The Six Realms

Preparing the last post reminded me that this particular set of masks has never been shown in public in their intended form.  This is how they should ideally be displayed, in accordance with the Buddhist view of life and the universal law of karma.

I sent this photo to someone who majored in Buddhist studies, and he immediately recognized it for what it is, without any explanation from me.  At top center are the deva, "gods" who reside in paradisiacal realms and are the most superior entities in existence, overwhelmingly the greatest of all living beings in power, intelligence and wealth.  The main characteristic of their lives is the absence of suffering;  they live their extremely long lives knowing nothing but pleasure and joy (save perhaps for the occasional challenges from the asura).  But when finally the time comes, when you've been at the top of the heap for so long, there's no place but down...

And slightly lower than the gods, to their right in the photo, are the asura, also known variously as demi-gods, jealous gods, anti-gods, titans and even demons.  They are also powerful and intelligent, much superior to humans -- their realm actually overlaps that of the gods -- but they are not as gifted as the gods, and they are by nature jealous and suspicious;  they constantly scheme and plot against each other and the gods, but being the lesser of the two superhuman species, when they do war against the gods they always lose, which makes them even more jealous and angry and vulnerable to a lower incarnation next time.

Opposite them on the left is the realm inhabited by us manusha.  Fortunately filled with extremes of both comedy and tragedy -- joy balanced out by misery, delight by regret, and of course, kindness by cruelty -- it provides the best starting-off place for self-development... or self-debasement.

Just below humans are the tiryag, animals.  As with the deva and asura, animals and humans dwell in a shared realm, but being brutes (literally), animals know nothing but base instincts;  their lives, if in the wild, are filled with fear and wariness;  and in domestication, are short and toilsome, their lives (and deaths) being absolutely controlled by their human masters.  But they still experience emotion just like humans, and they can learn from experience, also just like humans.  Responding to kindness with what gratitude they are capable of expressing, they may yet evolve and be reincarnated in the future as humans.

Across from animals are the preta, beings driven by the obsession to possess.  They are often shown in art as humanlike but with big distended bellies and thin, narrow throats -- symbols of their characteristic greed and avarice combined with the accursed incapacity to satisfy them.  They are forever seeking but never finding satiation.  Although the object of their desire tends to be stereotyped as food (hence their common cognomen "hungry ghosts"), but actually it can be anything, including such repellent things as corpses, blood and dung (hmm... me and my hoarding...).

And at the bottom are the naraka, the beings (self-)condemned to hell.  While they may not necessarily be subject to physical pain (although of course this can be the case), their lives are mainly characterized by hatred and anger, in both doling them out to others and in receiving them back from everyone else.  These unfortunate beings' lives are filled with torment and brutality, for which they blame everyone but themselves (I'm reminded of the gangbanger who raped and murdered two schoolgirls -- and when time came for his execution, allegedly said "Well, sometimes the good guys don't win").

I have also considered displaying these masks in this arrangement,

emphasizing an empty space in the center, to show that in Buddhist cosmology reincarnation is not really a matter of judgment, but the natural working-out of the impersonal law of karma, like attracting like.  "You go where you fit".  Maybe I still will.

Related post:  Continuing On...

Phobos And Deimos

After a long hiatus, I just randomly started drawing a face and finished it after a few minutes of scribbling (O.K., and then I worked on it some more on the computer).  As is usually the case, I started out without any particular ideas in mind as to what sort of expression it should bear, other than "big round eyes".  Now it reminds me of the preta (and also of Nosferatu, the Vampire...)

[In Buddhist cosmology the preta are the unfortunate beings who are reincarnated -- possibly from prior lives as human beings -- into a life of unrequited desire and longing, typically for nourishment (hence their other name of "hungry ghosts" and their depiction in art as having big bloated bellies and tiny thin throats through which food cannot pass), but more broadly, the objects of their desire can be anything, including such repellent things as corpses and feces]

2 More Views From Today

I have these hypotheses regarding the previous lives I may have lived:  #1. that I once was a little tree frog in a rainforest, who spent much of my time crouched on a big flat leaf as the lazy currents of warm, wet air bathed my damp skin and made the leaf gently rock up and down;  #2. that in the next life I was a bear and loved nothing more than to curl up in my dark, cozy little den and watch the little visible patch of the landscape outside become blanketed by snow as I drifted off into the long winter's sleep;  #3. and perhaps in the most recent incarnation, I was human and lived in a bleak, empty land far to the north, where the days were misty and gray and the sun was barely visible through the cloud-ceiling.

Maybe I was channeling that last one today.

Related post:  Night Sun II

Happy Evil Face

I MAY BE DESTINED TO BE REBORN AS A SNAKE, BUT MY ENEMIES ARE GOING TO BE REBORN AS FAT SLOW MICE


Here's to hoping this is the expression I'll be wearing on my deathbed.