Ancient Wisdom

Geardog · Post by **Geardog** » Wed Apr 10, 2002 8:09 am

In the Buddhist religion, a person only goes to hell temporarily, and is released only when they are sorry for their sins (or so I've been told).

Arcaton · Post by **Arcaton** » Wed Apr 10, 2002 8:20 am

It is difficult to truly repent of your sins until you hit rock bottom.....
Have you noticed how many of the damned in Hell still seem to be in denial of their own guilt? that is, those who remember why they are in Hell?

Il-Mari · Post by **Il-Mari** » Wed Apr 10, 2002 11:59 am

Yes, the Buddhist concept of Hell (which isn't in the doctrines of all of the branches of Buddhism) is practically the same as the Christian concept of Purgatory.

- Il-Mari

-Penance- · Post by **-Penance-** » Wed Apr 10, 2002 7:28 pm

In Buddhist philosophy [at least, the Tibetan philosophy (vajrayanna) I've been grown under] tells that Hell is the lowest of seven realms of existence [also known as 'samsara' - a sort of cyclic existence we have to ascend from... Buddhas are counted as free of this cyclic existence; it's not that they are FREE from all suffering/anger/etc, but they have eliminated all trace of duality in their minds - there is no distinction between that which we call 'good' and that which we call 'bad'. In fact, it is the very placement of titles such as 'good' and 'bad' on normal, everyday things that makes us blind and unconscious to all that [the universe] which is going on around us at once -- a Buddha sees, hears, and touches everything everywhere at any time with perfect clarity.

Now, from the top to the bottom, the seven realms of cyclic existence go like this: the God realm [pantheistic-style gods, but the lofty and powerful and noble ones, like the Indians have], the Realm of the Jealous Gods [such as the Grecian gods, who constantly seek to undermine each other and are constantly jealous of the upper gods], the Human realm [welcome home], the Animal realm [Drip would end up here], Insect Realm, Hungry Ghost Realm [for those who are extra-greedy], and finally, the Hell realm.

Now, what happens in the course of our eternal lifetimes [watch Little Buddha, see the 'tea in a cup or cloth' demonstration, understand how it works] is that we build up a whole fucking lot of 'negative' karma. Now, by the time we hit the Hell realm, our negative karma is way beyond all the words that could ever be uttered and all the gestures of guilt that can be made in any number of lifetimes [in which we would actually remember, or be able to - this is a luxury of the Human realm], so the way this karma is purified is through <i>pain</i>.

Lama Inge Sandvoss stays over at my house every year or so, and about two or three years ago, someone asked her what the Hell realm was like. She said something to the effect of, "Well, you feel a lot of pain. Constant pain." And she was asked how severe it was, and the answer was, "It's not something you can imagine because, in our precious human body, by the time you felt the amount of pain you would feel in one second in the Hell realm, you would die from it."

And existence in the Hell realm can stretch for billions of years.

Ooh.

DarkBlood_Warwing · Post by **DarkBlood_Warwing** » Thu Apr 11, 2002 4:53 am

the only problem of comparing some religons with *ahem* that one is that, the one says all the others don't exist, or are fake...

which is sad, cuz they are suppose to be tolerant...

and some christains don't have purgatory anymore....it's just hell, and no way out.
i read those plantflits for laughts...it angers me how ravionus those folk are.

like Jeasus really wants you to act that way.
they are getting all wrong, one reason i hesitate to form a religon, people will mess up the message.

Gen.Talon · Post by **Gen.Talon** » Thu Apr 11, 2002 6:11 am

While reading up on Darkbloods message. I'll put in my two cents. I allways read up on the news of the "My god can beat your god" fights that go on throughout the world.
Sad really witch is perhaps why i'm in a state of confusion. *shurgs*

Gen.Talon · Post by **Gen.Talon** » Thu Apr 11, 2002 6:11 am

While reading up on Darkbloods message. I'll put in my two cents. I allways read up on the news of the "My god can beat your god" fights that go on throughout the world.
Sad really witch is perhaps why i'm in a state of confusion. *shurgs*

DeByrus · Post by **DeByrus** » Thu Apr 11, 2002 7:48 am

I started my own religion, but as I have said before, we're not accepting new members. Just me is more than enough. I believe what I want to and don't push it on others. All I ask is that other people do the same. Whatever you want to believe is fine with me as long as it makes you happy.

And frankly, I DO like to have discussions with others about different religions, so long as it is philisophical (sp?) and NOT an arguement. I won't stand for anything else.

Demawox · Post by **Demawox** » Thu Apr 11, 2002 2:08 pm

The plague spreads once more...

Striker · Post by **Striker** » Thu Apr 11, 2002 2:34 pm

I suggest Discordianism. It's the only officially disorganized religion out there. It also operates on the basic assumption that God, when He (or She, they're not entirely certain on that subject) created the universe he was stoned.
Which would certainly explain a lot.

Supernerd · Post by **Supernerd** » Thu Apr 11, 2002 2:50 pm

I think I'm going to convert to Secular Humanism.

Demawox · Post by **Demawox** » Thu Apr 11, 2002 5:04 pm

I'm a Liberal Quaker, at least according to what this beliefs survey sez...

Sins' Apprentice · Post by **Sins' Apprentice** » Fri Apr 12, 2002 11:57 pm

(Disclaimer: This is what I think is Buddhism, it may be wrong, as I'm half idiot, half an ass, and half genius and you can never tell which one

In Buddhism, there is no Hell per se, you just wait around until you decide when a good time to live is. If you do good things, you can be reborn sooner so you can doo even more good sh-er- stuff, and its more of your choice. If you've done bad stuff, your karmic bank account just sits down on Earth until you're reborn. You wait around for hundreds of years, until your number is called, so the Buddhist spirit world is like the DMV with seniority. The more good you do, the quicker you can be reborn to do more good stuff, and so on until you have enough balance, experience, and discipline to become enlightened, a kind of Heaven, I guess. So in Buddhism, the closest thing to Hell is where your karma can really change, and where you're "tested", as the Christians say. The closest thing to Buddhist Hell is Earth. Kinda gives a spin on that old phrase, "My life's a living Hell"

(Heheh, this is my 69th post here. Eheheh..)
69! 69! 69! 69! 69! WOOHOOO!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sins' Apprentice on 2002-04-13 01:03 ]</font>