Monday, October 31, 2016

Heavenly messengers: a Trip to HELL (video)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Devaduta Sutra, "The Deva Messengers" (MN 130) Ven. Thanissaro/Geoffrey DeGraff (trans.); Richard + Danny Elfman; Slayer
WARNING: Beheading! Breasts! Weird underworld (6th dimension) beneath Venice, CA from the unrated comic cult classic "Forbidden Zone" featuring The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
In the old European Christian imagination the warden in hell, Satan, tortures beings while being tortured himself: Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, by the Limbourg brothers (Wiki).

Craving motivates Mara the Evil One.
Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One [the Buddha] was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. There he addressed the monastics, "Meditators!"
 
"Yes, venerable sir," the monastics responded.
 
The Blessed One said, "Meditators, it is as if there were two households with doors, and a person with good eyesight, standing there between them, were to see people entering and leaving a house, wandering out and about.

"In the same way, I see -- by means of the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human -- beings passing away and re-appearing. I discern how they are inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance with their karma (previous and present actions):

"O, how these beings -- who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, and mind, who did not revile noble ones (those who have gained any of the stages of enlightenment), who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views -- with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in a fortunate destination, even the heavenly realm (sagga, celestial-deva worlds).

"Or how these beings -- who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in the realm of hungry ghosts (peta loka).

"Or how these beings -- who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in the animal world.

Hell: Hortus deliciarum (Herrad of Landsberg, 1180)
"Or how these beings -- who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, mind, who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in a plane of deprivation, an unfortunate destination, a lower realm, even in [one of the] hells."
 
"Then the hell-wardens, seizing (such a being) by the arms, present that person to King Yama [the sympathetic Buddhist "Judge" of the Dead]:

"'This is a person, your majesty, with no respect for mother, no respect for father [Note 1], no reverence for wandering ascetics, no reverence for temple priests [shamans and Brahmins], no honor for the leaders of one's clan. Let your majesty decree a punishment.'
  • NOTE 1: The word "no respect for father" (apetteyyo) does not appear in the Thai edition, but it does appear in the Sri Lankan, Burmese, and British Pali Text Society editions. 
WARNING: Topless breasts, electrified balloon torture (almost), and cursing! What must "hell" be like? Is it like "The Queen's Revenge" on Frenchy from "Forbidden Zone"?

"Then King Yama interviews and interrogates and castigates the person regarding the first deva [angelic] messenger:

"'Good person, did you not see the first deva messenger that has appeared among human beings [on the human plane, which means all of the manussya world]?'
 
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
 
Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings a tender baby boy lying prone in its own urine and excrement?'

"'I did, your honor,' one says.
 
Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did not the thought occur to you who are observant and mature: "I, too, am subject to rebirth and have not gotten beyond rebirth. I had better do good with body, speech, and mind"?'
 
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'

Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness. For that harmful karma [2] of yours was neither done by your mother, nor done by your father, nor by your brother, nor by your sister, nor by your friends and companions, nor by your kinsfolk and relatives, nor done by the devas.
  • NOTE 2: The Pali language uses the word kamma (Sanskrit and English karma) in the singular here, as if it were an uncountable noun (like "water" or "information"). In other words, though singular in form, it could mean any number of actions. Because English does not have an equivalent uncountable noun for action, [it is here untranslated as karma, "actions," which is both singular plural].
WARNING: Sex and violence, sort of! (Creator Richard Elfman) "Forbidden Zone 2" the sequel wants to be funded so it can be remade and go beyond cult status (forbiddenzone2.com).

"'That unwholesome karma was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
 
"Then, having interviewed and interrogated and castigated the person regarding the first deva messenger, King Yama continues regarding the second:

'Good person, did you not see the second deva messenger that has appeared among human beings?'
 
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings a woman or man 80, 90, 100 years old -- aged, roof-rafter crooked, bent over, supported by cane, trembling with palsy, miserable, broken-toothed, gray-haired, scanty-haired, or bald, wrinkled, with limbs all blotchy?'

"'I did, your honor,' one says.
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did the thought not occur to you who are observant and mature: "I, too, am subject to aging, have not gotten beyond aging. I had better do good with body, speech, or mind"?'
 
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness. For that harmful karma [those intended actions] of yours was neither done by your mother, father, brother, sister, friends and companions, kinsmen and relatives, nor done by the devas. That unwholesome action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
 
"Then, having interviewed and interrogated and castigated the person regarding the second deva messenger, King Yama questions one regarding the third:

"'Good person, did you not see the third deva messenger that has appeared among human beings?'
 
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings a woman or man diseased, in pain, severely ill, lying in his or her own urine and excrement, lifted up by others, laid down by others?'

"'I did, your honor,' one says.

"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did not the thought occur to you who are observant and mature: "I, too, am subject to illness, have not gotten beyond illness. I had better do good with body, speech, or mind"?'
 
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness. For that harmful karma of yours was neither done by your mother...your friends and companions...nor done by the devas.

"'That unwholesome action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'

"Then...regarding the third deva messenger, King Yama interviews and interrogates and castigates one regarding the fourth:

"'Good person, did you not you see the fourth deva messenger that has appeared among human beings?'
 
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.

Human tortures

Evil deeds done dirt cheap ripen later (UC).
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings rulers -- catching a thief, a criminal -- having him tortured in many ways:
  • flogging him with whips,
  • beating him with canes,
  • beating him with clubs;
  • cutting off his hands,
  • cutting off his feet,
  • cutting off his hands and feet;
  • cutting off his ears,
  • cutting off his nose,
  • cutting off his ears and nose;
  • subjecting him to [these forms of medieval torture:] the 'porridge pot,'
  • the 'polished-shell shave,'
  • the 'Rāhu's mouth,'
  • the 'flaming garland,'
  • the 'blazing hand,'
  • the 'grass-duty (ascetic),'
  • the 'bark-dress (ascetic),'
  • the 'burning antelope,'
  • the 'meat hooks,'
  • the 'coin-gouging,'
  • the 'lye pickling,'
  • the 'pivot on a stake,'
  • the 'rolled-up bed';
  • having him splashed with boiling oil,
  • devoured by dogs,
  • impaled alive on a stake; or
  • cutting off his head with a sword?' 
Those who support and approve harmful actions engage in harmful mental action (karma).
 
"'I did, your honor,' one says.
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did not the thought occur to you who are observant and mature: "It seems that those who do harmful actions are tortured in these many ways in the here and now. How much more in the hereafter? I had better do good with body, speech, and mind"?'
 
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness.

"'For that unwholesome action of yours was neither done by your mother...nor by the devas. That unwholesome karma was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
 
"Then, having...regarding the fourth deva messenger, King Yama interviews and interrogates and castigates one regarding the fifth:

"'Good person, did you not see the fifth deva messenger that has appeared among human beings?'
 
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings a woman or man, one day, two days, or three days dead: bloated, blue, oozing?'
 
"'I did, your honor,' one says.
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did the thought not occur to you who are observant and mature: "I, too, am subject to death, have not gotten beyond death. I had better do good with body, speech, and mind"?'
 
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
 
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness. For that harmful karma of yours was neither done by your mother, nor your father...nor by the devas.

"'That unwholesome action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
 
"Then, having interviewed and interrogated and castigated the person regarding the fifth deva messenger, King Yama falls silent [3].
  • NOTE 3: In Asian Buddhist kingdoms, there was a custom that when a king was sentencing a criminal to death or to be tortured, he would not actually express the sentence, but would simply fall silent. The Commentary counsels that if a student asks not to hear the description of hell (which follows from this point), a teacher should teach the student meditation and then wait until the student has reached stream-entry before returning to a description of [the hells].
Hell awaits
(Metal Blade Records) What must "hell" be like? Slayer tries to express it in their implicitly Christian/Satanic song "Hell Awaits."

"Then the hell-wardens torture [the person with a store of bad karma] with what's called a fivefold imprisonment: They drive a red-hot iron stake through one hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through one foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the middle of his chest.

"There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens lay one down and slice one with axes. Then they hold one's feet up and head down and slice one with adzes. Then they harness one to a chariot and drive one back and forth over ground that is blazing, burning, and glowing.

"Then they make one climb up and down a vast mountain of embers that is blazing, burning, and glowing. Then they hold one's feet up and head down and plunge one into a red hot copper cauldron that is blazing, burning, and glowing.

"There one boils with bubbles foaming. And as one is boiling there with bubbles foaming, one goes now up, now down, now all around. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as hone's unwholesome karma is not yet  exhausted [4].
  • NOTE 4: In the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese), Burmese, and British Pali Text Society editions, all in Pali, the sentence, "There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not exhausted" appears after each of the punishments [painful karmic consequences] listed in this paragraph. In the Thai edition, which is followed here, it appears only at the end of the paragraph.
Headless ghost of Yue Fei confronts recently deceased spirit of Qin Hui in 6th Court of Hell. Plaque held by attendant (left) reads: "Qin Hui's 10 wicked crimes" from a 19th-century Chinese Hell Scroll (W).

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Human torture exists but not hellish?
"Then the hell-wardens throw one into the Great Hell [Avici, "The Waveless"]. And as to the Great Hell, meditators:

"It is four-cornered and has four gates set in the middle of each side. It is surrounded by an iron fortress wall and roofed with iron. Its floor is made of red hot iron, heated, fully blazing. It stands always spreading 100 leagues all around.
 
In the Sixth Court of Hell (Diyu)
"The flame that leaps from the eastern wall of the Great Hell strikes the western wall. The flame that leaps from the western wall strikes the eastern wall. The flame that leaps from the northern wall strikes the southern wall. The flame that leaps from the southern wall strikes the northern wall. The flame that leaps from the bottom strikes the top. The flame that leaps from the top strikes the bottom.

"There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
 
"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the eastern gate of the Great Hell opens. One runs there, rushing quickly. As one runs there, rushing quickly, one's outer skin burns, one's inner skin burns, one's flesh burns, one's tendons burn, even one's bones turn to smoke.

When [one's foot] is lifted, one is the just same [5].
  • NOTE 5: The Commentary does not explain the meaning of this ambiguous sentence. It could mean that when the hell-being's foot is lifted from the burning hot floor, either (1) one's skin and so on continues burning or (2) one's body returns to its original form, either of which is gruesome. 
(MVD Entertainment Group) This is the "Citizen Kane" of underground movies. Sexy Frenchy falls into an insane underworld (sixth dimension) ruled by a horny little king and his jealous queen. Chicken-boy comes to the rescue, only to have his head cut off by the soul-singing Devil himself -- played by Danny Elfman and the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Frog butlers, topless princesses, black gamblers and drug dealers, and rioting school kids sing and dance in unforgettable musical numbers!

Ethiopian Christian: Hell is terrible.
"But when one finally arrives, the door slams shut. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
 
"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the western gate of the Great Hell opens... the northern gate... the southern gate of the Great Hell opens. One runs there, rushing quickly. As one runs there, rushing quickly, one's outer skin burns, one's inner skin burns, one's flesh burns, one's tendons burn, even one's bones turn to smoke. When [one's foot] is lifted, one is the just same. But when one finally arrives, the door slams shut. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
 
"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the eastern gate of the Great Hell opens. One runs there, rushing quickly. As one runs there, rushing quickly, one's outer skin burns, one's inner skin burns, one's flesh burns, one's tendons burn, even one's bones turn to smoke. When [one's foot] is lifted, one is the just same. One gets out through the gate. But right next to the Great Hell is a vast Excrement Hell.

