Fall begins: Autumnal Equinox (summer ends)

Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How to explain an EQUI-NOX ("equal night") in simplest terms? (gfycat.com)

Today is the "fall equinox." Here's what that means (ScienceAlert.com)

Fall finally begins in the Northern Hemisphere; explaining the autumnal equinox | WWMT

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Faeries love the fall. Merry meet!

September equinox is the evening or equaling as the seasons change, going from summer to autumn. The Southwest has just had a heat wave on top of a drought with monsoon rains and drastic flooding. When it rains it pours. And when it doesn't, it all dries out.

The Wiccans will soon be dancing. Halloween is on its way. And the dead are stirring. No one really dies, except that this ego is fading constantly, rebuilding, and falling apart until the transition we call "death" seems to take them away, from this dimension to another, from the human to the ghost, heavenly, hellish, or another human realm.

Eric Dubay disagrees on cause of equinox

The human plane is very large, much larger than earth, extending into space in all directions.

Rebirth is a crapshoot. Based on Abhidharma ("Higher Doctrine" or "The Dharma Explained in Ultimate Terms"), whatever "mind moment" or citta comes up will condition and determine the rebirth plane and circumstances.

There goes the summer, the craziest summer our society has had in decades!

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If an entheogen (DMT) could make us see reality

Every act (karma) left countless impulsions (javanas) that can serve as the basis for the future. So unless we're very careful and doing something about it right now, we could be in for a world of hurt in any of the lower planes or in a bad way on this plane in the future. It won't all be devi bliss and enhanced celestial pleasures all the time, like so many of us seem to imagine.

Hey, Gwen, what's up at Woodstock III?

Gwendolyn in Berkeley was a hippie who didn't believe in religion, but she did believe in heaven -- at least to the extent to constantly say, "If there is one, that's where I'm going." How did she know, and what did she think was preventing her for destinies elsewhere in the downward-path (niraya), the Fall, the hellish unfortunate destinations (naraka)? She didn't think that far. She just loved keeping it in the moment and not thinking too much. Aren't many of us like that more than we care to admit? Phish, Grateful Dead, slob rock (lo-fi), and everything is groovy.

Torture: US Supermax Prisons (video)

Best Documentary, March 18, 2018; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Supermax, American prison HELL (doc)

Supermax means "Super Maximum Security" prison. It's a code name that disguises the harshest prison system in the United States: total solitary confinement. Of the 2.2 million American citizens in American jails, it is said that 25,000 are locked up in these torture facilities (as defined by international standards). Shut in a windowless cell for 23 hours a day, with no human contact other than with the guards, and one hour inside in a cement "yard." For any exercise at all, it's just one hour’s worth of walking around a concrete pit 16 feet by 10 feet. Often inmates are kept for life. This disciplinary measure, presented as the answer to violence in prisons, has never been proven to work anywhere. How does one live from day to day in total solitary confinement? Let's go on a journey to northern California, to the corridors of Pelican Bay, the first Supermax prison in the country.

The Hidden Vegetarians of Tibet

Geoffrey Barstow (Tricycle, Fall 2018), Paul Hostetler (illustrator); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Contrary to popular belief, meat eating has been questioned by Tibetan masters both past and present. 

In the mid-19th century, the Tibetan Buddhist master Nyala Pema Dündul composed a poem in which he gave an account of a recent visionary experience.

Have a heart: stop causing killing.

In this short work he recalls waking up one morning and beginning his usual daily practice, focused on Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.

Suddenly his perception shifted, and instead of having to consciously visualize the deity, he was able to see and speak with Avalokiteshvara directly, as if the bodhisattva were literally present.

Serving as something of a tour guide, Avalokiteshvara showed Nyala Pema Dündul around various hell realms, where he observed people being tortured by demons [narakas, yakkhas, rakshasas, pretas] with animal heads.

Bad karma and its bad results

Hell in Church (Debra Berhan Selassie)

These torments, Avalokiteshvara explained, were the inevitable consequence of having eaten meat in a previous life.

Perhaps not surprisingly Pema Dündul tells his readers that he emerged from his vision shaken, lamenting the fact that he himself had eaten meat.

“Let the Three Jewels be my witness!” he writes, “In the past, ignorance and habit have led me to eat the flesh of beings....From today on, may the thought of eating meat never even enter my mind! If I do eat it, may the Three Jewels punish me!

Nyala Pema Dündul was not alone in his concern about meat eating. In fact, a meatless diet in Tibet was far more common than might be expected.

To date, I have identified more than 110 individual lamas -- religious teachers -- who made the decision to give up meat and who were active prior to the Chinese invasion of the 1950s.

Pema Chodron is foremost Western Vajrayana

Given the fact that Buddhist history in Tibet has spanned 1,300 years, 110 may not seem like a large number. But it represents only those individuals I could identify by name. There must have been many others who are as of yet untraceable.

Whether or not one should eat meat was a real, active debate in premodern Tibet, and vegetarianism was a frequent response.

• 5 Things I Miss About Being A Hardcore Meditator 
• The Russian Plot to Control Your Mindfulness 
• Against “Common Sense” Buddhism 
• A Painless Present

The Dalai Lama follows religion of Kindness.

And yet the simple fact that vegetarianism existed in Tibet is almost unknown today. Indeed, contemporary Tibetan Buddhists -- both Tibetan and Western -- tend to assume that vegetarianism was a non-issue.

Time and again I have been told that researching the history of Tibetan vegetarianism is pointless, as the diet simply did not exist.

The 31 Planes of Existence

Contained in this assumption, moreover, is an argument against adopting vegetarianism today. Like followers of other traditions, Tibetan Buddhists [Vajrayanists] often look to examples set by previous masters to guide their own conduct.

So it is not surprising that contemporary Buddhists often answer the question of why they eat meat by pointing to revered masters... More

• Embodied Love: Core Tibetan Trainings for an Unbounded Heart with Anne C. Klein
• What is the meaning of metta, "loving-kindness" or "friendliness"?

The "Treasures" (sutra)

Ven. Thanissaro (trans.) Ratana Sutra (Sn 2.1); edited and expanded by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; alternate translation: Ven. Piyadassi (sutra also appears at Khp 6)

The ancient Vedic swastika is still a mark of enlightenment in Asian iconography.

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Whatever devas have gathered here -- upon the earth or in the sky -- may you all be happy and listen intently to what I say. Devas, be attentive. Show kindness toward human beings. Day and night they give offerings so, being heedful, protect them.

Whatever wealth -- here or beyond -- whatever marvelous treasure there may be in celestial spheres does not, for us, equal the Welcome One (the Buddha, the Tathagata, the Wayfarer). This, too, is a marvelous treasure in the Buddha. By this truth may there be well-being.

The marvelous Deathless -- ending, dispassion (nirvana) -- discovered by the Shakyan Sage in meditation, there is nothing to equal that Dharma. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Dharma. By this truth may there be well-being.
 

Treasured relics are stored away in stupas, ancient burial mounds from the Ukraine.

 
What the excellent Enlightened One extolled as pure and called the meditation [insight, coherence, samadhi] of unmediated knowing [direct realization] no equal to that meditation can be found. This, too, is a marvelous treasure in the Dharma. By this truth may there be well-being.

The eight persons -- the four pairs [males and females] -- praised by those at peace [the fully enlightened], they are true disciples of the Well-Gone One and are worthy of offerings. What is given to them bears great karmic fruit. This, too, is an marvelous treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being.

Those who -- devoted, firm-minded -- apply themselves to Gautama's instruction, on attaining the goal [of enlightenment and nirvana] plunge into the Deathless, freely enjoying the unequaled liberation they have gained. This, too, is an marvelous treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being.

An Indra pillar (tall hardwood post at the entrance of a village) planted in the earth that even the four winds cannot shake, that, I tell you, is like the noble [arya, enlightened] person, who -- having thoroughly comprehended the Four Noble Truths -- directly sees. This, too, is a marvelous treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being.

Those who have seen clearly the noble truths well-taught by the one of deep wisdom -- regardless of what [later] might make them heedless -- will come to no eighth state of rebirth.

• A stream-enterer is a person who has reached the first stage of enlightenment, who will be reborn at most seven more times with none of those birth occurring falling below the human plane.

This, too, is a marvelous treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being.

At the moment of attaining liberating insight, one abandons three things:

1. identity-view [belief in an eternal self or identity]
2. uncertainty [skeptical doubt]
3. any attachment to [the view that rites and rituals or precepts and practices can themselves lead to enlightenment].

• These three are the fetters (samyojanas) abandoned when one gains the first glimpse of nirvana at stream-entry (the moment when one enters the stream to full enlightenment).

One is completely released from the four states of deprivation [which are unfortunate states of rebirth that result from unskillful karma*].

• *The Downfall (niraya) refers collectively to four states of deprivation: rebirth as an animal, hungry ghost, angry demon, or denizen of various hells/purgatories (naraka). In the Buddhist cosmology, none of these states is eternal but may last aeons (kalpas, which also has the meaning of "normal lifespan" rather than a literal aeon).

And such persons are now incapable of committing the six great wrongs.

• Six great wrongs: matricide, patricide, murdering an arhat (a fully enlightened individual), wounding a buddha, causing a schism in the Monastic Community (Sangha), or taking anyone other than a buddha as one's foremost teacher.

This, too, is a marvelous treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being.

Whatever unskillful deed one may do -- by body, speech, or mind -- one cannot conceal it: an incapability ascribed to one who has seen the Path. This, too, is a marvelous treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being.

