I don’t know anything about Buddhist cosmogony or mythological religiosity, and this book is filling in those gaps—the better to appreciate Kyoto art.
Here’s the ten Buddhist realms. Clockwise from the top:
- Buddhas
- Bodhisattvas
- Arhats
- Humans
- Ghosts
- Hell-beings
- Animals
- Asuras (um, like, demons?)
- Gods
- Enlightened ones
(So, 12 o’clock is the highest world, of Buddhas, then alternating right/left until the bottom, of hell-beings.) #TIL