What
Buddhists Believe
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera
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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.
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.
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Source: Buddhist
Study and Practice Group, http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/
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Layout: Chan Duc - Nguyen Thao
Update : 01-11-2002
