Marco Pallis: LUZES BÚDICAS
THE conception of Existence as samsara, Cosmic Flux, together with its parallel conception of karma, ‘concordant action and reaction’ as the determinant of each being’s part in that flux, is an essential feature of all the traditions directly or indirectly deriving from India; though the subject is here being considered from a Buddhist angle, most of what will be said could apply to Hinduism equally well.
Let us first consider the Round of Existence through its symbolical representation, said to go back to the Buddha himself, as a circle sub-divided into six sectors each containing one of the typical classes of sentient beings. These sectors can be arranged in three pairs, as follows:
* our world: 1) Human-the central state; 2) Animals-peripheral states
* supernal worlds: 3) gods or devas; 4) titans or asuras
* infernal worlds: 5) tantalized ghosts or pretas; 6) hells
This symbolic scheme is familiar wherever the Buddhist tradition prevails.