(E19)-01-Why-30-planes-of-existence-but-not-31

The talk is on the 30 planes of existence. This talk should be quite interesting to most of us because it concerns us very much where we take rebirth. And this talk actually should be quite a long talk. Probably to do justice, I would not be able to complete the talk in one session, in one session, so I'll try to do half of it tonight and then we arrange for another night to discuss the rest of this topic. Now very often if you read Buddhist books you'll find that they talk about 31 planes of existence. But tonight I insist that it is 30 planes of existence. It is not 31 planes of existence. The Buddha's teachings has been handed down to us 2,500 years. So there has been a lot of later interpretations of the Dhamma and this is one of them. Now why I say it is 30 planes of existence and not the 31 planes is that it's because there is one plane of existence called the Asura plane which has been added later and it has been added as one of the whole planes of existence In the original Buddha's teachings, there are three woeful planes of existence called the hell realm, the animal realm, and the ghost realm. But later books added a fourth called the asura realm. And they say that these asuras can be found as ghosts and also as hell beings. But this is not true according to the early discourses of the Buddha because in the Digha Nikaya, Sutra number 24 is mentioned that the lowest grade of Asuras are called Kalakanja, Asuras. And in the same Dīghanikāya, Sutta number 20, this mentioned that at one time there were many devas who came in the sky to see the Buddha, to show respect to the Buddha. This also mentioned that the Kalakanjā Asuras also came. That means Kalakanjā Asuras are also devas, heavenly beings. So since they are the lowest grade, there cannot be any lower asuras, which means that all asuras are devas, heavenly beings. That's why you have 30 planes of existence. Now these 30 planes of existence is also called the five destinations of rebirth, five gati, G-A-T-I, five destinations of rebirth. This is found in the early discourses of the Buddha. But later books also talk about six destinations of rebirth, and these six are also because of that Asura realm. In the Mahayana books, they always talk about New Tao, whereas actually the original is Wu Tao, five destinations, not six. Now these 30 planes of existence are found in every world system and each world system according to the Buddha consists of one sun, one heavenly sun which means that we look into the sky at night, every star is a sun. So every star represents one world system and then the Buddha talked about the a small thousand-fold world system. That means about a thousand suns consist of one small thousand-fold world system, which nowadays modern science calls a galaxy, a galaxy of about a thousand stars. And the Buddha also talked about one thousand of these galaxies which he calls Ah, middling, thousand, thousand fold world system. Actually one thousand of these galaxies. And then again he talked about the great thousand, thousand, thousand fold world system. That means a thousand of these middling world systems. So because the Buddha's psychic power is so great, he could see all these world systems. And you can see the truth of the Buddha's teachings and the fact that certain things that the Buddha said 2,500 years ago nowadays is verified by science. For example, the Buddha said that space is boundless. You cannot find the limits of space. And nowadays people like Professor Stephen Hawking also is saying the same thing. The Buddha also said that time has no beginning and time has no end. in the early discourses of the Buddha. And this is exactly what Professor Stephen Hawking is also saying nowadays. Time has no beginning and no end.

(E19)-02-How-do-we-get-these-30-planes-of-existence

Now, we come back to this one world system of these 30 planes of existence. How do you get these 30 planes of existence? Now, the Buddha said that every world system has three levels. The first one is the karmabhava. Karma refers to sensual desire. So, karmabhava you can say is a sensual realm. Sensual realm, it is called the sensual realm because sensual desire dominates all beings. So because sensual desire dominates all beings, the beings in this sensual realm are divided into male and female. Male and female, so you have this difference of sex. And then the second level is called the Rūpa-bhāva. This is the form realm. Rūpa-bhāva, form realm, this is a unisex world where there is no differentiation of the sexes because these beings here are not interested in sex. They are heavenly beings. All in the form realm are all heavenly beings. And these heavenly beings have shining bodies, their bodies are full of light. And a person can only be reborn in this form realm if you have attained deep states of samadhi, deep states of concentration called jhāna. Jhāna are states of mental absorption or states of mental brightness where your mind becomes one-pointed so that it is concentrated and the mind becomes bright, lights up. And then the third level in every world system is called the Arupa Bhava. means formless realm. These beings here are reborn here because they have attained these formless meditative states of absorption, very deep states of absorption where the mind opens up. The lowest one is called the base of boundless space, where the mind opens up like boundless space. And the second one is base of boundless consciousness. then based on nothingness and neither perception or non-perception. Here, although it's called formless, they are supposed to have very fine body, so fine and so huge that other beings cannot see them. They are so fine that other beings cannot see them. So they are said to be formless. But they should probably have a body because in one of the discourses of the Buddha, the Buddha said that if you have consciousness, consciousness always comes along with the body and feelings and perception. So these are the three levels of existence in any world system. Now coming back to the lowest, the central realm, here you have ten planes. Three are the woeful planes, the lowest three are the woeful planes consisting of the hell realm, the animal realm and the ghost realm. And then slightly higher than that is the manusia or manusa, human plane. And then above the human plane we have six deva planes, six heavenly, six heavens above us. So three woeful planes plus the manusya plus the six heavens above us, ten. So this central realm we have ten planes of existence. Then in the Four realms, you have 16 planes of existence, 16 planes consisting of the four jhana levels. The first jhana, you have three people who attain the first jhana, they can be reborn into three levels. The second jhāna also three levels, and then the third jhāna you have three levels, and then the fourth jhāna you have more than that, you have seven levels. So that makes up sixteen heavens, sixteen planes in the four realms. All the beings here, they have bright, their body consists of bright light. You don't see a body like us with the head, with the hands and all that. You just see a ball of light. Then the third level is the formless realm. Here you have four planes, four heavens corresponding to the four levels of formless jhana. So ten, the central realm ten planes, and then the form realm sixteen planes, and then the formless realm four planes. That's up to thirty planes of existence. As I said again, these can be also defined as five destinations of rebirth. That means the lowest is the hell realm, then the animal realm, then the ghost realm, then the human realm, and then above us, the deva realms. Actually the Deva realms there are 26, 26 out of these 30 planes of existence are Deva or heavenly planes and only 4 are not heavenly planes. But most of the beings in existence are in the lower realms. As you go to higher heavens, you find less and less beings. It's hard to go to heaven, but very easy to go to hell, go to the animal realm. So it's like a pyramid. The higher you go, there are lesser beings, but the lower you go, there are more beings.

(E19)-03-Similes-for-5-destinations-of-rebirth

I will discuss these five, discuss these 30 planes of existence in terms of the five destinations of rebirth. In the Majjhima Nikaya, Sutra No. 12, the Buddha gave similes for the five destinations of rebirth. The Buddha gave this simile that a man on a very hot day was walking a long distance and he was tired and thirsty and hungry on that hot day and then he walked and walked and then he fell into a deep hole and the hole was deeper than a man's height so that he could not climb out and this first Similarly, it was ... this deep hole was full of glowing charcoal. glowing charcoal. So as he fell into this deep hole, he was burned by this charcoal and he was suffering and he couldn't come out. This is a simile for hell. When you are in hell, you are in pain and suffering every moment just like this man in that pit of glowing charcoal, coals. and your suffering. Then the second simile that Buddha gave is of the animal realm. And the animal realm is like a man also on a hot day, he's walking a long distance and he's tired and thirsty and hungry and he fell into another hole deeper than a man's height. And this hole was full of shit, excrement. And he was in that shit hole, swallowing the shit and trying to climb out and couldn't climb out. That's a simile for the animal realm. So it's also a lot of suffering, but at least not so painful as the hell realm, slightly better. Then the simile for the ghost realm, the Buddha said, he said another man also on a hot day, very tired, thirsty and hungry, looking for a place to rest. And then he came across a tree with little leaves, not much leaves, and he took a rest under the tree. But because the tree didn't have much leaves to shelter him, he was still feeling very hot. and bothered by the heat and still thirsty and hungry and tired under the tree. But that is the simile for the ghost realm. So you see at least the ghost realm is much better than the animal and the hell realm. Then the simile for the human realm is the Buddha said another man also in the same situation, tired and thirsty and hungry on a hot day came across beautiful tree with a lot of leaves and very shady. So he rested under the tree and he was shaded from the hot sun. So he was enjoying himself under the tree. That's a simile for the human realm. So actually we are having a very good life. We compare ourselves with the ghost, the animal and the hell beings. So we should not complain about life. We compare ourselves with other beings. And then the fifth one, the simile for the heavens is the Buddha said that the man also tired, thirsty and hungry on a hot day came across a beautiful bungalow, mansion. And he walked inside the mansion and he found this big house inside so well furnished with a comfortable bed. And all that. And he went to sleep on the bed. So he was enjoying himself in that house, shaded from the sun and everything. So that is the simile for the heavens. So this similes would make us understand. how the beings in the woeful planes suffer and the human and the heavenly planes are quite comfortable. That is why the three woeful planes of existence, hell, animal and ghost realm are called the Dugati. Just now I talked about five Gati, five destinations. Dugati is a woeful destination. Then the human realm and heavenly realm across Sugati, happy destinations of rebirth.

