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Who has went to hell and back to tell about it in the Buddhist tradition?

AstralProjecteeAstralProjectee
edited May 2012 in Buddhism Basics
Who has went to hell and back to tell about it in the Buddhist tradition?

Peace!

Comments

  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    Do you want personal accounts or mythology?

    And what "hell" are you talking about?
  • AstralProjecteeAstralProjectee
    Personal accounts. And the hell that is taught in the Buddhist tradition.

    Peace!
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    I seem to remember some story about a Tibetan woman who astrally projected or something and visited hell in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. You have a lot of questions about hell and death you may want to pick that one up, its pretty popular and is written for westerners or the more traditional Tibetan Book of the Dead.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited May 2012
    @AstralProjectee, you don't get it, do you?

    everybody goes to hell and back at least once a day... well, I do, anyway. Some have managed to reduce their visits to a much less frequent event.
    i have a season ticket....!

    Hell is in your mind - as is Heaven - and every other realm you'd care to mention....
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    I can tell you about my experience of hell.
    It involved lsd and all my friends turning into demons. Straight up turning into demons right before my eyes. Then I ran, just ran.


    I learned a lot from that day. Mostly how drugs can really mess you up. But most important that everything is a projection. And hell or heaven is merely not seeing the appearance of consciousness as a play of karmic vision.

    It reminded me a lot of the Tibetan book of the dead and the part about the wrathful beings. Out of our ignorance we see the wrathful beings as apart from us, thus constructing a self to become harmed, thus fear, thus suffering. But in an instant if there is recognition of the wrathful being as an expression of the awakened mind then one becomes instantly liberated.

    Well can't say I've died yet so I haven't experienced that. And I haven't taken drugs in a long time so I can't test it out.

    But I can say upon a lot of reflection in meditation and you know just by living life...hell or heaven is purely a mind state. There are lots of individuals that I perceive to be like hell beings or saints based on my karma.

    The other day I was projecting hard onto some girl. She just looked like one of those girls. You know the ones you look at and you just get mad. Through conversing with her she just tried to push and push my buttons. It was constant! Thankfully I was mindful and really paused and looked inwards to my reactions. Then it was over. There was just another human being standing there. That was what was real. Just her. Whatever I was projection wasn't true. Not only is there no entity, she was just acting out of her causes and conditions. But then the causes/conditions ended. And it just clicked for me that I could only see what I was forced to see by my karma.

    Not sure if this makes any sense but it really has touched my heart and mind. By living through hell and heaven, we learn to just in a way be okay with it. It's like there is no one to maintain. No one here to build up or defend. Everything just passes and everything just is okay.

    I suppose the next time I run into her I can offer her a more positive approach. Hell must be rough for her, but that is my projection. I wonder why I have such projection? If I can hold the absolutely view (emptiness) and relative view (karmic projection) then its quite possible that my projection can be used to develop compassion.

    Maybe that is a bit too mahayana. But I feel the purpose of hell or samsara or suffering is to be able to completely be in it with others, while realizing the emptiness of it all. The purpose is to develop infinite qualities of a full buddha.

    Just a jumble of thoughts for you.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Do you want personal accounts or mythology?

    And what "hell" are you talking about?
    :)
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited May 2012
    @AstralProjectee, you don't get it, do you?

    everybody goes to hell and back at least once a day... well, I do, anyway. Some have managed to reduce their visits to a much less frequent event.
    i have a season ticket....!

    Hell is in your mind - as is Heaven - and every other realm you'd care to mention....
    Pretty!:) Agreed!
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    I can tell you about my experience of hell.
    It involved lsd and all my friends turning into demons. Straight up turning into demons right before my eyes. Then I ran, just ran.


    I learned a lot from that day. Mostly how drugs can really mess you up. But most important that everything is a projection. And hell or heaven is merely not seeing the appearance of consciousness as a play of karmic vision.

    It reminded me a lot of the Tibetan book of the dead and the part about the wrathful beings. Out of our ignorance we see the wrathful beings as apart from us, thus constructing a self to become harmed, thus fear, thus suffering. But in an instant if there is recognition of the wrathful being as an expression of the awakened mind then one becomes instantly liberated.

    Well can't say I've died yet so I haven't experienced that. And I haven't taken drugs in a long time so I can't test it out.

    But I can say upon a lot of reflection in meditation and you know just by living life...hell or heaven is purely a mind state. There are lots of individuals that I perceive to be like hell beings or saints based on my karma.

    The other day I was projecting hard onto some girl. She just looked like one of those girls. You know the ones you look at and you just get mad. Through conversing with her she just tried to push and push my buttons. It was constant! Thankfully I was mindful and really paused and looked inwards to my reactions. Then it was over. There was just another human being standing there. That was what was real. Just her. Whatever I was projection wasn't true. Not only is there no entity, she was just acting out of her causes and conditions. But then the causes/conditions ended. And it just clicked for me that I could only see what I was forced to see by my karma.

    Not sure if this makes any sense but it really has touched my heart and mind. By living through hell and heaven, we learn to just in a way be okay with it. It's like there is no one to maintain. No one here to build up or defend. Everything just passes and everything just is okay.

    I suppose the next time I run into her I can offer her a more positive approach. Hell must be rough for her, but that is my projection. I wonder why I have such projection? If I can hold the absolutely view (emptiness) and relative view (karmic projection) then its quite possible that my projection can be used to develop compassion.

    Maybe that is a bit too mahayana. But I feel the purpose of hell or samsara or suffering is to be able to completely be in it with others, while realizing the emptiness of it all. The purpose is to develop infinite qualities of a full buddha.

    Just a jumble of thoughts for you.

    That was really beautiful!
    Do you know of any sutras speaking about this?

    Thanks!
  • orientalistorientalist
    According to non-canonical texts in Southeast Asia, Phra Malai went to hell and came back. In the Mahayana tradition it was Ksitigarbha.
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    And the hell that is taught in the Buddhist tradition.
    In the suttas the realms, including the hell realm, seem to be mostly discussed in terms of kamma - the passage below from the Maha Kammavibhanga Sutta is a good example.
    From a traditional point of view we wouldn't remember having been in a hell realm - unless we were a Buddha and could recall our previous lives!

    "Now, Ānanda, in the case of the person who takes life... & holds wrong view and, with the breakup of the body, after death, reappears in a plane of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, hell: Either earlier he performed evil action that is to be felt as painful, or later he performed evil action that is to be felt as painful, or at the time of death he adopted & carried out wrong view. Because of that, with the breakup of the body, after death, he reappears in a plane of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, hell. And as for the results of taking life... holding wrong view, he will feel them either right here & now, or in the next [lifetime], or following that."

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