The ten realms
The ten realms (T. khams bcu; C. shijie; J. jikkai; K. sipkye 十界) are ten states of existence that are identified within the cosmology of some Mahayana Buddhist traditions.
The ten realms consist of:
Six realms of samsara (six mundane realms)
This formulation of ten realms is based on an interpretation of the Lotus Sutra within the Tiantai tradition.
The ten realms are emphasized in these traditions:
Tiantai tradition of China (Japanese Tendai)
The ten realms
The six realms of samsara are subject to karma and rebirth. They are also referred to as the "worldly" or "[[mundane [realms]].
The six realms are:
The four holy realms are beyond rebirth.
These realms are:
Sravaka realm - "the joyful state of existence beyond the worldly birth and death because they are enlightened that the worldly phenomena are unreal and impermanent."
Pratyekabuddha - "they are enlightened by understanding the Law of Dependent Originations or the Twelve Links of Dependent Originations."
Bodhisattva realm - have the aspiration to help other beings reach enlightenment. "They commit themselves, by their great vows, to be reborn in any Dharma Realm to rescue the sentient beings."
Buddha realm - the highest state of existence of all sentient beings Interpretations within different traditions
In some traditions, the ten realms are perceived as distinct realms through which forms had to experience in order to expiate karma. According to Japanese Shugendō tradition, the ten realms are seen as distinct trials of discipline a practitioner must encounter or overcome in order to reach a material or spiritual goal.
However, according to Zhiyi's conceptualization of "three thousand realms in a single moment of life," they are not separate physical realms into which one may be reborn but interrelated realms of consciousness, each of which is contained within each other (Jp. jikkai gogu). The Ten Realms are a conceptualization of the Lotus Sutra's worldview of the interconnected relationship of phenomena, the ultimate reality of the universe, and human agency.
Tiantai: Three thousand realms in a single moment
According to the Tiantai tradition, each of the ten realms or worlds are contained within each realm, the "mutual possession of the ten realms" (Jap. jikkai gogu). The one subsequent hundred worlds are viewed through the lenses of the Ten suchnesses and the three realms of existence (Jpn. san-seken) to formulate three thousand realms of existence. These hundred aspects of existence leads to the concept of "three thousand realms in a single moment (Jap. Ichinen Sanzen)."
According to this conception, the world of Buddha and the nine realms of humanity are interpenetrable, there is no original "pure mind," and good and evil are mutually possessed.[11] This establishes a proclivity to immanence rather than transcendency.
Symbolic interpretations of states of existence
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes the Tiantai view of the ten realms as different states of existence as follows:
The ten realms are all the states in which a sentient being might find him or herself in the Buddhist universe, from the lowest ignorance and suffering to the highest bliss and enlightenment.
They are often interpreted symbolically: Buddhahood representing a moment of enlightened experience, Bodhisattvahood a moment of compassion, Sravakahood a moment of quiescence or renunciation of the worldly, Godhood a moment of great worldly bliss and power, Asurahood a moment of egoistic rage and combativeness, animals ignorance, purgatories suffering. One reason to read these as states that any being might undergo is that each of the ten realms is listed twice.
This is because each realm “includes” or “instantiates” all the other ten realms. That is, each can appear “as” any of the others, and in fact nothing appears which is not always “as” something else. A human-bodhisattva, an animal-god, a Buddha-demon, an Asura-Sravaka, etc.
A bodhisattva appears as a human, or an animal, or a Buddha, or an Asura. But as we've seen, this also means a human appears as a bodhisattva, or a demon as an animal, or a Sravaka as a hungry ghost, etc. Of course this goes on ad infinitum: each of these included realms further includes all ten realms, and so on. The 10 times 10 is just to point to this factor of mutual inclusion, and make sure it is accounted for in our meditative contemplation of “what exists”.
According to Nichiren the three thousand realms in a single moment is practical and realizable in this lifetime in the concrete world.
In some schools of Nichiren Buddhism practitioners believe the calligraphic scroll Gohonzon is Nichiren's representation of the ten realms and chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō to it activates the Buddha's attributes of wisdom, courage, and compassion.
Non-theistic view
One contemporary school asserts that the theory of the ten realms and its larger associated concept of three thousand realms of existence in a single moment portray a non-theistic interpretation of how a person is affected by the cosmos and, in turn, has the potential to impact on the cosmos.
In some Japanese traditions the ten realms are experienced in pilgrimages to a series of temples or sites along holy mountains.
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