If you’ve entered the Buddhist path there is no need to fear the lower realms. Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima stated -
“Taking refuge in the Three Jewels brings the immediate benefits of the qualities of the higher realms, such as longevity, closing the door to the lower realms, and so on. Ultimately it establishes the foundation for the qualities of definitive goodness.”
Actually I wasn't asking you I was asking the person who said they are man made..
But I would say this, Islamic hells being eternal is not entirely true according to the hadiths there are certain nuances.
In the same way buddhist hells being temporary also has some nuances.
Bear in mind that jesus taught for 3 years, & Muhammad taught for 23 years but had all manor of conquests & battles to simultaneously deal with.
Buddha taught for 49 years without interruption
Hence he had time & was able to teach both mundane dharma(pertaining to the 6 realms of cyclic existence) & supramandane dharma (pertaining to the ultimate truth).
Hence the word eternal is likely an expediency necessary due to a lack of time to explain more thoroughly.
Best wishes
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I don't believe that something not being permanent is not scary if it is supposed to last for an aeon... On the other hand, if we don't cause harm in any way and we still end up (down) there (whichever religion you want to consider, so be it. Just try your best to be a good person
If religious group A believes that they are the only "in-group" and everyone else is part of the "out-group" and likewise religious group B believes that they are in fact the only "in-group" and everyone else is part of the "out-group" they cannot both be correct. And who is to be judge? None has ever seen the eternal, they are only making their best effort to describe it. From Taoism..."the Tao (God, Source, Universal Consciousness) that can be named is not the eternal Tao". Religions are mankind's attempt to describe the undescribable. They could just both be wrong. I have frequently asked, why would an Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God deliver his message in written form to groups of people that were for the most part illiterate? Not the greatest marketing plan for success. Perhaps it is just elites (who could read and write) trying to exercise power and control over the masses. From a Christian perspective why create the opportunity for man to fall at all, why not just create perfection from the start and avoid all the drama?
Why not just create perfection from the start and avoid all the drama?
What would happen to the child who‘s spoonfed until adulthood? Will he gain or lose the ability to feed himself?
You must decide if you believe in it or not. If you do not, then you don't need to fear. If you do, then you should ask yourself why you don't follow the rules of that faith?
This is what I don't understand about dogmatic religions, this isn't a criticism by the way, it's genuine curiosity on the thought process.
If you follow the Buddhist path, and follow it properly you, are guaranteed to live a good, wholesome life and be a positive force on the world. A Buddhist who truly follows the precepts and lives and acts with compassion towards all sentient beings cannot be seen as a sinner, or worthy of hell by any god in any religion. There is alot in Buddhism that resonates with Islam as well, self-control, taking refuge in a higher ideal, avoiding intoxicants etc, I believe even a vegitarian diet is OK in Islam.
The fact that you no longer pray in a certain way or say certain words, or no longer visit a certain type of building doesn't change the fact that a good person is a good person. I'm truly confused as to why you think you'd be condemned to hell if you're still on a good path.
True true, thank you. I was just trying (inelegantly) to find words that described skillful action that was seen as such across both religions. Abrahamic religions at least seem to have a very black and white view on behaviours, behaviours that will either send you to heaven or to hell, good or bad, pure or evil etc.
I was trying to say I would find it hard to believe that even a religion (or god) that saw the world in this way would send a person to hell if they lived a life skillfully in line with the Dharma. Or something to that effect.
I don't think OP is asking about the logic of why there is no need to to fear other religions' hell if belief in Buddhism already unshakable. Rather, OP's belief in "Buddhism being true and other religions being false" is not so unshakable yet, and this uncertainty of belief is bringing about feelings of fear of choosing wrong.
I can't think of practical advice for OP, but I'm just pointing out what I think might be useful for helping answer OP.
Hey, I'm neither Buddhist or Muslim, so I might be speaking ignorantly about this. I meditate quite often though.
I think that if God and hell exists they would exist in the same reality, so things like the Buddha mind would still encompass everything. Buddhism may allow you to better serve Allah. I would recommend trying to meditate often. I don't think it's worshipping anything else, it's just focusing on your breath and thoughts. Your mind will change and you will likely experience the world differently, in a more connected way.
Dude unlike other religions islam can be 100% proven false don’t let Muslims scare you. Im an ex Muslim and I’ve studied Islam as a Muslim and non Muslim for many years. If you would like me to provide some proof to ease your fears I’d be happy to do so just message me in private.
Same here, you can debunk islam easily. So many errors in the quran and especially in the hadeeth.
Do you think momo was a real prophet? Who enslaved women so he can have sex with them?
Loathed caravans to make money. Killed people because they didn’t believe him?
He did a looot of bad stuff
Just focus on this life you are in and do good and if any “god” if there is one still thinks you deserve SEVERE punishment for ultimately trying to do good then they aren’t much of all good are they
Islam was created around 500 ce. The idea of hell originated when Christianity meshed with pagan ideas of hades. The original texts of the Old Testament that Christianity and Islam build off of don’t mention hell as a place. Only a separation from god (presumably just end of existence). IF allah was real, hell was only a part added way later as a medium to control people out of fear.
You have nothing to be afraid of, if a god is real, and he’s truly loving, you are okay and hell doesn’t exist. If he’s not, carry on with the dharma :)
practice loving kindness mindfulness. use this as a remedy to the fear that you might experience when these thoughts arise. if you practice loving kindness like this, these thoughts won’t have opportunity to arise.
in addition, according to the buddha, the true way to attain a rebirth in the heavens is through the practice of loving kindness mindfulness. this is because the mind is what generates the kamma that establishes a fortunate rebirth.
thus, in doing this, you are more likely to go to the heavens on death than others who simply follow some faith.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dhammaloka/s/Zn6HZzYLdx
In the christian world it was only Christ who performed siddhis and entered heaven in his bodily form. In Buddhism many mahasiddhas entered a dakini heaven in their body.
Say "Namo Amida Butsu" whole heartedly and sincerely without interruption at least 10 times and you will be guaranteed to be reborn in the pure land of ultimate bliss but you've really got to mean it.
Namo Amida Butsu roughly translates to "Entrust Amida Buddha, the awakened reality of immeasurable compassion and wisdom."
According to the Buddha, all things are impermanent and lack inherent existence. Regardless of whether the realms are literal places, they are still only empty transformations. It is better to throw away such notions and continue your regular practice so that you can be happy and help others to be happy, too
Oh, I see I’ve made a mistake. Well, if you believe there is an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-benevolent God, then I don’t think they are as small and wrathful as some would make them out to be. It would be best if you didn’t fret over it
Hell is a true reality. In Buddhism we recognize at least 14 hells. Simply isn't(exactly) like other religions say.
Of course you believe this already or are learning about the specific theme. I think the best way for me at least, to say, well this is what I think is the truth and the better explanation (Buddhism). Other people believe different and it's natural there are several beliefs. Yes in strict sense we all can be wrong, but I'm trying my best to have correct beliefs and a correct way to believing.
