How is the world of samsara structured? Here, we generally have the human realm, the celestial realm, the asura realm, the realm of hungry ghosts, the hell realm, and the animal realm. This is the six realms of existence, and they all operate based on greed, anger, and ignorance. Greed is the desire; when that desire is frustrated, it leads to anger. This state is one of ignorance. If ignorance is mild, it corresponds to the celestial realm, but if it is strong, it leads to the animal realm. Greed, when it is weak, is relatively mild. In the human realm, if greed is excessive, it leads to the realm of hungry ghosts. Anger does exist there, albeit weakly, and compared to hell, it is indeed weak. When anger is strong, it leads to the hell realm. All these realms are influenced by greed, anger, and ignorance. Therefore, when greed, anger, and ignorance arise strongly, one enters one of the six realms. The six realms represent the cycle of sentient beings. Among them, there are paths for both sentient beings and bodhisattvas, and I often speak of three major paths.

The path of the Bodhisattva is about achieving conscience, while ordinary beings pursue the fulfillment of desires, and those who advocate transcending desires follow the Small Vehicle. These are the three main categories. The Small Vehicle's path is characterized by the pursuit of desires and attachment. In contrast, the Great Vehicle, or the Bodhisattva path, is not focused on desires; it seeks to attain conscience. 

So, what does the world of desire pursuit look like? It can be divided into the Three Good Paths and the Three Evil Paths. In the middle lies the Pure Land. Therefore, whenever you connect with your true self, you can enter the Pure Land. Resting in your true self is the Pure Land. 

Resting in your true self leads to two divergent paths: the Small Vehicle and the Great Vehicle. If you rest in your true self and focus solely on letting go of desires, then you are on the Small Vehicle. However, if you rest in your true self and aim to pursue conscience, then you are on the Great Vehicle.

I will use my greed even if it means resorting to desperate measures. So, let's say that the highest desire in the six realms is wealth and honor. If one achieves this wealth, which includes material satisfaction and honor, then one is in the heavenly realm. In the human realm, pursuing wealth leads to the human realm. This brings about anger. The asura realm is filled with jealousy regarding wealth. They think, If I could just have a little more, and pursue it. If one pursues it in a normal way with hope, then they are in the human realm. If they are consumed by jealousy, then they are in the asura realm. If one has obtained what they want and is content, they are in the heavenly realm. You can place anything you desire into this wealth. If you want a car, then a car; if you want to pass an exam, then passing it. When you go to a test preparation academy and study hard, that state is the human realm. If you have hope and are studying at the academy, you are in the human realm.

However, those who passed are so jealous that it’s unbearable. This is the realm of Surak. But they passed, or they settled for the skills they wanted. Settling means they won’t easily fall below that level. A millionaire means they have settled at the level of a millionaire. It indicates they won’t easily drop below that. There are also billionaires. If someone is a billionaire, it means they have reached that billionaire level. They won’t easily fall below that. It doesn’t just happen. If you work hard, you might fall, but it’s not easy to do so. Generally, it’s the realm of the three good paths. The good path is a world filled with hope. This side lacks hope. The realm of the three evil paths has no hope. It’s a state of despair. The absence of hope means it’s desperate. Therefore, if you give up wealth and honor, it leads to the realm of animals. You can say, I’m fine, I’m a herbivore; I just want to eat grass. That’s giving up on wealth.

On this side, there is a longing for wealth and honor. The desire is overwhelming; there is a thirst for wealth. However, what's different here is that if one is pursuing it with hope, then it is different. Here, the longing is great, but there is no hope—it's a state of feeling that it won't be possible. So, the state of wanting but feeling that it won't happen is the realm of the hungry ghosts. Then, the hell realm is the suffering caused by wealth and honor. It's a state where pain rushes in with every breath, unable to attain what one desires. This is all due to greed, anger, and ignorance. It revolves around whether I can obtain what I covet or not. The state of being frustrated because I can't obtain it is anger. It's like being addicted to dopamine, desperately craving something, and then feeling angry when unable to achieve it, along with feelings of depression and sadness. All of this is due to ignorance; they always go hand in hand. If one is not ignorant, then if this ignorance were wisdom, greed and anger would be calmed. However, the amplification of greed and anger is due to ignorance.

Abandoning wealth, craving wealth, suffering from wealth. It will likely worsen in this way. When I give up, I feel somewhat at ease, but as the craving arises again, it leads to suffering, pursuit, and jealousy. You can pursue even from jealousy. However, usually when you pursue for a while, there comes a point where jealousy becomes intense. If you go beyond that, you enter a stage of complacency. What do you think? While we live our lives, we cannot ignore the six paths. If we only discuss the small vehicle or the great vehicle, we cannot see how sentient beings live. It's all just a play of greed, hatred, and delusion. So, greed is wanting something good. Hatred is disliking something. Getting angry about a situation I dislike is hatred, and wanting something because it's good is greed. Don't just focus on good and bad. If you get caught up in good and bad, you are in a state of delusion, ignorance. So, if you stop just focusing on good and bad, greed, hatred, and delusion all disappear.

So where are we going right away? 
Let's go to the Pure Land. We will immediately connect to the Pure Land. 
If you just ignore where the six realms are, you will escape to the Pure Land. 
If you ignore it, no matter where the escape to the Pure Land is, whether you are caught in jealousy or craving, just ignore it and come here. Peace of mind will come. 
This is not a clumsy resignation; if you truly ignore it, just come here. 
The despair side and the hope side—this briefly outlines the lives of sentient beings unfolding in our universe. 
Sentient beings, whether they are followers of the Lesser Vehicle or the Greater Vehicle, find this struggle too difficult, so they wish to escape to the Pure Land and never connect to greed, hatred, and delusion again. 
Thus, giving up desire is the Lesser Vehicle. 
Without greed, hatred, and delusion, the universe will continue to move, and wherever the six realms are, we can make it all into the Pure Land. 
As long as we pursue our conscience, we can create the Pure Land anywhere. This is the Greater Vehicle—feel free to include anything beyond wealth.

This is how it is. In wealth and honor, it can be like the heavenly realm. Wealth and honor are indeed like the heavenly realm. However, if I want to obtain something precious right now and cannot get it, I desperately want to buy that house, but it doesn’t come up for sale. In that aspect, I might fall from the human realm to the realm of hungry ghosts. I'm really thirsty for it. But it feels like I can't have it, so I'm suffering a lot. Every time I breathe, it’s painful. So, I’ve emptied my heart. I’ve given up. But then, I heard that a property has come up for sale again. I'm pursuing the human realm once more. Right? So, it feels like if I just put in a little effort, I can achieve it. This stage of jealousy, if I just try a little more, it seems like it could be mine. But if someone else takes it away, then this jealousy turns back into suffering. Here, it's still a hopeful jealousy. But if it turns into hopeless jealousy, then it becomes suffering. It would be unbearable.

So, if you distinguish between these two, they are similar but different. No matter what you put in, whether it's love or job hunting, you can insert anything you want, and all these stages are present. Is it a state of craving, a state of giving up, a state of suffering, a hopeful pursuit, a hopeful jealousy, or are you settling in hope? The things you like now help you navigate through the six realms. The things you dislike now also help you navigate through the six realms. Don't say you like or dislike. This is the true state. How does that sound? Please engrave this in your mind. Sentient beings exist in this world of six realms. It seems like it could be resolved easily, but this is also jealousy. You don’t have to be jealous of others. Being restless is jealousy. Right now, your mind is stressed about what you don't have. You are feeling jealousy about the state of having concerning the state of not having. Even if you don’t compare yourself to others, your mind is currently...

You need to distinguish whether you are pursuing hope or if your ambition has turned into jealousy or complacency. Right now, do you have something you want? It’s okay if you can’t say it out loud. Take a moment to see where you stand. Are you in the realm of the hungry ghosts, the human realm, hell, heaven, or the asura realm? Are you dying from jealousy? Do you feel like you can obtain what you want just by continuing as you are in the human realm? Each desire will be different. Some may belong to the heavenly realm, while others may be in hell. Our hearts are not that simple. Depending on what we desire, we might find ourselves straddling both the heavenly and hellish realms. Those who are enjoying delicious food are likely in the heavenly realm.

[홍익학당] 욕망의 성취에 따른 6가지 마음의 차원

철학과 명상을 통해서 인간 내면의 순수한
양심을 밝히는 공부를 하는 양심학교입니다.


[홍익학당] 욕망의 성취에 따른 6가지 마음의 차원

Scripts