Like a forest grove with flowering tops during the first month in the heat of the summer, so is the foremost Dharma he taught, for the highest benefit, leading to nirvana [complete freedom, liberation from all further rebirth and suffering]. This, too, is a marvelous treasure in the Buddha. By this truth may there be well-being.

Foremost, foremost-knowing, foremost-giving, foremost-bringing, unexcelled, he taught the foremost Dharma. This, too, is a marvelous treasure in the Buddha. By this truth may there be well-being.

Ending the old, there is no new taking rebirth. Grown dispassionate toward any further becoming [rebirth, continued wandering on through the Wheel of Life and Death], minds/hearts, they -- freed of seed and desire for growth -- the wise now free go out like this flame. This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Sangha. By this truth may there be well-being.

Whatever devas have gathered here -- upon the earth or in the sky -- let us honor the Buddha, the Tathagata esteemed by humans and devas. May there be well-being.

Whatever devas have gathered here -- upon the earth or in the sky -- let us honor the Dharma and the Tathagata [Wayfarer, Welcome One, Well-Gone One] esteemed by humans and devas. May there be well-being.

Whatever devas have gathered here -- upon the earth or in the sky -- let us honor the Sangha and the Tathagata esteemed by humans and devas. May there be well-being.

"I want to kill!" - This American Life (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; "Adam," Sarah Koenig, Ira Glass, ThisAmericanLife.com,  Jan. 10, 2014

"No apparent motive, just kill and kill again/Survive my brutal thrashing, I'll hunt you to the end. My life's a constant battle, the rage of many men. Homicidal maniac!" - Slayer "Kill Again"

 

Adam is a killer, and he knows it. He went to kill in Afghanistan -- with bloodlust inculcated in him by American military training during bootcamp. He is the first person to honestly speak about it. Fortunately, he did it on public radio.
 

SHOW 515: Good Guys

Lots of men think of themselves as "good guys." But what does it actually take to be one, to be a truly good guy?

Act Four: Deep Dark Open Secret

In 2009, a U.S. soldier ("Adam") contacted "This American Life." He offered to send audio dispatches from his military deployment in Afghanistan.
 

He wanted to do a story about what it is really like to go to war and to kill. What he learned when he was over there as a soldier [in the service of America's military-industrial complex] was way more personal and honest than anyone expected.
 

Even Adam had not planned to say as much as he did about how he was trained in bootcamp to WANT and look forward to killing people. He began as an older liberal among young, closed minded, gung ho killers.
 

War crimes, dishonor, moral injury, suicide

Although Sarah Koenig claims Adam never did get to kill anyone, it is clear he did: He killed by shooting humans he was invading, violating, and terrorizing. He shot alongside other Americans and saw targeted victims die but without being able to be sure that it was due to his gunfire.

• PLAY AUDIO
• WARNING: Story may not be appropriate for children.

More than gang killings, Adam called in airstrikes that got many people killed. He lusted after killing unarmed prisoners in his custody. He thought of executing them and shooting noncombatant civilians for no reason other than he had the power to. But he resisted like most other soldiers because he and they feared repercussions if they were caught killing without justification. It was fear of reprisal rather than respect for life that kept him and his fellow soldiers from killing more men, women, and children.

 

Now that he is back in America, he looks forward to being given an excuse to kill someone stateside. He needs a kill under his belt, which is not anything he discusses with VA doctors. He does not consider himself exceptional or psychopathic. In fact, he is sure other veterans kill and like it. Like other soldiers, he has discussed these facts with them. But they ordinarily never talk about it outside of the military. Producer Sarah Koenig explains (20 mins). WAR

To save all beings from Hell (Ksitigarbha)

Dr. Rei-Rei, Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Web.singnet.com.sg UPDATED

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva helping beings out of the many hells (namo-amituofuo)

INTRODUCTION

Poetry, metaphor, and myth can often express the most profound ethical, psychological, and spiritual insights and aspirations of a people or culture in a way that communicates to the imagination more immediately than a literal narrative may.

 

The impact of these literary forms lies not only in the written word, but also resonates on other more subtle waves. Perhaps they communicate more to the heart or the intuition than strictly to the intellect.

• Special Ksitigarbha Service, Sept. 1, 2013
• Ling Yen Temple, Etiwanda, California

Whatever the reason, great works like India's Vedas, and Upanishads, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavad-Gita, the Greek myths and epics, the Tao Te Ching, Zen koans and poems -- earth-treasures such as these have all helped to shape the thinking of whole civilizations for hundreds even thousands of years and thus have influenced the histories and the destinies of the peoples who inspired and absorbed them.

 

The Mahayana Buddhist discourses belong to this class of inspired world literature, giving expression as they do to many noble truths and -- with some, like the Heart Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, and the Flower Garland (Avatamsaka) Sutra -- attempting to express in a few words ultimate truths: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form," "All that we see is a product of the mind," "All living beings are of a nature with the potential to awaken" (or become buddhas because they have an innate "Buddha Nature").

 

The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha Vow Sutra is presented here, and whether viewed as literal, mythical, or perhaps somewhere between the two, it can take its own unique place among the sutras -- its ever-present underlying theme expressing the great universal truths of love, compassion, and interdependent responsibility for all beings.

 

The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha Vow Sutra

Ksitigarbha and the Great Vow (HL Wang)

This Mahayana sutra was first translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the 7th century A.C.E. T'ang Dynasty. The English here has been faithfully translated directly from the original archaic Chinese. In China this sutra has for hundreds of years been one of the most well-known and popular Buddhist sutras. But compared to such bodhisattvas as Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri, the name Ksitigarbha (Kishitigarba) appears to be relatively unknown in the West. 

 

According to one Chinese authority on Ksitigarbha, the reason for this obscurity lies in an ancient prophecy foretelling that this sutra would not be known outside of China and Tibet for 2,500 years after the time of Buddha -- until the Dharma-Ending Age -- our present age -- which would be ready to receive and understand it.

 

The sutra would then be revealed and spread to distant lands. Regardless of any mystique surrounding this explanation, the fact is that together with Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra, Ksitigarbha is one of the most revered and celebrated bodhisattvas in China. Respectively, they personify the four basic Mahayana qualities of Great Compassion, Great Wisdom, Great Meritorious Deeds and, in Ksitigarbha, the Great Vow -- the vow to save all sentient beings, including hungry ghosts and beings in the hell(s).
 

Kwan Yin, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, 1000 limbs to do all things (tibet-phala.com)

 

The literal translation of the Bodhisattva's Sanskrit name is "Earth-Store." The name in one sense indicates that any undesirable or troublesome thoughts "stored" or hidden deep in one's mind or heart may be uncovered and released with the help of Ksitigarbha's power -- thereby freeing the person from their negative influence.

A less literal translation, which more accurately communicates its complex significance to Western readers, could be to render it as "Earth-Treasure." In this freer sense his name expresses the many marvelous aspects of the Earth and his mysterious connection with it: The Earth is vast, it supports all [kinds of] living beings, it is impartial, it receives life-giving rain, it produces trees and crops, it holds all planted seeds which will ultimately ripen and come to fruition, it holds many treasures, it produces medicines for suffering humanity, it is not moved by storms.

 

Earth

Kwan Yin, Bodhisattva of Compassion (wiki)

And the Earth (Sanskrit, Bhumi), too, is in its own way a sentient being. The Earth-Treasure Bodhisattva has a deep relationship with human beings of the Earth and, moreover, with those "below" it -- the hungry ghosts (pretas) and hell beings (narakas). Because these are the most difficult to raise into a more fortunate condition, due to their previous unwholesome actions, and because of his past vow to save them all, Ksitigarbha has been known as the Teacher of the Dark Regions.

 

"If I do not go to hell to help them, who else will go?" is the famous declaration popularly attributed to Ksitigarbha. No matter what the crime or the karma, he is willing to have a connection with any being and to help free anyone from suffering.
 

The sutra is fundamentally a teaching concerning karmic retribution, graphically describing the consequences one creates for oneself by committing undesirable actions.

 

This is especially for the benefit of future beings in the Dharma-Ending Age in order to help these beings avoid making the mistakes that will cause them to be reborn in a low condition. With the motivation to help suffering beings always in mind, the sutra is [structured as] a discourse given by the Buddha in praise of the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha and his heroic vow, and of the benefits one can receive from honoring Ksitigarbha and reading the sutra.

Presented in the form of a seemingly mythic dialogue between the Buddha and Ksitigarbha, the teaching takes place in a certain heaven called Trayastrimsa ("The World of the Thirty-Three"), in front of a vast multitude of buddhas, bodhisattvas, devas, and spirits [i.e., pretas, asuras, nagas, yakshas]. Immediately prior to his departure from this world, the Buddha manifested in Trayastrimsa so that he might repay the kindness of his mother who dwelt there by speaking the Dharma on her behalf.

[This would mean that, if it happened, it would have happened in the few moments before reclining into into final nirvana, Earth time, when the Buddha briefly traversed the meditative absorptions called dhyanas/jhanas. See The Last Days of the Buddha (DN 16).]

Ksitigarbha Sutra/《地藏王菩薩的故事》(3D 動畫/lifetv.org.tw/生命基金會)

 

So from another aspect the sutra deals with filial responsibility -- not only between oneself and one's parents, but also in an ultimate sense of a universal code of duty or responsibility for all living beings, all of whom a bodhisattva regards with the same kindness, consideration, and respect one would accord to one's own parents. This, together with the practice of acts for the good of all, is the Bodhisattva's vision. More

• The Ten Bhumis or Bodhisattva Levels
• The Monk's Mother in Hell (Ullambana Sutra) 
• "Bodhisattva" the Movie (Tibetan)
• Ksitigarbha images (Chinese)
• Daily Teachings of Mahayana Buddhism
• Yummy Vegetarian Blog

"Hell" is being left out in the cold (video)

Dorrian, Seven, Hamilton, Wisdom Quarterly (Naraka edit, SN 35.28 abbreviated)

A team of penguins goes in search of pyramids in hellishly cold realms Dante explores in the Divine Comedy from ancient Buddhist lore.

