Three World Systems

Three World Systems ('jig rten gyi khams gsum)

• According to Buddhism, the cyclic existence which ensnares the six classes of living beings who endure suffering comprises three world-systems (Skt. tridhātu), namely: the world-system of desire (Skt. kāmadhātu), the world-system of form (Skt. rūpadhātu), and the world-system of formlessness (Skt. ārūpyadhātu). Among them, the world-system of desire, in which an individual's life is dominated by sensual experiences, particularly the sensations of suffering and pleasure, is specifically inhabited by all six classes of sentient beings, including those six species of gods who indulge in and have mastery over sensory experience (kāmadevaṣaṭkula). The world-system of form, in which beings have a comparatively subtle level of consciousness, temporarily devoid of gross sensations of pain and pleasure, is regarded as a state beyond ordinary human existence and inhabited only by the twelve ordinary classes of gods (dvādaśapöthagjananivāsa) and those of the five pure abodes (pañcaśuddha nivāsa). Beings who are born in these realms have in a past life attained the four meditative concentrations (Skt. caturdhyāna), which offer a temporary respite, respectively from: physical sensations of pain; mental unhappiness; mental excitement related to pleasure; and mundane experiences of joy. Lastly, the world-system of formlessness is regarded as the highest level of rebirth within cyclic existence and a state where an individual's physical faculties exist only as potencies and consciousness alone functions. It is said to be inhabited by those formless gods (Skt. caturārūpyadhātu) who have mastered the four formless meditative absorptions (Skt. catu?rsamāpatti) known as infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothing-at-all, and neither cognition nor non-cognition. These formless meditative absorptions lead progessively to the summit of cyclical existence with increasing subtlety. However, all sentient beings trapped within these three world-systems of cyclic existence are said to endure either physical or mental sufferings (sdug bsngal). For a detailed analysis, see L. Pruden (trans.), Abhidharmakośabhāṣyaṃ, Ch. 3, The World, pp. 365-495, and for an outline of their gradation, see the chart in bDud-'joms Rin-po-che, NSTB, pp. 14-15. GD (from the Glossary to Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings)