How Cosmologies Differ

Traditions disagree about how many realms there are, how they are arranged, and what determines which a soul reaches. Some picture a simple upper and lower world with the living between; others build elaborate storeys of heavens and hells, or wheels of rebirth through many planes. The entries report each scheme on its own terms.

The realms group by kind (heavens, underworlds, planes and worlds), so a reader can compare, say, the underworlds of many traditions side by side. The largest of these structures connect outward to the section on Cosmology & Realms.