(E19)-04-Hell-realm

So now I will go into the details of the hell realm. If a person has done a lot of evil karma, evil actions by body or mouth or thoughts, then he's reborn in hell. And when he's reborn in hell, those heavenly beings seize him. sees him and bring him before King Yama. King Yama in Cantonese we call Yen Lo Wang, and then all the accusations of his evil deeds are laid before him. This King Yama questioned him why he did not hear the warnings given to him in his previous life. And then this man is surprised. He said, I didn't see any warnings given to me. And then King Yama said, did you not see an old man? very old, wrinkled, hunchback, white hair or no hair, tottering, weak. He said, yeah, I saw an old man. So King Yama said, when you saw this old man, you should have realized that one day you will be just like this old man. And one day, since you become old like that, you should have been more careful on your actions. And the second. messenger to warn him, we're supposed to be a sick man, or somebody very sick, for example, somebody with cancer, terminally ill with cancer, and then we should realize also there's a great possibility that one day also we'll be sick like that. And then the third one is a corpse. Maybe go to a funeral, you see a corpse, then you must understand that one day our body also will turn into the corpse, so we should have been more careful. So after questioning him about these warning messengers, then the King Yama becomes silent. Now this description of the torture in hell is given very clearly in the Majjhima Nikaya Sutta number 130, Devadutta Sutta. Actually, most religions talk about heaven and hell, and so does the Buddhist religion, but the Buddha has talked in great detail about these different planes of existence, because he himself, as I will read to you later, because he himself, he said he has seen and he has known for himself. It's not that he has heard it from somebody because the Buddha had this great psychic power to see all these things. So the description of the torture in hell, I will read to you so that you can get a very good idea exactly what the Buddha said. In the Sutta, the Buddha said, now the wardens of hell torture him with a five-fold transfixing. They drive a red-hot iron stick through one hand. They drive a red-hot iron stick through the other hand. They drive a red-hot iron stick through one foot. They drive a red-hot iron stick through the other foot. They drive a red-hot iron stick through his belly. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result. I'll stop here for a moment. So you see here, when you suffer in hell, It's not like the human plane. In the human plane, when we are tortured like that, the pain is so great we cannot stand. We just die off. But in hell, you cannot die. You have to suffer. You cannot die. It's only later books. Sometimes they say that some beings in hell, they die, and then after that they are reborn again. But that is later books. Now to continue with the Sutta. Next the wardens of hell throw him down and pair him with axes. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings, that he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result. Next the wardens of hell set him with his feet up and his head down and pair him with axes. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings, that he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result. That means they take this, what do you call that in Cantonese? This axe. Hmm? You know, like the old one, they used to hold like that, then they plane the wood, you know? How? Ah, yeah, yeah, how. Yeah, so they plane, plane the person's flesh away, you know? And yet, he cannot die. To continue, next the wardens of hell harness him to a chariot and drive him back and forth across burning ground, blazing and glowing. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result. Next, the waters of hell make him climb up and down a great mound of burning coals, blazing and glowing. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted his resolve. Next, the waters of hell take him feet up and head down and plunge him into a red-hot metal cauldron. burning, blazing, and blowing. He is cooked there in a swirl of froth, and as he is being cooked there in a swirl of froth, he is swept now up, now down, and now across. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings, that he does not die so long as that evil action is not exhausted its result. I'll stop here for a moment. This one is like he's cooked in a big pot, just like when you cook rice. What do you see? The grains of rice go up and down, go sideways. So in the same way this person is cooked, he goes up and down and goes sideways and all that. I want to continue. Next the waters of hell throw him into the great hell. Now as to that great hell mounts, it has four corners and is built with four doors, one set in each side, walled up with iron all around and shut in with an iron roof. Its floor as well is made of iron and heated till it glows with fire. The range is a full thousand kilometers which it covers all pervasively. I'll stop here for a moment. So this great hell is like a cube. It is one thousand kilometers long and one thousand kilometers wide and one thousand kilometers high and it's all Iron all around, the roof is iron, the floor is iron, the walls are iron. It's four doors on the four sides now. 1,000 kilometers is a long distance, you know. For example, it's like the whole of West Malaysia. So imagine that being in that hell, in that great hell, he's walled around like a prison, and he's trying to find his way out. He has to walk one end to the other. It's 1,000 kilometers so far, you know. And then he sees one door, but the door is Closed. Locked. So he walks another place to go and find another door. Then he finds his lock again. And all the time he's being burned there, you know. I'll continue with the description. Now the flames that surge from the great hell's eastern wall dash against its western wall. The flames that surge out from its western wall dash against its eastern wall. The flames that surge out from its northern wall dash against its southern wall. The flames that surge out from the bottom dash against the top. The flames that surge out from the top dash against the bottom. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted his resolve. sometime or other months at the end of a long period. There comes an occasion when the great hell's eastern door is opened. He runs towards it, treading quickly. As he does so, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his sinews burn, his bones turn to smoke, and it is the same when his foot is uplifted. When at long last he reaches the door, then it is shut. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not dine so long as that evil action has not exhausted his wizard. Sometime or other, at the end of a long period, there comes an occasion when the Great Hell's western door is opened and the same thing happens. He struggles and tries to run to that door and it closes. When his northern door is opened, when his southern door is opened, he runs towards it, treading quickly, but at long last he reaches the door, then it is shut. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing healing, yet he does not die so long as that evil action is not exhausted its result. So you see, I'll stop here. This sutra will explain. So you see this poor fellow in hell. Suddenly he hears the door opening and the door might be very far away. He runs as fast as he can to watch the door, but the time he reaches the door, the door closes. So you imagine he's being burned, he's suffering physically, and then when he reaches the door, the door is closed. How much mental suffering he has, you imagine. And this, after a long time, means probably after a few years, the door is opened once. Now to continue. Some time or other amongst, at the end of a long period, there comes an occasion when the great hell's eastern door is opened. He runs towards it, treading quickly. As he does so, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his sinews burn, his bones turn to smoke. And this is the same when his foot is uplifted. He comes out by that door. Immediately next to the great hell is the vast hell of excrement. He falls into that. In that hell of excrement, needle-mouthed creatures bore through his outer skin, and bore through his inner skin, and bore through his flesh, and bore through his sinews, and bore through his bones, and devoured his marrow. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result. Immediately next to the hell of excrement is the vast hell of hot embers. He falls into that. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as that evil action is not exhausted its result. Immediately next to the hell of hot embers is the vast wood of cymbally trees. 10 kilometers high, bristling with thorns, 16 inches long, burning, blazing and glowing. They make him climb up and down those trees. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings. Yet he does not die so long as the evil action has not exhausted its result. Immediately next to the wood of cymbaline trees is a vast wood of sawed-leaf trees. He goes into that. The leaves, stirred by the wind, cut off his hands, and cut off his feet, and cut off his hands and feet. They cut off his ears, and cut off his nose, and cut off his ears and nose. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings, that he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result. Immediately next to the wood of sawed-in trees is a great river of caustic water or acid. He falls into that. There he is swept upstream and he is swept downstream, and he is swept upstream and downstream. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings. There he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted his result. Next, the wardens of hell pulled him out with a book, and setting him on the ground, they asked him, Good man, what do you want? He says, I am hungry, Venerable Sirs. Then the wardens of hell pries open his mouth with red-hot iron tongs, burning, blazing, and glowing, and they throw into his mouth a red-hot metal ball, burning, blazing, and glowing. It burns his lips, it burns his mouth, it burns his throat, it burns his stomach. And it passes out below, carrying within his large and small intestines. There he feels painful, wracking, piercing feelings, that he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted his resolve. Next the wardens of hell ask him, Good man, what do you want? He says, I am thirsty, remember sirs. Then the waters of hell rise open his mouth with red-hot iron torches, burning, blazing, and glowing. And they pour into his mouth molten copper, burning, blazing, and glowing. It burns his lips, it burns his mouth, it burns his throat, it burns his stomach, and it passes out below, carrying with it his large and small intestines. Then he feels painful, wrecking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result. Then the worms of hell going back again into the great hell. So you see, this poor guy in hell, he was suffering in that great hell and trying to get out of one of the doors. And he manages to get out of one of the doors, but he fell into the hell of experiment. And in that shit, you have all these worms that can penetrate his flesh into his bone and suck his bone marrow. And he is there for many years suffering, swimming about in the hell of excrement or shit, trying to find his way out. And one day he manages to get out of that hell of excrement and he falls into the hell of hot embers where he is burned. and he's burned there for many years and he's trying to get out. One day he gets out of that hell, falls into the woods or simply trees. There he is caught and he's forced to climb up the tree which is one kilometer high with a lot of thorns, 16 inches long. and burning and blazing and glowing. He climbs up and down the trees for a few years and trying to get out. One day he manages to get out, goes into the wood of cymbeline trees, but he suffers because the leaves cut him, cut his hands and feet and his nose, etc. Then after many years there he manages to get out. He falls into the great river of acid where he is burned and he swept up and down. And then one day, after a few years, he's caught by the wardens of hell and tortured again by this metal ball thrown into his mouth and this molten metal. And then after that they catch him and throw him back into the great hell again. So you see, he went one round, one hell after the other, went back to the great hell again. Then don't know how many times he has to go round and round like that. And according to the Buddha, a person in hell can stay there for Hundreds of thousands of years. Hundreds of thousands of years, when you are suffering every moment, can be like eternity. When we are suffering, time seems to go very slowly. For example, at night when we cannot sleep, the night seems so long. But when you are happy, There seems like to be not enough time. That's why you see like in other religions, like in Christianity, they say if you fall into hell, you are there for eternity. Actually, it seems like eternity because time is so long. Now, the Buddha said the suffering in hell, nothing can compare to it. Even if you are stabbed by 300 spears, the pain that you experience is nothing at all compared to the pain in hell. And in hell, in one of the suttas, the Buddha said that actually you know what you did that caused you to be in that hell. It's not that you do not know. No, you realize. Firstly, when you fall into that hell, all these accusations are brought before you. What you did, for example, that you ill-treated your parents, or you killed some holy men. or you hunted animals, shot them, hundreds of animals, or you slaughtered pigs or buffaloes, etc. So when you're in hell, you actually realize what you did. And also in one sutra, the Majjhima Dikaya Tananjani Sutra, number 97, it is mentioned that if you are going to hell, the warlords of hell come and drag you off, you know. That's why like the Chinese believe, they say the what? the Ngao Thao Ma Min, the buffalo head and the horse face coming to bring you to hell seems to be true because I have actually met people who told me that their father, a few days before dying, actually did see these beings come. So sometimes some of these things We don't scoff at it. And then sometimes some people who are going to hell, just before they die, you can also know, for example, some of them at the last moment, they may scream. I don't know, in a position like me as a monk, I happen, maybe I get more opportunity to talk to people about all these things. And I hear many instances of people, for example, there's one lady in Singapore, One couple told me that friend was dying of cancer, and she used the last few days before she died, she used to suddenly cry, and they asked her why. She said she saw herself tied up in chains. She was asking why they tied her up in chains. And this happened a few times. That means probably she was going to be reborn in a place where she would be tied up in chains and probably tortured. And then many of us know like a butcher, people who kill pigs for a living. And just before they die, they show signs of behaving like a pig or so. It seems that it's very difficult for them to die. You have to show them the knife, the butcher's knife. Then only they die because they're going to be probably chopped up like the way they chopped up the pig. So this is the description of hell.

(E19)-05-Animal-realm

Then the slightly better than hell is the animal realm. And the animal realm, animal we are able to see around us. And the Buddha said in the Samyutta Nikaya, that there's no other single group so diverse as the creatures of the animal world. And the Buddha said, are so diverse because they are all thought out by mind. And mind is even more diverse or more complex because our mind is so complex that we take rebirth in these forms. For example, the Buddha said there are some beings that move very stealthily, very sneakily. For example, snakes or rats or some of these low creatures. It's because these beings were behaving like that, very sneaky, very cunning and all that, that's why they are reborn in those realms. And you can see that animals, they have a violent nature. They have a very angry nature, tempered. They are also very greedy, lustful. So you can understand, people with that kind of nature, who are very greedy, lustful, hot-tempered, don't keep the precepts, don't follow the law, gangsters, etc., then they are reborn as animals. There is some description of the animal realm also in the Majjhima Nikaya in the Bala Pandita Sutta where the Buddha said, monks, there are animals that feed on grass. They eat by cropping fresh or dried grass with their teeth. And what animals feed on grass? Elephants, horses, cattle, donkeys, goats and deer and any other such animals. A fool who formerly delighted in taste, hear and did evil actions here. On the disillusion of the body, after death, he appears in the company of animals that feed on grass. There are animals that feed on dung. They smell dung from a distance and run to it, thinking, we can eat, we can eat. Just as brahmins run to the smell of a sacrifice thinking, we can eat, we can eat, so too these animals that feed on dung smell dung from a distance and run to it thinking, we can eat, we can eat. And what animals feed on dung? Cows, pigs, dogs and jackals and any other such animals. A fool who formerly delighted in taste, hear, and did evil actions here, on the dissolution of the body after death, he appears in the company of animals that feed on dung. There are animals that are born, age, and die in darkness. And what animals are born, age, and die in darkness? Moths, maggots, and earthworms, and any other such animals. A fool who formerly delighted in taste here and did evil actions here, on the dissolution of the body after death, he appears in the company of animals that are born, age, and die in darkness. There are animals that are born, age, and die in water. What animals are born, age, and die in water? fish, turtles, and crocodiles, and any other such animals. A fool who formerly delighted in taste here, and did evil actions here, on the dissolution of the body after death, he appears in the company of animals that are born, age, and die in water. There are animals that are born, age, and die in filth or excrement. And what animals are born, age, and die in filth? Those animals that are born, age, and die in a rotten fish, or in a rotten corpse, or in rotten dough, or in a cesspit, or in a sewer. A fool who formerly delighted in taste here and did evil actions here, on the dissolution of the body after death, he appears in the company of animals that are born, age, and die in filth. Monks, I could tell you in many ways about the animal kingdom, so much so that it is hard to find a simile for the suffering in the animal kingdom. Suppose a man threw into the sea a yoke with a hole in it, and the west wind carried it to the east, and the north wind carried it to the south, and the south wind carried it to the north. Suppose there were a blind turtle that came up once at the end of each century. What do you think monks? Put that blind turtle, put his neck into that yoke, one hole in it. And they said he might one day, sometime or other at the end of a long period. The Buddha said, monks, the blind turtle would take less time to put his neck into that yoke with a single hole in it than a fool once gone to perdition would take to regain the human state, I say. Why is that? Because there's no practicing of the Dhamma there, no practicing of what is righteous, no doing of what is wholesome, no performance of merit. There, mutual devouring prevails and the slaughter of the weak. I'll stop here for a moment. So here the Buddha is saying that this simile of a yoke, a yoke is that kind of wood where the oxen, you know, the The bulokat, the bull has to drag the bulokat. The bull is tied with this piece of wood that goes around his neck, and so he has to pull that. So that is that yoke with a hole in it. So this piece of wood with a hole in it, the size of the neck of a bull is in the ocean and the ocean is so vast and this wood is swept about by the wind and then there is a blind turtle in that ocean. Once in every hundred years the blind turtle will surface to breathe. What is the chance of that blind turtle putting the head through the hole. The chances are very slim because the ocean is so big and the turtle is blind and the wood is being swept here and there. But the Buddha said it's easier for the turtle to put the head through the that hole in the wood, then for a person who has gone to the hell or to the animal realm, to get back the human form. Because in those places like the animal realm or in hell, there's no chance to do any good. Only, like the animals, they only do evil by eating each other, killing each other. So, The Buddha also said, I'm not going to read this entire again. If sometime or other, at the end of a long period, that fool comes back to the human state, it is into a low family that he is reborn, into a family of outcasts, or hunters, or bamboo workers, or cartwrights, or scavengers. One that is poor with little to eat and drink, surviving with difficulty, where he scarcely finds food and clothing, and he is ugly, unsightly, and misshapen. sickly, blind, cripple-handed, lame, or paralyzed. He gets no food, drink, clothes, vehicles, garlands, scents, and amulets, bed, lodging, and light. And if he misconducts himself in body, speech, and mind, having done that, on the dissolution of the body after death, if he appears in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, even in hell, I'll stop here for a moment. So if a person who comes up from the animal or the hell realm is reborn as a human being, then because of his bad karma, he'll be reborn in very difficult circumstances and his body might be misshapen and unsightly also. and then he finds it very difficult to get a living. And if he is so foolish as to misconduct himself again in body, speech and mind, then he falls back into the animal or hell realm again. And the Buddha said, monks, suppose a gambler at the very first unlucky throw loses his child and his wife and all his property and furthermore goes into slavery himself. Yet an unlucky throw such as that is negligible. It's a far more unlucky trope when a fool who misconducts himself in body, speech and mind on the dissolution of the body after death reappears in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, even in hell. This is the complete perfection of the fool's grave." That's the end of the sutra. So you see, If a person is so foolish as to misconduct himself, then he is what the Buddha calls a perfect fool. Just as a gambler, he gambles. The first throw only, he loses all his property and his wife and children, and he himself goes into slavery himself. That is terrible already, but the Buddha said that is nothing compared to a person who does bad, evil karma and falls into hell or to the animal realm. And then the Buddha also said in the Amutra Nikaya, there is no other bondage. It is such an obstacle to winning liberation as rebirth in hell or in the animal realm. There's no, because there's no chance to practice the Dhamma in hell or the animal realm. That's why it's a great bondage to be reborn there. But then sometimes animals, you can see some of them also have a human nature. What we call what? Yen Sing, is it? Yau Yen Sing in Cantonese. For example, dogs. Last time it seems I had a grandmother when she was young, she was staying in Kuala Lumpur, Pudu. Pudu in those old days, they had a slaughterhouse there. And they used to pull these cows past her house to the slaughterhouse to slaughter. And she used to see these cows being dragged to slaughter. They struggled, you know, they know they're going to be slaughtered. And they cry, you know, and they refuse to go. You pull them or so, they put down their two legs. And then when you continue to pull them, tears come down their eyes, you know. Even like, Like presently, even like on certain Muslim festivals, they slaughter the cows. Even you can see some of them, their tears come down. Many years ago, I was working in Kuantan. One morning I went to work. I drove past by the road. I saw a dead calf, you know. Later I found out from one of the office mates, around midnight, one taxi running very fast. Some of these cows, they like to sleep on the road because the road is warm. So this calf got hit by the taxi and died. So from midnight, the mother, so loving, was trying to wake up this cow, was licking the cow. So at 8 o'clock when I went to office, I passed this cow. I saw the cow there licking the baby, trying to revive the baby. And then around noon, when I went out for around lunchtime, I went out for lunch. Again I saw the cow still there. trying to wake up the baby, licking, licking the baby. So you see the mother's love for the baby. You can see even in that cow. At least 12 hours she was just there trying to revive the baby. So you see how much sort of pain she felt when her baby got killed by this cow. So you can see some of these animals have this human nature. Also, one of our members, the father told me that one of his friends went hunting and they shot this monkey, the monkey with the baby. The monkey fell down and the monkey pleaded with the hunter, put the two palms together and bowed to the hunter three times. The hunters saw that and were so moved that day onwards he hung up his gun, refused to go hunting anymore, gave up hunting. So that's why from some of these animal behavior you can believe that some of them were humans before and reborn in the animal realm. So, we have to be very careful. We don't want to be reborn as an animal. We must not have this animal nature. Otherwise, we can be ignored. You see, the difference between the animal and the hell realm is that even though the animal realm, they suffer so much, yet if the pain is too great, they can die. That's a blessing. If you torture an animal, the pain is too great, you cannot stand, you will die. But in hell, you get tortured, you want to die, you cannot die. So the suffering in hell is much, much worse than the animal realm.

