Navigating the 6 Paths of Pain
Epistemic Status: speculative attempt at modernizing spirituality
---
The six realms in Buddhism translate to Chinese as 六道 or the six "Daos" or paths.
1. God Realm
2. Asura Realm
3. Human Realm
4. Animal Realm
5. Hungry Ghost Realm
6. Hell Realm
Now if you're like me, these realms don't mean anything. I've never seen a literal hungry ghost and even as a metaphor it's difficult to see any practical use in this model.
However, the Chinese character 道 (the same used in the Dao De Jing) offers a clue
This character translates both as Realm/Domain and Path/Way.
They are actually the same. E.g. to master the realm of Kung Fu is actually to begin a journey of learning. The 3D "realm" is actually the same as the 2D "path".
To me, the six realms are a way of navigating the dark forest of personal life choices.
That is, whenever we ask "why?" we can use the 6 paths as a map to evaluate the answer to choose our paths and teachers and "debug" our lostness.
Here's an example of a kid questioning why they are being forced to learn piano by a tiger mom:
---
"Why do I need to learn piano?"
"To be sophisticated and cultured."
"Why do I need to be this?"
"Because then other families will envy us."
"But why do we need their envy?"
"Because then my sacrificed would be worth it."
"What did you sacrifice?"
"My own dreams and potential"
"But why?"
"Because I had you"
"Why did you have me?"
--- Here you either have ---
"Because of Love"
--- Or ---
̶"̶B̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶U̶.̶S̶.̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶s̶c̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶T̶i̶a̶n̶a̶n̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶I̶ ̶m̶e̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶f̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶g̶n̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶l̶i̶t̶t̶l̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶b̶o̶s̶s̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶.̶.̶.̶"̶
"STFU and go back to practicing!"
---
Many children who learn piano this way end up hating it. They sense that the motivation isn’t healthy. Children can feel this intuitively, even if they can’t articulate it. (A motivation rooted in love wouldn't have sought envy)
They knew that they just don't enjoy the thing but feel stuck and lost despite "technically" having the right skills.
"Why" can be infinitely asked, but Love is a terminal answer that doesn't need further justification.
This is what the 6 paths are to me. They are terminal answers that are at the foundational core of the "why-graphs" that provide the motivation and drive for everything we do.
1. God Realm -> Truth
2. Asura Realm -> Power/Status
3. Human Realm -> Love
4. Animal Realm -> Survival
5. Hungry Ghost Realm -> Money/Drug
6. Hell Realm -> Burning
The paths are not orthogonal but woven closely together like a graph or a dark forest. An Asura may sacrifice brothers and kill enemies for power. But when a Google engineer beats his wife to death the sense of power is fueled by burning yourself and your family*
Both the Asura and the Demon use fire, but the Demon burns forbidden fuel.
I'll expand on each realm more in-depth in the future but this model has been immensely useful for me when reflecting on my own life as well as my parents'.
---
One of my motivations for trying to create a useful mental model out of this buddhist concept is that the above murder caused shockwaves within the Chinese & Chinese-American community but there was no way for anyone to make sense of it. (Perhaps the Chinese Christians had more luck?) It was just chaotic violence despite the two living the dream of graduating from the best school in China and working at Google. Buddhist ideas are the most common in China but like many "religions" are now mostly empty rituals and ideas. A lot of Chinese Buddhism seems to just boil down to "pray for money" instead of actually helping to make sense of the darkness.