Unenlightened
beings are of many types, but what they all have in common is various kinds of
illusions and ignorance.
Our view of
reality is corrupted by many attachments of which some are hidden deep in our
unconscious. Any action done by a being drowned in illusion and motivated by
attachment gives rise to karma[1] and
suffering or passing states of wellness. Everything is cause and effect. As
long as one acts with an unenlightened mind, under the slavery of false views,
the effect is a little or more unsatisfactoriness or happiness of limited
duration.
Thus there are
beings that are always motivated by hate and constantly do deeds of cruelty.
Even since this present life they are though being burned by fire, and after
their life is ended they will be born in places where they are devoured by
their own hate and the effects of their evil actions. These are the beings
born in hells.
Other beings
are consumed by a never ending hunger and thirst for various possessions,
living as they are never satisfied. After death their mind stream, which is
impregnated with this obsession, will take a form (body) similar with it and
will wander in places without food or water. But even if water or food can be
found their bodies are so much distorted that they cannot digest it. These are
the beings born as hungry ghosts (pretas).
Next there are
beings that have their minds focused only on sex, food and drink, with no
further aspirations related to higher spiritual goals. Limited as they are to
their instincts they will be born in their next life as animals. The
fear they experience and the tensions created by instincts are so great that
they live almost entirely to satisfy themselves.
Humans
are beings in which the various tendencies are somehow in the middle. The karma
which manifested at their previous death was not so bad as to go to the lowest
level of existence, but also not so good as to go higher than the human realm.
The two
spheres of existence which are immediately higher than the human realm are by
no means without suffering, illusions or attachments, but these can be found in
smaller quantities than those on the human or lower levels.
Right above
humans are the asuras (demigods or fighting spirits), which are beings
in whom jealousy and a competitive spirit still remain very powerful.
Above the
asuras are the devas or gods – whose merits and virtues they accumulated
in previous lives manifested in the form of birth in heavenly realms.
It is very
important to know that these states of existence generally described above and
the beings born there are not free or enlightened, but rather are only owners
of a better or worse karma.
Imagine
something like a reservoir of good or bad karma – the result of various good or
evil acts which is waiting to manifest itself. The more good karma this
reservoir has, the happier the next life in various forms of existence will be.
But there is a warning here, as this reservoir will become empty sooner or
later and the person will fall in the end from the good state he dwells now,
dying and leaving that place to be born somewhere lower, depending on other
types of karma gathered in previous existences.
Thus, no state
is permanent. No matter whether one is on the low level or the upper level of
the wheel of life, he is never free and secure. Pain and suffering follow him
always, in many forms, until Buddhahood or complete freedom is attained.
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