(E19)-06-Ghost-realm

Now we come to the ghost. Ghost in the Pali is called beta, beta ghost. The ghost realm is better than the animal realm. And a lot of human beings are reborn in the ghost realm because of lack of merit. We haven't done enough good. Problem with people, a lot of people, they think I've not done evil, why should I do good? The problem is that they don't understand is that we are here in the human state because of past good karma. because of past blessings. And every day that we enjoy life, we are using up our good karma. It's like a bank account, you know, you have money in the bank, but every day we keep on withdrawing, withdrawing, withdrawing, and you don't put in, top up your bank account. One day it's going to go into the red, right? finish all your money. So it's the same with our blessings. We keep enjoying life. We are using our blessings and we have to make sure that we top up by doing more good. Otherwise, without enough blessings, we will be reborn in the ghost realm. Now, also some beings in the ghost realm are there because they have come up either from the hell or from the animal realm. And so they are there and in the ghost realm also sometimes they can be suffering. In the Samyutta Nikaya there are several suttas concerning this Ah, the ghost which the Venerable Moggallana saw. Venerable Moggallana was a monk with psychic powers and every morning he would come down the hill. So he used to come down, he was staying at that hill with another monk by the name of Lakkhana. This Lakkhana, he didn't have psychic powers. So sometimes when he came down the hill, this Venerable Moggallana, he stopped because he saw something. He was looking at something and he smiled. Then Venerable Lakkhana asked him, why are you smiling? Then this Venerable Moggallana told him, don't ask me the question now. Wait until we are with the Buddha, then you ask the question. So they came down the hill, then they went on their alms round. Then after their alms round, they came back. They went to the monastery where the Buddha was and they ate their food. And after eating their food, they went to see the Buddha and other monks were there. Then when the other monks were there, then this Venerable Lakkhana asked the Venerable Moggallana the same question. When we were coming down the hill, Venerable Moggallana, What did you see that made you smile? Then, remember, Moggillana explained what he saw on different occasions. And there are very different suttas where he saw different types of ghosts. There's once he saw a ghost flying by and being attacked by vultures and crows and falcons and other birds. And this ghost was crying out in pain. And then, and so he, Venerable Moggallana said that. So some of them, they did not quite believe him. Then they asked the Buddha whether it's true. And the Buddha said, yes, it's true. And the Buddha said he saw this ghost also previously, but he did not speak it out. He waited for this time until other of his disciples would see. Then they asked the Buddha, who was this man? What did he do that he was reborn as this type of ghost? Then the Buddha said that he was a cattle butcher in the same town. And because he was a cattle butcher, probably he was reborn in hell. And after suffering in hell, perhaps his karma was not worked out yet. He was reborn as this ghost and still to suffer some more. Then, other times, another type of ghost, Venerable Moggillan, I saw was a ghost flying with arrows which were sticking to his body, and as he flew, the arrows sort of went up and down and poked him, and he was crying. And then again, when they asked the Buddha, what did this man do to be reborn in that state? The Buddha said, oh, this man was a judge before, a corrupt judge. That's why he was born there. Then there was another type of ghost who was born with javelins on his body, sharp javelins, which poked him as he flew and he was crying. And Buddha said he was a deer hunter before. Then there was another man, another ghost, with knives on his body. One went through his head, came out through his mouth. Another knife entered his mouth and came out through his chest. Another entered his chest and came out through his belly. Another entered his belly and came out through his thigh. Another entered his thigh and came out through his shin. Another entered his shin and came out through his foot. And the Buddha said this man was a slanderer before. He used to talk bad about other people. And sometimes, you know, when you talk bad about other people, you make up stories also, lies about other people. So the Buddha said that was his result. And then there was another person who was in another ghost, in a dump pit, you know, in a hole full of shit. This ghost was living in the down pit and the Buddha said this man was an adulterer before committed adultery. Dirtied his body so his body was now in the shit hole. Then there was another ghost in the down pit eating shit. Slipping in that shit hole and eating shit. And the Buddha said this man was a Brahmin before in the previous Buddha, Kassapa's time. And this Brahmin, he did not like the Buddhist monks because he was a different religion. So one day he invited the monks to his house. He had all these pots and pans ready, you know. But inside all these pots and pans, he put all the shit in. So when the monks came, he opened up all these pots and pans and he asked them to help himself to all the, help themselves to all the shit, you know. He thought it was a big joke, but in the end, he was suffering, eating shit himself. Then there was another ghost which was a smelly, ugly woman, flew by and also attacked by these vultures and crows and falcons. And the Buddha said this woman was a fortune teller before. So sometimes fortune tellers, they have to tell lies to make a living. So they were reborn in that state. Then there was another ghost, headless ghost. No head, but on his chest he had eyes and his mouth was on his chest. And also he flew by and also attacked by all these birds. And then the Buddha said this man was a bandit Harika before. So this bandit Harika either he beheaded other people or he was caught and beheaded by the king. So when he was reborn as a ghost he didn't have a head. Then another time the Venerable Moggallana saw a ghost fly by wearing robes and the robes were on fire and his body was on fire and he was crying and the Buddha said, oh this was a corrupt monk before during the Buddha Kassapa's time. He misbehaved himself as a monk so he was reborn as a ghost still wearing the robes and suffering badly. This type of ghost, without psychic power we are not able to see, but many people have actually seen ghosts. I have talked with several people who have seen ghosts and I'm sure there are some of you in this room who have also seen ghosts and had some experience with ghosts. It has even come out in the newspaper that previously I've read certain places where during the Japanese occupation, they tortured people. And later, because many people were tortured and died there, and later that place was haunted, and they saw these ghosts. For example, I read about one place that they saw this ghost who had all these of this knife cuts on his hand, you know, because last time these Japanese soldiers, they wanted to get information from people, they talked with you, so what they did was they cut your body with a knife, then they put salt there, then you suffer, get information. So, you see, this thing sticks in our memory, so after that person died and is reborn as a ghost, these things, marks are still there. And also some old homes, they tend to be haunted because along the way sometimes, Usually like the person who built the home, the first person who built the home, he's very attached to the home and if he's not, he does not have enough blessings, he's reborn as a ghost and he stays in that house because he feels this is my house. And sometimes if he used to stay in a particular room, And you go and stay in that room, he's not happy. That ghost is not happy. He'll disturb you if you stay in that room. If you stay in other rooms, he won't disturb you. Because I've talked with people who have this kind of experience. Only when they stay in a particular room, they are haunted by that ghost. And very recently I talked with an Englishman because he came to stay in our monastery. And he also told me as a young man, he also had experience. He stayed in a house that was built on an old farmhouse. So he said when he, in his younger days, one night, he saw this ghost farmer just come in. The house was, the door was closed. But this ghost just walked through the wall, you know, the wall, you know. So he saw this old farmer just take off his coat, laid aside. Then he looked in astonishment, you know, because the door is closed. How come this man just walked in? Then the ghost just disappeared. Then he told his brother about it. And then one night, he and his brother, was downstairs, and then this ghost again came, and both of them saw the ghost. The ghost just, same thing, just took off his coat and then just disappeared. Sometimes incidences like this, it's because the ghost just wants you to know that he is there. Because these beings like ghosts and devas, they have psychic power. If they want you to see, you are able to see them. If they don't want you to see, you can't see them, unless you have psychic power yourself. And then these ... sometimes ... a person before he dies and that person is going to be reborn in the ghost realm, you can know. One of our Buddhist supporters, he told us this real story about the auntie. The auntie had a very nasty temper and very bad nature, always talking bad about others. So, because of property division, she was unhappy and she was always cursing her relatives. And then, because the temple was so bad, when she was old, the children found it difficult to take care of her. The children put her in the... When she was old, the children found it difficult to take care of her. The children put her in the nursing home. When she was in the nursing home, also was cursing the children. So, one day, this man who told me this story, he passed by the nursing home. He saw the cousins, three of the cousins' cars were outside the nursing home. So he thought that Something happened to the auntie, he passed away or something, so he stopped his car and he went into the nursing home. And then he saw his cousins around the mother, the auntie. And what he saw shocked him. Apparently what happened was this lady was very agitated and was shouting and becoming violent and all that and nobody could control her. So they called the doctor and the doctor gave her a jab and she fell asleep. So, when she was sleeping there, this man who told me, he saw the auntie, he was shocked because there were two long teeth protruding from the auntie's mouth, like black hula teeth, protruding from the mouth. And that was two days before the auntie died. And they thought maybe try to cover, they tried to close her mouth. Couldn't close it, couldn't close the teeth. You could close the other teeth, but these two long teeth couldn't close. So for two days, they saw this on the old lady until she died. The moment she died, the two teeth disappeared. That probably showed her that she was going to be reborn as that type of ghost because her nature was like that. And so after she died, she sort of left the body so that we couldn't see it anymore. So sometimes these kind of things are frightening. When we hear it, it's a warning to us that if we have that type of nature, we'll be reborn as that type of ghost. And this is the second person to tell me about this type of ghost. There was another man who came to visit me. In fact, three of them came to visit me when I was staying in Penang, up the Penang Hill. So the three of them were interested in meditation, so they came to visit me and they heard there was a monk up in that cave. So because they were not Buddhist, I tried to talk to them a bit about the Buddha's teachings. Then the Buddha said, taught a lot of things that were not taught in other religions, like about a lot of unseen beings and all that. So I asked them whether they believed, and one of them immediately said that he believed. And I asked him why. I asked him whether he saw anything. He said yes. He said he saw a ghost. Then I asked him to explain to me, to tell me. He said one night he was driving back around midnight. He saw one lady in white walking by the road. Then it struck him very strange, around midnight, a lady walking alone by the roadside. Then he remembered that people said that this stretch of road was haunted. And he also remembered people said that if you see a ghost, very often the feet don't touch the ground. So he thought he would drive slowly to see whether this was true. So he drove slowly. Then sure enough, he saw that the feet was not touching the ground. Then because he was so near, he said the ghost turned around to look at him. Then when he saw the ghost, he saw the face, he saw the two teeth protruding, he was so frightened that quickly drove home. Then he said when he reached home, his feet wouldn't stop shaking for 45 minutes. So this is the second person to tell me that he saw this type of ghost. In fact, only last year, you know where we come from in Timor, one man, he had an accident. A Timor man had an accident and he died. And then a few days later, it seems his ghost came back to the house because at night, around midnight, they could hear someone crying outside the house. And most of them, the neighbors, they were frightened. They dare not look. One of the children looked and he saw, sometimes children can see things that adults cannot see. So this young girl saw and the young girl cried. They asked her what she saw. She said she saw this neighbor's, you know, the children's father outside the house crying. And he said it's not tears that came down the eyes, it was blood coming down the eyes. So, of course, some of these things, there is nothing to prove that is true from experiences of a lot of people. I gather that those exist. Sometimes these ghosts, they let us know their presence because they need help from us. For example, like Chinese, we believe that if your relative passes away after seven days, the relative will come back, right? And sometimes they do come back. They do give you signs that they come back. And if they give you signs and they come back, it's very probable that they are reborn as a ghost. And also they let you know because they need some help. One of my supporters in Penang, a few years ago, he told me, he came to see me. He told me that it was around Chinese New Year time. He had a brother who died about 10 years earlier. And this younger brother liked to drink, drink liquor, and he mixed with not very good friends. So one day after drinking liquor, he came back on the motorcycle and he had an accident. This vehicle went over his body and he died. And after nearly 10 years, you know, one day this supporter of mine, around Chinese New Year, the elder sister came back from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, went to stay with her mother. And the younger brother's ghost entered her body and called out the elder brother's name, looking for this elder brother who was my supporter. So the mother got a shock. The mother asked him, who are you? And this ghost said his name. It's the son's name. And he said he was looking for his brother. Then the mother was frightened. The mother asked him to go back, go back where he came from. Then he left. So the brother asked me what he should do. So I told him evidently your brother is now in a very... I forgot to say, he said also that he was very hungry and that his stomach was in pain. Probably the vehicle went over the stomach. So he was still feeling that pain. So, you see, ghosts normally, they have difficulty finding food, and the other thing that we believe is they have difficulty getting clothes. So, normally for Theravada Buddhists, if our relative has passed away, then we try to do this merit for them by offering food and robes or a piece of cloth to monks and transfer the merit to them. So I told him to do this, to go to different temples and offer food and offer rope and transfer the merit to the brother. But I told him before doing that dana, that offering, a few nights before, say like for three successive nights, burn an incense and you tell your brother that you're going to do this offering on his behalf so that the merit goes to him. So he did this for several days in different temples, and after that no news from the brother. No news is good news. So you see the strange thing, why did the brother not come to him earlier? After ten years only the brother came to him, why? Because earlier he was not interested in Buddhism. Earlier he was not. So it was only recently that he began to have an interest in Buddhism, coming to see monks and coming to learn the Dhamma. So the brother, the ghost brother probably realized that now his brother is able to help him, whereas earlier the brother was not able to help him. So that's why the brother came to see him. And nowadays, in the West, people also believe in ghosts because they have this infrared photography where they go to haunted houses and they photograph, they're able to photograph ghosts and they're able to record ghost voices. Now, The last thing I want to say is that here is that sometimes when our relative passes away and we want to do some merit for them and we want to know whether actually we are able to do some merit for them. And actually, in one of the discourses of the Buddha, a Brahmin came to ask the Buddha. The Brahmin said, Bhagavan, when our relative passes away, we offer food and then we burn the food. Does our relative actually get the food offering? The Buddha said, it depends on where your relative is reborn. Fortunately, if you have difficulty, you sit on the chair. So, this Buddha said if the relative is reborn in heaven, He won't be able to get whatever merit you do in any way in heaven, he doesn't need it. If the relative is reborn as a human being also, you can't help him. If the relative is reborn in the animal realm, also you can't help him. If the relative is reborn in hell, he also won't get the merit you do. Only if the relative is reborn as a ghost, Then the Brahmin asked the Buddha, what if my relative is not born as a ghost? Then the Buddha said, if this relative is not reborn as a ghost, he probably have other relatives who are still in the ghost realm and they will get him. Other relatives meaning probably other relatives in this lifetime or previous lifetime. Then the Buddha said, even in the extreme case where you don't have any relative in the ghost realm, then you will get the merit because you have done good. You have done this offering, you will get the merit. Now the Buddha did not explain why only ghosts can get the merit, but I think it is because only ghosts come back. Only ghosts are able to come back. And because ghosts, they suffer, when they are suffering, they think who can help them? And they think, ah, maybe my son or my daughter will still think of me. So they come back, hoping for us to help them. So if we dream of ghosts, or we see this ghost, probably it's one of our past relatives, or trying to get some help from us. So even if it's not our relative, if they just need some help, then we still do whatever charity we can and tell them that we are doing it for them and transfer the merit to them. So I think I can stop here at this stage. And then if you have questions, This is, so far tonight I've talked about these three vocal planes. It's a bit frightening and a bit maybe depressing. But later we'll talk about the human plane and the heavenly plane, and then you can see how much happiness there is there compared to the woeful plane. But if it is frightening, it is good because you should take that as a warning so that we don't get reborn into these woeful planes of evil.

(E19)-07-Human-realm

We've gone through three, the three woeful planes, hell, animal realm, and the ghost realm. And that was the three Dugati, woeful destinations. Now we come to the two Sugati, happy destinations of rebirth. The first one is the Manusa Loka, woman. realm and then later we go into the deva or the heavenly realm. Now the human realm at the moment our lifespan of humans is approximately 70, 75 for women. But this human lifespan in the Jigna Nikaya Sutra 26 is described, varies from 10 years to 80,000 years. And to give you the details, I'd like to read from the Sutta itself to give you a very clear idea. Now, when people's lifespan is very long, 80,000 years, and at that time they have a lot of blessings, and a universal monarch or wheel-turning king appears in the world. This man is such a good king that the whole world wants him to be the king, and so he rules over the whole world. And the reason why he is so popular is because he uses dharma to rule the world. He does not use force. and he helps those who are in need, and he's good to everybody so that everybody is well and prosperous. But there will come a time when the king who takes over does not rule according to how he should rule, and then problem starts to develop. I'll read to you how this king, he did not know the duties of a wheel-turning monarch or universal monarch. And the sutra said, instead he ruled the people according to his own ideas. And being so ruled, the people did not prosper so well as they had done under the previous kings. For example, he did not give property to the needy. This is from the Sutta. He did not give property to the needy and as a result poverty became ripe. With the spread of poverty, a man took what was not given, thus committing what was called theft. They arrested him and brought him before the king, saying, Your Majesty, this man took what was not given, which we call theft. The king said to him, Is it true that you took what was not given, which is called theft? And he said, It is, Your Majesty. Why? Your Majesty, I have nothing to live on. Then the king gave the man some property saying, with this my good man, you can keep yourself, support your mother and father, keep a wife and children, carry on the business and make gifts to ascetics and Brahmins which will promote your spiritual welfare and lead to a happy rebirth with pleasant result in the heavenly sphere. Very good, your majesty, replied the man. And exactly the same thing happened with another man. Then people heard that the king was giving away property to those who took what was not given, and they thought, suppose we were to do likewise. And then another man took what was not given, and they brought him before the king. The king asked him why he had done this, and he replied, Your Majesty, I have nothing to live on. Then the king thought, if I give property to everybody who takes what is not given, this theft will increase more and more. I had better make an end of him, finish him off once for all and cut his head off. So he commanded his men, bind this man's arms tightly behind him with a strong rope, shave his head closely and lead him to the rough sound of a drum through the streets and squares and out through the sudden gate and thereby inflicting the capital penalty and cutting off his head. And they did so. Hearing about this, people thought, now let us get sharp swords made for us and then we can take from anybody what is not given. We will make an end of them, finish them off once for all and cut off their heads. So having procured some sharp swords, they launched murderous assaults on villages, towns and cities and went in for highway robbery, killing their victims by cutting off their heads. Thus, from the not giving of property to the needy, poverty became ripe. From the growth of poverty, the taking of what was not given increased. From the increase of theft, the use of weapons increased. From the increased use of weapons, the taking of life increased. And from the increase in the taking of life, people's lifespan decreased, their beauty decreased. And as a result of this decrease of lifespan and beauty, the children of those whose lifespan had been 80,000 years lived for only 40,000. And a man of the generation that lived for 40,000 years took what was not given. He was brought before the king who asked him, is it true that you took what was not given, which is called theft? No, your majesty, he replied, thus telling a deliberate lie. Thus, from the not giving of property to the needy, etc., as before, the taking of life increased, and from the taking of life, lying increased. And from the increase in lying, people's lifespan decreased, their beauty decreased, and as a result, the children of those whose lifespan had been 40,000 years lived for only 20,000. And a man of the generation that lived for 20,000 years took what was not given. Another man denounced him to the king, saying, Sire, such and such a man has taken what was not given, thus speaking evil of another. Thus, from the not giving of property to the needy, etc., etc., the speaking of evil of others increased, and in consequence, people's lifespan decreased, their beauty decreased, and as a result, the children of those whose lifespan had been 20,000 years lived only for 10,000. And the generation that lived for 10,000 years, some were beautiful and some were ugly. And those who were ugly, being envious of those who were beautiful, committed adultery with others' wives. Thus, from the not giving of property to the needy, etc., etc., sexual misconduct increased, and in consequence, people's lifespan decreased, their beauty decreased, and as a result, the children of those whose lifespan had been 10,000 years lived for only 5,000. And among the generation whose lifespan was 5,000 years, two things increased, harsh speech and idle chatter, in consequence of which people's lifespan decreased, their beauty decreased, and as a result, the children of those whose lifespan had been 5,000 years lived Some for two and a half thousand years and some for only two thousand. And among the generation whose lifespan was two and a half thousand years, covetousness and hatred increased." Covetousness is greed for other people's things and wanting other people's things. And in consequence, people's lifespan decreased, their beauty decreased. And as a result, the children of those whose lifespan had been two and a half thousand years lived for only a thousand. Among the generation whose lifespan was a thousand years, Paul's opinions increased. And as a result, the children of those whose lifespan had been a thousand years lived for only five hundred. And among the generation whose lifespan was five hundred years, three things increased. incest, that means sexual misconduct between relations, excessive greed and deviant practices. And as a result, the children of those whose lifespan had been 500 years lived, some for 250 years, some for only 200. And among those whose lifespan was 250 years, these things increased. Lack of respect for mother and father, for ascetics and Brahmins, and for the head of the clan. Thus, from the not giving of property to the needy, etc., etc. Lack of respect for mother and father, for ascetics and Brahmins, and for the head of the clan increased. And in consequence, people's lifespan and beauty decreased. And the children of those whose lifespan had been two and a half centuries lived for only a hundred years. Monks, a time will come when the children of these people will have a lifespan of ten years, and with them girls will be marriageable at five years old, and with them these flavors will disappear. Ghee, butter, sesame and salt. Among them, kudrusa grain will be the chief food, just as rice and curry are today. And with them, the ten causes of moral conduct will completely disappear, and the ten causes of evil will prevail exceedingly. For those of a 10-year lifespan, there will be no word for moral. So how can there be anyone who acts in a moral way? Those people will have no respect for mother or father, for ascetics and Brahmins, for the head of the clan, will be the ones who enjoy honor and prestige. Just as it is now, the people who show respect for mother and father, for ascetics and the Brahmins, for the head of the clan, who are praised and honoured, so will be with those who do the opposite. Among those of a ten-year lifespan, no account will be taken of mother or aunt, of mother's sister-in-law, of teacher's wife, or of one's father's wife, and so on. All will be promiscuous in the world, like goats and sheep, fowl and pigs, dogs and cattles. Among them, fierce enmity will prevail one for another, fierce hatred, fierce anger and thoughts of killing, mother against child and child against mother, father against child and child against father, brother against brother, brother against sister. Just as the hunter feels hatred for the beast, he stalks, and for those of a life And for those of a ten-year lifespan, there will come to be a sword interval of seven days, during which they will mistake one another for wild beasts. Sharp swords will appear in their hands, and thinking there is a wild beast, they will take each other's lives with those swords. But there will be some beings who will think, let us not kill or be killed by anyone. Let us make for some grassy thickets, or jungle recesses, or clumps of trees, or rivers hard to ford, or inaccessible mountains, and live on roots and fruits of the forest. And this they will do for seven days. Then at the end of the seven days, they will emerge from their hiding places and rejoice together of one accord, saying, good beings, I see that you are alive. And then the thought will occur to those beings, it is only because we became addicted to evil ways that we suffered this loss of our kindred. So let us now do good. What good things can we do? Let us abstain from the taking of life, that would be a good practice. And so they will abstain from the taking of life, and having undertaken this good thing, will practice it. And through having undertaken such wholesome things, they will increase in lifespan and beauty. And the children of those whose lifespan was ten years will live for twenty years. then it will occur to those beings. It is through having taken to wholesome practices that we have increased in lifespan and beauty. So let us perform still more wholesome practices. Let us refrain from taking what is not given, from sexual misconduct, from lying speech, from slander, from harsh speech, from idle chatter, from covetousness, from ill will, from wrong views. Let us abstain from three things, incest, excessive greed, and deviant practices. Let us respect our mothers and fathers, ascetics and Brahmins, and the head of the clan, and let us persevere in these wholesome actions. And so they will do these things, and on account of this they will increase in lifespan and in beauty. lifespan is 20 years, will live to be 40. Their children will live to be 80. Their children to be 160. Their children to be 320. Their children to be 640. The children of those whose lifespan is 640 years will live for 2,000 years. Their children for 4,000. their children for 8,000, and their children for 20,000. The children of those whose lifespan is 20,000 years will live to be 40,000, and their children will attain to 80,000 years. Among the people with an 80,000 year lifespan, girls will become marriageable at 500. And such people will know only three kinds of disease, greed, fasting, and old age. And in the time of those people, This continent of Jambudvipa will be powerful and prosperous, and villages, towns and cities will be but a cock's flight from one to the next. This Jambudvipa, like Avici Hell, will be as thick with people as the jungle is thick with reeds and russets. At that time, the Varanasi of today will be a royal city called Kethumati, powerful and prosperous, crowded with people and well-supplied. In Jambudvipa, there will be 84,000 cities headed by Ketumati as the royal capital. And in the time of the people with an 80,000-year lifespan, there will arise in the world a blessed lord, Arahant Sammasambuddha named Maitreya or Maitreya. So that is a description how people deteriorate because of not having morals. Just as nowadays you find the children are getting more and more immoral and doing more and more immoral things. So there is more crime and slowly people's lifespan will decrease. This description It's not that strange that people can live up to 80,000 years because you find like in the Bible, they mention about Moses and Abraham and those people who lived for tens of thousands of years or so. In the Samyutta Nikaya Sutta 15.20, our Buddha mentioned that in this present world, this earth, there was a time when the Buddha Akakusanda appeared. At that time, people's lifespan was 40,000 years. Then later, another Buddha appeared by the name of Konagamana. At that time, people's lifespan was 30,000 years. And much later, another Buddha appeared by the name of Kasapa, which is our present Buddha's previous teacher. At that time, people's age was 20,000 years. And then the Buddha said, now I am the Buddha that has appeared in this world. And people's age is only about 100 years. So you see, even human beings, there is a wide range of difference. Even you can see nowadays, for example, you compare people in Europe and America who have a very good life. You compare them with people in Africa who are suffering a lot. Like even AIDS recently came from Africa and then they have this new disease. What's the name of that book? Huh? Ebola. Also people there are dying there of that disease and there's a lot of hunger. Sometimes you see in the photos in the newspaper they look like hungry ghosts and so thin. So there is a great variety of change and these human beings, a great variety of them. But after listening to the description of hell and the ghost realm, animal realm, we should be very, very happy as a human being. We are in a happy plane of rebirth. That's why we are called, we are in the Sugati, happy destination of rebirth. For one thing, sometimes people, sometimes we don't count our blessings. I recently, I tell you a story, a real story of a Malaysian man. Now we have economic recession. So this man, he was a businessman. His business went bankrupt, so he had to work for somebody else, and he was getting a salary of $1,600. He had to support his wife and children. He was pretty unhappy, but he had some money left over from his business, so he went to India. And, you know, Indian people are very poor. So one day he was out walking, then he went to a bread store, he went to buy some bread. There were a lot of children as usual around trying to beg for money. Too many of them to give. So he was distracted by the children and he knocked some bread down. So when the bread fell on the ground, all the children went to scramble for the bread. So this lady selling the bread caught one of the children, took a knife and chopped off the fingers of that child. He had a shock and never seen such a... Horrible thing, this woman chopping off the fingers of this child. So this child was crying. So this lady took a cloth and wiped her hand, wiped his hand, the blood from his hand, and as she was wiping, His hand, this lady was also crying. The child was crying, the lady was crying. So this Malaysian man asked the lady, why did you do such a thing? You only wanted some bread. And this lady said, this child is my son. I have to do this so that he can beg for some food, beg for some money, otherwise people won't give. So you see, they go to the extent of cutting off their own son's fingers just to beg for money. Just so disgusted, I took out his money from his pocket, bought all the bread there and gave all the children. And after that, he came back to Malaysia, never complained again. He had a thousand six hundred ringgit in Malaysia, very happy. We always forget about other people, how they suffer much more than us. We always compare with somebody better than us. Always compare with the ghosts and the animals and we will be very happy as human beings. So our human realm is a very critical, decisive realm because as human beings we create a lot of karma. Every day we use our thinking mind and that determines the next few rebirths. Unlike the other realms, the other destinations of rebirth where either they suffer or they enjoy. the result of their past karma and they don't create so much karma as human beings. We are in the middle, so we create a lot of karma. So we have to be very, very careful because in the sutra it is said that the effect of karma is long-lasting, lasts for many lifetimes.

(E19)-08-Heaven-of-the-4-Great-Heavenly-King

So now we come to the heavenly realms. Firstly, the six heavenly realms in the central realm, the six heavenly planes in the central realm. Slightly above us, the lowest heaven is called the Chatu Maharajika heaven, the heaven of the four great heavenly kings. This is the lowest heaven and they are nearest to us. This plane, this heavenly plane, One day in the heaven there is 50 years of human years, 50 human years. You see, our human day in the world, one day is the sun turning, the sun going around, actually our earth turning around its axis. So we see the sun rising in the morning and then it sets in the evening and then the next morning it appears again. That is one day. That is just the world turning on its axis. As far as the devas in the higher, some of them are not affected by this. So the lifespan of the four great heavenly kings is 500 celestial years. In terms of human years, it is 9 million human years, so long. That is why the Buddha said that as a human being, the happiest state you can be is to be a universal monarch where you rule over the whole world, either as a king or as a queen. That is the happiest existence you can have at that time, also the longest for a human being, 80,000 years. And yet, the 80,000 years is nothing compared to the lowest deva realm, which is 9 million human years, so long. And because they have psychic power, they surpass the human realm. So these four great heavenly kings, the leaders of this heavenly plane, the first one, According to the sutra to the north, he's the king of the yakkas. He's called Kuvera or Vesavana. That is the king of the yakkas, and yakkas have something like a human body, but they are fierce and they fight and they kill also for their food. And then the second one to the south is Virulhakka, king of the Kumbandas. The kumbhantas, this type of devas are not described in our sutras, but I've seen some book that says that there are some kind of deva which is very huge, and sometimes they play a joke on us. Sometimes people will go survey in the hills and all that, or when they come back late in the evening, they see this deva according to some book will sit on the ground. Then you cannot find your way, you lose your way. You walk all around his body, you come back to the same place. You walk all around and come back to the same place. So until the next morning when he's tired of playing this game with you, he goes off and then you can find your way. Then third one is the Gandabhas. The king of the Gandabhas is called Dattaratha. Gandabhas are three spirits. And the Buddha said in a big tree you have many of these Gandapa spirits. Some like to live particularly in the leaves, some like to live in the branches, some like to live in the bark of the tree, some like to live in the flowers, some like to live in the hardwood, some like to live in the roots, etc. It appears like the bigger the tree, sometimes the more powerful the Gandabha spirit in the tree. And sometimes people who chop down trees, you have to be careful because some of these spirits, they can be quite fierce. A month or two ago, I went to Telok Intan and some lady was telling me that one of the women in her village chopped down an old mango tree. This spirit in the tree, I was very angry with her and possessed her. Possessed her and she became like mad. And year after year, her condition is deteriorating. Went to see doctor, couldn't do anything. Even went to see Bomo and other type of this doctor. But this spirit was so fierce that they couldn't do anything to help her. And then the fourth one is the king of the Nagas by the name of Virupakka. Nagas are snake spirits. So these are the four main kings in this plane of the four great heavenly kings. There are other lesser Devarajas, king of the Devas. And then probably inside this group, which is not mentioned also here, is earth devas, river devas, sea devas, mountain devas, cloud devas, then Garudas. Garudas are these bird devas, sometimes called Supana. According to the Buddha, this cloud and tree devas are more straightforward, more straightforward. Snake spirits and the Garudas, the bird spirits, they are more crooked and more fierce. And sometimes these Devas, even though they are so fierce, also some of them like to listen to the Dhamma. Now, it is also mentioned by the Arahant Moggallana, because he had great psychic power, that in the middle of the ocean, he could see mansions in the middle of the ocean lasting a world cycle, they are shining, and where this iridescent sea nymphs dance in complex intricate rhythms. So you see, inside the ocean also a lot of these spirits, that's why sometimes people go in ships, sometimes the ships capsize, sometimes can be due to these spirits. Now, Naga, Naga being a snake spirit, has an animal nature just like this Garuda. Even though they are considered in the heavenly plane of existence, some of them have an animal nature like this naga. There was a time during the Buddha's time, one naga, a snake spirit, he took the form of a human being because he was ashamed of the snake body. Because they have psychic power, they can change their form. So he took the form of a human being and became a monk. But according to the Buddha, there are two times when the snake spirit cannot hide its body. One is when it falls asleep and loses consciousness. It's no more conscious. The second time is during sexual intercourse. So, this Naga, he was sharing a kuti, a dwelling, with another monk. And then he was trying not to fall asleep because he knew that if he fell asleep, the monk would know that it's a snake spirit. He was trying very hard not to fall asleep and then this other monk went to sleep. So the other monk went to sleep and then he wanted to go to sleep but maybe he couldn't fall asleep or maybe he fell asleep but he didn't get enough sleep. So the other monk woke up. He woke up after a few hours of sleep and went out to do walking meditation, out of the kuti, dwelling to do walking meditation. So this Naga, he thought it was a chance to fall asleep, so he fell asleep. Maybe he was too tired, he fell asleep. So when he fell asleep, he changed into that huge snake spirit. So this monk, after doing his walking meditation maybe for one hour or two hours, he came inside the kuti. When he opened the door, he saw this huge snake inside, so huge, he shouted in terror. So other monks came running. By this time, this snake spirit woke up. Woke up and then quickly changed into human form again. So they informed the Buddha about this and the Buddha called the Naga and told the Naga to inform everybody who he was. So the Naga had no choice. He confessed that he was a Naga and he wanted to practice, that's why he changed into human form. And the Buddha told him, it's no use. You won't be able to progress in the holy life. You go back, keep the eight precepts as well as you can. So he wept and he went on. So because, you see, their nature is more of an animal than a human, that's why it's difficult for them to practice. The Buddha said a Naga, nature of a Naga, two things very prominent. One is the anger, the other one is the lust. So the anger is so great, you make him angry, he might just stare at you and you'll just die. So that is the Naga. The Buddha also mentioned that these devas, they have four ways, in fact beings, four ways of birth. One, the lowest, is egg-born. They are born in an egg like a bird, born in an egg. Then they have to stay in an egg for some time before they break the shell and come out. So the second one, slightly higher, is born from the womb, like human beings or some animals like dogs. Then slightly higher, or higher still, is born from vapor, moisture, maybe some cloud spirits or what, born from the moisture. Then higher still is spontaneously reborn. Immediately they take the form of that deva or something. So it is mentioned that most devas are reborn either from moisture or spontaneously reborn. So it is also mentioned because the lowest is egg-born. If a Naga and a Garuda both are egg-born, then the Garuda can eat the Naga, can attack and eat the Naga. But if the Garuda is egg-born and the Naga is womb-born, higher, then the egg-born Garuda birth cannot attack that snake spirit because he's higher. So similarly for the others. Now, in the suttas it is mentioned the Buddha advise lay people to keep the 8 precepts on the Uposatha days, what we call the 8th day, 8th lunar, 8th day of the lunar calendar, the 15th day, the 23rd day, and the last day of the month, either 29th or 30th. Why did he choose these days? Because it is mentioned that on these days, these four days, these four great heavenly kings, either they come down personally or they send their sons or they send their ministers or something to come to the human realm and look at how human beings are doing. And if they find that human beings are quite law-abiding and keep the precepts and all that, and they are very happy, they report to the higher heaven. So that's why the Buddha advised people to keep the eight precepts on those days. And the Buddha also said, if we want to be reborn in heaven, keeping the eight precepts helps a lot. If we constantly keep the eight precepts, the chances of being reborn in a heavenly plane is very great. Now, the next thing is It's also mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya that when human beings are corrupt and they are not law-abiding, etc., then the devas also become angry. And on those times when it should rain, they can stop the rain. And when it doesn't rain at the right season, sometimes there is famine and people die. And also it's mentioned that when human beings are corrupt and not law-abiding, they can also let loose some very fierce yakkas, fierce heavenly beings, which can also cause havoc in the human realm and people can die. It's also mentioned in the Digha Nikaya that devas can influence human beings to stay near them. If there are a lot of devas in a certain place, they can attract human beings, influence our minds to stay near them. Those powerful devas will attract powerful human beings, and similarly for other types of devas. Now, there is a sutta where one night, 60, I think about 60 devas came to visit the Buddha. And they came to pay homage to the Buddha, talk to the Buddha. After that they left. And the Buddha was in his kuti, a small kuti. And yet they came and conversed with the Buddha. And the Buddha told his monks later that the reason why they were able to come was because 60 of them occupied a space no bigger than the point or the head of a needle, the point of a needle. Because of their psychic power, they can all come to one point and yet they don't feel crowded. In one sutta also in the Anguttara Nikaya, there was a lady by the name of Nandamata. One night she was chanting, doing some chanting, and this king, Vesavana, king of the Yakas, flew by, flew by and heard her chanting, came down to talk to her. So the reason this lady was able to talk to this deva is It is mentioned in the Sutta, if a person can attain the fourth jhāna, a state of deep tranquility, then it is possible to see devas and to talk with them. Fourth jhāna, a very deep state of concentration, then these psychic abilities come. That is the four great heavenly kings.

