⚡ Samsara

⚡🔄

Samsara (संसार / འཁོར་བ།)

The Cycle of Conditioned Existence

Samsara (Sanskrit: "wandering" or "flowing on") is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth through which all unenlightened beings continuously circulate, driven by karma (intentional actions) and kleshas (mental afflictions). It encompasses six realms of existence, each characterized by particular forms of suffering. Liberation from Samsara is Nirvana, the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice.

The Six Realms of Existence

The Bhavachakra (Wheel of Becoming) depicts six realms through which beings cycle according to their karma. Each realm represents both a literal rebirth destination and a psychological state experienced in human life.

1. Deva Realm (Gods) - སྐྱེ་གནས་ལྷ།

Characteristics: Extreme pleasure, longevity, divine powers, celestial palaces

Suffering: Pride, complacency, terror when signs of death appear (falling from heaven), exhaustion of merit leads to rebirth in lower realms

Dominant Affliction: Pride and heedlessness

Human Parallel: Wealthy, privileged people blind to suffering, intoxicated by success

Buddha Who Appears: White Buddha playing a lute (teaching impermanence)

2. Asura Realm (Jealous Gods) - ལྷ་མིན།

Characteristics: Power, strength, but constant envy of the Devas

Suffering: Endless warfare attempting to seize the wish-fulfilling tree in the Deva realm, jealousy, competitive aggression, inability to enjoy what they have

Dominant Affliction: Envy and jealousy

Human Parallel: Competitive, paranoid individuals consumed by rivalry and status anxiety

Buddha Who Appears: Green Buddha with a flaming sword (cutting through jealousy)

3. Human Realm (Humans) - མི།

Characteristics: Balance of pleasure and pain, potential for awakening

Suffering: Birth, aging, sickness, death, separation from loved ones, meeting with enemies, not getting what one wants, the burden of responsibility

Dominant Affliction: Desire and attachment

Advantage: Most conducive realm for enlightenment—enough suffering to motivate practice, enough leisure to pursue it

Buddha Who Appears: Yellow Buddha Shakyamuni with staff and begging bowl (teaching the path)

4. Animal Realm (Tiryak) - དུད་འགྲོ།

Characteristics: Instinct-driven existence, ruled by survival needs

Suffering: Predation, enslavement, stupidity preventing Dharma understanding, constant fear, exploitation by humans

Dominant Affliction: Ignorance and stupidity

Human Parallel: Those living only for basic survival, consumption, and reproduction without reflection

Buddha Who Appears: Blue Buddha holding a book (dispelling ignorance)

5. Preta Realm (Hungry Ghosts) - ཡི་དགས།

Characteristics: Insatiable craving, depicted with huge bellies and needle-thin throats

Suffering: Eternal hunger and thirst that cannot be satisfied, anything they try to consume turns to fire or excrement, desperate seeking without finding

Dominant Affliction: Greed and craving

Human Parallel: Addiction, obsessive consumerism, never-satisfied desire

Buddha Who Appears: Red Buddha holding food and drink (offering satisfaction)

6. Naraka Realm (Hell Beings) - དམྱལ་བ།

Characteristics: Intense, unrelenting physical and mental torment

Suffering: Extreme heat or cold, being torn apart repeatedly, crushed, burned, frozen—sufferings that match the intensity of the hatred that caused rebirth there

Dominant Affliction: Hatred and anger

Human Parallel: States of overwhelming rage, paranoia, or psychological torment

Buddha Who Appears: Smoke-colored Buddha with fire and water (cooling the flames of hatred)

Types: Eight hot hells, eight cold hells, and neighboring hells described in detail in the Abhidharma

📚 Primary Sources: Samsara and the Six Realms

▼
Dhammapada:Chapter 13:Verses 153-154
"Through countless births in the cycle of existence I have run, not finding although seeking the builder of this house. Painful is birth again and again. O housebuilder, you have now been seen! You will not build the house again. Your rafters have been broken, your ridgepole destroyed. My mind has achieved the unconditioned; the end of craving has been reached."
Source: Dhammapada, Buddha's victory verse after enlightenment, Pali Canon
Majjhima Nikaya:Sutra 129:Balapandita Sutta:10-15
"When a fool is stricken with painful feeling, he does not reflect, 'This is the result of karma.' He makes no effort toward wisdom. When he passes away, he might be reborn in hell, the animal realm, or the realm of hungry ghosts. A wise person, experiencing the same painful feeling, reflects: 'This is the fruit of past action.' He generates energy to abandon unskillful qualities. When he passes away, he might be reborn among humans or gods, or attain nibbana."
Source: Majjhima Nikaya (Middle-Length Discourses), Fool and Wise Person Sutta, Pali Canon
Samyutta Nikaya:Chapter 15:Assu Sutta:1-3
"Bhikkhus, this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. The tears you have shed while roaming and wandering on through this long course, lamenting and weeping because of being united with the undesired and separated from the desired—this alone is more than the water in the four great oceans."
Source: Samyutta Nikaya (Connected Discourses), Tears Sutta, Pali Canon
Anguttara Nikaya:Book 1:Chapter 4:Verse 1
"It is not easy, bhikkhus, to find a being who has not formerly been your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your son, or your daughter. Why is that? Because this samsara is without discoverable beginning... Therefore, bhikkhus, develop loving-kindness toward all beings, for any being could have been your mother in a previous life."
Source: Anguttara Nikaya (Numerical Discourses), teaching on beginningless samsara, Pali Canon
Abhidharmakosha:Chapter 3:Verses 1-10
"The realms of rebirth are six: gods, jealous gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings. The gods experience mostly pleasure but face the suffering of falling. The jealous gods war constantly. Humans face the eight types of suffering. Animals suffer from stupidity and predation. Hungry ghosts burn with unsatisfied craving. Hell beings endure unimaginable torment. None of these states is permanent; all are conditioned by karma."
Source: Abhidharmakosha by Vasubandhu, systematic explanation of Buddhist cosmology, 4th-5th century CE
Jewel Ornament of Liberation:Chapter 3:Suffering of Samsara
"Consider the suffering of each realm: In hell, beings are boiled, burned, and frozen without respite. As hungry ghosts, beings cannot find food or water for eons. As animals, beings are enslaved, killed, or devour each other. As humans, we face birth trauma, aging's deterioration, sickness's pain, and death's terror. As demigods, we are consumed by jealousy and warfare. Even as gods, we face death anxiety and inevitable fall. Not one of these six states offers lasting happiness. Therefore, generate renunciation and seek liberation!"
Source: Jewel Ornament of Liberation by Gampopa, Tibetan Buddhist text, 12th century CE
Visuddhimagga:Chapter 13:Description of Realms
"The realms of rebirth should be understood as thirty-one planes: Four woeful states (eight hells, animal realm, preta realm, asura realm), the human realm, and twenty-six heavenly planes. These exist not as mere allegory but as actual destinations determined by the quality and intensity of karma. Yet even Brahma's palace is impermanent; even the highest heaven is still within samsara."
Source: Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification) by Buddhaghosa, Theravada commentary, 5th century CE

The Mechanics of Samsara

The Three Poisons at the Hub

At the center of the Wheel of Becoming are three animals representing the root causes of samsara:

These three poisons fuel each other in an endless cycle. They generate the karma that propels beings through the realms. Liberation requires extinguishing these three fires completely.

The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

The outer rim of the Wheel depicts how beings remain trapped in cyclic existence through twelve interdependent causes. See Dependent Origination for detailed explanation.

Yama, Lord of Death

The entire wheel is held in the jaws and claws of yama, the Lord of Death, representing that all within samsara is ultimately under death's dominion. Only by stepping outside the wheel—achieving Nirvana—can one escape Yama's grasp.

Escaping Samsara

The Precious Human Rebirth

The human realm is considered uniquely valuable for spiritual practice because:

Teachers emphasize that human rebirth with access to Dharma is extraordinarily rare—like a blind turtle surfacing once every hundred years and putting its head through a yoke floating on the ocean.

The Three Higher Trainings

The path out of samsara requires developing:

Stages of Liberation

🔗 Related Across the Mythos

Archetype
🔄 WHEEL OF EXISTENCE / CYCLIC REBIRTH

Samsara embodies the Cyclic Existence archetype - the universal pattern of birth, death, and rebirth driven by karma and desire.

See parallels: Hindu samsara, Egyptian cycle, Norse fate →
Cross-Cultural Parallels
🕉️ Hindu Samsara → Shared concept, different liberation ☯️ Chinese Afterlife → Reincarnation through Diyu
Within Buddhist Tradition
⚖️ Karma → Force driving the cycle ✨ Nirvana → Liberation from the cycle 🌍 Six Realms → Destinations within samsara