Is one always reborn as a human being?

QUESTION: Is one always reborn as a human being?
ANSWER: No, there arc several realms in which one can be reborn. Some people arc reborn in heaven, some are reborn in hell, some arc reborn as hungry spirits and so on. Heaven is not so much a place as a state of existence where one has a subtle body and where the mind experiences mainly pleasure. Like all conditioned states, heaven is impermanent and when one s life span there is finished, one could wall be reborn again as human. Hell, likewise, is not a place but a state of existence where one has a subtle body and where the mind experiences mainly anxiety and distress. Being hungry ghost, again, is a state of being where the body is subtle and where the mind is continually plagued by longing and dissatisfaction. So heavenly beings experience mainly pleasure, hell beings and hungry spirits experience mainly pain and human beings experience usually a mixture of both. The main difference between the human realm and other realms is the body type and the quality of experience.