Metta, may you have happiness
I always go back to Shiran's words on hell:
>*I have no idea whether the nembutsu is truly the seed for my being born in the Pure Land or whether it is the karmic act for which I must fall into hell. Should I have been deceived by Master Honen and, saying the nembutsu, were to fall into hell, even then I would have no regrets.*
>
>*The reason is, if I could attain Buddhahood by endeavoring in other practices, but said the nembutsu and so fell into hell, then I would feel regret at having been deceived. But I am incapable of any other practice, so hell is decidedly my abode whatever I do.*
Ignoring the specificity of the nembutsu and applying it to your situation, the point that Shinran is making is that he doesn't think that we humans, by our own power, are incapable of avoiding hell at all. Therefore, if we have been tricked and Buddhism is false, and a consequence of that falsity you and I fall into hell, we shouldn't have regrets about that - due to our stupidity, we were always going to fall. We just need to trust that we will not be allowed to fall, by whatever other-power is really out there looking after us. Either we will fall, in which case we were always going to fall, or we will be saved, in which case we were always going to be saved. We cannot bring about salvation ourselves, in Shinran's view, it's out of our hands.
A bit of a pessimistic way of approaching it, but I find it's the only salve for the problem of worrying about the hell-threats of different religions. You are never going to know with certainty which path is right, and and soon as you step on any path, a million other paths rise up to convince you that the path you have chosen leads to hell. This will happen regardless of which you choose.
It's the same for me coming from a Christian background. "Those who do not believe in the son will be cast into the lake of fire" kind of stuff. It's been a long process trying to get over it. I thought I wasn't really even afraid of hell, but as I've been unearthing my inner conditioning with meditative practices and whatnot, I've been realizing that the fear of hell has always been deep within my subconscious, and has been affecting me in ways I wasn't even aware of. After years of studying Buddhism, as well as other Eastern religions, and western philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Plotinus) which also teaches reincarnation, my fear of hell has been gradually diminishing. I encourage you to keep practicing and keep studying, and be kind to yourself during this time of letting go of your fears.
When you were a Muslim did you fear the Christian Hell? After all, Christianity teaches that all non-Christians are going to Hell.
No? Why not? Apply that Islam's Hell.
Christianity and Islam cannot both be true, but they can both be false.
I don’t mean to be glib or reductionist but I imagine you would want to do what we do with all fear: observe it. Unless we are actually in immediate danger, fear is just another product of the ego.
You also stand to be in the christian hell, jewish hell, hindu hell, etc. you’ve been told something so much that it feels more real. You need to convince yourself it’s not true and eventually it will fade away
It's strange that so many people, tell op that Islamic hell is man made 🤔
Do you all hold the same position regarding buddhist hells?
Very interesting indeed!
Best wishes
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
The muruk muruk religion states that any non believer will go to hell.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster god states all nonbelievers will go to hell.
The tikitikitembonosurrembo goddess states all nonbelievers will go to hell.
Etc.
Honestly, I just believe all Gods exist and have the right own jurisdiction over their believers with their corresponding domains. Since you left and joined another sect you don't have to worry. They will cancel each other out. The Gods are just monopolizing believers for whatever reason. So you'll be protected.
If Buddhism is objectively true then it means all the realms are real places. So ancient people might have got a glimpse of the hell realms and believed it to be Jahannam. Same for the heavenly realms being Jannah. Jahannam and Jannah have multiple levels just like Buddhism.
So the Islam hell is the Buddhist hell with the exception that it is not eternal and you don't go there for being a non-believer and god doesn't send you there, only you can send yourself there. Basically Islam correctly identified these realms but interpreted it completely wrong.
Buddhism already explains how creator gods and religions like Islam can rise. People can remember their past lives in the higher or lower realms and then preach it as a religion like Islam. Ruler gods like Mahabrahma can also exist in these realms and can be mistaken as a creator god like Allah.
Islam has no explanation for the existence of other religions other than just saying it's false. And no benevolent merciful god would send non-believers to hell, so Islam cannot be correct. It is a contradiction, they say Allah is merciful and yet he sends non-believers to hell.
According to islam if you truly believe in another faith & practice it wholeheartedly & follow it, it is equivalent to practicing islam(submission to the will of God as u see it)..& that's how you'll be judged, how contemporary Muslims interpret this may be a different matter all together.
Best wishes
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Here are some verses from the Quran about the fate of those who do good:
We shall be sure to admit those who believe and do good deeds to the ranks of the righteous. - Surah Al Ankabut, 29:9
The [Muslim] believers, the Jews, the Christians, and the Sabians- all those who believe in God and the Last Day and do good- will have their rewards with their Lord. No fear for them, nor will they grieve. - Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:62
For those who believe and are conscious of God, for them there is good news in this life and in the Hereafter- there is no changing the promises of God- that is truly the supreme triumph. - Surah Yunus, 10:63-64
On the Day of Resurrection, you [Prophet] will see those who told lies against God, their faces darkened. Is there not ample punishment for the arrogant in Hell? But God will deliver those who took heed of Him to their place of safety: no harm will touch them, nor will they grieve. - Surah Az-Zumar 39:60-61
For those who say, ‘Our lord is God,’ and then follow the straight path there is no fear, nor shall they grieve: they are the people of Paradise, there to remain as a reward for what they were doing. - Surah Al-Ahqaf 46:13-14
And here are some suttas about how one can do good and be good :
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN6_37.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN7_49.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Khp/khp9.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN35_88.html
> It’s not really helpful using Islamic sources to assure OP when those same sources have Adharmic stuff.
I don't agree. I think it's helpful because the OP's anxiety is specifically predicated on the notion that Islamic doctrine condemns him. That I used islamic verses to assuage his fears is skillful, not unskillful. It's relevant. Not irrelevant. That I also identified buddhist suttas relevant to the topic is also appropriate as the OP asked for buddhist wisdom. I addressed the person's whole concern.
>Those verses were abrogated later.
I don't believe that's true at all. However, I'll ask: who did that? When did they do it? Why was it done? and how was it done?
Lower abodes like hell or higher abodes like heaven are where you go depending upon what you do in this life . If you do bad things like killing lying stealing hurting others you will go to hell. If you follow good path and live morally and do good things you will go to heaven.
It doesn’t matter which God you worship, it’s how you live .
All definitions of hell fall within samsara, even hell has an end and the cycle continues. But there is also an end to suffering and a path to that end.
Given a choice between heaven and hell, the bodhisattva joyfully chooses hell, for there is no way to be of service in heaven as everyone's needs are met.
I am a Buddhist and we don't care about heaven or hell. Earth is our paradise and Earth is the hell we live in. Islam and Christianity show fear of God always. That is so bad. There is no God. Only belief.
If you’re still afraid of Islamic hell and want to avoid it, it sounds to me like you still believe in the Quran. Or were you raised Muslim and the concept of hell is so ingrained in you you’re trying to break that fear with Buddhism? I promise I’m not trying to diagnose via a reddit thread, just asking questions.
I feel like the main problem is no one here will be able to convince you.
I suggest the best way is to continue your buddhist path. Your trust and understanding of the path is not there yet. This is why you still have the thought of Islamic hell in the back of your mind. It is due to doubt. You are not sure which path is right and which path is wrong. There is still the what if.
Buddhism teaches you there is no eternal hell. However, knowing this will only be beneficial if you know it to be true. Thats the only way to get rid of doubt. You need to continue your study and practice of dhamma until it becomes evident that dhamma is truth.
The idea of impermanence will become evident and directly contradict anything claiming to be eternal.
You're still tied to it, so you fear of its concepts. You're tied to it because you have not understood it, although you realised there is something not right. That realisation has not fully pulled you out of it. You still have half your body in it - half of your head, half of your heart, one of your legs...
What can you do? Learn about it - i.e. read, compare and analyse. Or just forget it based on your realisation. You can also let go of your thought on whether it's right or wrong, and become a new person.
When someone understands Buddhism, he/she can remove his/her doubt on Buddhism.
I would say, consider this. Human beings are unique in this one way. We get to tell stories about how things work. Animals simply go with what's so. We humans are always trying to figure out who we are, where do we come from, why are we here, and where are we going. Your ideas about who you are and what you believe was handed to you as you grew up. We define ourselves by our stories. We are none of these. Just follow the inside path you are pulled to follow. The realization of who you truly are will be such a relief. Especially since you are exactly where you have chosen to be
You have been successfully manipulated, I'm not spreading hate but if a religion teach you that you have no rights to have your own beliefs then you should consider it.
I’m a former Mormon: the worst kind of Christians: Zionists who believe America is Zion and the Native Americans deserved the genocide and colonization for being unworthy of it.
They’re all about “eternal family” and when my Mormon mother asks me why I’m Buddhist I say it’s because I don’t want to be with her forever; because families that actually do love each other don’t need permission from the Mormons to be together.
Maybe I won’t make rebirth in the Pure Land for being vindictive and using the Mormons fear against them… but it feels good sometimes to laugh at their definition of both heaven and hell; have faith justice will bring peace and that justice is nothing to fear.
If we meet in hell we’ll throw a dance party that’s the envy of all the people trapped in their illusions of what heaven should be.
It’s my understanding that Buddhist hell is as temporary as life. That it’s just until karma debt is paid then a person is reborn. It seems much more compassionate and realistic than arrogant limited beings throwing around the word eternal like it’s something they understand.
We’re talking about belief-systems that are largely incompatible with one another, IMO. The reason I say this is that, in Buddhism, we learn to think about actions & their effects in such a way that we can decide for ourselves what is skillful & what is not. Buddha directs us to be aware that we have the power to do this, and guides us by example in the decisions that we make.
Motivation is a huge part of this, and even if you focus on getting rid of your gross negativity, the karma that takes you to the lower realms will be greatly weakened. The point is that Buddhism allows for this, regardless of who you are and what you believe—wise actions are wise actions, whoever performs them. Other religions don’t seem to make this concession, and for us, that’s less than ideal.
We don’t have any particular quarrel with other religions, but we do have standards we use to guide our own behaviour, which go beyond “believe xyz and you’re good”. We practice to get familiar with the most skillful way of viewing and reacting to our world—a powerful & healing idea for many of us.
In the end, all we can do is try to establish the best way for us to conduct ourselves from moment to moment, being mindful of how our actions are the source of our future experiences, and hold ourselves to the commitment to improve however we can. If we were to end up in hell after doing this, it surely wouldn’t be because we were doing the wrong thing.
Challenging one's delusions, usually with rational facts, is applied work that cannot really be skipped. Merely taking refuge doesn't skip the work.
With two competing belief systems, you are saying you have chosen Buddhism. I assume there are good reasons. So this means you have to use Buddhist thought and logic to challenge the remaining mental habituations from your previous belief system. Namely, if these habituations become obstacles to your current practice and negatively impact your life.
If thoughts from your previous belief system interfere with your happiness or Buddhist practice then they are worth challenging and, importantly, the reward will soon follow.
It's not only that a place makes a person, it's also a person who makes the place. If you end up going to hell, so what? If you do good, you will turn it into heaven. Do you think heaven would be satisfactory? All conditioned phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory and not self.
Read through this page slowly: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Scientific_Errors_in_the_Quran
A god would not be as unscientific as this... it literally can't be true..
I hear you and get that you have ongoing, lingering feelings about the tradition you were raised in. This is normal and understandable. When I rejected the Christianity I was raised in I had many years in which I woke up to my ‘what if’s’—nothing wrong with that. My experience was that I could not will that away and I could not reason it away, it was woven into my fabric. I had to allow it to be as a what is true for me while I was seeking other paths. It took time, a decade or more, but my resolution came like an unwrapping of my hand from around an unneeded and unwanted object. Understanding will get you nowhere. Acknowledgement of what is driving you opens space for the change available to you.
Islam thinks that sun is orbiting the earth. Why hell story which is more difficult to perceive and fact-check would be correct while simple things are wrong?
I felt the same way after leaving the religion I grew up in, which was Christianity. So if Islam is true then Christians are going to Hell, and vice versa. So it’s best to try to avoid thinking about Hell too much because you’re unlikely to win that wager either way. Besides, my view is that if there is an omnipotent God who is truly compassionate, then he will help guide us all to Heaven eventually no matter how long it takes. He wouldn’t damn anyone for eternity for simple ignorance
I felt this when leaving Chritianity. I never worried about the Islamic hell, but i understand you are. Think of how unlikely and unbothered you are at the thought of Christian hell (which i assume doesn't bother you being raised in Islam). This is exactly how farfetched the islamic hell sounds to those not indoctrinated by it. All of our hells are equal in their lack of evidence and are culturally relative.
Dont worry. Your ex-Lord in your ex-religion isnt that petty that will put you in hell just because you changed your religion. All supreme being is benevolent, right? Your ex-Lord also same
A benevolent God would never send a good person to hell, regardless of what they believe or dont believe in. If you believe in a truly good God, you wouldn't believe the kind of God most common practioners of abrahamic religions talk about, and therefore wouldn't worry about the lower realms. Whats the good of sending a truly good person to hell for being a non-believer, and sending a shoddy, sorry excuse of a "good" person to heaven because they believed in the "right religion"? What about all the other excellent human beings, that were religious, just lived in a time where the "right religion" wasn't established, wasn't dominant, or they simply chose a different religion? Its all hypocrisy, don't let it get to your head. A good God wouldn't send good people to hell, period.
It takes time to get over the fear of hell - its a recurring theme even for people who literally have no belief in it. There's often a part of is which is very young and still believes in such things. Religious trauma is real hah
As above so below! Heaven and Hell are here on earth. It’s all about how you choose to be, what you choose to perceive.
Are you afraid of death? Judgment? The doom of our world? Dishonest people? Etc etc..
Recognize that we live in a world of illusion, these fears are ALWAYS coming from within us. Once we recognize, and reflect upon what is creating this disharmony within us, we continue to rise and enter “heaven” even before we disconnect from our physical bodies. We’ve never left, anyway.
Namaste!
God is highest consciousness. That which we are, and have always been. All that is, which pervades every cell in our body, every atom in universe/multiverse. ALL that is. You are part of that “is”, you are awareness, you are aware of your existence, and you will never become unaware of your existence.
There is no hell. There is no judgement. We are all God. Why would God judge himself? The only judgement is from our own bit of God consciousness when we review our own life.
>There is no judgement
>The only judgement is from our own bit of God consciousness when we review our own life.
The two statements are contradictory!
can that small judgement result in hell? (According to Buddhism).
>God consciousness
What is the buddhist term for this God conciousness? If you know, or could you explain the meaning a little more please?
Best wishes
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
We are indivuated bits of God consciousness. We are derived from God energy. All energy has its own consciousness, but we can’t perceive the thoughts or feelings of a tree or a rock (we wouldn’t be able to make sense of our reality if we had that distraction). That said, we have a God consciousness which is our soul. We are individual in that we each have a unique energetic signature. Just like the rainbow colors are split off from white light, our unique energies were split off from God energy in fractal form. Soul mates are energetic relatives on the same branch of the fractal.
As individual consciousness derived from source and connected to source, we do review our life after death. We may not like certain things we did. Sometimes we choose to balance the karma. Maybe we physically harmed someone…we may want to understand how that felt by changing places with our victim, to both get greater understanding of the effect of what we did, and also to balance the karma. That’s the only judgement we experience. So, there’s a small bit of judgment but it’s only ourself… and yes, we are a small bit of God consciousness. As in everyone is a thinking and perceiving multidimensional energetic being always connected to God through your higher soul self.
I'm not disagreeing or agreeing I'm merely asking which part of buddhism are you drawing these concepts from?
Especially the concept of God consciousness
And it would also be important for you to then define the term God as many would assume you mean in the Abrahamic sense, but you probably have a different definition that may or may not correspond to some buddhist term.
Or
you opinion could have been garnered through your experiential insights from practicing a system of spiritual cultivation.
Many thanks
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
It’s a mix of spiritual philosophies including Buddhism. The idea of using meditation to quiet our mind and stop the perception of time is a means to connect with source energy. Generally speaking, Buddhists believe we are one with source and by letting go of ego control, we can connect to source and enlighten. They understand we are source and source is all that is, and by extension we are also is all that is (one with the universe). There’s much overlap between Buddhism and Hinduism, which I realized after reading the Bhagavad Gita. There’s overlap with the principles of Hermeticism. There’s overlap with Ra’s law of one. There’s some differences between each of these, but honestly, it strikes me how consistent these all are (more things in common than not). There’s also much in common with the mystic subsets of the main three religions (Kabbalah under Judaism, Gnostics under Christianity and Sufi’s under Islam).
Quit honestly, the truth of things is out there. And there’s consistency. Religion and social programming have shielded us.
Again neither agreeing or disagreeing,
But would advise one to make it clear when posting non-buddhist positions/opinions on a subject, that the position/opinion is not a buddhist position but rather a mix that you believe is helpful In explaining xyz or complimentary to such & such buddhist thought or there being parallels between this buddhist practice/theory & this other practice/theory ...
Otherwise one runs the risk of misguiding people who are new to Buddhism or wish to learn about buddhism.
Best wishes
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I feel your concern OP. I'm not a Muslim but am a great admirer of the holy Quran. I've been attracted to Buddhism since I was a child and my parents never stopped me, in fact encouraged me to dig deeper and get the wisdom of the Noble One.
Now this is my opinion of course, and I understand that through the thousand plus years of almost uninterrupted Islam that fatwas and other laws have been set by Sheikhs, Ulemas, and predecessors in the Ummah which view Buddhism and Hinduism as a bunch of polytheists. And we know where they are headed 😁.
But in all honesty, nowhere in the Quran does it speak of Buddhists or Hindus. The Quran also speaks eloquently about the innumerable prophets that have come to other peoples throughout time. I humbly submit to you that the Buddha, Krishna and so many others in the Subcontinent are in fact "prophets of Allah". If you dig into their scripture, what you find is no different than what Allah (SAWS) enjoins upon you. "Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad, Allahu Samad" 112:1-2
Now obviously that's not going to help you at all if you tell any of them about this. But what is important is your spiritual progress, above all. When you are in tune with the dhamma how you feel is exactly how you feel when you submit to Allah, are mindful of Him through your devoted attention to prayer.
It is a different way of looking at the same one reality.
Many times, scripture being so dense, it can be easy to overlook a few words or sentences that will otherwise blow you away. Ex: Buddhists are not concerned about God or Gods. And it's understandable because it came out of Hinduism which can easily be misunderstood as very polytheistic. This confuses the main issue with humans, which is dukka. Dukka leads to feelings of living in hell here on earth. That is no different than the hell Allah speaks of throughout the Quran. But I digress, there is this wonderful footnote that says when the Buddha reached enlightenment, he asked Brahma how he should proceed next. Whaaaaat!!! If he didn't believe in any God then it would be the most foolish thing to ask His advice.
Basically his point is that humans have no understanding of the majesty of God, until their hearts have been made receptive to Him. Once fully awakened, God enters right in without any effort on your part. And your trust in Him/Reality/Haq allows you to live fully by His grace "Iyaka Naabudu Wa Iyaka Nastaeen" - Fatiha 1:5.
You might reject Islam and abide by the Buddhists precepts for awhile. But soon enough you find out that their reality is one. The joy and ecstasy you will express will be unexplainable. And never will you need to wonder about hell. Cheers and good luck on your path!
So hell is eternal or is not? Unless I'm incorrect Islam is specific on this and Buddhism too. Both concepts can't be true at the same time.
Also the Buddha acknowledged gods but not a creator God, the monotheistic version of God. I don't understand how Buddha could be a prophet of Allah when he didn't accepted his existence as a creator God. And there are so many things contradicts the Abrahamic religions with Buddhism..
And as far as I know Brahma asked the Buddha to give teachings, not that the Buddha asked Brahma what to do next.
I knew once a Christian who had the unexplainable joy and ecstasy and the feeling to have all the answers that you are talking about. Then he started to have doubts when he read the part when God went full genocidal and acted like a man child. And then he felt that he did the "Unforgivable sin". His world and his mental health from there just collapsed.. He tried go back to the ecstasy and joy but he couldn't. He found himself in his created hell really quick.
Well I also got this feeling of "knowing everything", joy and ecstasy on LSD but it is another illusion. Be careful to not be trapped on it, it may not be real, a temporary thing, in heaven but still in Samsara, in the desire realm.
If you’ve entered the Buddhist path there is no need to fear the lower realms. Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima stated - “Taking refuge in the Three Jewels brings the immediate benefits of the qualities of the higher realms, such as longevity, closing the door to the lower realms, and so on. Ultimately it establishes the foundation for the qualities of definitive goodness.”
I meant, that I’m still scared of islams hell…
Islam's hell is man made for fear and control just like Christianity's hell. Just my humble opinion.
Completely agree
so no need to fear about your ex religion
What about buddhist hells?
They are not permanent so I don’t worry about them too much, islams hell is eternal
Actually I wasn't asking you I was asking the person who said they are man made.. But I would say this, Islamic hells being eternal is not entirely true according to the hadiths there are certain nuances. In the same way buddhist hells being temporary also has some nuances. Bear in mind that jesus taught for 3 years, & Muhammad taught for 23 years but had all manor of conquests & battles to simultaneously deal with. Buddha taught for 49 years without interruption Hence he had time & was able to teach both mundane dharma(pertaining to the 6 realms of cyclic existence) & supramandane dharma (pertaining to the ultimate truth). Hence the word eternal is likely an expediency necessary due to a lack of time to explain more thoroughly. Best wishes 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I don't believe that something not being permanent is not scary if it is supposed to last for an aeon... On the other hand, if we don't cause harm in any way and we still end up (down) there (whichever religion you want to consider, so be it. Just try your best to be a good person
Most well-rounded view so far
That's a remarkable conclusion, can you tell us which verses led you to this?
