Trailokya (Sanskrit: त्रैलोक्य; Kannada: ತ್ರೈಲೋಕ್ಯ; Pali: tiloka, Tibetan: khams gsum; Chinese: 三界; Vietnamese: Tam Giới) literally means "three worlds". It can also refer to "three spheres," "three planes of existence," and "three realms".
Various schemas of three realms (tri-loka) appear in the main Indian religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
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The concept of three worlds has a number of different interpretations in Hindu cosmology.
In Buddhism, the three worlds refer to the following destinations for karmic rebirth:
According to Theravada Buddhism, these are all the realms of existence outside of nirvana, which transcends all three realms. According to Mahayana Buddhism however, the buddhafields (also known as pure lands) are lands which are beyond the three realms.
The early Jains 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:
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