Six Paths

Common card · No. 291771

The Six Paths in Buddhist cosmology are the six worlds where sentient beings are reincarnated based on their karma, which is linked to their actions in previous lives. These paths are depicted in the Bhavacakra ("wheel of existence"). The six paths are: the world of gods or celestial beings (deva) the world of human beings (manushya) the world of warlike demigods ( partly human partly divine ) the world of animals (tiryagyoni) the world of hungry ghosts (preta) the world of Hell (naraka) The first three paths are known as "the three benevolent destinies" (kuśalagati), where beings experience varying degrees of virtue, pleasure, and pain. The last three paths are referred to as the three unbenevolent destinies (akuśalagati), where beings lack virtue and suffer predominantly. Typically, we as human beings only perceive the animals around us. The first Buddhist texts mention only five paths without distinguishing between the paths of deva and asura. Moreover not all texts acknowledge the...

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