"One falls into that. And in that Excrement Hell, needle-mouth beings bore into one's outer skin. Having bored into one's outer skin, they bore into one's inner skin... one's flesh... one's tendons... the bone. Having bored into the bone, they feed on the marrow. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
 
"Right next to the Excrement Hell is the vast Hot Ashes Hell. One falls into that. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's harmful actions are not yet exhausted.
 
"Right next to the Hot Ashes Hell is the vast Simbali Forest, [with trees] reaching up a league, covered with thorns 16 finger breadths long -- blazing, burning, and glowing. One enters that and is made to climb up and down them. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome actions are not yet exhausted.
 
"Right next to the Simbali Forest is the vast Sword-leaf Forest. One enters that. There the leaves, stirred by the wind, cut off one's hand, cut off one's foot, cut off one's hand and foot, cut off one's ear, cut off one's nose, cut off one's ear and nose. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
 
"Right next to the Sword-leaf Forest is the vast Lye-water River. One falls into that. There one is swept downstream, one is swept upstream, one is swept downstream and upstream. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet  exhausted.
 
Islam: Muhammad visits to hell to see women
"Then the hell-wardens pull one out with a hook and, placing one on the ground, say: 'Well, good person, what do you want?'

"One replies, 'I'm hungry, venerable sirs.' So the hell-wardens pry open one's mouth open with red hot iron tongs -- blazing, burning, and glowing -- and throw into it a copper ball, blazing, burning, and glowing.

"It burns one's lips, it burns one's mouth, it burns one's stomach and comes out the lower side, carrying along one's bowels and intestines. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome actions are not yet exhausted.
 
"Then the hell-wardens say: 'Well, good person, what do you want?' One replies: 'I'm thirsty, venerable sirs.' So the hell-wardens pry open one's mouth with red hot iron tongs -- blazing, burning, and glowing -- and pour into it molten copper, blazing, burning, and glowing.

"It burns one's lips, it burns one's mouth, it burns one's stomach and comes out the lower side, carrying along one's bowels and intestines. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
 
"Then the hell-wardens throw one back into the Great Hell once more [6].
  • NOTE 6: The Commentary notes that not everyone who falls into [Avici] hell is tortured with all of these painful karmic consequences: some of the tortures are skipped; in some cases the hell-being's karma is exhausted before the full round of tortures is completed, so that one dies and is reborn elsewhere. Not everyone goes for repeated rounds. Also, it should be noted that suffering in hell is NEVER for eternity (though it may certainly feel like an eternity). As the discourse implies, when the hell-being's bad karma is exhausted, one dies and is reborn elsewhere, in accordance with one's other karma.
(FZ) What in the world is "Forbidden Zone" the cult movie about?
 
"Once, meditators, the thought occurred to King Yama: 'Those who did bad deeds in the world are tortured in these many ways. O, that I might gain [rebirth in] the human state! And that a Wayfarer (Tathāgata, a buddha) -- worthy and rightly awakened -- might arise in the world! And that I might attend to that Wayfarer! And that he might teach me the [liberating] Dharma! And that I might understand his Dharma!'
 
"I tell you this, meditators, not from having heard it from another wandering ascetic or Brahmin. On the contrary, I tell you this just as I have known for myself, seen it for myself, understood it for myself."
 
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said it, the [Welcome One and] Well-Gone One, the Teacher, further said:
 
Warned by deva messengers, those youths who are heedless grieve for a long, long time -- people entering a lower state.

But those here who are good, people of upright conduct, when warned by deva messengers are ever heedful of this ennobling Dharma.

Seeing danger in clinging, in the coming-into-play of rebirth and death, they are released from letting go (not being clingy), in the ending of rebirth and death. They, happy, arriving at safety, fully released here and now, having gone, gone beyond all anger and danger, have escaped all suffering and disappointment.

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