Trailokya

Trailokya (त्रैलोक्य; ತ್ರೈಲೋಕ್ಯ; tiloka, Tibetan: khams gsum; 三界; Tam Giới) literally means "three worlds". It can also refer to "three spheres," "three planes of existence," and "three realms".

Conceptions of three worlds (tri-loka) appear in Hinduism and Jainism, as well as early Buddhist texts.

Hindu cosmology
The concept of three worlds has a number of different interpretations in Hindu cosmology.


 * Traditionally, the three worlds refer to either the earth (Bhuloka), heaven (Svarga), and hell (Naraka), or the earth (Bhuloka), heaven (Svarga), and the netherworld (Patala)
 * The Brahmanda Purana conceives them to be Bhūta (past), Bhavya (future), and Bhavat (present)
 * In Vaishnavism, the three worlds are often described to be bhūr, bhuvaḥ, and svaḥ (the gross region, the subtle region, and the celestial region)
 * In the Nilanamatapurana, Vamana covers his second step on the three worlds of Maharloka, Janaloka, and Tapoloka, all of which are regarded to be a part of the seven heavens

Buddhist cosmology
In Buddhism, the three worlds refer to the following destinations for karmic rebirth: Together, they make up all of existence.
 * Kāmaloka the world of desire, typified by base desires, populated by hell beings, preta (hungry ghosts), animals, humans and lower demi-gods.
 * Rūpaloka is the world of form, predominantly free of baser desires, populated by dhyāna-dwelling gods, possible rebirth destination for those well practiced in dhyāna.
 * Arūpaloka is the world of formlessness, a noncorporeal realm populated with four heavens, possible rebirth destination for practitioners of the four formlessness stages.

Jain cosmology
The early Jain contemplated the nature of the earth and universe and developed a detailed hypothesis on the various aspects of astronomy and cosmology. According to the Jain texts, the universe is divided into 3 parts:


 * Urdhva Loka – the realms of the gods or heavens
 * Madhya Loka – the realms of the humans, animals and plants
 * Adho Loka – the realms of the hellish beings or the infernal regions