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hell & paradise in buddhism

DavemoDavemo
edited September 2010 in Buddhism Basics
What is hell & paradise in buddhism?

Comments

  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited September 2010
    It's all in your mind...
  • DavemoDavemo
    edited September 2010
    And what are they:

    http://newbuddhist.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=979&d=1283687317
    http://newbuddhist.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=980&d=1283687317
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited September 2010
    Some buddhists consider that there is infinite variation in pain and pleasure. Across universeS...

    Neither pain nor pleasure is enlightenment.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited September 2010
    I just thought that picture may be of the three poisons.
  • 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 September 2010
    Davemo wrote: »
    What is hell & paradise in buddhism?

    I suppose if you want to strictly speaking give an equivalent, there is Samsara and there is Nibbana.
    but you will find most Buddhists tend to roughly equate Samsara with self-imposed suffering, and Nibbana with complete realisation and acceptance of things as they are, and the ultimate in perfect existence.

    They are not places, as such. More states of being.

    Heaven - and Hell - are right here, right now, as you yourself create them.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited September 2010
    Davemo,

    If you travel in Buddhist lands, you will meet people who believe in these as 'real places', just as you will find Christians or Muslims who have the same fairy-tale view. You will also come across others for whom they are 'psychological states', which is the preferred Western exegesis. A major difference between the Christo-Muslim view and the Buddhist is that Buddhist hell is not eternal damnation, as a result of the concept of rebirth.

    Heaven, on the other hand, is often seen as equivalent to nibbana, which puts it on a different plane from the hell realms. This photo, poor as it is, which I took at the Norbulinka Institute near Dharamsala illustrates the point. The hell realms remain on the Wheel of Rebirth whilst the Buddha stands outside the wheel, beyond reward and punishment.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited September 2010
    The second photo looks to be Hungry Ghosts (pretas). They have big hungry bellies and long skinny necks so that they can only get tiny amounts of food down. In some traditional settings people take them to be real supernatural entities, but most (western) Buddhists see it as symbolic of different states we enter. Who can't relate to being a hungry ghost from time to time?
  • GuyCGuyC Veteran
    edited September 2010
    Heaven is not equivalent to Nibbana.

    Nibbana is the cessation of all perceptions and feelings. In heaven there are still perceptions and feelings.

    Nibbana is called "the Deathless". Devas (heavenly beings) are still subject to birth and death.
  • 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 September 2010
    I think the OP was asking what the equivalent in a theistic religion, Heaven and hell are to anything Buddhist. We're not talking different Buddhist realms here, we're talking about what a Theistic heaven and Hell would be considered in Buddhism. Besides, even the rebirth realms are seen to be allegorical, and not actual locations, aren't they?
  • GuyCGuyC Veteran
    edited September 2010
    I take the heaven and hell realms to be actual realms that beings can be born into according to their kamma. I believe that heaven, hell and ghost realms are just as real as the human and animal realms. Lacking the divine eye and ear, I can't see or hear beings in these other realms, so it is just a belief.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited September 2010
    GuyC wrote: »
    Heaven is not equivalent to Nibbana.

    Nibbana is the cessation of all perceptions and feelings. In heaven there are still perceptions and feelings.

    Nibbana is called "the Deathless". Devas (heavenly beings) are still subject to birth and death.

    There is, of course, no single view of 'Heaven'. It is not even possible to say that all the Heaven myths entail perceptions and feelings. Many Christian mystics envisage complete dissolution into God.

    That having been said, Heavens are a fascinating study. There are so many images that humans have created for themselves, from the 'quiet waters' of the Psalmist to the hurly-burly of Asgard. It seems to me that the image of Heaven adopted by a culture reflects what the lack and yearn for.
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited September 2010
    Richard H wrote: »
    The second photo looks to be Hungry Ghosts (pretas). They have big hungry bellies and long skinny necks so that they can only get tiny amounts of food down. In some traditional settings people take them to be real supernatural entities, but most (western) Buddhists see it as symbolic of different states we enter. Who can't relate to being a hungry ghost from time to time?


    The second photo is of the upper right-hand quadrant of the first. It shows the head of the protective deity holding the Wheel whilst, outside and above the Wheel, the Buddha stands, showing that there is a way off.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited September 2010
    Hell.... Endless becoming. Falling into the world to wander as a thing among things, always yearning, never full. Exile.

    Heaven... Non-becoming, wholeness, completeness, ever-home, the world is a radiant gesture, full and whole.

    ....that's one way of looking at it. A Catholic guy who sits regularly with a local Zen group can relate to that.

    The Heaven most Christians talk about is a nice part of the wheel of becoming, not letting go of the whole wheel. But apparently many Buddhist are aiming for that too. The Pure land schools seem to.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited September 2010
    Simonthepilgrim wrote: »

    The second photo is of the upper right-hand quadrant of the first. It shows the head of the protective deity holding the Wheel whilst, outside and above the Wheel, the Buddha stands, showing that there is a way off.
    I think were seeing different photos Simon. One is a painting of people poaching in a pot, and the other is a performance with large puppets of some kind.
  • 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 September 2010
    Richard, See Simon's attached photos, in his post #7
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited September 2010
    Thank you Federica. I'm a bit slow on the uptake... uh.

    It is interesting that Images of the Bhavacakra always show a Buddha showing the way to liberation from the Heaven realms as well as the Hell realms.


    Man it would be fun to paint one of those.
  • budhabeebudhabee
    edited September 2010
    well hell....i forgot what I was going to say! good grief! ok ok i got it. I am very curious about.....well crap! I forgot again. (please pardon me....I am 61 years old and am not so sure about my faculties.
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