Animal Path(畜生道):
In Chinese, it is pronounced as: chù shēng dào，Written as:

The Animal Path is one of the paths in the Six Realms of Rebirth in Buddhism and is part of the three evil paths. The Animal Path, also known as the adjacent life, refers to the existence of beings that are neither human nor divine. Animals in this realm include those domesticated by humans such as pigs, dogs, chickens, and cats, as well as creatures living in the wild like birds, beasts, fish, dragons, and all minute life forms.
The three evil paths consist of the Hell Realm, the Hungry Ghost Realm, and the Animal Path. All beings are born into these realms as a result of committing evil deeds. The three evil paths represent a world of dreadful delusion, starting with the Hell Realm, where individuals who commit evil out of extreme anger and hatred undergo severe physical and mental torment after death. Next, the Hungry Ghost Realm is for those who, driven by insatiable greed, resort to unscrupulous means to gain benefits, suffering from hunger, poverty, and pain after death. Lastly, the Animal Path is the consequence of ungrateful and shameless behavior, leading to the karmic retribution of ignorance.
Beings are troubled by three afflictions: greed, anger, and ignorance. Those who are overly greedy often fail to give generously and even covet others’ benefits, typically reborn into the Hungry Ghost Realm to endure the suffering of hunger. Those filled with anger often harm others and are condemned to the Hell Realm to suffer pain. Those who are extremely ignorant, misinterpreting truths, are usually reborn into the Animal Path to face the consequences of their ignorance.
Committing any of the ten evil deeds in the human realm leads directly to rebirth in the Animal Path. These evil deeds include physical misbehavior, verbal sins, malicious thoughts, acts arising from excessive greed, acts stemming from hatred, acts born from ignorance, insulting other beings, harassing other beings, giving impure offerings, and engaging in improper sexual conduct.
Another reason for falling into the Animal Path is to repay debts from a previous life. Some individuals, due to not repaying borrowed goods or unjustly encroaching on others’ property in a past life, must repay when the karmic conditions mature. One way to repay these debts is by being reborn as an animal serving a creditor, thus settling past life debts.