The wise man makes his own heaven while the foolish man
creates his own hell here and hereafter.
The Buddhist concept of heaven and hell is entirely
different from that in other religions. Buddhists do not accept that these
places are eternal. It is unreasonable to condemn a man to eternal hell for his
human weakness but quite reasonable to give him every chance to develop
himself. From the Buddhist point of view, those who go to hell can work
themselves upward by making use of the merit that they had acquired previously.
There are no locks on the gates of hell. Hell is a temporary place and there is
no reason for those beings to suffer there forever.
The Buddha's Teaching shows us that there are heavens and
hells not only beyond this world, but in this very world itself. Thus the
Buddhist conception of heaven and hell is very reasonable. For instance, the
Buddha once said, 'When the average ignorant person makes an assertion to the
effect that there is a Hell (patala) under the ocean he is making a statement
which is false and without basis. The word 'Hell' is a term for painful
sensations. 'The idea of one particular ready-made place or a place created by
god as heaven and hell is not acceptable to the Buddhistconcept.
The fire of hell in this world is hotter than that of the
hell in the world-beyond. There is no fire equal to anger, lust or greed and ignorance.
According to the Buddha, we are burning from eleven kinds of
physical pain and mental agony: lust, hatred, illusion sickness, decay, death,
worry, lamentation, pain(physical and mental), melancholy and grief.
People can burn the entire world with some of these fires of
mental discord. From a Buddhist point of view, the easiest way to define hell
and heaven is that where ever there is more suffering, either in this world or
any other plane, that place is a hell to those who suffer. And where there is
more pleasure or happiness, either in this world or any other worldly
existence, that place is a heaven to those who enjoy their worldly life in that
particular place. However, as the human realm is a mixture of both pain and
happiness,
human beings experience both pain and happiness and will be
able to realize the real nature of life. But in many other planes of existence
inhabitants have less chance for this realization. In certain places there is
more suffering than pleasure while in some other places there is more pleasure
than suffering.
Buddhists believe that after death rebirth can take place in
any one of a number of possible existences. This future existence is
conditioned by the last thought-moment a person experiences at the point of
death. This last thought which determines the next existence results from the
past actions of a man either in this life or before that. Hence, if the
predominant thought reflects meritorious action, then he will find his future
existence in a happy state. But that state is temporary and when it is
exhausted a new life must begin all over again, determined by another
dominating 'kammic' energy. This repetitious process goes on endlessly unless
one arrives at 'Right View' and makes a firm resolve to follow the Noble Path
which produces the ultimate happiness of Nibbana.
Heaven is a temporary place where those who have done good
deeds experience more sensual pleasures for a longer period. Hell is another
temporary place where those evil doers experience more physical and mental
suffering. It is not justifiable to believe that such places are permanent.
There is no god behind the scene ofheaven and hell. Each and every person
experiences according to his good and bad kamma. Buddhist never try to
introduce Buddhism by frightening people through hell-fire or enticing people
by pointing to paradise. Their main idea is character building and mental
training. Buddhists can practise their religion without aiming at heaven or
without developing fear of hell.
Source: ic.sunysb.edu