Rebirth in different planes of existence (1)

Akusala kamma and kusala kamma of different beings can produce nineteen different types of rebirth-consciousness, paṭ isandhi-citta, in all, arising in different planes of existence. The paṭ isandhi-citta is vipākacitta, the result of kamma. One paṭisandhi-citta is akusala vipāka and eighteen types are kusala vipāka. There are many degrees of each of these nineteen types of paṭisandhi-citta because the kamma that produces them can be of many degrees. Birth in a woeful plane is the result of a bad deed and birth in a happy plane is the result of a good deed. Since the deeds of beings are of many different degrees of kusala and akusala, the results are of many different degrees as well. The paṭ isandhi-citta that is akusala vipākacitta arises in an unhappy plane of existence and the paṭisandhi-citta that is kusala vipākacitta arises in a happy plane of existence. A plane of existence is the place where one is born. There are different woeful planes and different happy planes of existence. Only one type of paṭisandhi-citta is akusala vipāka, but it is of many degrees. There are many varieties of akusala kamma and thus there must be many varieties of an unhappy rebirth. The unhappy rebirth we can see in this world is birth as an animal. Apart from the animal world there are three more classes of woeful planes, which we cannot see; they are the world of petas (ghosts), the world of asuras (demons), and the hell planes. There are different kinds of hell planes because there are many degrees of akusala kamma which produce different kinds of unhappy rebirth. The akusala vipāka in hell is more intense than the sufferings which can be experienced in the human plane. The descriptions of hells in the Buddhist teachings are not merely allegories; the experience of unpleasant things through eyes, ears, nose, tongue and bodysense is akusala vipāka and akusala vipāka is reality. Life in a hell plane is not permanent; when one’s lifespan in a hell plane is over there can be rebirth in another plane. Birth as a human being is a happy rebirth. In the human plane there is opportunity for the development of kusala. One can study Dhamma and learn to develop the way leading to the end of defilements, to the end of birth and death. Birth in the human plane is kusala vipāka, but during one’s lifespan in this plane there are both kusala vipāka and akusala vipāka. Each person experiences different results in life: there are gain and loss, honour and dishonour, praise and blame, happiness and misery. It is due to kamma whether someone is born into pleasant or unpleasant surroundings, whether he belongs to a family which is well-to-do or which is poor. The experience of pleasant and unpleasant things through eyes, ears, nose, tongue and bodysense are the results of kamma. Other happy planes, apart from the human plane, are the heavenly planes. In the heavenly planes there is more kusala vipāka than in the human plane and less akusala vipāka. There are several heavenly planes and although life in a heavenly plane lasts a very long time, it is not permanent. The woeful planes, the human plane and the six heavenly planes which are deva planes, are sensuous planes of existence. Sensuous planes of existence are planes where there is seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, the experience of tangible object through the bodysense and other kāmāvacara cittas (cittas of the sensuous plane of consciousness). There are eleven classes of sensuous planes of existence in all. In the “Discourse on the Lesser Analysis of Deeds” (Middle Length Sayings III, sutta 135) we read that Subha asks the Buddha what the cause is of the different results human beings experience from the time of their birth:

“Now, good Gotama, what is the cause, what is the reason that lowness and excellence are to be seen among human beings while they are in human form? For, good Gotama, human beings of short lifespan are to be seen and those of long lifespan; those of many and those of few illnesses; those who are ugly, those who are beautiful; those who are of little account, those of great account; those who are poor, those who are wealthy; those who are of lowly families, those of high families; those who are weak in wisdom, those who are full of wisdom.” The Buddha answered Subha: ”Deeds are one’s own, brahman youth, beings are heirs to deeds, deeds are matrix, deeds are kin, deeds are arbiters. Deed divides beings, that is to say by lowness and excellence.”