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Trailokya or Triloka; the three realms; also 三有. It is the Buddhist metaphysical equivalent for the Brahmanic cosmological bhuvanatraya, or triple world of bhūr, bhuvaḥ, and svar, earth, atmosphere, and heaven. The Buddhist three are 欲, 色, and 無色界, i.e. world of sensuous desire, form, and formless world of pure spirit. (a) 欲界 Kāmadhātu is the realm of sensuous desire, of 婬 and 食 sex and food; it includes the six heavens of desire, the human world, and the hells. (b) 色界 Rūpadhātu is the realm of form, meaning 質礙 that which is substantial and resistant: it is above the lust-world and contains (so to speak) bodies, palaces, things, all mystic and wonderful一a semi-material conception like that in Revelation; it is represented in the 四禪天, or Brahmalokas. (c) 無色界 Arūpadhātu, or ārūpyadhātu, is the formless realm of pure spirit, where there are no bodies, places, things, at any rate none to which human terms would apply, but where the mind dwells in mystic contemplation; its extent is indefinable, but it is, conceived of in four stages, i,e. 四空處 the four "empty" regions, or regions of space in the immaterial world, which are 四無色 the four "formless" realms, or realms beyond form; being above the realm of form, their bounds cannot be defined.
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