Yesterday IS IT REAL asked the question, 'Did the Buddha believe in life on other planets?' It's an interesting question. In several places but in particular in the Acchariyaabbhutadhamma Sutta (M.III,123-4), the Buddha speaks of the 'interspace of vacancy, gloom and utter darkness where the moon and the sun, mighty and powerful as they are, cannot make their light prevail' (this sounds like intergalactic space to me) and the 'beings born there' (satta idhupapanna). While this could refer to life on other planets I don’t think it does. Firstly, this passage seems to be didactic
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, used to illustrate a particular point, and not meant to be taken literally. And if it were taken literally it looks to me as if it is would be referring to devas or spirits inhabiting space, not embodied entities residing on the surface on a particular planet. So I would maintain that the Buddha did not speak of life on other planets. If in anyone else knows of something the Buddha said that would contradict this, let's have it. We could then ask, 'Would the idea of life on other planets be at odds with Buddhist doctrine?' I can't see that it would. If extraterrestrial life were discovered (and apparently scientists consider this scenario to be quite plausible) there is no reason why dukkha, anicca and anatta would not apply to them and therefore that the Dhamma would not be relevant to them, if they had the intelligence to understand it. I imagine that some other religions would find such a discovery troubling. It would become increasingly difficult to maintain that humans were a special creation and that man was made in God's image. And if it were found that this extraterrestrial life were more highly developed than us, this too would require major adjustments within the theistic traditions. It would also probably spell the end of the 'they came from outer space' genera of movies and novels.
In the Tipitaka quote above is Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation.