The world of Samsara

Samsara is a cycle of becoming, decay and rebirth, of endless upward and downward motion. It is a cosmic wheel which turns infinitely around a fixed axle, kind of like a Lazy Susan.<br>Each time a person is born in Samsara, they have the potential to move up or down. They can earn karma by performing good deeds, they can accumulate bad karma by performing evil actions, or they can count on Heavenly karma if they follow the Five Precepts.<br>The Five Precepts are the basic Buddhist rules that guide the way to liberation from suffering and the cycle of birth and death: <br>* To abstain from the taking of life;<br>* To abstain from taking what is not given;<br>* To abstain from sensuous misconduct;<br>* To abstain from false speech;<br>* To abstain from intoxicating drinks and drugs.<br><br>In Samsara, you can be reborn as anything: a cat, a tree, a blade of grass, a flower, a rock, a lizard, a being made of light, you name it.<br>All beings in Samsara are interconnected. Their souls are intertwined with each other as part of the great web of life. All souls are different shades of the same colour, each one representing one particular being.<br>They have the capacity of communicating with each other via a form of telepathy.<br>The beings are interconnected to the extent that when one is born, they are reborn<br>The closer two souls are to the same shade, the closer they are in the web of life. That is why it is rare, but not unheard of, to see identical twins that are telepathic. They may<br>The souls are always shifting and turning, meaning the relationships they have with other souls change. This kind of makes sense - a lot of people are close with their families when they are young, and have little-to-no relationship with them when they become adults, for instance.<br>All of the souls are moving towards becoming one unified, singular soul. To get to that point, a soul must go through the Four Stages to enlightenment<br>* Ascending to the next soul stage (Sotapanna). This is the first stage on the path to enlightenment. You will leave behind suffering by ending the first three of the<br>ten fetters that bind a person to the cycle of birth and death, to the world of delusion: <br>delusions regarding the existence of a permanent ego-self,<br>doubts about the nature of reality, <br>dependence upon rituals and practices<br>* Ascending to the next soul stage (Sakadagami). This second stage is the stage of the “once-returner” or being halfway to enlightenment. <br>Only one more rebirth is needed to attain full enlightenment. The first three of the ten fetters have been transcended, plus at least weakening of:<br>sensuous craving, <br>ill will<br>* Ascending to the next soul stage (Anagami). In the third stage you are a non-returner. You will not be reborn in this world. Instead, at the end of this life, you will be reborn<br>in a higher realm called the Pure Abodes, and from there attain enlightenment<br>* Ascending to the highest soul stage (Arahat) - the stage of the enlightened saint. The last of the ten fetters has been transcended, namely the subtlest of the indulgences of becoming, the last remains of ignorance. After death you will not be reborn as anything<br>The souls also have different colours, and the meaning of those colours are as follows:<br>* Red - meat eater<br>* Orange - omnivore<br>* Yellow - vegetarian<br>* Green - vegan<br>* Purple - breatharian<br>* Blue - being of light<br>* White - god/dess<br>* Black - demon <br>The different shades and hues can mean a lot<br>Dark red, for instance, means a meat eater that is a meat eater by necessity. They are a meat eater for survival, they have no other choice. <br>Light yellow, on the other hand, is a vegetarian by choice. They may be a vegetarian by choice for health reasons, moral reasons, philosophical reasons, etc. <br>A soul with a rainbow of colours in it is a saint kind of figure. They have the hearts of an angel - they are beyond the duality of right and wrong. They are in tune with the true nature of reality, and have transcended into a higher realm.<br>The colour of the soul also indicates the realm of birth. For example, the most wicked, the deepest blacks, are reborn in hell. <br>The lightest blacks are born as asuras<br>The lightest whites are born in the highest heaven<br>The lightest purples, the most angelic breatharians, kind of have it both ways. They are born in the highest heaven, but they are also free from the cycle of birth and death, which is called Nirvana<br><br>The souls can see each other’s colours. They also have auras.<br>The aura is a complex thing, but you can imagine it like an egg that surrounds the body. The strongest and most powerful auras can affect the environment. Imagine, if you will, a forest clearing. In the center is an asura<br>An asura is a demon from the lowest levels of hell. Their souls are the deepest, darkest black you can imagine. <br>The asura has been banished by the gods, to roam the Earth forever. Think fallen angel<br>The asura has an evil-minded aura, and as a result, plants and animals avoid the clearing. If you ever walk through the clearing, you may feel a weird energy there, like you’re getting the heebie jeebies.<br>There is a prevailing theory that the aura of the Earth affects the weather. After all, the Earth is one big living being<br>If you walk through a forest and all of a sudden the wind picks up and the leaves start swirling, a saint kind of figure may have walked through.<br>In the same vein, a very good aura, say, the aura of a Buddha, can have beneficial effects on the environment<br>For example, you may have heard of the Tibetan Buddhists<br>The Tibetans have a long history of performing rituals, dances, mantras, mudras, meditation, etc. for the purification of the environment<br>They believe that once you have purified the environment, you can purify the minds of the humans living in that environment, and from there you can achieve a more peaceful world.<br>The Tibetans have a saying, “The universe has music for ears that can hear it”. The sacred mantra of the Tibetans is the Mantra of Dependent Origination. It is as follows<br>“Since there is no phenomena which exists independently,<br>All things and phenomena, which exist relatively, are empty.<br>Not even empty, they are beyond all extremes.<br>Beyond all extremes, there is peace, and liberation from all suffering.”<br><br>The second sacred mantra of the Tibetans is the mantra of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom<br>The mantra<br>is as follows<br>”Om Ah Ra Pa Cha Na Dhih” <br>The Tibetans say that the recitation of this mantra<br>displays Manjushri’s wisdom, which is beyond human description. It is said that one who recites this mantra<br>fully understands the meaning of all the Buddhas’ teachings. <br><br><br>That’s Samsara in a nutshell.<br>There is a lot more to it, but that is basically the gist of it.