Saturday, November 16, 2013

The Buddhist Concept of Heaven and Hell


The wise man makes his own heaven while the foolish man 
creates his own hell here and hereafter.

[ Padajara was insane after the loss
of her husband and children ]
By Venerable Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera 

The Buddhist concept of heaven and hell is entirely different from that in other religions. Buddhists do not accept that these places are eternal. It is unreasonable to condemn a man to eternal hell for his human weakness but quite reasonable to give him every chance to develop himself. From the Buddhist point of view, those who go to hell can work themselves upward by making use of the merit that they had acquired previously. There are no locks on the gates of hell. Hell is a temporary place and there is no reason for those beings to suffer there forever.

The Buddha's Teaching shows us that there are heavens and hells not only beyond this world, but in this very world itself. Thus the Buddhist conception of heaven and hell is very reasonable. For instance, the Buddha once said, 'When the average ignorant person makes an assertion to the effect that there is a Hell (patala) under the ocean he is making a statement which is false and without basis. The word 'Hell' is a term for painful sensations. 'The idea of one particular ready-made place or a place created by god as heaven and hell is not acceptable to the Buddhist concept.

The fire of hell in this world is hotter than that of the hell in the world-beyond. There is no fire equal to anger, lust or greed and ignorance. According to the Buddha, we are burning from eleven kinds of  physical pain and mental agony: lust, hatred, illusion sickness, decay, death, worry, lamentation,

pain (physical and mental), melancholy and grief. People can burn the entire world with some of these fires of mental discord. From a Buddhist point of view, the easiest way to define hell and heaven is that where ever there is more suffering, either in this world or any other plane, that place is a hell to those who suffer. And where there is more pleasure or happiness, either in this world or any other worldly existence, that place is a heaven to those who enjoy their worldly life in that particular place. However, as the human realm is a mixture of both pain and happiness, human beings experience both pain and happiness and will be able to realize the real nature of life. But in many other planes of existence inhabitants have less chance for this realization. In certain places there is more suffering than pleasure while in some other places there is more pleasure than suffering.

Buddhists believe that after death rebirth can take place in any one of a number of possible existences. This future existence is conditioned by the last thought-moment a person experiences at  
the point of death. This last thought which determines the next existence results from the past actions of a man either in this life or before that. Hence, if the predominant thought reflects meritorious action, then he will find his future existence in a happy state. But that state is temporary and when it is exhausted a new life must begin all over again, determined by another dominating 'kammic' energy. This repetitious process goes on endlessly unless one arrives at 'Right View' and makes a firm resolve to follow the Noble Path which produces the ultimate happiness of Nibbana.

Heaven is a temporary place where those who have done good deeds experience more sensual pleasures for a longer period. Hell is another temporary place where those evil doers experience more physical and mental suffering. It is not justifiable to believe that such places are permanent. There is no god behind the scene of heaven and hell. Each and every person experiences according to his good and bad kamma. Buddhist never try to introduce Buddhism by frightening people through hell-fire or enticing people by pointing to paradise. Their main idea is character building and mental training. Buddhists can practise their religion without aiming at heaven or without developing fear of hell.

Source: Buddha Net

 

9 comments:

Apsaravideo said...

I love the sexy picture depicting of Neang Padacha .

Jendhamuni said...


Dear Apsaravideo,

She's insane that's why she dressed up like this, but after listening to the Buddha Dhamma, she's free from suffering and pain and attained nirvana later...

Anonymous said...

Allah...Allah...Allah.

Anonymous said...

The art depictions are clearly showing the goodness of religion where it teaches humanity to do good deeds in the world, how often have we seen good deeds done by men? Religion means well for all mankind, but it is mankind that translated its meaning for self gratification and not the true teaching of religion. Just imagine a world without religion; what will that do to the world? It simply means the "survival of the fittest" would kick in automatically, but what about the weak, the poor, the less fortunate; who will represent them in a world of chaos? Although religion is just a concept where it hopes that mankind will follow, but since mankind has understood the true intentions of religion, mankind wants to take deity position and kick God to the curb. This is a dangerous game we are playing and we do not have a clue of where we are heading in future time. Here is my concept of the future: I think our world would submit to those who have capabilities and power to take what it needs and kills the rest of the population. Is it possible?
Well, it is your discretionary thinking that will answer that question for you, but I know the end time is nearer. "Great fire will appear in the sky and balls of fire will fall to earth." When this is taking place on earth, there will be only few countries that will prepare for this enormous chaos since they are the all mighty rulers of this earth. The population shall be reduced to no more than a few million in all over the world. The reason why it is happening because mankind wants to play God and at the end they come to realize that religion has a purpose to life.

"Be prepare what wrath may come your way."


XMEN

Anonymous said...

Barking...Barking...Barking, useless.
Only muslim Jendhamuni can do suicide attack, not chicken buhhist Khmers. Hey muslim girl, do Cambodia a favor and go blow yourself up? JEN-PADACHA.

Anonymous said...

If Allah is a true prophet then Allah should have alive today and reveal for all to see. You can believe in any religions, but never doubt other religions and made a mockery out of theirs. You are not doing Islam any favor. Peaceful Muslims live in peaceful manner and seek no trouble.

Anonymous said...

The Bible described how false religions got started. All false religions can be trace back to the tower of Babel. (Babylon)

Yes, there is such thing as counterfeit religions. To have counterfeits you have to have a True One in the first place.

We live in a counterfeit system. Republic vs Democracy, Gay vs straight, Buddha vs Islam.

US dollar is a counterfeit. Yet if some smart dude can create the same paper money the Federal government will put him or her in jail.

US Government is a counterfeit government. It is NOT by the people and for the people. If you think that it is...you are living in an illusion. Unless you are all democrats plus liberal to boot.

Fear God and depart from evil is the beginning of wisdom.

New World Disorder Democrazy

Anonymous said...

Jendha,
You are a Muslim Cham. WHy are you getting in Khmer politics? There are thousands of Muslim Chams are suffering because of your involment into Khmer politics, has nothing to do with Muslims of Cambodia. You should get out. Next time they will curse your Islam religion. DO you want that? Do you want them to curse the Prophet because of you?

Khmer-mixed.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. XMAN, I totally agree with your comment.

Tx