The Cold "Hells"

Arbuda – the "blister" purgatory or hell (naraka). This is a dark, frozen plain surrounded by icy mountains and continually swept by blizzards. Inhabitants of this plane of existence arise fully grown and abide life-long naked and alone, while the cold raises blisters on their bodies. The length of life in this unfortunate realm is said to be the time it would take to empty a barrel of sesame seeds if one only took out a single seed every hundred years.
Nirarbuda – the "burst blister" purgatory. This realm is even colder, and here the blisters burst open, leaving the beings' bodies covered with freezing blood and pus.
Aṭaṭa – the purgatory of shivering. Here the beings shiver in the cold, making an aṭ-aṭ-aṭ sound with their mouths.
Hahava – the realm of lamentation. Here the beings lament in the cold, going ha, ho in pain.
Huhuva – the realm of chattering teeth. Here beings shiver as their teeth chatter, making the sound hu, hu.
Utpala – the "blue lotus" unfortunate realm. Here the intense cold makes skin turn blue like the color of an utpala waterlily.
Padma – the "lotus" realm. In this place the blizzard cracks open the frozen skin leaving one raw and bloody.
Mahāpadma – the "great lotus" realm. Here the whole body cracks into pieces and the internal organs are exposed to the cold and they also crack.

The Fire Sermon

"Everything is burning! What is this 'everything' that is burning? The eye [as well as the other five bases of consciousness -- ear, nose, tongue, body, mind] is burning.

"Visible forms are burning. Consciousness born at the eye [ear, nose, tongue, body, mind] is burning. Contact born at the eye is burning.

"And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye -- whether experienced as pleasure, pain, or neither-pleasure-nor-pain -- that too is burning.

"Burning with what? It is burning with the fire of passion (greed, lust, craving), the fire of aversion (hate, fear, revulsion), the fire of delusion (wrong view, ignorance, confusion).

"It is burning, I tell you, with birth, aging, and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, distress, and despair!" (SN 35.28)

• Men's rules for breaking up with a woman
  

HELL (History Channel)

• Uncovering the Buddhist "Hells"

There are unfortunate destinations -- planes one may be reborn in if one's opportunistic karma comes to fruition in the next or some future life. It may surprise students of the Dharma to think of such possibilities. Unhappy abodes are cramped and crowded, whereas fortunate destinations are spacious and uncrowded. There are many worlds. And in each world, one may say there are as many experiences of it as there are individuals. The human world, for example, is not one place. It's 6.5+ billion places and constantly changing.

So, too, are planes of existence regarded as the Downfall, the Great Waste, Niraya. For once having fallen, there is often no clear cut way out. Eventually, it is one's skillful, wholesome, and profitable (kusala) karma coming to fruition that one is released. Negative influences may, however, not yet be exhausted and could continue to play themselves out. The human world is a mixed realm, where one experiences the fruit of both moderately skillful and unskillful actions willed and carried out in the past.

The Christian conception is an amalgamation and should be understood as grossly oversimplified. But it is this oversimplification of things that makes this religious tradition so compelling and popular. Few people want the details; we are satisfied with outlines writ large. Christianity (particularly as it became an offshoot of Judaism and as it morphed into an official Church in Roman Catholicism) has borrowed a great deal from Mahayana Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Egyptian tradition, and of course Paganism (pre-Christian European beliefs). "Hell" is not unique to any one of these traditions.

Rebirth Fable: The Laughing Weeping Goat

Matakabhatta Jataka: Goat that Laughed & Wept
Buddhist Publication Society (Jataka 18)

One day, while the Buddha was staying in Jetavana, some Buddhist ascetics (bhikkhus) asked him if there was any benefit in sacrificing goats, sheep, and other animals as offerings for departed relatives.

"No, bhikkhus," replied the Buddha. "No good ever comes from taking life, not even when it is for the purpose of providing a Feast for the Dead." He then told this story of the past.

STORY OF THE PAST

Long, long ago, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Baranasi, a brahmin decided to offer a Feast for the Dead and bought a goat to sacrifice. "My boys," he said to his students, "take this goat down to the river, bathe it, brush it, hang a garland around its neck, give it some grain to eat, and bring it back."

"Yes, sir," they replied and led the goat to the river.

While they were grooming it, the goat started to laugh with a sound like a pot smashing. Then, just as strangely, it started to weep loudly.

The young students were amazed at this behavior. "Why did you suddenly laugh," they asked the goat, "and why do you now cry so loudly?"

"Repeat your question when we get back to your teacher," the goat answered.

The students hurriedly took the goat back to their master and told him what had happened at the river. Hearing the story, the master himself asked the goat why it had laughed and why it had wept.

"In times past, brahmin," the goat began, "I was a brahmin who taught the Vedas like you. I, too, sacrificed a goat as an offering for a Feast for the Dead. Because of killing that single goat, I have had my head cut off 499 times. [Note: In the sutras "500" means "a lot."]

"I laughed aloud when I realized that this is my last birth as an animal to be sacrificed. Today I will be freed from my misery. On the other hand, I cried when I realized that because of killing me, you, too, may be doomed to lose your head 500 times. It was out of pity for you that I cried."

"Well, goat," said the brahmin, "in that case, I am not going to kill you."

"Brahmin!" exclaimed the goat. "Whether or not you kill me, I cannot escape death today."

"Don't worry," the brahmin assured the goat. "I will guard you."

"You don't understand," the goat told him. "Your protection is weak. The force of my [unskilful karma] is very strong."

The brahmin untied the goat and said to his students, "Don't allow anyone to harm this goat." They obediently followed the animal to protect it.

After the goat was freed, it began to graze. It stretched out its neck to reach the leaves on a bush growing near the top of a large rock. At that very instant a lightning bolt hit the rock, breaking off a sharp piece of stone which flew through the air and neatly cut off the goat's head.

A crowd of people gathered around the dead goat and began to talk excitedly about the amazing accident.

A tree deva* had observed everything from the goat's purchase to its dramatic death, and drawing a lesson from the incident, admonished the crowd: "If people only knew that the penalty would be rebirth into sorrow, they would cease from taking life. A horrible doom awaits one who slays."

With this explanation of the law of karma the deva instilled in his listeners the fear of perdition (hell). The people were so frightened that they completely gave up the practice of animal sacrifices. The deva further instructed the people in the Precepts and urged them to do good.

Eventually, that deva passed away to fare according to his deserts. For several generations after that, people remained faithful to the Precepts and spent their lives in charity and meritorious works, so that many were reborn in the heavens.

The Buddha ended his lesson by identifying the birth saying, "In those days I was that deva."

NOTE
*Devas are celestial beings, ranging from the high deities to earthbound tree-spirits.

The Hells: Niraya ("Unhappy")

The Simpsons dealing with what is too horrible to voice (allposters.com)


Various torments, Saen Suk Buddhist temple, Thailand (http://www.payer.de/)

Hell/Underworld: Religious concepts of underworlds and hells include a thorough Buddhist concept collectively called Naraka (Pali, Niraya).

Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (circa 1180)

Chinese: Diyu, Christian: Hell, Interim state, Egyptian: Duat, Germanic/Norse: Niflheim, Hel, Greek: Hades, Tartarus, Hindu: Naraka, Islam: Jahannam, Judaic: Gehenna, Sheol, Shinto: Yomi, Japanese: Jigoku.

The Great Waste or the unfortunate planes of existence in general may be unhappy, miserable, or involve torment beyond belief. They exist here and now or in the afterlife. Like the Western concept of hades or Judaism's sheol, they may or may not involve much inflicted suffering. The animal world, for example, might seem to involve less unhappiness than the human. And the human world, although counted as the lowest of the "fortunate destinations," may involve so much suffering as to merit the title "hell" from time to time. What are here being called "hells" are the various realms ranging from the animal world down to a horrific place known as Avici, with a focus on the various Nirayas.

It is incorrect to conceive of hell as strictly underground. Some "hells" are located in space, for instance the Lokantarika-niraya (SA.ii.442f.; DhsA.297f) and the Asurabhavana (where beings cast out of one heaven landed and took up residence). The fact of the matter is that there is great variety and diversity. The purpose of hells, as with all worlds, is simply to provide suitable conditions and circumstances for the experiencing of karmic results, which are almost always mixed, athough Avici itself refers to "uninterrupted" torment.


Graphic depictions making hell real have been popular. While they may lend themselves to exaggeration and poetic license, they may also approximate visions of some existing reality.

Some Buddhist hells are fiery and painful, and torment is inflicted by wardens. Some are cold and gloomy. The Realm of Hungry Ghosts is pathetic and desperate, with hunger, exposure, and few prospects. The Naraka/Niraya world is the name given to one of the worlds of greatest suffering in Buddhist cosmology. Earth-prison, limbo, shadow realm, nether region, underworld, purgatory, perdition, demonic plane, inferno all might describe layers of these unfortunate destinations.

• Reference: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Hell

Niraya (nir+aya) means "devoid of happiness." According to Buddhism there are several woeful states where beings exhaust unskillful karma. They are not eternal worlds of endless suffering -- but they must seem that way to the beings there. The difference between interminable and indeterminate must seem academic when hope is lost and the results seem to far outweigh the deeds that gave rise to them.

Nevertheless, with the exhaustion of the unwholesome (akusala) karma there is a possibility for the denizens residing in such states to be reborn elsewhere based on their past good actions.

• Reference: A Manual of Abhidhamma being Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha of Bhadanta Anuruddhācariya (ed. in the orig. Pāli text with English transl. and explanatory notes by Nārada Mahā Thera, 5th rev. ed. Kuala Lumpur: Buddhist Missionary Soc., 1987).

Various torments, Wat Saen Suk, Thailand (http://www.payer.de/).

Nirayas: the Hells
Various lists of Nirayas are found in various Buddhist texts. In the Commentary to the Jātaka* there occurs the following list: Sañjīva, Kālasutta, Sanghāta, Jālaroruva, Dhūmaroruva, Mahāvīci, Tapana, Patāpana.

The Samyutta and Anguttara Nikāyas and the Sutta Nipāta contain a different list: Abbuda, Nirabbuda, Ababa, Atata, Ahaha, Kumuda, Sogandhika, Uppala, Pundarīka, Paduma (S.i.149; A.v.173; SN.p.126; see also Dvy. 67).

The Commentaries explain (e.g., AA.ii.853) that these are not separate Nirayas but specified periods of suffering in Avīci (the great hell). The Devadūta Sutra (M.iii.185) of the Middle Length Sayings (Majjhima Nikāya) contains yet another list: Gūtha, Kukkula, Simbalivana, Asipattavana, and Khārodakanadī. Other names also occur sporadically (e.g., Khuradhāra (J.v.269), Kākola (J.vi.247), Sataporisa (J.v.269), and Sattisūla (J.v.143).

The most fearful of the Nirayas is, however, the Avīci-mahā-niraya (see s.v. Avīci).

*J.v.266, 271; the same list is found in Dvy.67, except that Raurava is substituted for Jalaroruva and Mahāraurava for Dhūmaroruva.

• Reference: Malalasekera, G. P. Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names. Pali Text Society, 1974.

Niraya is the name given to one of the multilayer worlds of greatest suffering in Buddhist cosmology. Niraya is usually translated into English as "hell" or "purgatory." It differs from the hells of Western religions in at least two important respects. First, beings are not sent to there as the result of any divine judgment or punishment; second, the length of a being's stay is not eternal, though it is usually very long.

Instead, a being is reborn there as a direct result of his or her previous karma (actions of body, speech, and mind) and resides there for a finite length of time until that karma has achieved its full result. After this karma is used up, one will be reborn in another world as a result of an earlier karma that had not yet ripened. Karma means action or doing; whatever one does, says, or thinks is a karma.

The mentality of a being in the hells corresponds to states of extreme fear and helpless anguish in humans. Physically, Niraya is thought of as a series of cavernous layers which extend below Jambudvīpa ("India" or the "human realm" in general) into the earth. There are several schemes for enumerating these hells and describing their torments. One of the more common is that of the Eight Cold Hells and Eight Hot Hells, which are described below.

• Cold Nirayas
• Hot Nirayas
• Nirayas in Buddhist literature

Cold Hells

Arbuda – the "blister" hell. This is a dark, frozen plain surrounded by icy mountains and continually swept by blizzards. Inhabitant of this plain arise fully grown and abide life-long naked and alone, while the cold raises blisters on their bodies. The length of life in this world is said to be the time it would take to empty a barrel of sesame seed if one only took out a single seed every hundred years.

Nirarbuda – the "burst blister" hell. This world is even colder than the one above, and here the blisters burst open, leaving the beings' bodies covered with frozen blood and pus.

Aṭaṭa – the hell of shivering. Here the beings shiver in the cold, making an aṭ-aṭ-aṭ sound with their mouths.

Hahava – the hell of lamentation. Here the beings lament in the cold, going "ha, ha" in pain.

Huhuva – the hell of chattering teeth. Here the beings shiver as their teeth chatter, making the sound "hu, hu."

Utpala – the "blue lotus" hell. Here the intense cold makes the skin turn blue like the color of an utpala waterlily.

Padma – the "lotus" hell. In this hell the blizzard cracks open the frozen skin leaving one raw and bloody.

Mahāpadma – the "great lotus" hell. Here the whole body cracks into pieces and the internal organs are exposed to the cold and they also crack.

Each lifetime in these hells is twenty times the length of the one before it.

Hot Hells
Sañjīva – the "reviving" hell. In this hell the ground is made out of hot iron heated by an immense fire. Beings in this hell appear fully grown, already in a state of fear and misery. As soon as the being begins to fear being harmed by others, their fellows appear and attack each other with iron claws. Otherwise, the attendants of Yama appear and attack the being with many fiery weapons. As soon as the being experiences an unconsciousness like death, they are suddenly restored to full health and the attacks begin again. Other tortures experienced in this hell are having melted metal drop on them, being sliced into pieces, and suffering from the heat of the iron ground. Life in this hell is 162*1010 years long. It is said to be 1000 yojanas [7,000 miles] beneath Jambudvīpa and 10,000 yojanas [70,000 miles] in each direction.

Kālasūtra – the "black thread" hell. Here, in addition to the torments mentioned above, black lines are drawn upon the body, and Yama's servants cut the beings upon the lines with fiery saws and sharp axes. Life in this hell is 1296*1010 years long.

Saṃghāta – the "crushing" hell. This hell is also upon a ground of hot iron, but is surrounded by huge masses of rock that smash together and crush the beings to a bloody jelly. When the rocks move apart again, life is restored to the being and the process starts again. Life in this hell is 10,368*1010 years long.

Raurava – the "screaming" hell. Here beings run here and there looking for refuge from the burning ground. When they find an apparent shelter, they are locked inside it as it blazes around them, while they scream inside. Life in this hell is 82,944*1010 years long.

Mahāraurava – the "great screaming" hell. It is similar to Raurava but with greater pains. Life in this hell is 663,552*1010 years long.

"The Scream" -- a series of expressionist paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, depicting an agonized figure against a blood red sky. The original German title given to the work by Munch was Der Schrei der Natur ("The Scream of Nature"). The Norwegian word skrik is usually translated as scream, but is cognate with the English "shriek." Occasionally, the painting has been called The Cry. In his diary dated 22.01.1892, Munch described his inspiration for the image thus: "I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting—suddenly the sky turned blood red—I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence—there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city—my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

Tapana – the "heating" hell. Here Yama's servants impale the beings on a fiery spear until flames issue from their noses and mouths. Life in this hell is 5,308,416*1010 years long.

Pratāpana – the "great heating" hell. The tortures here are similar to Tapana, but the beings are pierced more bloodily with a trident. Life in this hell is 42,467,328*1010 years long. It is also said to last for the length of half an antarakalpa.

Avīci – the "uninterrupted" hell. Beings are roasted in an immense blazing oven with terrible suffering. Life in this hell is 339,738,624*1010 years long. It is also said to last for the length of an antarakalpa.

These hells by no means exhaust the tale of possibilities. Some sources reckon five hundred or even hundreds of thousands of different hells. In Chinese Buddhist texts, the numbers and types of hells were elaborated in a variety of creative ways; see Di Yu for examples of this sort of treatment. Tibetan Dharmapala at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois Yama is the name of the Buddhist god and judge of the dead, who presides over the Buddhist hells or purgatories. Although ultimately based on the god Yama of the Hindu Vedas, the Buddhist Yama has developed.

According to Puranic cosmography, the earth is divided into seven concentric island continents (sapta-dvipa vasumati) separated by the seven encircling seas, each double the size of the preceding one. Similar to the division of the human world, the hells are conceived of as subdivided underground layers even as this conception is not always applicable.

The sufferings of the dwellers in the hells often resemble those of hungry ghosts (Pretas), and the two types of being are easily confused. The simplest distinction is that beings in hell are confined to their subterranean world, while the hungry ghosts are free to move about. A hungry ghost is a kind of ghost associated with hunger common to many religions.

The Hells in Buddhist literature
Descriptions of the hells are a common subject in some forms of Buddhist commentarial and popular literature as a caution against the fate that befalls evildoers and an encouragement to virtue.

The Mahāyāna Sūtra of Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha (Dìzàng or Jizō) graphically describes the sufferings in hell and explains how ordinary people can transfer merit in order to relieve the sufferings of the beings there. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is often known in Japanese as JizÅ or in Chinese as Dizang, is a popular Mahayana Buddhist Bodhisattva, usually depicted as a monk.

The traditional Chinese Buddhist story of Mulian explains how this disciple of of the Buddha spiritually journeyed to one hell to help his mother, who had been reborn there, obtain a better rebirth. Maudgalyayana (Pali: Mahamoggallana; Jp: Mokuren; Ch: Mohemujianlian), also known as Mahamaudgalyayana, was one of the Buddha Shakyamuni's disciple foremost in supernatural powers.

The Japanese monk Genshin began his Ōjōyōshu ("Essentials of Salvation") with a description of the suffering in hell. Tibetan Lamrim texts also included a similar description. Genshin (942-1017) was the most influential of a number evangelists active during the eleventh and twelfth centuries in Japan.

Chinese Buddhist texts considerably enlarged upon the description of hell (Dì Yù), detailing additional hells and their punishments, and expanding the role of Yama and his helpers, Ox-Head and Horse-Face. In these texts, hell became an integral part of the otherworldly bureaucracy which mirrored the Imperial Chinese administration. Feng Du (Traditional Chinese: pinyin) is the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology.

Reference: NationMaster Encyclopedia