Heaven and Hell in Buddhism?

Question

I was looking up "The Wheel of Life" on the net and it came up with some images (itneractive tour of what it all meant) and I noticed that there is some stuff about heaven and hell in it.
Anyone have any insight?

*Question for Buddhists or people who have studied Buddhism - not interested in any other responses - thank you*

I don't believe I said anything about religion in my question.....

Did I ask about Christianity??
Read the question people!

Answer 1

In Tibetan Buddhism there is both a "heaven" and a "hell" but neither is a permanent place as viewed in many theologies. A person's rebirth, according to Tibetan Buddhism, is based on one's accrued merit achieved during a lifetime: merit is based upon the karma (action) performed and the intent of the person who performs the action. If the accumulated merit is negative one goes into one of the lower realms of rebirth (the hell realm being the lowest) dependent upon the amount of negative merit accrued until the negative merit is removed. One may then achieve rebirth in a more positive realm.

The same holds true if one is reborn in one of the higher realms (the realm of the gods being the highest) but even that is temporary and full of suffering since the diety realizes the pleasures being experienced is transitory. A human rebirth is the most auspicious since it gives one the opportunity to gain enlightenment and end the cycle of rebirth.

In one of the Jataka Tales (which are stories of the previous lives of the Buddha) he was consigned to the hell realm for a previous deed--so, you see anyone, even a future Buddha, can spend time in the Buddhist conception of hell. See http://www.hundredmountain.com/Pages/foundobjects_pages/thich_found.html for a more complete retelling of this Jataka Tale.

I hope this short "explanation" is of some help.

May all be at peace.

John

Answer 2

The concept of Hell(s) in Buddhism is very different from that of other religions. It is not a place for eternal damnation as viewed by 'almighty creator' religions. In Buddhism, it is just one of the six realms in Samsara [i.e. the worst of three undesirable realms]. Also, there are virtually unlimited number of hells in the Buddhist cosmology as there are infinite number of Buddha worlds.

Buddhism has a best heaven. Everything is just the way you want it to be. In this heaven, there is no reason to change anything. You are ultimately happy. The problem is that it's not permanent, as with everything in Buddhism. One day in the heaven realm is equal to 400 human years, and your stay is four thousand heaven years, so you will be there a really long time.

The second heaven realm, which is a lower one, is where things are almost perfect. See, there is still some desire associated with this heaven realm, and so it can't ever be perfect.

The next realm is the human realm, where all of us find ourselves in this lifetime. This is the best place for us to be, because this is the only place we can become enlightened.

The next lower realm, is the animal realm. The animal realm is marked by wanting to have sex, wanting to have food, wanting to have sleep, and being totally confused. Those are the four characteristics found in the animal realm. So you can see, we are not likely to become enlightened as an animal.

The next realm is called the hungry ghost realm. The hungry ghost is often pictured as a giant creature, with a large stomach and a pinhole for a mouth. It can never end it's hunger no matter how much it eats, it never finds satisfaction.

In the hell realm, the worst place, you find the most suffering. Your are given little hell bodies when you enter. Then, one day you might be walking through a forest, when all the leaves on a tree turn into razor blades, and fall cutting you into a million pieces. You cry out in pain, and your hell body resurrects, so you can be killed over and over again.

Answer 3

There's no Hell of Eternal torment in Buddhism. The closest idea Buddhists would have of heaven is Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of peace achieved by those who have gone beyond the concerns of this world. Hell is what you make of it. Your experience is determined by your beliefs. That's why the world is illusion. We all live in Hells of our own making, because life entails suffering and suffering is caused by desire. These Hells are not a punishment: They are simply the result of delusion. As for reincarnation, the idea is not very well understood in the west, generally. Buddhists don't believe the world ends just because your present consciousness does. They believe in continuity. But speculating on the precise nature of this continuation is discouraged.

Answer 4

Yes, there is "Heaven" and "Hell" in Buddhism but they are just 2 of possible 6 "realms" of existence, which include the human and animal spheres of existence.

Heaven is reserved for Devas, which are essentially gods who are so comfortable with their existence they have no ambition to achieve the Enlightenment. In the Buddhism mythology, it isn't a recommended place to be, despite the appearances.

