法苑珠林 70.49

70.49

Question: How are the twenty-five states of existence differentiated? Answer: As stated in the Śāriputrābhidharma-śāstra, the desire realm fully contains fourteen states of existence, the form realm has seven, and the formless realm has four; taken together across the tridhātu, there are therefore twenty-five. The fourteen of the desire realm are: the four bad destinies, which make four; taking the humans of the four continents makes another four, which added to the previous makes eight; further taking the various devas of the six desires makes six, which added to the previous makes fourteen states of existence.