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Hellfire and brimstone
nakazcid
Somewhere in Dixie, y'all Veteran
Recently someone posted a link to the Wang Saen Suk Hell Garden (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Saen_Suk ). One thing I always disliked about Christianity (or at least how it was practiced in my hometown) was the constant emphasis on hellfire and brimstone. It seems that the Hell Garden is a Buddhist version of that. I'm curious what the other forum members think of the hell realms. Do you think they are abstractions of harmful mental states, or a very real destination after one has shuffled the mortal coil? Do you think fear of damnation and torment is an effective way to encourage moral behavior?
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These places are not uncommon in Thailand.
Great place for a picnic.
The hell realms are understood in different ways. The literal and ignorant think they can end up there when dead for [insert unforgiveable naughtiness]
... however I would suggest different parts of our being are in different aspects of the six realms
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/OldWeb/bdoor/0006e/sources/realms.htm
Rabia the well known Islamic Bodhi said it well:
http://www.suficomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Rabias-Prayer_colored-resized-for-upload1.jpeg
What a guy!
All Fallen Angels are forgiven in the end.
However for Buddhists too much dukkha is either unfortunate or a waste of time. Do not add to lifes difficulties. That is hellish self indulgence IMO ...
@nakazcid
Have you really never suffered enough to see how real those hell realms can be
or
have you just buried those memories deeply enough to forget all about them?
The hell garden is a visual reminder of the suffering all around us and what leads us into such situations.
Sometimes it's a teaching to keep us facing & empathizing with all the worlds sufferings that we would prefer to ignore.
Sometimes it's a graphic show of what our lives are likely to feel like from repeated perceptual breakages.
With both of those destinations being easily available to me now in each nano moment of practice, I find little point in worrying about some future mimicking of that reality.
Hmmm, about 95 % of Christianity over here follows the humanistic aspects of the religion. Love and peace (quite close to Ned Flander) - and I appreciate it although I don't have any religious faith. Those scenes of Hell Gardens are gross. Maybe some people (men) have a deep need to hate some others (women).
@Pöljä, i agree with you. It has so many depiction of women bodies in a quite explicit and brutal way. No need for that, I think.
By the way, with your forum name, it is impossible to refer to you.
When it comes to reconfiguring the Christian version of infantilization through coercian and fear (the Rev. Emmett Coyne's "Theology of Fear" is also pretty good) I liked the following video clip. It may be old, but it invites Christians -- and by extension any others bruised, cowed or perhaps delighted by the scare-'em-to-death tactics -- to become adults instead of remaining teat-sucking infants. There may be some awful hells to confront and embrace in life, but one thing is for sure: Anyone who promises to do it for you is lying through his or her teeth and the rule of thumb becomes, "Grab your wallet!"
If you visit any Buddhist temple in Korea, the first thing you encounter are ancient statues and paintings of grotesque, frightening demons with fangs and horns and forked tongues. That seems far removed from the peaceful, enlightened Buddha sitting under a tree.
They are guardian spirits, frightening the evil away, we are told. I think people just really liked a good scare. But even stranger are the penis totems and festivals in Korea and Japan and Thailand. In ancient times every Korean village had a penis totem, a huge erect boner thrusting toward the sky for everyone to see. Fertility magic in your face, the best kind. I was told that villages at war would steal or destroy the other's penis totem and cause the enemy village to wither away.
http://www.justenoughkorean.com/blog/tag/penis-park/
Bottom line, you create your own hell and you create your own happiness.
Anyone for some smores?
Plenty of hell to be encountered without seeking it. I find more peace in seeking and focusing on the serene.
That's a pretty good definition of kamma.
So much responsibility! But wait, who is you? Ahhhhh.
Ah, the awesome freedom of responsibility. Love it!
And don't eat pigs unless you want to be reborn as one!!
Hmm I am screwed I have eaten a lot of fishes.
It is just hard to organise a veggie diet when you work full time.
(I work full time, and I don't have a problem....
)
I would think it much easier working full time.
Since I had to take some time off, I had to go back to eating chicken.
As soon as I'm able to go back full time it's back to abstaining from meat.
As for hell realms, I see people there every day.
Both!
Heaven and hell are compartments in our psyche.
Every day we choose on which side we stand.
Nothing worse than being held hostage in a hell of our own creation.
I luvs hell. All my old friends and departmental persona that @DhammaDragon mentions are there ... We do indeed create heaven and hell in this very life and body.
Some perverse human demons even try to worry us with post death states - pah!
@DhammaDragon said:
"Heaven and hell are compartments in our psyche.
Every day we choose on which side we stand.
Nothing worse than being held hostage in a hell of our own creation."
I really like that...a simple expression of our everyday follies: