Twenty-five realms of existence
twenty-five realms of existence
[二十五有] (Jpn nijugo-u )
Also, twenty-five realms. Subdivisions of the threefold world in which living beings repeat the cycle of birth and death. They consist of fourteen realms in the world of desire, seven in the world of form, and four in the world of formlessness. The realms in the world of desire comprise the four lower worlds (the four evil paths of hell, hungry spirits, animals, and asuras ); the four continents surrounding Mount Sumeru, which include Jambudvipa; and the six heavens of desire. The seven realms in the world of form are the Mahabrahman Heaven (here counted as distinct from the first meditation heaven), the four meditation heavens, the Heaven of No Thought, and the realm of the five heavens of purity (taken as one realm).The world of formlessness has four immaterial realms: the Realm of Boundless Empty Space, the Realm of Boundless Consciousness, the Realm of Nothingness, and the Realm of Neither Thought Nor No Thought.
