Originally posted by paperflower:
but these celestial creatures are still only temporary right? can
they also learn & practice the buddha dharma and attain
liberations also in their realms in those forms? do they have a
mind to practice meditating like us humans too?[/b]
very difficult to practice in the form of animal.
all beings that have not escape samsara will still undergo
rebirth.
Eightfold Division of Ghosts and Spirits
1) gods, 2) dragons, 3) , 4) , 5) , 6) , 7) , 
.
All eight categories of beings are not ordinarily visible to the
human eye; however, their subtle bodies can be clearly seen by
those with higher spiritual powers. Gods are discussed in a
separate entry. (See gods.) Brief descriptions of the other seven
follow.
Dragons "can do all kinds of transformations; they can become big
or small. They can appear and disappear. How did they get to become
dragons? They are said to be 'spiritual', that is, 'inconceivable'.
How did they get to be dragons, that is, animals, if they have
spiritual penetrations? When they were cultivating the Way, they
were 'quick with the vehicle and slow with the precepts.' They
cultivated the Great Vehicle Dharma with great vigor, but they did
not keep the precepts. Because they cultivated the Great Vehicle
Dharma, they gained spiritual penetrations. Because they failed to
keep the precepts, they turned into animals. . . .
....
" are great golden winged -birds. They have a wingspan of three
hundred sixty . When they flap their wings, the ocean waters part
and all the dragons at the bottom of the sea are exposed as
potential meals. The dragons have no time to transform into
anything. They are gobbled up on the spot by the , who eat them
with the same relish as we eat noodles. All gone!
"The dragons were getting very upset about this, because large
numbers of them were being eaten, their species had become
endangered. They went to the Buddha to complain, and the Buddha
gave them each a thread from his precept sash, saying, 'You can
wear this, and then you will be invisible to the -birds.'
"That worked fine for the dragons, but the -birds were then going
hungry. And so they went to the Buddha and said, 'What about us?
Dragons are our primary food supply. We're going to starve!'
Shakyamuni Buddha said, 'Don't worry. I'll tell all of my disciples
to set out some food for you when they eat lunch every day.' That
is why left-home people set some food out for the birds.
http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/BuddhistDict/BDE.html
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