thumb|Sculpture of Vamana, an avatar of [[Vishnu, who is associated with the legend of taking three strides upon the three worlds]]

Trailokya (; ; , Tibetan: khams gsum; ; ) literally means "three worlds". It can also refer to "three spheres,"

Various schemas of three realms (tri-loka) appear in the main Indian religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

thumb|left|The Triloka [[Purusha, the figure who embodies the three worlds]]

thumb|Transcending the Three Realms 超出三界圖, 1615 [[Xingming guizhi]]

Hindu cosmology

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), or the earth (Bhuloka), heaven (Svarga), and the netherworld (Patala).
  • The Brahmanda Purana conceives them to be Bhūta (past), Bhavya (future), and Bhavat (present).
  • In Vaishnavism, the three worlds are often described to be bhūr, bhuvaḥ, and svaḥ (the gross region, the subtle region, and the celestial region).
  • In the Nilanamatapurana, Vamana covers his second step on the three worlds of Maharloka, Janaloka, and Tapaloka, all of which are regarded to be a part of the seven heavens.

Buddhist cosmology

In Buddhism, the three worlds refer to the following destinations for karmic rebirth:

  • Kāma-loka (world of desire), is a plane of existence typified by base desires, populated by hell 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 in dhyāna (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).

Jain cosmology

The early Jains contemplated the nature of the earth and universe and developed a detailed hypothesis on the various aspects of astronomy and cosmology. According to the Jain texts, the universe is divided into 3 parts:

  • Urdhva Loka – the realms of the gods or heavens
  • Madhya Loka – the realms of the humans, animals and plants
  • Adho Loka – the realms of the hellish beings or the infernal regions

See also

thumb|left|Fourteen Rajaloka or Triloka depicted as cosmic man. Miniature from 17th century, Saṁgrahaṇīratna by Śrīcandra, in [[Prakrit with a Gujarati commentary. Jain Śvetāmbara cosmological text with commentary and illustrations.]]

  • Loka
  • Six Paths
  • Svarga
  • Trikaya
  • Sahā

Notes

Sources

  • Berzin, Alexander (6 March 2008). Berzin Archives Glossary. Retrieved Sunday 13 July 2008 from "Berzin Archives" at http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/about/glossary/glossary_tibetan.html.
  • 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. .
  • Monier-Williams, Monier (1899, 1964). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press. . Retrieved 2008-07-13 from "Cologne University" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/index.php?sfx=pdf.
  • Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. Retrieved 2008-07-13 from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.
  • W. E. Soothill & L. Hodous (1937-2000). A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. .
  • Bullitt, John T. (2005). The Thirty-one Planes of Existence. Retrieved 2007-04-30 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sagga/loka.html.