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Samsara

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Samsara

(skt.: samsara; tib.: khor wa) Cyclic existence. It is the beginningless, recurring cycle of death and rebirth and the nature of it is suffering due to our past bad karma, mental delusions and ignorance. Through the force of karma motivated by ignorance, desire and anger one is forced to take on the impure aggregates and circle the wheel of existence until liberation.

A being is reborn in one of these six realms, according to his karma:
1. As a human
2. As a halfgod
3. As a god
4. As a hell being
5. As a hungry ghost
6. As an animal
First three realms are called higher realms, and the last three are called lower realms.
 
There is another division of Samsara:
1. desire realm
2. form realm
3. formless realm 
Only gods live in form and formless realms, other beings (including (lesser) gods, halfgods, humans, ...) live in desire realm.

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- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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