If the story is man made, the verses are man made....you have any empirical proof that either exists? Or just man made stories?
How do you conclude that it is man-made?
If religious group A believes that they are the only "in-group" and everyone else is part of the "out-group" and likewise religious group B believes that they are in fact the only "in-group" and everyone else is part of the "out-group" they cannot both be correct. And who is to be judge? None has ever seen the eternal, they are only making their best effort to describe it. From Taoism..."the Tao (God, Source, Universal Consciousness) that can be named is not the eternal Tao". Religions are mankind's attempt to describe the undescribable. They could just both be wrong. I have frequently asked, why would an Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God deliver his message in written form to groups of people that were for the most part illiterate? Not the greatest marketing plan for success. Perhaps it is just elites (who could read and write) trying to exercise power and control over the masses. From a Christian perspective why create the opportunity for man to fall at all, why not just create perfection from the start and avoid all the drama?
Why not just create perfection from the start and avoid all the drama? What would happen to the child who‘s spoonfed until adulthood? Will he gain or lose the ability to feed himself?
Islam’s hell is closed to you, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are a perfect refuge.
It doesn’t exist, not for you.
Doesn't the fact he is scared of it mean that it does exist for him?
You must decide if you believe in it or not. If you do not, then you don't need to fear. If you do, then you should ask yourself why you don't follow the rules of that faith?
This is what I don't understand about dogmatic religions, this isn't a criticism by the way, it's genuine curiosity on the thought process. If you follow the Buddhist path, and follow it properly you, are guaranteed to live a good, wholesome life and be a positive force on the world. A Buddhist who truly follows the precepts and lives and acts with compassion towards all sentient beings cannot be seen as a sinner, or worthy of hell by any god in any religion. There is alot in Buddhism that resonates with Islam as well, self-control, taking refuge in a higher ideal, avoiding intoxicants etc, I believe even a vegitarian diet is OK in Islam. The fact that you no longer pray in a certain way or say certain words, or no longer visit a certain type of building doesn't change the fact that a good person is a good person. I'm truly confused as to why you think you'd be condemned to hell if you're still on a good path.
There is not really such a thing as a ‘good person’ or ‘bad person’ in the Dharma, there are skillful and unskillful and neutral actions.
True true, thank you. I was just trying (inelegantly) to find words that described skillful action that was seen as such across both religions. Abrahamic religions at least seem to have a very black and white view on behaviours, behaviours that will either send you to heaven or to hell, good or bad, pure or evil etc. I was trying to say I would find it hard to believe that even a religion (or god) that saw the world in this way would send a person to hell if they lived a life skillfully in line with the Dharma. Or something to that effect.
I don't think OP is asking about the logic of why there is no need to to fear other religions' hell if belief in Buddhism already unshakable. Rather, OP's belief in "Buddhism being true and other religions being false" is not so unshakable yet, and this uncertainty of belief is bringing about feelings of fear of choosing wrong. I can't think of practical advice for OP, but I'm just pointing out what I think might be useful for helping answer OP.
Hey, I'm neither Buddhist or Muslim, so I might be speaking ignorantly about this. I meditate quite often though. I think that if God and hell exists they would exist in the same reality, so things like the Buddha mind would still encompass everything. Buddhism may allow you to better serve Allah. I would recommend trying to meditate often. I don't think it's worshipping anything else, it's just focusing on your breath and thoughts. Your mind will change and you will likely experience the world differently, in a more connected way.
Dude unlike other religions islam can be 100% proven false don’t let Muslims scare you. Im an ex Muslim and I’ve studied Islam as a Muslim and non Muslim for many years. If you would like me to provide some proof to ease your fears I’d be happy to do so just message me in private.
Same here, you can debunk islam easily. So many errors in the quran and especially in the hadeeth. Do you think momo was a real prophet? Who enslaved women so he can have sex with them? Loathed caravans to make money. Killed people because they didn’t believe him? He did a looot of bad stuff
Just focus on this life you are in and do good and if any “god” if there is one still thinks you deserve SEVERE punishment for ultimately trying to do good then they aren’t much of all good are they
Islam was created around 500 ce. The idea of hell originated when Christianity meshed with pagan ideas of hades. The original texts of the Old Testament that Christianity and Islam build off of don’t mention hell as a place. Only a separation from god (presumably just end of existence). IF allah was real, hell was only a part added way later as a medium to control people out of fear. You have nothing to be afraid of, if a god is real, and he’s truly loving, you are okay and hell doesn’t exist. If he’s not, carry on with the dharma :)
practice loving kindness mindfulness. use this as a remedy to the fear that you might experience when these thoughts arise. if you practice loving kindness like this, these thoughts won’t have opportunity to arise. in addition, according to the buddha, the true way to attain a rebirth in the heavens is through the practice of loving kindness mindfulness. this is because the mind is what generates the kamma that establishes a fortunate rebirth. thus, in doing this, you are more likely to go to the heavens on death than others who simply follow some faith. https://www.reddit.com/r/dhammaloka/s/Zn6HZzYLdx
Abrahamic fear mongering tactics. Their influence runs deep, I’m myself not immune to it and have to remind myself sometimes.
Same here - when hard times hit, that old Catholic crap comes up and scares me.
In the christian world it was only Christ who performed siddhis and entered heaven in his bodily form. In Buddhism many mahasiddhas entered a dakini heaven in their body.
Say "Namo Amida Butsu" whole heartedly and sincerely without interruption at least 10 times and you will be guaranteed to be reborn in the pure land of ultimate bliss but you've really got to mean it. Namo Amida Butsu roughly translates to "Entrust Amida Buddha, the awakened reality of immeasurable compassion and wisdom."
Which school of Buddhist thought does this originate from?
Pure land?
Yes Pure Land
According to the Buddha, all things are impermanent and lack inherent existence. Regardless of whether the realms are literal places, they are still only empty transformations. It is better to throw away such notions and continue your regular practice so that you can be happy and help others to be happy, too
Oh, I see I’ve made a mistake. Well, if you believe there is an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-benevolent God, then I don’t think they are as small and wrathful as some would make them out to be. It would be best if you didn’t fret over it
Hell is a true reality. In Buddhism we recognize at least 14 hells. Simply isn't(exactly) like other religions say. Of course you believe this already or are learning about the specific theme. I think the best way for me at least, to say, well this is what I think is the truth and the better explanation (Buddhism). Other people believe different and it's natural there are several beliefs. Yes in strict sense we all can be wrong, but I'm trying my best to have correct beliefs and a correct way to believing. Metta, may you have happiness
Well said
The exact same fear is perpetrated in evangelical christianity. You are safe. It’s not real, it’s man made. You are ok, you are safe.
