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pleasurable aromas 
that reach our nostrils or soft 
sensations that 
come into contact with our skin. 
Every living 
being in the sensual realm is 
searching for happiness 
via sense pleasure, whether by the 
channels 
of sight, sound, taste, smell or 
touch. 
2. The Form Sphere [rEpabhava] 
is the dwelling 
place of form-Brahmas 
[rEpabrahma]. Such besensual 
plane 
[kAmavacarabhEmi] 
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form plane 
[rEpavacarabhEmi] 
formless plane .. 
[arEpavacarabhEmi] 
transcendental 
plane of mind sphere of existence 
underpinning 
ThhEmi/ /Maya/ virtue 
sensual sphere 
[kAmabhava] 
form sphere 
[rEpa-bhava] 
formless sphere 
[arEpa-bhava] 
Nirvana 
<human> 
Five Precepts intact 
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ings also are derived from people 
who managed 
to train themselves in meditation 
until they attained 
the `form absorptions' 
[rEpajhAna]. When 
they passed away, their body was 
buried or created, 
but their mind (astral body) had no 
further 
attraction for the Sphere of Sensual 
Pleasure so 
they escape from this Sphere into 
the Sphere of 
Form and take rebirth as a 
form-Brahma. 
3. The Formless Sphere 
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[arEpabhava] is the dwelling 
place of formless-Brahmas 
[arEpabrahma]. 
Such beings also are derived from 
people who 
managed to train themselves in 
meditation until 
they attained the `formless 
absorptions' 
[arEpajhAna]. They were those 
who were attached 
neither to sensual pleasure or to the 
pleasure 
of the form-absorptions — but 
they enjoyed 
the pleasure of the formless 
realms. 
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To imagine the relationship 
between the three 
Spheres so far discussed, you 
should picture three 
concentric spheres — one the size 
of a football, the 
second in the centre of the football, 
but the size of a 
tennis ball and the third inside the 
tennis ball, but 
the size of a ping-pong ball. If you 
were to use the 
analogy to explain the relationship 
between the 
three Spheres, you can compare 
the ping-pong ball 
to the Sphere of Sensual Pleasure. 
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The tennis ball 
can be compared to the Sphere of 
Form and the football 
can be compared to the Sphere of 
the Formless. 
B.3.2 Subdivisions within the 
Three Spheres 
of Existence 
The world system consists of 
thirty-one realms. 
They are arranged within the three 
spheres of existence 
already described. The sensual 
sphere 
[kAmabhava] includes the hells, 
the human realm 
and all the realms of heaven. In 
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this sphere, the inhabitants 
spend nearly all of their time 
fulfilling 
themselves by the pleasure of the 
senses. If we can 
escape the sensual realm then we 
enter upon the 
sphere of form [rEpabhava] which 
is known as the 
Brahma-world because it is 
inhabited by Brahmas 
or gods. However there is a third 
sphere of existence 
which is even more refined and 
this is called 
the formless sphere [arEpabhava] 
which is inhabited 
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by formless Brahmas. 
