon the fourth terrace of [[Mount Sumeru]]. Upon the lower terraces live, in descending order, the [[gods]] of the Ever-Ecstatic, Garland-Bearers, and Vessel-Bearers. The crests of the [[seven mountain ranges]], the sun, the moon, and all the stars also belong to the abodes of the Four Great Kings.
@@ Line 9: / Line 10: @@
 It is said that Vishnu resides in this realm.
-===[[Heaven of the Thirty-Three]]===
+Fifty human years equal one day in this realm.
-*Skt. ''Triyestrimsha''; Wyl. ''sum bcu rtsa gsum''
+===2. [[Heaven of the Thirty-Three]]===
+*Skt. ''Trāyastriṃśa''; Tib. སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ་, ''Sumchu Tsasum''; Wyl. ''sum cu rtsa gsum''
 This is the uppermost terrestrial heaven, and is located on the peak of Mount Sumeru.
 It contains the city ''Fair to See'', in which [[Indra]] is King.
+A hundred human years equal one day in this realm.
 ==Celestial Heavens==
-===Free of Combat===
+===3. Free of Combat===
-*Skt. ''Yāma''; Wyl'' 'thab bral''
+*Skt. ''Yāma''; Tib. འཐབ་བྲལ་, ''Tabdral'', Wyl. '' 'thab bral''
 This is the first celestial heaven. It is located in the space above Mount Sumeru and, as such, it is no longer subject to the attacks of the [[demi-gods]].
-===Joyous Realm===
+Two hundred human years equal one day in this realm.
-*Skt. ''[[Tushita]]''; Wyl. ''dga' ldan''
+===4. Joyous Realm===
+*Skt. ''[[Tuṣita]]''; Tib. དགའ་ལྡན་, ''Ganden'', Wyl. ''dga' ldan''
-The [[Buddha]] resided here until the time came to take rebirth in the human realm, and demonstrate the [[twelve deeds]] of the [[supreme nirmanakaya]]. Before passing from Tushita he prophisied the bodhisattva [[Maitreya]]'s [[enlightenment]] as the buddha to follow him, and placed his crown on Maitreya's head, making him his regent. Maitreya will abide here until the time has come for him to demonstrate the twelve deeds.
+The [[Buddha]] resided here until the time came to take rebirth in the human realm, and demonstrate the [[twelve deeds]] of the [[supreme nirmanakaya]]. Before passing from Tushita he prophesied the bodhisattva [[Maitreya]]'s [[enlightenment]] as the buddha to follow him, and placed his crown on Maitreya's head, making him his regent. Maitreya will abide here until the time has come for him to demonstrate the twelve deeds.
 Later, the Buddha returned to give teachings to his mother, who had been reborn here after giving birth to him.
@@ Line 31: / Line 38: @@
 It is said that wicked [[Mara]] also resides in this heaven.
-===Enjoying Emanation===
+Four hundred human years equal one day in this realm.
-*Skt. ''Nirmanratia''; Wyl. ''phrul dga''
+===5. Enjoying Emanation===
+*Skt. ''Nirmāṇarataya''; Tib. འཕྲུལ་དགའ་, ''Trulga'', Wyl. '' 'phrul dga' ''
 Gods in this realm create and enjoy their own objects of pleasure.
-===Controlling Others' Emanations===
+Eight hundred human years equal one day in this realm.
-*Skt. ''Parinirmitvashavartin''; Wyl. ''gzhan 'phrul dbang byed''
+===6. Controlling Others' Emanations===
+*Skt. ''Paranirmitavaśavartin''; Tib. གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད་, ''Shyentrul Wang Jé'', Wyl. ''gzhan 'phrul dbang byed''
 This is the most refined state in which one can be reborn within the desire realm. Gods in this realm enjoy pleasures created magically by other gods.
+Sixteen hundred human years equal one day in this realm.
+==Alternative Translations==
+*3. Heaven Free from Strife (Dharmachakra  Translation Committee)
+*5. Heaven of Delighting in Emanations (Dharmachakra  Translation Committee)
+*6. Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (Dharmachakra  Translation Committee)
 ==Sources==
 *[[Kangyur Rinpoche]], ''[[Treasury of Precious Qualities]]''
 *[[Mipham Rinpoche]], ''[[Gateway to Knowledge]]'', Volume II
+*[[Patrul Rinpoche]], ''[[The Words of My Perfect Teacher]]
 *[[Gampopa]], ''[[The Jewel Ornament of Liberation]]''
-[[Category: Places]]
+==Further Reading==
-[[Category: Three Realms]]
+*[[Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé]], ''Myriad Worlds'' (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1995), pages 115-119.
-[[Category: Enumerations]]
-[[Category:6-Six]]
+[[Category:Places]]
+[[Category:Six God Realms Within the Desire Realm| ]]
+[[Category:God Realm]]
+[[Category:Three Realms of Samsara]]
+[[Category:Enumerations]]
+[[Category:06-Six]]