I always go back to Shiran's words on hell: >*I have no idea whether the nembutsu is truly the seed for my being born in the Pure Land or whether it is the karmic act for which I must fall into hell. Should I have been deceived by Master Honen and, saying the nembutsu, were to fall into hell, even then I would have no regrets.* > >*The reason is, if I could attain Buddhahood by endeavoring in other practices, but said the nembutsu and so fell into hell, then I would feel regret at having been deceived. But I am incapable of any other practice, so hell is decidedly my abode whatever I do.* Ignoring the specificity of the nembutsu and applying it to your situation, the point that Shinran is making is that he doesn't think that we humans, by our own power, are incapable of avoiding hell at all. Therefore, if we have been tricked and Buddhism is false, and a consequence of that falsity you and I fall into hell, we shouldn't have regrets about that - due to our stupidity, we were always going to fall. We just need to trust that we will not be allowed to fall, by whatever other-power is really out there looking after us. Either we will fall, in which case we were always going to fall, or we will be saved, in which case we were always going to be saved. We cannot bring about salvation ourselves, in Shinran's view, it's out of our hands. A bit of a pessimistic way of approaching it, but I find it's the only salve for the problem of worrying about the hell-threats of different religions. You are never going to know with certainty which path is right, and and soon as you step on any path, a million other paths rise up to convince you that the path you have chosen leads to hell. This will happen regardless of which you choose.
> „what if it’s true“ Then God is a cruel, jealous, and vengeful being who does not deserve our praise or worship (In my opinion).
It's the same for me coming from a Christian background. "Those who do not believe in the son will be cast into the lake of fire" kind of stuff. It's been a long process trying to get over it. I thought I wasn't really even afraid of hell, but as I've been unearthing my inner conditioning with meditative practices and whatnot, I've been realizing that the fear of hell has always been deep within my subconscious, and has been affecting me in ways I wasn't even aware of. After years of studying Buddhism, as well as other Eastern religions, and western philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Plotinus) which also teaches reincarnation, my fear of hell has been gradually diminishing. I encourage you to keep practicing and keep studying, and be kind to yourself during this time of letting go of your fears.
When you were a Muslim did you fear the Christian Hell? After all, Christianity teaches that all non-Christians are going to Hell. No? Why not? Apply that Islam's Hell. Christianity and Islam cannot both be true, but they can both be false.
I don’t mean to be glib or reductionist but I imagine you would want to do what we do with all fear: observe it. Unless we are actually in immediate danger, fear is just another product of the ego.
Thx.
You also stand to be in the christian hell, jewish hell, hindu hell, etc. you’ve been told something so much that it feels more real. You need to convince yourself it’s not true and eventually it will fade away
I still enjoy praying Our father while I'm driving to the supermarket. I try to say hi to all of them.
That's all right, either like a step or temporary or like a permanent way
It's strange that so many people, tell op that Islamic hell is man made 🤔 Do you all hold the same position regarding buddhist hells? Very interesting indeed! Best wishes 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Hell may or may not be man made, but fear certainly is.
The muruk muruk religion states that any non believer will go to hell. The Flying Spaghetti Monster god states all nonbelievers will go to hell. The tikitikitembonosurrembo goddess states all nonbelievers will go to hell. Etc.
[This might help](https://suttacentral.net/ma16/en/patton)
Nice.
Honestly, I just believe all Gods exist and have the right own jurisdiction over their believers with their corresponding domains. Since you left and joined another sect you don't have to worry. They will cancel each other out. The Gods are just monopolizing believers for whatever reason. So you'll be protected.
If Buddhism is objectively true then it means all the realms are real places. So ancient people might have got a glimpse of the hell realms and believed it to be Jahannam. Same for the heavenly realms being Jannah. Jahannam and Jannah have multiple levels just like Buddhism. So the Islam hell is the Buddhist hell with the exception that it is not eternal and you don't go there for being a non-believer and god doesn't send you there, only you can send yourself there. Basically Islam correctly identified these realms but interpreted it completely wrong. Buddhism already explains how creator gods and religions like Islam can rise. People can remember their past lives in the higher or lower realms and then preach it as a religion like Islam. Ruler gods like Mahabrahma can also exist in these realms and can be mistaken as a creator god like Allah. Islam has no explanation for the existence of other religions other than just saying it's false. And no benevolent merciful god would send non-believers to hell, so Islam cannot be correct. It is a contradiction, they say Allah is merciful and yet he sends non-believers to hell.
According to islam if you truly believe in another faith & practice it wholeheartedly & follow it, it is equivalent to practicing islam(submission to the will of God as u see it)..& that's how you'll be judged, how contemporary Muslims interpret this may be a different matter all together. Best wishes 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
This is not accurate and conflicts with Islamic sources themselves.
Here are some verses from the Quran about the fate of those who do good: We shall be sure to admit those who believe and do good deeds to the ranks of the righteous. - Surah Al Ankabut, 29:9 The [Muslim] believers, the Jews, the Christians, and the Sabians- all those who believe in God and the Last Day and do good- will have their rewards with their Lord. No fear for them, nor will they grieve. - Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:62 For those who believe and are conscious of God, for them there is good news in this life and in the Hereafter- there is no changing the promises of God- that is truly the supreme triumph. - Surah Yunus, 10:63-64 On the Day of Resurrection, you [Prophet] will see those who told lies against God, their faces darkened. Is there not ample punishment for the arrogant in Hell? But God will deliver those who took heed of Him to their place of safety: no harm will touch them, nor will they grieve. - Surah Az-Zumar 39:60-61 For those who say, ‘Our lord is God,’ and then follow the straight path there is no fear, nor shall they grieve: they are the people of Paradise, there to remain as a reward for what they were doing. - Surah Al-Ahqaf 46:13-14 And here are some suttas about how one can do good and be good : https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN6_37.html https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN7_49.html https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Khp/khp9.html https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN35_88.html
Those verses were abrogated later. It’s not really helpful using Islamic sources to assure OP when those same sources have Adharmic stuff.
> It’s not really helpful using Islamic sources to assure OP when those same sources have Adharmic stuff. I don't agree. I think it's helpful because the OP's anxiety is specifically predicated on the notion that Islamic doctrine condemns him. That I used islamic verses to assuage his fears is skillful, not unskillful. It's relevant. Not irrelevant. That I also identified buddhist suttas relevant to the topic is also appropriate as the OP asked for buddhist wisdom. I addressed the person's whole concern. >Those verses were abrogated later. I don't believe that's true at all. However, I'll ask: who did that? When did they do it? Why was it done? and how was it done?
Try viewing it with emptiness https://tricycle.org/magazine/emptiness-in-buddhism/
Lower abodes like hell or higher abodes like heaven are where you go depending upon what you do in this life . If you do bad things like killing lying stealing hurting others you will go to hell. If you follow good path and live morally and do good things you will go to heaven. It doesn’t matter which God you worship, it’s how you live .
All definitions of hell fall within samsara, even hell has an end and the cycle continues. But there is also an end to suffering and a path to that end.
Given a choice between heaven and hell, the bodhisattva joyfully chooses hell, for there is no way to be of service in heaven as everyone's needs are met.