(E19)-09-Heaven-of-the-33-gods

Slightly higher than the Purgatory and Heavenly Kings, the next realm is the Tavatimsa Heaven. This is the heaven of the 33 gods. Why is it called the heaven of the 33 gods? Because these 33 gods rule that heaven. And the king is called Sakka Deva Raja. Cantonese, we call it Yok Wong Tai Tai. Ti Gong in Hokkien. In this heaven, one celestial day is 100 human years. And their lifespan is 1,000 celestial years. That means 36 million human years. So long. And these Devas here look very beautiful and young. They look maybe like a 16-year-old. And until they die, after 36 million human years, until they die, they still remain like that, remain so young, still look so young. And the devas there are spontaneously reborn. Immediately they, if you are destined to be reborn there, the moment you die here, you reappear there. And then if you reappear in heaven, within the boundary of a Deva Raja, you either become his son or his wife. So these Devas, because their blessing is so great, they have a lot of wives. Now in this Tavatimsa heaven, there is another type of Devas called Asuras. And these Asuras, they Once a year, it seems, probably heavenly year, they fight with these 33 gods because they were formerly in that heaven, it seems, because these asuras, they have a nature of fighting and they also like to get drunk. And one day when they were drunk, they were thrown out of that heaven. It seems they fell into the ocean. They go and fight with these 33 gods once a year. And this story is not only in Buddhism, it's also in Hinduism. And there is a similar thing in the Bible also. In the Bible, it's mentioned that Michael the archangel fought with Satan and chased him out of heaven. This probably comes from the same source because some of these holy men, they practice until they can attain deep states of concentration where they have psychic power to look into the heaven and see. But over the years, these stories can get distorted. In this heaven, in these heavens, you also have animals. Like it is mentioned that one day Sakadeva Raja went riding on his horse. He has a chariot pulled by 1,000 white horses, and these white horses can fly. So one day he was spotted by these asuras, and these asuras chased him. So he has a driver by the name of Matali. He asked this, and this Matali was driving very fast. But they were driving so fast, they were about to hit some trees with the birds nest there and young birds there. And this Devaraja, because he's such a good man, he told his driver to avoid hitting the birds and killing the birds. He said, turn, turn around. So the 1,000 oxen just turned around. Then when these asuras saw him turning around, they thought there must be other devas coming from behind, and the asuras ran away. Now, some of these devas here can be quite huge. It is mentioned that there was some deva who came to see the Buddha, and the body was as big as two or three village fields. Probably rice fields or something. And there is one asura by the name of Rahu who is very huge. It seems he's so huge that sometimes he goes in front of the moon, he can almost eclipse the moon. And one day, this Asura Rahu, he caught the moon Deva by the name of Chandima. He wanted to maybe kill and eat this Chandima, this Deva on the moon. And this Deva on the moon, he shouted to call the Buddha for help. So when the Buddha knew, the Buddha immediately asked this Asura Rahu to let The moon, Deva, loses because he's compassionate and he wants to help this Deva. So this Rahu immediately released the Moon Deva, went back to his heaven and was shivering all over. And the Asura King asked him, why are you shivering? He said, just now he related what happened. He said if he had not released that Moon Deva, his head would have split into seven pieces, which is possible because when the Buddha says something, you cannot change his words. Now, in the suttas it is mentioned that once in a while the 33 gods will meet, you know, they have like a one-year-old committee having this meeting tonight, so they also have their committee meeting, 33 gods will meet. And when the 33 gods meet, then these four great heavenly kings have to come and report to them, for example, what is happening in the human realm. And these thirty-three gods will be sitting in the seat slot. And these four great heavenly kings, when they come to the thirty-three gods, they have to stand out of respect. They have no place to sit. They have to stand out of respect for the thirty-three gods. And sometimes when the thirty-three gods are meeting, Brahma, Pantimvam, Brahma, the deva, will come. When Brahma, this heavenly deva, comes, from far they can see a ball of light. a shining ball of light flying very fast towards them. And then these 33 gods know that Rama is coming. They quickly stand out of respect. And then if he wants to talk with a particular Deva, he'll come in front of that Deva. Then he'll change his form from a ball of light and will change to appear like a 33, one of the 33 gods. You take their form, then you talk with them. And they have to stand out of respect when they talk to him. And after talking with them, then he will fly off again as a ball of light. Now, it is mentioned in the Sakkapantha Sutta that some of these devas, they still have a bit of Dukkha, in the sense that they can be jealous. For example, this is mentioned here that this Deva Panchasikha, he fell in love with a Devi, but the Devi wasn't interested in him. So this kind of thing can also happen. So he had to get the help of the Devaraja to get that Devi. And Sakka Devaraja, he came to see the Buddha and he listened to the Dhamma and it's mentioned that he became a Sotapanna. He's also an Arya. Now this Sakka Devaraja, his blessings is so great that he has a palace called the Vijayanka Palace, mentioned in the Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 37. And this palace has 100 towers, 100 towers. Each tower has 700 upper chambers and each upper chamber has 7 devis, his wives, 7 devis in each upper chamber. If you calculate, that means he has 490,000 wives, devis. And each of his wives has 7 maids, 7 maids to to look after each of his wives. So you see his blessings is so great. So if you are interested to know how to become Sakka Devaraja, I tell you the formula here. It is mentioned by the Buddha that when Sakka Devaraja was a man, he practiced seven things that helped him become Sakka Devaraja. One was, he said, as long as I live, He said as long as he lives, he will support and take care, good care of his parents. Number two, he will revere the head of the family. He'll respect the head of the family. Then number three, he wants to be very generous. He's a very generous person. And then number four, he never wants to be angry. No matter what happens, he's never angry. Then, another three things concern speech. One is he'll always speak gentle speech, never coarse speech, never angry speech. Another one, he'll always speak truthfully, never tell lies. Another one, the last one, he doesn't carry tales to cause people to quarrel or fight. He's not a malicious tale-bearer. So he practiced these seven things. He looked after his parents. He respected our families. And he's very generous. He's never angry. Always speaks gentle speech, speaks truthfully, and never carry tales to make order. And the Sakadeva Raja also, presently, he's always constantly keeping the eight precepts, and he always advised his devas also, other devas, to keep the eight precepts. And this Sakadeva Raja, one day in one sutta it's mentioned that he came out of his palace to go, sort of go out, and he paid homage to the four directions. And his driver asked him, Deva Raja, he said human beings and other beings pay homage to you. Who are you paying homage to? Then he said he's paying homage to the Aryas, those people who cultivate the spiritual path. He pays homage to all the good men, the good laymen who are very responsible, who take care of their families and keep the precepts, etc. So you see, even Sakka Devarajya also pays respect to some of you, good laymen. So if you keep your precepts, one day you can join him up there. Now, this Anuruddha, Arahant Anuruddha, he has very great psychic power. And one day, one of his former wives, also from this heaven of the 33, by the name of Jalini, came to see him. And this wife probably was longing for him and wanted him to be reborn in heaven. And he told the wife that he finished He's finished with rebirth. How come this wife would come and see him? Because this heaven, one day is 100 human years. So he was in the heaven of the 33, he died, passed away from there. And he came to the earth maybe after, say for example, 40 years. He's an Arahant, 40 years old. But at 40 years old, it's only half a day in the heaven, not even half a day. So the wife, after half a day looking for him, found him in the human plane. So could still come and talk to him. In another sutra, this Anuruddha one day was visited by several very beautiful devis. And these devis of beautiful form, they had a few abilities. One, they could be as happy as they wanted any moment. Another thing was they could make any kind of music they wanted immediately. And then the third thing was they could change their color. So they came to talk to this Arahant Aniruddha and they told him that this ability they have and then they immediately they change their color. Some of them were blue or blue, some were white and he was looking at them appreciating their beautiful colors. And after that they played music for him, all kinds of heavenly music. But then, being an arahant, he knew how to control himself. So they thought, oh, he's not enjoying our music, so they went on. These devas, Normally, they die when their blessings as a deva is completed. They've used up their kamma as a deva and then they die off and take rebirth. But it is mentioned sometimes they can die because of forgetting to eat. They enjoy themselves so much and they forget to eat. Every living being must eat. And even these devas also, they have to eat, but they eat different things. But they enjoy so much, they forgot to eat that they die. Another way they can die, it seems, is they can be over-angry. Because they are very fine bodies, and they become too angry, their body cannot take it, so suddenly they die. So, that's the reality. Sometimes as human beings, we get too angry, so we get a headache.

(E19)-10-Heaven-of-the-Yama-Devas

Now, the heaven above them is the Yamadevas, those who have attained to divine bliss, as mentioned. They have a lifespan of 2,000 celestial years, equivalent to 144 million human years. It is not mentioned much in the Suttas about them.

(E19)-11-Tusita-Heaven

Then above them is the Tushita Heavens. They are the contented devas. And usually the Buddha to be is reborn there, the Bodhisattva is reborn there. There their lifespan is 4,000 celestial heavenly years, equivalent to 576 million human years.

