九有情居

(or 九有情處), 九衆生居, 九居, 九門, see also 九有, 九地, 九禪 and 九定; the nine happy abodes or states of sentient beings of the 長阿含經 9; they are the 七識住seven abodes or stages of perception or consciousness to which are added the fifth and ninth below:

(1) 欲界之人天 the world and the six deva-heavens of desire in which there is variety of bodies (or personalities) and thinking (or ideas);

(2) 梵衆天the three brahma heavens where bodies differ but thinking is the same, the first dhyāna heaven;

(3) 極光淨天 the three bright and pure heavens where bodies are identical but thinking diners, the second dhyāna heaven;

(4) 遍淨天the three universally pure heavens where bodies and thinking are the same, the third dhyāna heaven;

(5) 無想天 the no-thinking or no-thought heaven, the highest of the four dhyāna heavens;

(6) 空無邊處 limitless space, the first of the formless realms;

(7) 識無邊處 limitless percepton, the second ditto;

(8) 無所有處 nothingness, the place beyond things, the third ditto; and

(9) 非想非非想beyond thought or non-thought, the fourth ditto.