Buddhist Samsara (Ancient Greek Style)
Note: The three good realms are Gods, Asuras and Humans. The three bad realms are Hell, Hungry Ghost and Animal
Cultivation of the Ten Goods Deeds and Generosity leads to Deva (god) rebirth.
Cultivation of the Ten Good Deeds and Generosity (but with competitive, envious and belligerent personality ) leads to Asura rebirth. They live at the base of Mt. Meru and envy the gods above them, they resent being second best, which is their lot.
Cultivation of the Five Precepts leads to Human rebirth. Those who cultivated a little harder will have good lives, and vice versa.
Wilful Ignorance of Good/Evil leads to Animal rebirth.
Greed and miserliness leads to Hungry Ghost Rebirth (a place of scorching deprivation and perpetual hunger).
Hatred and committing various evil deeds, especially killing karma, leads to hellish rebirth.
Upasaka Li Bing Nan’s Article Series on the Samsara, Karma and How to Transcend Samsara:
When we die, it is akin to moving house as our souls and consciousnesses never die. Based on the virtues and vices we have accrued over the course of our lives, our balance of good and evil karma compels us to suffer the pains of death and rebirth. Those who have done good are reborn in the three pleasant realms of existence ; those who have done wickedness are reborn in the three evil realms and will suffer limitless woes. In our countless deaths and rebirths since time immemorial, we have all lived in the Heavens, been reborn as humans or Asuras, and suffered as animals, ghosts and hell beings.”
“The Samsara is like six different houses. Our flesh bodies are like a transient and unreliable home. Even a fortune in wealth and property cannot grant us immortality or forever guarantee our health and strength from decay.”
“Thus, we must enlighten ourselves to these facts without delay. As humans, we toil daily for wealth to satisfy our material needs. We labor to support our sons and daughters and to further our businesses or careers. Thus, we exhaust both mind and body as we anxiously strive in a world filled with much disappointment and little joy.”
“Thus, we must not dither in realizing this. We must recite the name of Amitabha. If we persist on the path of striving for temporal success, then even if we do eventually achieve wealth and position, we would most likely be old by then — trapped in a decaying body propped up by medication. And then death dawns upon us. Thus, isn’t this so very frightening? With death comes the loss of everything, and neither our wealth nor our dearest family members may accompany us. Only our accumulated good and evil determines our fate within the wearisome Samsara, and not our personal will.”
