Three planes of existence in Indian religious cosmology
Sculpture of Vamana, an avatar ofVishnu, who is associated with the legend of taking three strides upon the three worlds
Trailokya (Sanskrit:त्रैलोक्य;Kannada:ತ್ರೈಲೋಕ್ಯ;Pali:tiloka,Tibetan: khams gsum;Chinese:三界;Vietnamese:Tam Giới) literally means "three worlds".[1][2][3] It can also refer to "three spheres,"[3] "three planes of existence,"[4] and "three realms".[4]
The concept of three worlds has a number of different interpretations in Hindu cosmology.
Traditionally, the three worlds refer to either the earth (Bhuloka), heaven (Svarga), and hell (Naraka),[5] or the earth (Bhuloka), heaven (Svarga), and the netherworld (Patala).[6]
TheBrahmanda Purana conceives them to be Bhūta (past), Bhavya (future), and Bhavat (present).[7]
InVaishnavism, the three worlds are often described to be bhūr, bhuvaḥ, and svaḥ (the gross region, the subtle region, and the celestial region).[8]
In theNilanamatapurana,Vamana covers his second step on the three worlds of Maharloka, Janaloka, and Tapaloka, all of which are regarded to be a part of theseven heavens.[9]
Kāma-loka (world of desire), is a plane of existence typified by base desires, populated byhell beings,preta (hungry ghosts),animals,humans, lower demi-gods (asuras) and gods (devas) of the desire realm heavens.
Rūpa-loka (world of form), a realm predominantly free of baser desires, populated by higher level devas. It is a possible rebirth destination for those well practiced indhyāna (meditative absorption).
Arūpa-loka (the world of formlessness), a non-corporeal realm populated with four heavens. It is a possible rebirth destination for practitioners of the four formlessness stages of meditation (arūpa-samāpatti).[3]
According toTheravada Buddhism, these are all the realms of existence outside ofnirvana, which transcends all three realms. According toMahayana Buddhism however, thebuddhafields (also known as pure lands) are lands which are beyond the three realms.[10]
The earlyJain contemplated the nature of the earth and universe and developed a detailed hypothesis on the various aspects of astronomy andcosmology. According to the Jain texts, the universe is divided into 3 parts:[11][12][13][14]
Fourteen Rajaloka or Triloka depicted as cosmic man. Miniature from 17th century,Saṁgrahaṇīratna by Śrīcandra, inPrakrit with a Gujarati commentary. JainŚvetāmbara cosmological text with commentary and illustrations.
^Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 301, entry for "Ti-" (retrieved at[1]). Here,tiloka is compared withtebhūmaka ("three planes").
^abcFischer-Schreiberet al. (1991), p. 230, entry for "Triloka". Here, synonyms fortriloka includetrailokya andtraidhātuka.
^abBerzin (2008) renderskhams-gsum (Wylie; Tibetan) andtridhatu (Sanskrit) as "three planes of existence" and states that it is "[s]ometimes called 'the three realms.'"Tridhatu is a synonym oftriloka wheredhatu may be rendered as "dimension" or "realm" andloka as "world" or even "planet."
Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Michael S. Diener and Michael H. Kohn (trans.) (1991).The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen. Boston: Shambhala Publications.ISBN0-87773-520-4.
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