Editing Ten realms (section)

==The Ten Realms==
{{buddhism}} 
The ten realms are part of [[Buddhist cosmology]] and consist of four higher realms and six lower realms  derived from the Indian concept of [[Bhavacakra#Third layer: the six realms of samsara|the six realms of rebirth]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lopez|first1=Donald S.|title=The "Lotus Sūtra": A Biography Lives of Great Religious Books|date=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400883349|page=58|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTL9CwAAQBAJ&q=%22ten+realms%22&pg=PA58}}</ref>

These realms can also be described through the degrees of enlightenment that course through them.<ref name="Arai 1893">{{cite book|last1=Arai|first1=Nissatsu|title=Outlines of the Doctrine of the Nichiren Sect, Submitted to the Parliament of the World's Religions|date=1893|publisher=Central Office of the Nichiren Sect|location=Tokyo, Japan|url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=WE0uAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-WE0uAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1|pages=13–14}}</ref>  They have been translated in various ways.  They are divided into the Six Realms (六道), followed by higher states of enlightened consciousness that lead to final Buddhahood. The Six Realms are: [[Naraka (Buddhism)|Hell]] (地獄道), the Hungry Ghosts or [[preta]]s (餓鬼道), the [[Animals in Buddhism|Beasts]] (畜生道), the Titans or [[Asura (Buddhism)|Asuras]] (修羅道), Humans (人道) and lastly Heaven, or the realm of the gods (天道). Above these lie the four holy states: the [[Śrāvaka]] (声聞), the [[Pratyekabuddha]] (縁覚), the [[bodhisattva]] (菩薩) and finally completely enlightened [[Buddhahood]].<ref name="Japan Library">{{cite book|last1=Blacker|first1=Carmen|title=Collected writings of Carmen Blacker|date=2000|publisher=Japan Library|location=Richmond, Surrey|isbn=9781873410929|pages=186–199|edition=Transferred to digital printing.|chapter=16: Initiation in the Shugendo: The passage through the ten states of existence}}</ref>

In some systems of cosmology these states are perceived as distinct realms in which the inhabitant has to experience various forms of suffering in order to expiate karma.  In [[Shugendō|Japanese syncretic practices]] the ten realms are seen as distinct trials of discipline a practitioner must encounter or overcome in order to reach a material or spiritual goal.<ref name="Japan Library"/>

However, according to [[Zhiyi|Chih-i's]] conceptualization of [[Zhiyi#Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life|"three thousand realms in a single moment of life,"]] they are not separate physical realms into which one may be reborn but interrelated realms of consciousness, each of which is contained within each other (Jp. jikkai gogu).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bowring|first1=Richard|title=The religious traditions of Japan, 500-1600|date=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521851190|page=123|edition=Paperback|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzeODCVG26UC&q=jikkai+distinct+realms&pg=PA123}}</ref> The Ten Realms are a conceptualization of the [[Lotus Sutra|Lotus Sutra's]] worldview of the interconnected relationship of phenomena, the ultimate reality of the universe, and human agency.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ikeda|first1=Daisaku|title=Unlocking the mysteries of birth & death : & everything in between, a Buddhist view of life|date=2003|publisher=Middleway|location=Santa Monica, Calif.|isbn=9780972326704|pages=106–107|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_QBBAAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+%22ten+worlds%22&pg=PA195}}</ref><ref name="Anesaki 1916">{{cite book|last1=Anesaki|first1=Masaharu|title=Nichiren, the Buddhist Prophet|date=1916|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=9781498186582|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Ub0KAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PR3|pages=150–154}}</ref>