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will be able 
to perceive the inner body of the 
formless 
Brahma level at the centre of your 
body the 
whole of the time. If you have such 
a level of 
attainment you will have intense 
brightness inside 
the whole of time and it is no 
problem if 
you want to sit for meditation 
uninterrupted for 
seven days and seven nights 
without a break. 
There is hardly any need to sleep 
any more 
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only 15 or 20 minutes per day is 
enough. The 
brightness inside keeps the mind 
refreshed the 
whole of the time. 
4. The supramundane plane of 
the mind [lokuttarabhEmi] 
This is a plane of mind is beyond 
the 
reach of worldly viscissitudes. At 
its most advanced 
it includes the level of mind of an 
arahant 
who has come to an end of 
defilements. 
From the time of the birth of 
Prince Siddhartha to 
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the time when he left the palace to 
start his ascetic 
practices, even He was still trapped 
in the sensual 
level of mind with his royal family 
and consorts 
and a palace for each of the three 
seasons. Once he 
practiced to the point where he 
could attain the first 
absorptions [rEpajhAna] 
e.g. at 
the age of seven 
under the black plum tree — he 
elevated his mind 
to the level of form. When he 
studied withiOara 
and Udaka he could further raise 
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the level of his 
mind to the level of the formless. 
At the age of 35 
he could attain enlightenment his 
mind entered 
upon the level of the 
transcendental. He attained 
all of these levels without leaving 
the human realm 
— his mind was elevated not his 
body. 
B.1.2 Subdivisions within the 
Three Planes of 
Mind 
Within the three planes there are 
subcategories of 
experience 
and we experience 
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these in meditation 
in the form of inner bodies of 
experience (see 
Table 32.1 p.356). 
B.2 Parallels between level of 
mind and realms 
of existence 
Many students of Buddhism, 
especially those who 
have practised meditation find no 
difficulty in understanding 
how different levels can exist in 
states 
of mind — however, 
understanding the full variety 
of realms of existence is less easy. 
With the naked 
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eye, the only two forms of 
existence we can see 
are the human and the animal 
realms — are we succumbing 
to gullability to accept that 
Buddhist cosmology 
consists of not two forms of 
existence but 
thirty-one? 
Blessing Thirty-Two: Practising 
the Brahma-Faring 359 
Indeed, some refuse to believe in 
the existence of 
anything they cannot immediately 
see. They consider 
as gullable anyone who believes in 
anything 
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without material proof. They 
maintain that if invisible 
realms are real, they should be 
immediately 
demonstrable to the naked eye. On 
the contrary, 
such skeptics find no difficulty in 
believing in the 
existence of Japan or the existence 
of microscopic 
particles even though they have no 
direct experience 
of either. Such skeptics would say, 
if you want 
to prove the existence of Japan —
you need to make 
the journey there. If you want to 
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prove the existence 
of microscopic particles, you have 
to have a 
microscope at your disposal — so 
even skeptics 
have their conditions!  
i.e.: 
• You need to have the appropriate 
vehicle or 
equipment at your disposal; 
• You need to know the route to 
get there. 
• You need to have enough 
resources in pocket. 
Well! Meditators can also have 
their conditions! If 
you want to prove the existence of 
invisible realms, 
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you need to fulfil the following 
three conditions for 
reaching them, i.e. 
• your mind needs to be 
sufficiently stable to observe 
them 
• you need to know the pathway 
by which you 
can arrive at there 
• you need to have sufficient merit 
to get you to 
there 
At the very least, to see the 
invisible realms for yourself, 
you have to allow the defilements 
to precipitate 
out of your mind first. When 
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defilements start 
to precipitate out, the mind will be 
left bright and 
clear. This is the brightness that we 
use to illuminate 
the path ahead and we will start to 
have the 
possibility to see those `invisible' 
realms for ourselves. 
