Transmigrating in the Six Realms of Existence
Dr. Dominick Scarangello
International Advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai
Beginning this month, we are delighted to introduce a new series by Dr. Dominick Scarangello, translator of Buddhism for Today (2019 edition). The series title, Sokuze Dojo (Practicing the Dharma in the Here and Now), is inspired by Chapter 21 of the Lotus Sutra and expresses the principle of “Meditation on the Place of the Way”—the insight that any place can be a place of practice. This teaching serves as a guiding principle for lay Buddhists, encouraging us to live the Dharma wherever we may be—at home, at work, or at school.
In each installment, Dr. Scarangello draws upon the Lotus Sutra and the teachings of Founder Niwano to illuminate a range of themes, offering fresh perspectives on how to embody Buddhist practice in everyday life.
As long as one’s heart is caught up in delusions and desires, cycling through the six realms of transmigration, the troubles and sufferings of this world will never come to an end.
—Nikkyo Niwano, Niwano Nikkyo howa senshu (Selected Dharma talks of Nikkyo Niwano)
You may have heard that Buddhism believes in reincarnation. According to Buddhism, living beings are repeatedly born, die, and are reborn in the world, a cycle of birth and death known as “transmigration.” This cycle, from the Indian perspective, has existed since the beginning of time. When living beings enter the world, they are born into one of six different types of living beings or in six circumstances, referred to as “realms.” These six realms are as follows: hells, inhabited by beings trapped in extreme suffering due to anger and hatred; hungry spirits, afflicted with unquenchable desires; beasts, or animals, who act impulsively and disregard reason; asuras, demigods whose self-centered way of looking at things brings them into conflict with others; humans, who experience both negative and positive emotions but can also be compassionate; and heavenly beings, sometimes called “gods,” who experience fleeting pleasure and comfort that is ultimately false because it can never last forever. Buddhism teaches that all states are realms of suffering, and even heavenly beings suffer when their pleasure and comfort come to an end.
But there’s another practical meaning of the six realms of existence that’s crucial to our practice. These realms can also be seen as our moment-to-moment existence in this world. Since our minds are unstable and easily agitated by external changes, we “transmigrate” through the six realms of our minds. We suffer as our inner states constantly bounce around the different mental states of the six realms, ranging from hellish anger and hatred to the fleeting, deceptive pleasure of the heavens and all states in between. For instance, when we’re consumed by anger, we’re truly trapped in the realms of hell. Everyone around us seems to have appeared just to torment us. But when our inner state is an angry realm of hell, it’s not confined within us; it inevitably manifests in our outward behavior because our inner nature and our outward comportment tend to align. If we’re filled with anger, Buddhism teaches us that we’ll inevitably manifest that anger as action in the world—toward something or someone else, causing harm to others, and inviting painful consequences for ourselves as well. To achieve happiness and find contentment, we need to escape the “burning house”—this is the analogy that the parable of the third chapter of the Lotus Sutra uses to describe the mental states of the six realms—and enter the realms of Buddhist practitioners: the mindsets of awakening.
Of course, the primary objective of our practice is to shed the burning house, the mindsets of the six realms. Fortunately, in the Lotus Sutra we find a guaranteed path to liberation from these mindsets, particularly the three that cause us the most suffering—anger, greed, and ignorance. An important passage from the Lotus Sutra’s twelfth chapter, “Devadatta,” which Rissho Kosei-kai members regularly recite, reveals that if we not only hear the message of this chapter but also trust in it and revere it, we will cease experiencing the mindsets of anger, greed, and ignorance. At the very least, our hearts will retain the mindsets of the human and heavenly realms, and we will also have the chance to rise to the mindset of the buddhas.
What is the message conveyed in chapter 12? According to Founder Niwano, the message is that instead of reacting to adversities with anger and hatred, we should embrace them as opportunities for self-improvement, for creating a better world, and for viewing those who make our lives challenging as our teachers. In essence, this boils down to cultivating gratitude for everything. Holding onto anger and hatred will only amplify their power and intensify our suffering. There is no benefit in anger and hatred; regardless of the situation, they only exacerbate things. However, by cultivating gratitude, we can transform the negative energy of adversity into positive forces, freeing our minds from the anguish of anger, greed, and ignorance.
To be grateful for adversity may seem absurd advice to many people. Why should we be grateful for hardships? Because they are like the heaviness of the dumbbells we use during workouts: if they provided no resistance, we could never train our muscles and maintain our health. I believe we intuitively understand this. Take any significant achievement in your life, and behind that success, there will have been countless adversities and hardships that, if not accepted, would never have led to success. Everything we encounter, as the Lotus Sutra teaches us, serves the purpose of our awakening.
When we take on the challenges of life with a mind of gratitude, not only do we escape the mindsets of the most excruciating anguish, but our hearts and minds are “born into the presence of buddhas”—we realize that the Buddha is always with us, and we are never alone.
Dr. Dominick Scarangello is the international advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai. He obtained his PhD from the University of Virginia in 2012. Dr. Scarangello has taught at the University of Virginia and was the Postdoctoral Scholar in Japanese Buddhism at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2013 to 2014. Within Rissho Kosei-kai, he has made significant contributions by teaching and speaking—particularly supporting members in Europe and North America—as well as coordinating the International Lotus Sutra Seminar (sponsored by RK), translating the organization’s books and documents, and working with the International Buddhist Congregation, a Rissho Kosei-kai group for foreign residents of Japan.
Field Report from the Sangha
Rev. Hidemitsu Suzuki, Deputy Director, Rissho Kosei-kai International
A few years ago, there was a woman close to me who never responded to me even when I greeted her. Not only would she ignore my greeting, but she would even glare at me with a sharp look. Gradually, irritation began to build up inside me, and I honestly felt, “No matter how many times I greet her, it’s meaningless,” and, “Greeting her only leaves me feeling unpleasant, so I should just stop.” Still, I continued, and eventually, once in a while, I would hear a faint reply—barely audible. And whenever I did receive a reply, it made me happy. After this happened a few times, I found myself thinking that when she responded, “Maybe something good happened for her today,” and when she didn’t respond, “Maybe something unpleasant happened.” I began to imagine what she might be feeling, and instead of being consumed by irritation, I found myself becoming more interested in her. This was a surprising discovery for me, since I had been under the sway of anger.
Looking back now, when I felt angry at the other person’s attitude and thought it was pointless to greet them, I might have been in the hell realm. And the mind that naturally expected a reply from them may have been a self-centered asura state of mind. The heart that felt joy when I received a reply could have been in the realm of heavenly beings. And the heart that tried to imagine her feelings may have been in the realm of humans. Seen in this way, I was made aware of how much I transmigrate through the six realms in my daily life. Yet, while we are caught in the middle of daily occurrences, it is hard to realize this truth. That is why those who make me aware of it are, in fact, precious.
Thanks to others, I can come to know myself. Thanks to others, I am given opportunities to grow. I want to keep these truths close to heart and continue to make diligent efforts day by day.