Nirvana 
• Realm of neither perception nor 
non perception 
[NevasaririAnAsaririAyatana] 
• Realm of nothingness 
[/kificafiriAyatana] 
• Realm of infinite consciousness 
[viririAAaricAyatana] 
• Realm of infinite space 
[AkAsAnaficAyatana] 
• Realm of the supreme Brahmas 
[AkanitthA] 
• Realm of Brahmas who are 
clear-sighted 
[SudassE] 
• Realm of Brahmas who are 
beautiful [SudassA] 
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• Realm of Brahmas who are serene 
[AtappA] 
• Realm of Brahmas who do not fall 
from prosperity 
[AvihA] 
• Realm of non percipient beings 
[AsaririEsattA] 
• Realm of Brahmas with abundant 
reward 
[VehapphalA] 
• Realm of Brahmas with steady 
aura 
[SubhakiAhA] 
• Realm of Brahmas with infinite 
aura 
[AppamAAasubhA] 
• Realm of Brahmas with limited 
aura 
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[ParittasubhÅ] 
• Realm of Brahmas 
lustre 
[/bhassarÅ] 
• Realm of Brahmas 
lustre 
[AppamÅÅÅbhÅ] 
• Realm of Brahmas 
lustre 
[ParittÅbhÅ] 
• Realm of Great Brahmas 
[MahÅbrahmÅ] 
• Realm of Great Brahma's 
ministers 
[BrahmapurohitÅ] 
• Realm of Great Brahma's 
attendants 
[BrahmapÅriasajjÅ] 
with radiant 
with infinite 
with limited 
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The unhappy realms [ApAya]: 
• Animal Realm [TiracchAnayoni] 
• Monsters [AsuralcAya]: 
• Hungry Ghosts [Pittivisaya] 
• Hell Realms [Niraya] 
sphere realms of existence 
transcen-
dental 
formless -
planes 
form-planes 
sensual -
planes 
TABLE 32.4: The Thirty-One 
Realms of Existence 
362 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
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B.4 Rebirth 
B.4.1 If Rebirth is so obvious why 
should we 
believe otherwise? 
Another new concept which comes 
with moving 
around between realms of 
existence is 'rebirth'. For 
doctrinal reasons the teaching of 
rebirth has been 
suppressed and intentionally 
removed from Biblical 
Christian literature. Only during 
the reign of 
Constantine the Great with the 
finalizing of the 
scriptures to be included in the 
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Bible, was the doctrine 
of transmigration as preached by 
the Gnostics 
decreed to be heretical and 
received criticism from 
Greek philosophers such as 
Hyppolitus, Irenaeus 
etc. In fact the main problem for 
Christians with 
the concept of rebirth seems to be 
that they don't 
see animals as sentient beings. If 
man can be born 
as an animal sometimes, it 
devalues his spiritual 
`worth' in the eyes of God. 
Before this time doctrine of rebirth 
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is not so alien 
to western thinking as you may 
think. In the early 
days of Christianity as still 
recorded in some of the 
apocryphal (non-Biblical) 
scriptures and commentaries 
on the Bible, rebirth of the soul 
was accepted 
up until about 280 A.D. In the 
Gnostic tradition who 
emphasized inner insight as the 
main source of revelation 
they found no difficulty in fitting 
reincarnation 
into their plan of salvation. Far 
from thinking 
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that reincarnation is alien to 
gospel-teaching, 
they elaborately interpret certain of 
the most striking 
sayings in this sense, and give 
graphic details 
of how Jesus, as the First Mystery, 
brought to rebirth 
the souls of John the Baptizer and 
of the disciples, 
and supervised the economy of his 
own incarnation. 
In this respect the Great Seth 
scriptures 
offer richer material for those 
interested in this ancient 
and widespread doctrine than can 
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be found 
in any other old-world document 
in the West. Gnostic 
teachings like Buddhist ones have 
regarded reincarnation 
as a calamity to be overcome by 
liberation. 
B.4.2 Rebirth v.s reincarnation 
At this point it is necessary to 
point out a small distinction 
in the use of language between the 
words 
`rebirth' and `reincarnation'. In 
Buddhism we usually 
use the word 'rebirth' to describe 
the continuity 
from life to life. It indicates that 
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the `soul' or `entity' 
that is reborn between one life and 
the next 
might not be the same in nature but 
will have a quality 
which will differ according to the 
actions most 
recently performed by that being. 
Hindu tradition, 
by contrast, uses the word 
`reincarnation' which indicates 
that a person reborn, has an 
unchanging 
character or soul, but the new form 
of being at birth 
might change to be a frog or a cat 
or an elephant, 
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but the soul is still John Smith etc. 
C. PRINCIPLES OF 
LIBERATION 
The Three Spheres together are 
like a three-layered 
prison which traps the beings in 
the world in a cycle 
of rebirth. Returning to our model 
with three 
concentric spheres, we realize that 
even now, we 
are still in that prison, rattling 
about inside the pingpong 
ball. Even if we were to be born as 
angels we 
would not escape the ping-pong 
ball. We get in a 
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