9
votes
Crippling fear of hellfire &, damnation, please help?
I hope SN 42.6 quoted below will give you comfort. A person's actions while they were alive determines their outcome, and not rituals performed after death.
Then Asibandhaka’s son the chief went up ...
- 37.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Does hell exist in Buddhism?
Does hell exist in Buddism?
Yes it does. It is a destination in which you mental state is painful and also painful mental states are sometimes called hell. Hell is mentioned in Bala Pandita Sutta. ...
6
votes
Crippling fear of hellfire &, damnation, please help?
Along with all the excellent answers I would like to add a few cents of mine.
A student asked Zen master Hakuin, What happens after we die? The Zen
master replied, "I don't know."
"But you'...
- 2,221
5
votes
Heaven and Hell in Buddhism
Yes, there are 31 realms of existences.
From top to bottom:
4 immaterial realms
16 fine material realms
6 heavens
human realm
Asura hell
ghost hell
animal hell
Niraya(hells of unimaginable ...
- 25.7k
5
votes
Does Buddhism claim that our World is an illusion? In other words is it a Matrix? Any proof for this?
In the Diamond Sutra the Buddhas says
“All conditioned things
are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows
they are like dew or lightning
this is how they are to be viewed"
This is since all ...
- 177
3
votes
Visions of Hell Realm in Contemplation- What does it mean
Some relevant advice here (from Awareness Itself -- Visions & Signs) by Ajaan Fuang:
§ "Don't have anything to do with the past or the future. Just stay
with the present — that's enough. And ...
- 37.4k
3
votes
Does Buddhism claim that our World is an illusion? In other words is it a Matrix? Any proof for this?
This is not the main topic of Buddhism. Such ideas are called 'speculative views'. I think a good reference would be MN 63.
"It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with ...
- 1,765
3
votes
Crippling fear of hellfire &, damnation, please help?
These rituals exist for the living, not for the dead. They are designed to inspire very lazy, shameless people to try become better. In your case, looks like the medicine was too strong, for someone ...
- 58.3k
3
votes
Rescued wounded bird but forgot let it out of the sun and it's dead, am I going to hell for this?
Traditionally, karma had been defined as action. Not just any action but backed by intention. This action could be a certain behaviour, a spoken word or a thought. Similarly, the process in which ...
- 787
2
votes
Does hell exist in Buddhism?
Yes, hell exists in Buddhism as a literal real place as real as this world we live in, but there many hellish worlds and they are temporary (though many can last for extremely long time-periods).
In ...
- 868
2
votes
Does hell exist in Buddhism?
Yes, according to Buddhism, hell exists. Individuals who have accumulated bad karma may be reborn in hell, the animal realm, as ghosts, or even in the human world but with great difficulties. Hell is ...
- 85
2
votes
Is ending up in hell at some point in time inevitable for those beings who are not Stream-Entrants?
The 4th jhāna brahma and above have a long enough age to meet more than 1 buddha, they are not going to hell until they die. So buddha can't say "If you do not enlighten by my teaching, you are going ...
- 6,208
2
votes
Slander and Avici Hell?
For bikkhus, You can look at the vinaya, Monks’ Pācittiya 3,
https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-pvr1.2/en/horner-brahmali
the buddha says that you go to hell when you slander the buddha or the noble ...
- 1,614
2
votes
Does buying meat equate to approving of killing an animal?
Please read "Why is contributing to the market demand for meat not wrong?".
According to the Theravada school of Buddhism (and possibly also other schools), it is against the first precept ...
- 37.4k
2
votes
Does buying meat equate to approving of killing an animal?
First Theravada monk do not cook, they alms round, hence they do not purchase meat. They eat meat that was given and must qualified by not seeing killing, not hearing killing, not suspect killing is ...
- 51
2
votes
Source for bodhisattva transforming hell?
Found it, it's a story about Guanyin, the Chinese version of Avalokitesvara. The story says that she was a woman named Miaoshan, and when she died she went to hell (depending on the version either bc ...
- 101
2
votes
Accepted
Conversions and former bad deeds
The following sutta quote shows that it can be in any order. There's no automatic cleansing of past bad deeds after taking triple refuge and the vow of the precepts.
"Now, Ānanda, in the case of ...
- 37.4k
1
vote
Is ending up in hell at some point in time inevitable for those beings who are not Stream-Entrants?
there is a famous sutta where an actor loved his idea that he is a good person, as usual with puthujjanas, they always build a view where entertainment is beneficial to people, where sensual pleasures,...
- 561
1
vote
Is ending up in hell at some point in time inevitable for those beings who are not Stream-Entrants?
.. Perception of ideas is inconstant, changeable, alterable. One who has conviction & belief ... one who, after pondering with a modicum of discernment... one who knows and sees ...
There are/...
- 132
1
vote
Is ending up in hell at some point in time inevitable for those beings who are not Stream-Entrants?
What it says is there is assurance no hell for the stream entrants.
- 5,627
1
vote
Is there any God or Satan in Buddhism? Is there any heaven or hell in Buddhism?
Yes but no.
I think that a feature of Abrahamic religions was prophets -- a prophet said, "This is what God wants, these are God's laws for us." And then the people agree that that is a real prophet (...
- 46.3k
1
vote
Is there any God or Satan in Buddhism? Is there any heaven or hell in Buddhism?
God and Satan are concepts invented by humans to personify our ideas about the qualities of omniscience and omnipotence (god) and ultimate evil to do harm (Satan). We ourselves can embody qualities of ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible