The Profound Meaning of Vijñapti-mātratā in the Diamond Sutra (22)

The Desire Realm encompasses six heavens, human beings, and beings of the three evil destinies. The Form Realm comprises eighteen heavens, with the First Dhyāna to the Fourth Dhyāna containing thirteen heavens, and the Five Pure Abodes, which include the Avṛha Heaven, Atapa Heaven, Sudṛśa Heaven, Sudarśana Heaven, and Akaniṣṭha Heaven. The Third Fruit Arhats cultivate here, severing their final afflictions, self-conceit, and attachment to the love within the three realms, thereby attaining the Fourth Fruit of Arhatship. They may then enter Parinirvāṇa without residue or turn their minds towards the Mahāyāna, taking rebirth to learn the Bodhisattva Path. Other beings cultivate in the Five Pure Abodes; upon becoming weary of the form body, they relinquish it and ascend to the Formless Realm. The Form Realm entails the burden of form, while the Formless Realm signifies the absence of a physical body. Beings there possess only the conscious mind, the mental faculty (manas), and the storehouse consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna), with the mind abiding motionless in concentration.

The Formless Realm has four heavens: the Heaven of Infinite Space, the Heaven of Infinite Consciousness, the Heaven of Nothingness, and the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception. Beings in the Formless Realm also cultivate the contemplation of emptiness, aiming to enter Parinirvāṇa without residue. However, failing to fully comprehend this principle of emptiness, they remain within the cycle of the six destinies. This is analogous to the Buddha's former teacher, Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa, who attained the highest concentration, the "Concentration of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception." He mistook this state, where subtle thought still exists, for the realm of Nirvāṇa. In reality, as long as deluded mind persists, one does not transcend the three realms and cannot attain liberation. After the Buddha attained enlightenment, he wished to liberate his teacher. Using his divine eye, he saw that Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa had been reborn in the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception and would not emerge from that concentration. The Buddha lamented that when his teacher eventually descended from that heaven, he would fall into the three evil destinies to suffer.