(E19)-12-Heaven-of-the-Devas-delighting-in-creation

And then the fifth heaven in the central realm is the Nimanarati Devas, Devas delighting in creation. Why are they called Devas delighting in creation? Because their blessings are so great, they can wish for anything, it will appear. They think, long time I haven't taken ice cream, my Sunday ice cream, or whatever. They are longing for a girlfriend, a girlfriend will appear. Longing for a boyfriend, boyfriend will appear. And there, their lifespan is 8,000 celestial years, equivalent to 2,304 million human years.

(E19)-13-Heavenof-the-Devas-wielding-power-over-others'-creation

And then above them is the Paranimitta Vasavati Devas. These are the Devas wielding power over others' creations. In other words, they probably used the Devas from the fifth heaven to do things for them, create things for them, whatever. And there, their lifespan is 16,000 celestial years, or heavenly years, equivalent to 9,216 million human years. And in this realm, there are a few like sultans, kings. One of them is Mara. Mara is our Mawang. And this Mawang, actually his blessings is very great. He probably could be somebody who practiced the holy path before, but because of the ego, couldn't get rid of the ego, so he's reborn dead. And because his ego is so big, if he finds somebody like Jesus or the Buddha practicing the spiritual path so well that they are about to be enlightened, then he cannot sit still. He'll come and disturb them, obstruct them. He don't want them to be greater than him. We have not come to that level where we can attract his attention. The Mara inside us, inside our mind already caught him. And this Mara can be very, how do you say, obstructive. It can influence monks to obstruct them from practicing the holy path. It can influence them to commit suicide, etc. And then the Buddha mentioned the only way actually we can overcome mara is to attain jhāna. If we attain a state of one-pointedness of mind, our mind is so strong, mara cannot influence us. When you are in the state of jhana, the state of one-pointedness of mind, Buddha said you are beyond the vision of Mara. Mara cannot see you. So this is a description of the six heavenly realms above our human plane, all in the sensual realm. I know of a Buddhist in Penang. When he was dying, the neighbors, he was dying of cancer. So the neighbors were Christians. So the wife went out to market, so asked this old couple of Christians to look after him. And then only after his funeral, they related. It seems that they saw these devas, heavenly beings, coming in through the window, making offerings to him. That means this man was going to be reborn in heaven.

(E19)-14-Rupa-Bhave-(Form-realm)

Now we come to the Rūpa-bhāva, the form existence. This form existence, there are sixteen planes. To be reborn in this form existence, this form realm is called form realm because they are very fine material form, very fine material form. And to be reborn here, you need to attain jhāna, one-pointedness of mind, state of deep concentration. And if a person attains these states of deep concentration, the lust goes off, anger goes off. So these beings here, they're not interested in sex because the bliss of jhāna, bliss of meditation is much higher. So all the devas here are unisex. They are just, their form is like their Brahma, a ball of light. The mind is so powerful, they are just a ball of light. But because their mind is powerful, they can change their form whenever they want. The lowest is the first jhāna. First jhāna, people who attain the first jhāna can be reborn in this first jhāna realm. This first jhāna, there are three planes. The lowest one is called the retinue of Brahma. Then after that, higher is the ministers of Brahma. Then after that is the great Brahma. And the lifespan of the great Brahma is one world cycle. One world cycle. These beings, these Brahmas, their light is so powerful, they have control over a thousand world systems. Their light can shine one thousand stars. 1,000 world systems. And some of them can be 2,000, 3,000, up to 100,000 worlds, their light can shine, their power extends up to 100,000 world systems. But some of them, because their lifespan is so long, they have wrong view. They think that they are eternal, they'll never die. And the Buddha in the suttas, the Buddha has gone to see some of them. And the reason the Buddha goes and see a particular deva is because of affinity from the past life. For example, in a past life, the Buddha was an ascetic, and he had a teacher who was reborn in that realm, and then he go and convert his wrong view. And it's mentioned that these devas, They think their power depends on their brightness. Some of them, the brighter they are, the more powerful they are. Now, above that is the second jhāna, second jhāna heavens. There are three levels also. The lowest is called the devas of limited radiance. And then the middle one is the devas of unbounded radiance. Then after that, the devas of streaming radiance, abhashara. And it's mentioned that these devas are alike in body but different in perception. And their lifespan is two kapas, two world cycles. And this second jana, second jana is a state of great concentration, and they are so happy there that they keep exclaiming, oh, happiness, oh, happiness, so happy. They don't need anything to entertain them. The happiness is from inside because of cultivating jhana. They just keep exclaiming, oh, happiness, oh, happiness. And then the Buddha mentioned that when world systems collapse, beings are reborn here in the Abhasara heaven, the second jhana realm. That means the second jhana realm, they are higher than this thousand-fold world system because it is mentioned that the Buddha said world systems expand and contract. So what is meant is that these stars, for example, 1,000 stars, they make up a galaxy. What we call a galaxy is called by the Buddha a small thousand-fold world system. And these stars, scientists now see that these stars are expanding from each other and moving away from each other. But the scientists don't know whether they keep on moving forever or they will come to a stop. But the Buddha said it will come to a limit and then after that it will contract. And then when it contracts, these stars come closer and closer and closer and closer together. Time will come, now we see one star, one sun in our world. Later, a second sun will appear. When the second sun appears, the world is coming to an end. After a long time, a third sun will appear, a fourth sun. Until seven suns appear, then the world will burst into flames and completely extinguish. So to my reckoning, this is talking about the 1,000-fold world system. These 1,000 stars come together. So this second jhana realm, they are beyond this 1,000-world system. That's why they are not affected when all these stars burn. These stars will probably burn and form together and come together and form what we call the The black hole, in science they call the black hole. The black hole is not nothing. It is such a big solid mass that it attracts everything that flies near it. And after a long time, it will explode. Explode and the world will form again in a cycle. Then we come to the third jhāna. Third jhāna, there are also three levels. The lowest is the devas of limited glory or limited beauty. Then the second is the devas of unbounded glory. Then after that, the devas of refounded glory. Here, their lifespan is four world cycles. And they experience such great bliss that no word can come out of them. They are so blissful that they cannot speak of it also. And then we come to the fourth jhāna plane. This fourth jhāna plane, there are seven levels. The lowest one is the devas of grapefruit. Here, their lifespan is four, five hundred world cycles. You see, the previous one was only four world cycles. Suddenly, it's five hundred world cycles because the fourth jhāna is very difficult to attain. Five hundred world cycles. And then after that is the asanya-sattva, unconscious beings, beings without perception and feeling. They just have a body, a huge body without consciousness. That is not a good existence. Then after that, there are five levels of heavens called the suddha-vasa, pure abodes. Now these five levels of heavens are only anagamins. Third food, Aryas, can be reborn there. And if you are reborn there, you'll never come back to the human realm again. Never be reborn in the human realm again. So the disciples of the Buddha who attained the third fruit, Arya fruit, they are reborn there. But some of them, they come back to see the Buddha. It is mentioned in the suttas that one of his disciples, Anagami disciples, just after passing away, reborn there, he came to see the Buddha. But because that heaven, their body is so fine and so huge, when he came back to see the Buddha, our world is so coarse, He couldn't stand up. It was like something very soft. It just fell on the ground. So he didn't know what to do. So the Buddha had to tell him, the Buddha said, make your body coarse, make your body gross. So because his mind is so strong, he made his body hard, and then he could stand up and talk to the Buddha. So these five levels of anagamins, some of these anagamins, third-fruit aryas, some of them are born at the lowest level. Then after passing away from here, they go to another level, passing away from here, another level. So they go to five heavens before they enter Nibbana. Some of them, they go to four of these heavens and then they enter Nirvana. Some go to three, some go to two, some go to one, and they enter Nirvana. So these are the devas of the fine material form. Sixteen, sixteen altogether, sixteen planes.

(E19)-15-Arupa-Bhave-(Formless-realm)

Then the highest heaven is the Arupabhava, formless, what we call the formless realm. There are four planes corresponding to the four Arupajanas, people who attain the states Formless jhāna. The first one are those attained by people who attain the lowest rūpa jhāna, which is the sphere of infinite space. The mind opens up like an infinite space. If you are reborn there, your lifespan is 20,000 world cycles. So long. 20,000 world cycles. Then slightly higher is the devas of the sphere of infinite consciousness where their lifespan is 40,000 world cycles. Then above that is the devas of the sphere of nothingness, their lifespan is 60,000 world cycles. And then above that is the devas of the sphere of neither perception or non-perception. It's not mentioned their lifespan, maybe 80,000 world cycles. Why is it called neither perception or non-perception? Because their consciousness is about so fine, it's about to go off. If it goes off, that means they enter nirvana. It's like a flame about to go off sometimes. There is perception, sometimes there is no perception. That's why it's called neither perception or non-perception. According to some books, although they are called formless realm, it doesn't mean they have no form altogether. Their form is so fine and so huge that even other devas cannot see them. That's why they are called formless. It's also mentioned that anagamins can be reborn there. So that completes the 30 planes of existence.

