Trailokya

Trailokya (Sanskrit: त्रैलोक्य; Pali: tiloka, Wylie: khams gsum ) has been translated as "three worlds," "three spheres," "three planes of existence," "three realms" and "three regions." These three worlds are identified in Hinduism and already appear in early Buddhist texts.

Buddhist cosmology

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

Theosophical views

According to Helena Blavatsky's posthumously published Theosophical Glossary (1892):

Desire realm

The desire realm (Sanskrit: kāmadhātu) is one of the trailokya or three realms (Sanskrit: dhātu, Tibetan: khams) in Buddhist cosmology into which a being wandering in saṃsāra may be reborn. The other two are the form realm, (Sanskrit rūpadhātu) and the formless realm (S. ārūpadhātu).

Within the desire realm are either five or six domains (Sanskrit: gati, also sometimes translated as "realm"). In Tibetan Buddhism, there are six domains (Wylie: rigs drug gi skye gnas ) and in Theravada Buddhism there are only five, because the domain of the asuras is not regarded as separate from that of the devas. Taoism also features the five realms.

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra in Mahayana Buddhism regarded the 10 kinds of xian as a separate Immortal realm between the deva and human realms.

The thirty-one realms are also known as the "thirty-one paths of rebirth", the "six paths of suffering", the "six planes", and the "six lower realms". They stand in contrast to the higher attainments of the Ten spiritual realms.