Hell is somewhat more similar to the Christian Hell, because there is a physical and mental anguish. Creatures in that realms are often portrayed as having huge bellies and tiny mouths, implying that they have a lot unfulfilled desires.

Both of them are temporary, just like all Buddhist realms.

Answer 5

I don't think they're translating heaven and hell right.
Buddhists believe that the ultimate goal is to rid yourself of all positive and negative Karma. When your.. 'equation' if you will reaches Zero, then you will transcend Earth and life and become one with the state of Nibbana. A state of permanent bliss, which stops the endless cycle of death and rebirth.
Hell, then, would just be earth. This is where we're trying to escape. There are worse and better places to be reincarnated--and circumstances to be reincarnated in--but on the whole this is where we are and not where we want to be. As simple as I can put it, do not accumulate too much bad Karma, or you may be reincarnated as a mosquito (Not all believe in animal reincarnation, but this is fitting) because a mosquito has an impossibly difficult time eliminating any Karma at all, and you may be stuck that way--unable to transcend for a long time.

Answer 6

I'm not sure there is Heaven and Hell in Buddhism, at least not in a sense that Muslims and Christians think of. It's not a religion that imposes rewards and punishment for not believing in some kind of high being (damned to Hell for not believing in God, for example). It more focuses on one freeing himself from the current sufferings (i.e. enlightenment)

Answer 7

Christians stole it from Buddhism, Christianity is a created religion that stole the ideas and beliefs of many ancient cultures.

Answer 8

There is no heaven or hell in zen Buddhism.

Answer 9

Belzebot and Golden give good answers to your question. I'd add only that the these "realms of existence" have no independent existence.

This means that these realms are completely dependent on our thinking. For example, the "hungry ghost realm" actually exists within each of us -- we can recognize it in ourselves when we find ourselves with an insatiable craving.

In the moment that cravings appear -- for sex, food, recognition, sleep, money -- in that very moment, we fall into hell.

The Buddha taught that nothing -- including our sense of self -- has an independent existence. So in Buddhism, neither heaven nor hell exist independently of our consciousness.

Answer 10

Heavens and hells are certainly a part of traditional Buddhist world-view, but the meaning is very different from the Western concepts:

1. There's no "Judge" who condemns you to either desitnation - instead they are just rational effects of your actions (physical and especially mental, including thoughts).

2. They are not eternal - everyone will be reborn, until you escape the round of births and deaths, which is only done through enlightenment.

3. It's fully possible to interpret heaven and hell as symbolical descriptions for either states of mind or life-situations caused by earlier actions (karma). For example, heaven can be the life of an exceedingly rich person, having the feeling he has power over his world (business imperium, lovers, servants, and so on), forgetting everything is impermanent, forgetting he will meet sickness, old age and death, etc. Life as an animal could be a person living like a vegetable, just watching TV, playing computer games, drinking beer, having sex, in short, not caring about the results of your actions and not caring about others. A hell life could be the experience of a mentally sick person (depression or anxiety neurosis, for example), experience of war, torture or concentration camps, and things like that. Suffering so great that you don't even have space in your mind to bother about mental training, compassion and plans for your future - all your thoughts are about surviving or getting our from your hell.

Like in traditional Buddhist cosmology, also in this symbolic/psychological interpretation, much more people dwell in hell and animal realms than in heaven. If you look around in the world, there's so much suffering caused by war, torture, hate, craving, prejudice, oppression, and so on.

Actually, I would say it's not important whether you interpret it traditionally or symbolically. The effects and motivation for your practice will be basically the same. Your actions have effects. Try to make more actions that have positive effects, try to avoid actions that have negative effects. Whether your bad actions lead to a life in a "hot hell" or in Nazi gas chamber is not important in this regard - you want to avoid it nevertheless. Just choose the interpretation that makes sense for you. If it doesn't make sense for you it isn't useful for you. For most Westerners, the symbolic/psychological interpretation is much easier to accept. You can start with this, and think again when you have studied and practised more deeply. Anyway, they can both be true at the same time.