Sort of an ancient Hindu Linnaeus kinda thing?

February 18, 2008 2:36 PM

Within religious traditions which involve reincarnation to or from various animal forms, have any religious scholars created hierarchical lists of the known beings which one could potentially get reincarnated as? Like: 1. Human 2. Mouse 3. Mosquito If so: who's done this, when did they write this, and where can I find this list?
posted by Greg Nog to religion & philosophy (3 comments total)

In Buddhism, there are six states of reincarnation:

1. Beings in Hell
2. Hungry Ghosts
3. Animals
4. Asura (demigods)
5. Humans
6. Deva (heavenly beings)

I haven't seen a further breakdown of just the animal realm, but a search for 'six realms' will give you plenty of reading material.
posted by desjardins at 3:45 PM on February 18

A word on the Buddhist rebirths.

The hells and heavens have sub-categories that are varying degrees of suffering and pleasure, as the case may be.

There are different types of hungry ghosts, as there are different kinds of animals, but I've never seen them prioritized in any specific way, like it's better to be a snake than a fish. I am sure that was done at some point, but I have never seen the list and it might not exist any longer.

As for humans, they say some lives suck more than others, but the least fortunate are being born on a planet the dharma has not been taught or has ceased to exist, being born in a country where no one practices buddhism, or being born "intellectually challenged." Being born rich or poor is not necessarily seen as advantageous.

Usually, I see the realms ordered differently from what desjardin posted and Asuras is between Humans and Gods. But, I have seen it this way too and it depends on schools.

While the higher you go up the list, the higher the rebirth, being born a god is not necessarily better than being born elsewhere. Human birth, in Buddhism, is the more fortunate. The human realm is the easiest in which to achieve enlightenment. In the lower realms, you are either too stupid or overwhelmed by the pain to generate the merit and insight necessary. In the upper realms, you are experiencing too much pleasure (and sometimes jealousy or pride in the Asura realm) that the need to escape samsara doesn't occur to you until you begin to die. And in fact, if you are born in the upper realms, after you die after so many eons, you go straight down to the lowest hells. In the human realm, they say, exists a delicate balance of intellect, pleasure and suffering that makes liberation both desirable and possible.
posted by milarepa at 5:26 PM on February 18

Your question got me thinking and I looked around for different levels of the pretas (hungry ghosts) and animals, but I was unable to find them any where, or even any reference to them.

However, here are the different buddhist levels of heaven and hell that I didn't post yesterday. The heaven breakdown puts asuras below humans like in desjardins list. I am sure the subcategories in these lists differ slightly depending on the school.
posted by milarepa at 6:20 AM on February 19