Expert: Justin Choo - 5/27/2011

Question
QUESTION: How did the human realm come into being?  For millions of years there were only animals on this earth.  It appears that humans evolved from animals.  Did the human realm evolve from the animal realm?   What realms existed before the human realm came into being?

ANSWER: Hi George,

The Buddha explained that there are many realms of existence.  These realms always exist together.  It may be that during certain periods there may not be any beings in a particular realm, although I think it is most unlikely to happen.  In the Buddhist perspective, animals are animals, and humans are humans. That's why we have the separate human realm and the animal realm.  However, all life-forms evolve. These realms may not be in this world alone.  There are  countless planets out there.  Apart from that, some realms exist in multi-dimensional form which we are unable to see.

Regards,

Justin Choo

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Justin

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question, but I am still confused.  Although there may be countless planets out there, and there may be many planets that contain human life, there must be a starting point when the first human appeared, on the very first planet that contained a human being.  Even on about our planet there were no human beings for millions of years.  Was it instant man that first appeared or was there some kind of evolution that brought this about? As far as I am aware only a human woman, and human man can bear another human being.

Answer
Hi George,

I like to inform you that I am here solely to answer Buddhist questions.  The "ratings" option is just an additional feature.  Please don't feel obliged that you need to rate my answer.  The negative impact is that if you don't like my answer you can rate me down.  

Questions on "the beginning" or "the first cause" usually lead to nowhere.  The honest answer is that we don't really know. But to satisfy our human desire to know the beginning we tend to depend on some authority to provide the "answers".  Whether these answers are true or believeable is another matter, and this often leads to conflict when different groups believe differently on the same subject.  When we admit that we don't know the beginning, there are still others who will get annoyed with us.  

I must admit it is very nice if I know the beginnings of everything.  But the truth is that available answers may not hold water.  The Buddha oftened reminded his followers not to waste time trying to find answers that could not be found.  His teachings are about how to experience inner peace and contentment; and not about speculations of things unknowable.  

There is however, a Buddhist source that explains the "beginning" of humans.  Whether it is true or not is a big question.  Even the tense used is conflicting.  Please read it from the link below.  It is called the Agganna Sutta (pronounced: Ag ga near).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agga%C3%B1%C3%B1a_Sutta

Take care and have peace.



Justin Choo