B.2.1 The Destination of the 
Dead: The 
evidence 
Fortunately it is not only ancient 
and scriptural evidence 
we have for realms of existence 
beyond the 
normal limits of our senses. The 
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testimony of those 
who have had a Near Death 
Experience (NDE) 
recorded as numbering between 
8-13 million people 
in 1998 in the U.S. alone 
shows 
differences in 
the nature of destination of those 
who have had 
NDE's. Some people report a 
destination that is 
pleasant, others report a 
destination that is deeply 
frightening. In summary of some 
of the differences: 
B.2.2 Equivalence between Planes 
of Mind and 
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Spheres of Existence 
There is a correspondence between 
states of mind 
(which are transitory within a 
given life) and state 
of existence (which we inhabit the 
whole of our 
lives). What we do habitually leads 
to our habitual 
state of mind and our habitual state 
of mind will 
lead to our next state of existence. 
Asked why people who die have 
different destinations 
after death, there is always a 
temptation to 
require some higher `force' to 
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`put' people `where 
they deserve'— however, in 
reality, people's habitual 
state of mind is already ample 
reason to explain 
afterlife destinations. Consider a 
bee and a 
dungfly in a bottle. When you 
open the lid of the 
bottle, the two insects escape. At 
first they fly along 
in unison, but before long they part 
— the bee heads 
for a patch of flowers it can smell 
inthe distance, 
whereas the dung-fly heads for the 
dung heap. 
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Asked by whose power the insects 
have chosen to 
go their separate ways — the 
answer is through the 
force of habit. Like attracts like —
the bee has been 
used to flowers all its life, so is 
attracted to flowers. 
The dungfly has been used to dung 
all its life, so is 
attracted to dung heaps. Any 
creator god with the 
duty to `put' them `where they 
deserve' is decidedly 
redundant. 
Of course there are sometimes 
discrepencies between 
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habitual state of mind and afterlife 
destina-
Hell-Like Cases 
Lifeless or threatening apparitions 
Barren or ugly expanse 
Threats, screams, silence 
Danger and the possibility of 
violence and/or torture 
A feeling of cold (or of temperature 
extremes), and a 
sense of hell 
Heaven-Like Cases 
Friendly beings 
Beautiful, lovely environments 
Conversations and dialogue 
Total acceptance and an 
overwhelming 
sensation of love 
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A feeling of warmth and a 
sense of heaven 
TABLE 32.2: Categorization of 
Near Death Experiences 
360 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
tion — again, it is no more 
difficult to explain than 
someone who has `crammed' hard 
for an exam at 
the last minute (but who habitually 
knows nothing 
about their subject) who is put in 
an advanced class 
as the result of their good 
examination results. This 
might be equivalent to someone 
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who is indifferent 
to virtue all their lives, but who 
makes an effort to 
elevate the quality of their mind in 
the final years 
of their life. 
Returning to the maxim of `like 
attracts like' we 
find that states of mind and realms 
of existence have 
virtues and/or inner experience in 
common — and 
if these virtues or inner 
experiences are habitual for 
a person throughout their lives or 
are steadfast in a 
person at their moment of death, 
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they will lead to 
rebirth in the corresponding realm. 
The correspondence 
is illustrated in the table above. 
Please note that if the Five 
Precepts are not intact 
then the mind will be attracted to 
the unfortunate 
realms such as the hell realms at 
the break-up of 
the body. 
B.3 Realms of Existence 
Having understood the 
correspondence between 
inner experience and realms of 
existence, we now 
turn to look at each of the Spheres 
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of Existence in 
more detail. The Spheres of 
Existence are threefold, 
like the Planes of mind, but their 
subcategories can 
be expanded in detail to up to 
thirty-one realms of 
existence. 
B.3.1 The Three Spheres of 
Existence 
The realms of existence can be 
summarized down 
into three spheres: 
I. The sensuous sphere 
[kAmabhava] — equivalent 
in subtlety to the sense-pleasure 
state of mind 
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- is the state of existence 
inhabited by humans, 
animals, hell-realms and angels. In 
the deepest 
heart of every being which inhabits 
this realm, 
there is still the feeling of 
enjoyment of sense 
pleasure. Sense pleasure can mean 
sexual pleasure 
or it can mean pleasures of the five 
senses 
(pleasurable images seen with the 
eyes, pleasurable 
sounds heard with the ears, 
pleasurable 
tastes reaching our tastebuds, 
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