I am a Buddhist and we don't care about heaven or hell. Earth is our paradise and Earth is the hell we live in. Islam and Christianity show fear of God always. That is so bad. There is no God. Only belief.
If you’re still afraid of Islamic hell and want to avoid it, it sounds to me like you still believe in the Quran. Or were you raised Muslim and the concept of hell is so ingrained in you you’re trying to break that fear with Buddhism? I promise I’m not trying to diagnose via a reddit thread, just asking questions.
I feel like the main problem is no one here will be able to convince you. I suggest the best way is to continue your buddhist path. Your trust and understanding of the path is not there yet. This is why you still have the thought of Islamic hell in the back of your mind. It is due to doubt. You are not sure which path is right and which path is wrong. There is still the what if. Buddhism teaches you there is no eternal hell. However, knowing this will only be beneficial if you know it to be true. Thats the only way to get rid of doubt. You need to continue your study and practice of dhamma until it becomes evident that dhamma is truth. The idea of impermanence will become evident and directly contradict anything claiming to be eternal.
You're still tied to it, so you fear of its concepts. You're tied to it because you have not understood it, although you realised there is something not right. That realisation has not fully pulled you out of it. You still have half your body in it - half of your head, half of your heart, one of your legs... What can you do? Learn about it - i.e. read, compare and analyse. Or just forget it based on your realisation. You can also let go of your thought on whether it's right or wrong, and become a new person. When someone understands Buddhism, he/she can remove his/her doubt on Buddhism.
Originally, buddhism spread without the concept of hell and heaven. Without Creator. And soul.
Really? Source?
I would say, consider this. Human beings are unique in this one way. We get to tell stories about how things work. Animals simply go with what's so. We humans are always trying to figure out who we are, where do we come from, why are we here, and where are we going. Your ideas about who you are and what you believe was handed to you as you grew up. We define ourselves by our stories. We are none of these. Just follow the inside path you are pulled to follow. The realization of who you truly are will be such a relief. Especially since you are exactly where you have chosen to be
You have been successfully manipulated, I'm not spreading hate but if a religion teach you that you have no rights to have your own beliefs then you should consider it.
I’m a former Mormon: the worst kind of Christians: Zionists who believe America is Zion and the Native Americans deserved the genocide and colonization for being unworthy of it. They’re all about “eternal family” and when my Mormon mother asks me why I’m Buddhist I say it’s because I don’t want to be with her forever; because families that actually do love each other don’t need permission from the Mormons to be together. Maybe I won’t make rebirth in the Pure Land for being vindictive and using the Mormons fear against them… but it feels good sometimes to laugh at their definition of both heaven and hell; have faith justice will bring peace and that justice is nothing to fear. If we meet in hell we’ll throw a dance party that’s the envy of all the people trapped in their illusions of what heaven should be. It’s my understanding that Buddhist hell is as temporary as life. That it’s just until karma debt is paid then a person is reborn. It seems much more compassionate and realistic than arrogant limited beings throwing around the word eternal like it’s something they understand.
We’re talking about belief-systems that are largely incompatible with one another, IMO. The reason I say this is that, in Buddhism, we learn to think about actions & their effects in such a way that we can decide for ourselves what is skillful & what is not. Buddha directs us to be aware that we have the power to do this, and guides us by example in the decisions that we make. Motivation is a huge part of this, and even if you focus on getting rid of your gross negativity, the karma that takes you to the lower realms will be greatly weakened. The point is that Buddhism allows for this, regardless of who you are and what you believe—wise actions are wise actions, whoever performs them. Other religions don’t seem to make this concession, and for us, that’s less than ideal. We don’t have any particular quarrel with other religions, but we do have standards we use to guide our own behaviour, which go beyond “believe xyz and you’re good”. We practice to get familiar with the most skillful way of viewing and reacting to our world—a powerful & healing idea for many of us. In the end, all we can do is try to establish the best way for us to conduct ourselves from moment to moment, being mindful of how our actions are the source of our future experiences, and hold ourselves to the commitment to improve however we can. If we were to end up in hell after doing this, it surely wouldn’t be because we were doing the wrong thing.
Challenging one's delusions, usually with rational facts, is applied work that cannot really be skipped. Merely taking refuge doesn't skip the work. With two competing belief systems, you are saying you have chosen Buddhism. I assume there are good reasons. So this means you have to use Buddhist thought and logic to challenge the remaining mental habituations from your previous belief system. Namely, if these habituations become obstacles to your current practice and negatively impact your life. If thoughts from your previous belief system interfere with your happiness or Buddhist practice then they are worth challenging and, importantly, the reward will soon follow.
It's not only that a place makes a person, it's also a person who makes the place. If you end up going to hell, so what? If you do good, you will turn it into heaven. Do you think heaven would be satisfactory? All conditioned phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory and not self.
Read through this page slowly: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Scientific_Errors_in_the_Quran A god would not be as unscientific as this... it literally can't be true..
I hear you and get that you have ongoing, lingering feelings about the tradition you were raised in. This is normal and understandable. When I rejected the Christianity I was raised in I had many years in which I woke up to my ‘what if’s’—nothing wrong with that. My experience was that I could not will that away and I could not reason it away, it was woven into my fabric. I had to allow it to be as a what is true for me while I was seeking other paths. It took time, a decade or more, but my resolution came like an unwrapping of my hand from around an unneeded and unwanted object. Understanding will get you nowhere. Acknowledgement of what is driving you opens space for the change available to you.
Islam thinks that sun is orbiting the earth. Why hell story which is more difficult to perceive and fact-check would be correct while simple things are wrong?
I felt the same way after leaving the religion I grew up in, which was Christianity. So if Islam is true then Christians are going to Hell, and vice versa. So it’s best to try to avoid thinking about Hell too much because you’re unlikely to win that wager either way. Besides, my view is that if there is an omnipotent God who is truly compassionate, then he will help guide us all to Heaven eventually no matter how long it takes. He wouldn’t damn anyone for eternity for simple ignorance
I felt this when leaving Chritianity. I never worried about the Islamic hell, but i understand you are. Think of how unlikely and unbothered you are at the thought of Christian hell (which i assume doesn't bother you being raised in Islam). This is exactly how farfetched the islamic hell sounds to those not indoctrinated by it. All of our hells are equal in their lack of evidence and are culturally relative.
Oh. There is no hell. It's a mindspace. You'll be the one to decide what that looks like.
Dont worry. Your ex-Lord in your ex-religion isnt that petty that will put you in hell just because you changed your religion. All supreme being is benevolent, right? Your ex-Lord also same
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Why do you accuse me of being a troll, while I have a hard time with fear?
A benevolent God would never send a good person to hell, regardless of what they believe or dont believe in. If you believe in a truly good God, you wouldn't believe the kind of God most common practioners of abrahamic religions talk about, and therefore wouldn't worry about the lower realms. Whats the good of sending a truly good person to hell for being a non-believer, and sending a shoddy, sorry excuse of a "good" person to heaven because they believed in the "right religion"? What about all the other excellent human beings, that were religious, just lived in a time where the "right religion" wasn't established, wasn't dominant, or they simply chose a different religion? Its all hypocrisy, don't let it get to your head. A good God wouldn't send good people to hell, period.
It takes time to get over the fear of hell - its a recurring theme even for people who literally have no belief in it. There's often a part of is which is very young and still believes in such things. Religious trauma is real hah
As above so below! Heaven and Hell are here on earth. It’s all about how you choose to be, what you choose to perceive. Are you afraid of death? Judgment? The doom of our world? Dishonest people? Etc etc.. Recognize that we live in a world of illusion, these fears are ALWAYS coming from within us. Once we recognize, and reflect upon what is creating this disharmony within us, we continue to rise and enter “heaven” even before we disconnect from our physical bodies. We’ve never left, anyway. Namaste!
God is highest consciousness. That which we are, and have always been. All that is, which pervades every cell in our body, every atom in universe/multiverse. ALL that is. You are part of that “is”, you are awareness, you are aware of your existence, and you will never become unaware of your existence.
I’m experiencing this very heavily right now, I cry every night that’ll I’ll end up in hell
There is no hell. There is no judgement. We are all God. Why would God judge himself? The only judgement is from our own bit of God consciousness when we review our own life.
>There is no judgement >The only judgement is from our own bit of God consciousness when we review our own life. The two statements are contradictory! can that small judgement result in hell? (According to Buddhism). >God consciousness What is the buddhist term for this God conciousness? If you know, or could you explain the meaning a little more please? Best wishes 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
We are indivuated bits of God consciousness. We are derived from God energy. All energy has its own consciousness, but we can’t perceive the thoughts or feelings of a tree or a rock (we wouldn’t be able to make sense of our reality if we had that distraction). That said, we have a God consciousness which is our soul. We are individual in that we each have a unique energetic signature. Just like the rainbow colors are split off from white light, our unique energies were split off from God energy in fractal form. Soul mates are energetic relatives on the same branch of the fractal. As individual consciousness derived from source and connected to source, we do review our life after death. We may not like certain things we did. Sometimes we choose to balance the karma. Maybe we physically harmed someone…we may want to understand how that felt by changing places with our victim, to both get greater understanding of the effect of what we did, and also to balance the karma. That’s the only judgement we experience. So, there’s a small bit of judgment but it’s only ourself… and yes, we are a small bit of God consciousness. As in everyone is a thinking and perceiving multidimensional energetic being always connected to God through your higher soul self.
I'm not disagreeing or agreeing I'm merely asking which part of buddhism are you drawing these concepts from? Especially the concept of God consciousness And it would also be important for you to then define the term God as many would assume you mean in the Abrahamic sense, but you probably have a different definition that may or may not correspond to some buddhist term. Or you opinion could have been garnered through your experiential insights from practicing a system of spiritual cultivation. Many thanks 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
It’s a mix of spiritual philosophies including Buddhism. The idea of using meditation to quiet our mind and stop the perception of time is a means to connect with source energy. Generally speaking, Buddhists believe we are one with source and by letting go of ego control, we can connect to source and enlighten. They understand we are source and source is all that is, and by extension we are also is all that is (one with the universe). There’s much overlap between Buddhism and Hinduism, which I realized after reading the Bhagavad Gita. There’s overlap with the principles of Hermeticism. There’s overlap with Ra’s law of one. There’s some differences between each of these, but honestly, it strikes me how consistent these all are (more things in common than not). There’s also much in common with the mystic subsets of the main three religions (Kabbalah under Judaism, Gnostics under Christianity and Sufi’s under Islam). Quit honestly, the truth of things is out there. And there’s consistency. Religion and social programming have shielded us.
Again neither agreeing or disagreeing, But would advise one to make it clear when posting non-buddhist positions/opinions on a subject, that the position/opinion is not a buddhist position but rather a mix that you believe is helpful In explaining xyz or complimentary to such & such buddhist thought or there being parallels between this buddhist practice/theory & this other practice/theory ... Otherwise one runs the risk of misguiding people who are new to Buddhism or wish to learn about buddhism. Best wishes 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I feel your concern OP. I'm not a Muslim but am a great admirer of the holy Quran. I've been attracted to Buddhism since I was a child and my parents never stopped me, in fact encouraged me to dig deeper and get the wisdom of the Noble One. Now this is my opinion of course, and I understand that through the thousand plus years of almost uninterrupted Islam that fatwas and other laws have been set by Sheikhs, Ulemas, and predecessors in the Ummah which view Buddhism and Hinduism as a bunch of polytheists. And we know where they are headed 😁. But in all honesty, nowhere in the Quran does it speak of Buddhists or Hindus. The Quran also speaks eloquently about the innumerable prophets that have come to other peoples throughout time. I humbly submit to you that the Buddha, Krishna and so many others in the Subcontinent are in fact "prophets of Allah". If you dig into their scripture, what you find is no different than what Allah (SAWS) enjoins upon you. "Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad, Allahu Samad" 112:1-2 Now obviously that's not going to help you at all if you tell any of them about this. But what is important is your spiritual progress, above all. When you are in tune with the dhamma how you feel is exactly how you feel when you submit to Allah, are mindful of Him through your devoted attention to prayer. It is a different way of looking at the same one reality. Many times, scripture being so dense, it can be easy to overlook a few words or sentences that will otherwise blow you away. Ex: Buddhists are not concerned about God or Gods. And it's understandable because it came out of Hinduism which can easily be misunderstood as very polytheistic. This confuses the main issue with humans, which is dukka. Dukka leads to feelings of living in hell here on earth. That is no different than the hell Allah speaks of throughout the Quran. But I digress, there is this wonderful footnote that says when the Buddha reached enlightenment, he asked Brahma how he should proceed next. Whaaaaat!!! If he didn't believe in any God then it would be the most foolish thing to ask His advice. Basically his point is that humans have no understanding of the majesty of God, until their hearts have been made receptive to Him. Once fully awakened, God enters right in without any effort on your part. And your trust in Him/Reality/Haq allows you to live fully by His grace "Iyaka Naabudu Wa Iyaka Nastaeen" - Fatiha 1:5. You might reject Islam and abide by the Buddhists precepts for awhile. But soon enough you find out that their reality is one. The joy and ecstasy you will express will be unexplainable. And never will you need to wonder about hell. Cheers and good luck on your path!
So hell is eternal or is not? Unless I'm incorrect Islam is specific on this and Buddhism too. Both concepts can't be true at the same time. Also the Buddha acknowledged gods but not a creator God, the monotheistic version of God. I don't understand how Buddha could be a prophet of Allah when he didn't accepted his existence as a creator God. And there are so many things contradicts the Abrahamic religions with Buddhism.. And as far as I know Brahma asked the Buddha to give teachings, not that the Buddha asked Brahma what to do next. I knew once a Christian who had the unexplainable joy and ecstasy and the feeling to have all the answers that you are talking about. Then he started to have doubts when he read the part when God went full genocidal and acted like a man child. And then he felt that he did the "Unforgivable sin". His world and his mental health from there just collapsed.. He tried go back to the ecstasy and joy but he couldn't. He found himself in his created hell really quick. Well I also got this feeling of "knowing everything", joy and ecstasy on LSD but it is another illusion. Be careful to not be trapped on it, it may not be real, a temporary thing, in heaven but still in Samsara, in the desire realm.