arupaloka

Arūpa-loka, or arupaloka, refers to the category of formless realms in Buddhist cosmology. These realms lie above the material and form-based planes (rūpa-loka) and are described as destinations for beings who have attained the formless meditative attainments known as arūpa-jhānas. There are four arūpa-lokas, corresponding to the four formless jhānas: the Realm of Infinite Space, the Realm of Infinite Consciousness, the Realm of Infinite Nothingness, and the Realm of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception.

Beings inhabiting arūpa-lokas are described as having no physical form and whose experiences are exclusively mental. Contact with the external world is greatly diminished, and life spans are said to be long, though not permanent. Rebirth into an arūpa-loka occurs as a result of sustained achievement of the corresponding arūpa-jhāna states; when such a life ends, the being is reborn in the arūpa realm appropriate to the highest jhāna attained, or may be reborn elsewhere in the samsaric continuum depending on karma.

In Buddhist texts, arūpa-lokas are presented as highly refined but still conditioned realms within samsara, not as ultimate liberation. Liberation, or Nibbāna, is described as the goal attained through insight into the Four Noble Truths, rather than through remaining indefinitely in formless states. Thus, the arūpa-lokas function within Buddhist cosmology as advanced but temporary stages on the path, illustrating the range of conditioned existences rather than the final goal of awakening.