Loka

loka (T. 'jig rten; C. shijie/shijian 世界/世間) has a range of meanings, the most common of which are:

1. The physical world upon which the inhabitants, the sentient beings, depend. In this context, loka is related to lokadhātu ("world system") or traidhātuka ("three realms").
2. A specific realm within a world-system (of various types of beings). For example, tri-loka (literally "three worlds") is one of the names for the three realms (traidhātuka).
3. Mundane or "worldly" existence, i.e. samsara; this "worldly" existence is contrasted with lokottara ("beyond the world", "supramundane").

The Tibetan translation of this term is 'jig rten (འཇིག་རྟེན་):

where,

• 'jig means "disintegrating" and
• rten means "basis" or "support"

Hence, the literal translation from Tibetan is "disintegrating basis", which refers to the transitory nature of the external world-system as the support for sentient beings. In this way, the Tibetan term emphasizes the impermanent nature of our external world.

Loka is the topic of the third chapter of the Abhidharmakośa.

See also:

• Trailokya
• Buddhist cosmology

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 

External links

• 'jig rten, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
• 'jig_rten, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
• Loka, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
• Definitions for Loka, SuttaCentral