(E19)-16-Tips-for-good-rebirth

It is mentioned in the Digha Nikaya, how the world begins, the Aganya Sutta. I won't go into the details here. It is also mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya 7.62, how the world ends. I also won't mention this here. Now, there are some important things I'd like to say here. The first one is that most beings are reborn after we pass away. Most beings are reborn into the three world-full planes. As I mentioned earlier, these world beings are like in a pyramid. The higher you go, the less beings. The lower, the more. So the Buddha said, just like in India, the inhabited areas, that was 2,500 years ago, inhabited areas are much more than the uninhabited areas of India, much more than the inhabited areas. So in the same way, the beings who are reborn as human beings or as devas are few compared to those who go to the woeful planes of rebirth. Now, in another sutra, it is mentioned that why people are reborn in the woeful planes is because of failure in morals, failure in mind, and failure in view. These three things also means the seven evil kamas that people do. These seven evil karmas I mentioned in the Majjhima Nikaya Salayaka Sukta are ten evil karmas and ten good karmas. These ten are broken up into body karma, verbal karma, and mental karma. The three body karmas that we can do are the three evil body karmas. One is killing, using the body. We can kill, we can steal, we can commit adultery. These are the three evil body kammas. And then verbal evil kamma. First one is to lie. Another one is to carry tales to cause people to quarrel. You hear A talking bad about B, then another day you go and tell B, A said such and such a thing, and then B will go and quarrel with A. So, that is malicious tale-bearing. The third one is cause. coarse speech, harsh speech, scolding people, using bad words and all that. The fourth one is idle gossip, wasting time, idle gossip. And then the three evil mental kammas. The first one is covetousness, wanting other people's property, greed for other people's property. Another one is malice or malevolence, having a lot of ill will, always angry with people, angry nature, hateful nature. The third one is wrong view. Wrong view. Wrong view means not believing in karma, not believing that there's another world when we die, not believing that there are holy men who are enlightened, who know the true nature of the world, etc. In the Anguttara Nikaya, it is mentioned there are three bases of merit, dāna, sīla and bhāvanā. Dāna is charity, sīla is keeping the precepts like moral conduct, bhāvanā is meditation, developing the mind. It is mentioned that people who do charity and keep the precepts to a small degree, when they pass away, it is very likely that they will come back as a human being. with not much blessings. They are poor, difficult to find a living and they might be misshapen, they might be half blind or something. And then people who do charity and keep the precepts to a medium degree, very likely they'll come back as a human being with a lot of blessings. Born as a good family, rich family, easy to make money, born handsome or beautiful, etc. And then if you do charity and keep your morality to a high degree, very likely you'll be reborn as a deva. heavenly being where you enjoy life for a very, very long time. This also implies that if you don't do charity and don't keep your sila, you won't get the human body again or deva body. You'll be reborn as a ghost or an animal or in hell. Now, the Buddha also said that if we keep the eight precepts, for lay people, you keep the eight precepts regularly, once a week, the chances of being reborn in heaven are very great. In the Majjhima Nikaya, it is mentioned that if a person wants to have a good rebirth, it is possible if you have five conditions. First one is faith, saddha, faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. That means also faith in the Dhamma. Second one is virtue, morality. Third one is generosity or charity. Fourth one is wisdom. Fifth one is much learning or much knowledge of the Dhamma. You understand the Buddha's teachings, the nature of the world. So you have these five things. You can be reborn where you want. It's also mentioned in the suttas, these first four, If two persons want to be reborn together, for example, husband and wife, these four things must be the same. Faith, you have the same faith, same religion. Second one, the same virtue, either you are just as virtuous or just as corrupt. The third one, generosity, either just as generous or just as selfish. The fourth one, wisdom, just as wise or just as stupid. These four things will be born together. Now this charity, sometimes people don't understand the importance of charity. I'll read to you what the Buddha says. The Buddha said, monks, if beings knew, as I know, the result of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the taint of miserliness overcome and stay in their minds. Even if it were their last morsel, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having someone to share it with. But monks, because beings do not know, as I know, the result of giving and sharing, they eat without having given, and the gain of miserliness overcomes and stays in their minds." This is in the Itthi Uttaka, Sutta 26. Another thing I'd like to mention is that in the Bible, Jesus gave a parable of a rich man. He gave his sons money to do business, to make money. One son came back after some time, made a lot of money and gave the money to the father and the father was very happy that he's a good son. Another one came back, lost all his money, went bankrupt. So the father said he's not a good son. Then the third one came back with the same amount of money the father gave him. He did not do any... anything with the money. He just kept the money one side and brought back the money. The father also scolded him. So this parable actually has a lesson. It is a good lesson. It is that when we come into life as a human being, we carry with us some blessings. This is our capital. Every one of us reborn as a human being, we have quite a good amount of blessings to be reborn as a human being. And if we are very foolish, we lead a crooked life, we squander away these blessings. And then if you are going to be reborn in the woeful planes, you are like the person who went bankrupt, wasted all his money, lost all his money and got into debt some more. And then if you come back as a human being, not too bad, but probably this parable is saying it's still not good enough. You are a human being, you come back as a human being, didn't make much progress. Now in the Bible, Jesus taught people how to react if somebody is bad towards you. If a man slaps you on the lap, Jesus said, offer him the right cheek. This is very difficult to do. As you find, even Christians, very few of them can do that. But the standard the Buddha gave in the suttas is much higher. In the Kakacuppama Sutta, the Buddha said, if anybody says anything wrong towards you or does anything wrong towards you, you just have metta towards that person. Keep on having loving kindness towards person. Don't say any evil words. Just take it as, he didn't say exactly, but what he implies is we take it as our kamma. We must have done something bad in the past that we deserve this now that somebody is back towards us. Just accept it and have goodwill towards that person. Don't say anything bad. Don't have any ill feelings towards him. And the Buddha said, if bandits were to catch you and cut you with a two-handled saw, cut away your hands, cut away your feet, saw you in half. If you have any hatred towards them, you are not carrying out his teaching, the Buddha said. That is really difficult to do. If somebody were to murder you also, you don't have any ill feeling towards you. But that is the standard of the Buddha, because the Buddha understood kamma, that whatever we get in life, that is our due. That is our due. And just take it that we are repaying back the kamma. And that is a very high standard. But that type of standard, if we can practice it, then there will be no wars and all that in the world. Now there's another very important sutra called the Mahakamavibhanga Sutra in the Majjhima Nikaya. The Buddha said if a person dies and is reborn in heaven or in the woeful planes, it depends on a few conditions. For example, if a person is reborn in heaven, it's not necessarily always that in this life as a human being he did a lot of good. Sometimes a person can be that in this life he did more evil than good, but because in some past life he has done a lot of good. At the moment when he's dying, he's thinking about that good that he has done in the previous life, and then he's reborn in heaven. Or the Buddha said at the moment that person is dying, he has right view, he believes in kamma, He believes that there are other worlds. When he dies, there's another world and so on because he has right view. At the moment he dies, he goes to a good place of rebirth. And then the Buddha said if a person is reborn in the woeful plane, it's not necessary that he did a lot of evil in that last life. It can be he might have done even more good than evil, but in some previous life he still had not finished repaying that evil karma. So he thought of that evil in the previous life and suddenly he has to go to the woeful plane. Or at the moment of dying he has wrong view, totally don't believe in karma. Then he can also be reborn in a woeful plane. This is why right view is very important, right view. So we have to understand the suttas to get right view. Now, the Buddha said that those devas with very long lifespan, they think they're not going to die. But when the Buddha teaches, taught the Dhamma in the world, and then they get to know that all beings must die, they tremble, they shake, and they realize they are going to die one day. And when they die, they're going to come down, maybe take a woeful rebirth. There are two types of blessings. One is worldly blessing and another type is spiritual blessing. Worldly blessing means getting that blessing that will give us a good rebirth. And that is by doing charity and keeping the precepts, moral conduct. But if we want to get out of this cycle of rebirths, we need spiritual blessing. And spiritual blessing is practicing the spiritual path, listening to the Dhamma, meditating, renouncing our greed, hatred and delusion. That is the spiritual path. And that is the most important thing to realize. that this world, the Buddha said, is unsatisfactory. One day you can be in heaven after millions of years. When your lifespan is about to end, the Buddha said, these devas, after millions of years in heaven, when their lifespan is about to die, they think, hey, there's still so many things to do, just like human beings. Human beings, most of us, when we are about to die, I still have to do this, I still have to do that. The same with devas. When we enjoy life, even millions of years is not long enough. When you are suffering in hell, even one day is so long. So that's the end of this talk on the 30 planes of existence.

(E19)-17-Hell!-how-true-can-it-be

In the sutras, the Buddha described the hells and all that, and he said, I'm telling you this not because I heard it from somebody, but because I've seen it myself and I know it myself, the Buddha said. And the Buddha also mentioned that this Yama, this Yen or Wang, the king in hell, after seeing so much suffering in hell, he also hoped that one day he will get a human body and he will hear the Dhamma and he will strive to get out of samsara, around rebirth. So maybe formerly we were This king in hell, now we have the human body, the chance to learn the Dharma and try to get out of samsara.

(E19)-18-How-to-overcome-the-past-evil-Kamma

This question about having done evil karma in the past and how to overcome it, it is by doing more good deeds now. In one of the discourses of the Buddha, Buddha gave a simile. The Buddha said, In the days of the Buddha, salt was not so fine as nowadays. They had lumps of salt. So the Buddha said, suppose you take a lump of salt and you put it in a cup of water and you stir and then you drink the water, it is very salty, right? But if you took the same lump of salt and you put it into the river water and you stir the river water and you drank the river water, it is not salty, right? Why? Because the river contain a lot of water compared to the water in the cup, right? So the Buddha said the salt represents our evil karma and the water represents our good karma. So if you do a lot of good karma, it dilutes the effect of your evil karma. After all, this karma ripening is just If you remember some evil that you did, then you feel regret. And then if you remember some good that you did, you feel happy, right? For example, if a student studied very hard, And then when the results are announced, he got straight A's for all his subjects. He feels very happy. That's the karma ripening. So, not all karma will ripen. The Buddha said not all karma will ripen. The karmas that ripen first are those heavy karmas. Heavy karmas. Suppose you did very evil, you will remember it first, right? Or if you did very good deeds, Exceptionally good deeds, for example, you were exceptionally good to your mother or your father. That stays in your memory. So you feel happy. So those things that are important, we remember them. If you say you have done some evil deeds, for example, when I was a small boy, I used to shoot birds. Not because I hated birds, but because I loved birds so much that I was so greedy, I wanted to possess the birds. So, when we do a lot of good karma, it sort of covers up our evil karma. We remember more of the good deeds rather than the evil deeds we did. So in that way, because we have forgotten those small evil deeds we did, it doesn't ripen, it doesn't surface. That's why the more good we do, the better for us. Sometimes life is also like that, you know, sometimes like we are in, maybe our, because of the recession, our karma is not so good that we are also suffering. There are some people, their karma is so good that even in times of recession, they are still riding high, you know. I know some people like that because I know they are They are very good people. So because our karma is not so good, because of recession, we are suffering. So if we understand the Dhamma, then we still continue to do whatever good we can. Then whatever evil, the karma ripening, it will wear off. It will wear off. And then if we do good deeds, it will boost us up again.

(E19)-19-The-importance-of-understanding-the-law-of-nature

In other religions, they talk about God, they talk about this unseen force in the world. We also believe in that. Only thing we don't call it God. We call it Dharma. Dhamma in a way can be said to be nature. So it is very important to understand how nature works. If you understand how nature works and you follow how nature works, you won't suffer. For example, we know the law of gravity tells us that anything that you drop will fall, right? If you don't believe in this law of gravity, you want to defy it, you go and climb a twenty-story building, and you go and jump off, and you think you want to fly like a Superman. There are some children like that, you know, after seeing the TV Superman show, they go and jump off the window. But they fall like a stone. So the Buddha said, whether you believe in Dhamma or you don't believe in Dhamma, you are still bound by the laws of Dhamma. So it is just laws of nature only. So the Buddha took all this trouble to explain to us Dhamma is for that very purpose so that we don't collide with the laws of nature and we don't suffer. For example, some people who don't understand the law of nature, they think, oh, I commit adultery, I'm not hurting anybody. There's nothing wrong with it because I'm not hurting anybody. But the law of nature is such that if you commit adultery, you have to suffer for it. So if you understand that, then you become frightened. Then you don't do this kind of thing. Some people also, they don't believe in all these things about Dharma and all that, and they dare to cheat people. dare to do things that other people dare not do. That's why it is said by the Buddha that humans are, human beings have one peculiarity about them. They are very brave. It's very brave. You can take it in the good sense and you can take it in the bad sense. You can take it in the good sense in the sense that some people, they are brave, they can even sacrifice their life to save somebody, to do something good. Now, on the bad side, there are some people, they are so brave, they dare to do extremely evil things. For example, like last time the refugees who came out from Vietnam, they tried to escape and some of them were caught by these pirates in the sea. And then some of their women were raped and the men were thrown into the sea to feed the sharks. And because these people don't understand the Dhamma, when the sharks are eating the men, maybe they clap their hands and they laugh.

(E19)-20-Why-one-goes-to-wrong-path-after-hearing-the-Dhamma

After hearing the Dhamma and we still go the wrong way, the reason for that is that the Dhamma has not penetrated. And why has the Dhamma not penetrated us? Because we have a lot of delusion. And this delusion comes from five things that cover us, that cover us, envelopes us. These are called the five hindrances. These five hindrances, the first one is sensual desire, second one is ill will or anger, third one is sloth and torpor, sleeping too much, fourth one is restlessness and worry, fifth one is doubt. So these five things cover us and the only way to get rid of these five things, the Buddha said, is to attain jhana. attain a state of one-pointedness of mind, where your mind becomes so tranquil, when you go inside your mind, so tranquil that these five hindrances automatically come down. If a person meditates and attains even Upacara Samadhi near excess concentration or threshold concentration, near Dujana, when the mind becomes quite still and becomes bright, then he will notice that this anger of his drops very much, and also the lust also drops very much. So that's why the Buddha said when we practice the Dhamma, we can see for ourselves that it is something that really works. It's not like a promise of heaven. If you practice the Dhamma well, and you are going to be reborn as a heavenly being, even now you feel happy like a heavenly being. It's because we can achieve it here and now. That's why the Buddha said, if you practice and you don't get it now, how can you think that you are going to get it in the next life? Because some of these Brahmins, they don't believe in the Buddha, they follow a different religion. And they used to come and argue with the Buddha that they are walking the path that we're going to bring them to rebirth as Brahma. And the Buddha asked them questions like, is Brahma interested in sex? They said no. Then this person that you say is going to be reborn as Brahma, is he interested in sex? They said yes. Then it's different. Then the Buddha said, Brahma, does he have moral conduct? Does he kill? Does he steal and all this? Does he drink liquor and all that? They said no. He has moral conduct. Then this person doesn't have moral conduct. If he's not behaving like Brahma now, how can he be reborn as Brahma in future? So you've got to behave as a heavenly being now to make sure that you are already on earth, you are already behaving like a deva. Then sure enough, you'll be reborn as a deva. Otherwise, it's just a false promise.

(E19)-21-Is-Jhana-required-for-Brahma-realm-rebirth

It means meditation is compulsory and it's like a must for Buddhism. First through meditation you can get it at many places. Oh yeah. And then Samatha meditation. Nowadays people don't understand. They put down Samatha meditation and they think that Vipassana meditation is important. The Buddha always stressed Samatha meditation in the suttas.

(E19)-22-Why-Devas-are-interested-in-human-beings

Why is the four great heavenly kings and the thirty-three gods interested in human beings? There is a reason for it. The reason is that some of us are going to be reborn there, and they want to know how many of us are going to be reborn there. So if they see more human beings keeping the precepts, law of abiding, charitable, and all that, then they're very happy. They say, ah, our population is going to increase. But if they see many of us are not keeping the precepts, then they're not happy because their population is not going to increase. That's the reason. You know, I've read somewhere there is an Indian belief that for every precept we keep, there is a spirit that will protect us, what we call kuai yen, kui jin. So the more precepts you keep, the better your moral conduct, the more these spiritual beings will protect you.