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Trailokya, the triple world, is formally linked to three religions in this atlas: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, all three links carrying no further comment at the religion level. Its own description differentiates them anyway, in real detail, giving each religion its own distinct map of the same shared frame.

Earth and Sky, Desire and Form, Lower and Upper

"The oldest version is Vedic: earth, atmosphere and sky, bhur, bhuvah, svah, the three levels invoked in the daily Gayatri recitation. Hindu cosmology kept the triad while stacking further heavens above and underworlds below it." Buddhism keeps the number three but changes what it measures: "Buddhism reorganized the triple world psychologically into the kamadhatu, rupadhatu and arupadhatu: the realm of desire, where the senses rule; the realm of form, the refined heavens of the meditative absorptions; and the formless realm, where existence continues without body or place." Jain cosmology keeps the same layered shape again, differently: "Jain cosmology likewise divides its universe into lower, middle and upper worlds."

The Same Point, Made Three Ways

Three religions, three different contents poured into the identical three part shape, and its own description states the point that unites them without collapsing the differences: "In every version the point is the same: the cosmos is layered, and where a being stands in the stack is a fact about the being, not just about geography."

Where To Read More

• TrailokyaCosmology and World-StructureThe shared frame itself; three religions counted, each filling the same three part shape with a different content
• HinduismDharmic (Polytheistic)The oldest version, a geographic triad of earth, atmosphere and sky, later stacked with further heavens and underworlds
• BuddhismDharmic (Nontheistic)Reorganises the triad psychologically into realms of desire, form and formlessness
• JainismDharmicKeeps the layered shape as a cosmological division into lower, middle and upper worlds