One right after another, three emails recently arrived at my desk with more or less breathless news of a Buddhist monk whose near-death experience account described his seeing the Buddha in hell. It was Big News on the Internet.
Really! The Buddha in hell! Some letter writers wonder, this must prove that the God of Wrath is real, right? And it proves that Christians are right, right? Well… I looked up the account on Google, and sure enough, it’s an interesting story, though the account goes back quite a few years.
http://www.raised-from-the-dead.org.uk/accounts/a/ap-shinthaw-paulu-s1-all.php
Is it convincing? To my mind, no. Excited Internet commenters notwithstanding, the account sounds patently fake, which makes it a useful example to explore.
If you have read the account, you know that the monk presents a thoroughly believable autobiographical background, how he was raised in Myanmar (Burma) and came to be living as a monk. It sounds entirely authentic, even down to details like the sea crocodile that destroyed his boat. (I looked it up—and yes, there are such crocodiles in that area, and that is the kind of behavior one would expect of them.)
The account describes his entering training, and deep respect for his teacher, “the most famous Buddhist monk in all of Myanmar.” It details how he lived for some years devoted to his spiritual practice and to the principles of Buddhism, so scrupulous that he refused even to harm a mosquito that might infect him with malaria, which turned out to be the disease that nearly killed him. Actually, he reports that he had both malaria and yellow fever and grew weaker and weaker.
So far, so good. It’s clear and it’s credible. But now, to my mind, come the problems. They illustrate why readers of near-death experience accounts need to exercise the same discernment they use, one hopes, when receiving an email from Nigeria asking for money. Just because an NDE account says something happened doesn’t mean it’s literally true!
The monk says, “I learned later that I actually died for three days. My body decayed and stunk of death, and my heart stopped beating.”
[Enter Question #1. The “awakened while putrefying” aspect is an imaginative detail but physiologically too much to credit. A genuinely decaying body does not reanimate.]
And then comes his NDE. According to the account, he encountered “a terrible, terrible lake of fire. In Buddhism we do not have a concept of a place like this.”
[Question #2. Lakes of fire are not uncommon in mystical experiences, and Buddhism does include some kinds of hell (Narakas) featuring fiery torments. Wouldn’t a monk know that?]
“At first I was confused and didn’t know it was hell until I saw Yama, king of hell. Trembling, I asked him his name. He replied, ‘I am the king of hell, the Destroyer.’ The king of hell told me to look into the lake of fire. I looked and I saw the saffron colored robes that Buddhist monks wear…”
[Question #4. Yama has an unmistakable appearance; why did the monk have to ask who he was? Yama is a deity, not a king. Why would the famous teacher’s robe not be incinerated in all that fire?]
The monk recognized his greatly revered spiritual teacher and protested his being there. Yama responded, “Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus Christ. That’s why he is in hell.”
[Question #5. Warning lights and sirens: Yama is a Hindu and Buddhist deity. Houston, we have a problem.
Then the monk saw Gautama, the Buddha, in the fire, and asked, “Gautama had good ethnics and good moral character, why is he suffering in this lake of fire?” The king of hell answered me, “It doesn’t matter how good he was. He is in this place because he did not believe in the Eternal God.”
[Question #6. Yama, the Buddhist deity, would also not believe in the Eternal God. Why is he saying these things?]
The Buddha is followed by a Burmese ruler who persecuted Christians, and Goliath, from the Old Testament, who was a hero but blasphemed the Eternal God. There is more to the account, in scenes from biblical stories and an encounter with St. Peter, all in the same vein.
Question #7: NDEs as a category promote compassion and knowledge but not the doctrines of a specific religion. How is it that every incident in this entire account reflects a particularly flavored view of Christian teaching?
It is altogether conceivable that the essence of this account lies in a genuine Burmese NDE. It is quite true that people typically identify religious beings in NDEs according to whatever labels pre-exist in their minds. Thus it is not unusual for a Buddhist monk to say, “I met Yama.” However, NDEs are not carriers of specifically religious dogmas. What is downright bizarre is that the Buddhist deity would be proclaiming Christian doctrine!
That is why I am convinced that one of two things is true:
- The account is a flat-out Christian testimonial that has been faked as a Buddhist near-death experience, or
- The account began with an actual Burmese near-death experience; but the hand of a Christian evangelical interpreter lies heavily on top of that NDE.
The narrator had lived for a while in Yangon City (Rangoon), which has a far larger Christian population than other parts of Myanmar, so it is likely that he had heard some Christian teachings. Given the missionary influences in that part of the world, those teachings probably included vivid, revivalist descriptions of hell and judgmental torment—the kind that people remember because they’re so frightening. It is easy to see how that could have influenced the NDE of a credulous hearer. It could even be possible that the monk was moving from his Buddhist beliefs to becoming Christian. In any case, one need only add some later Christian embellishments to come up with the account presented here.
There are too many other questions about this account. A genuinely committed Buddhist, particularly a monk, would surely have to wrestle with the content of that experience for more than two seconds before declaring himself a permanent Christian. (Even Saint Paul withdrew for a time after his epiphany before beginning to teach.) We are told that the monk himself went on to convert “hundreds of other monks” and to travel around and testify to his new-found conservative Christian faith; yet he has conveniently disappeared from public view, so can’t be questioned.
Overall, I find this account, as described, beyond credibility as an accurate original presentation of any NDE, much less one of a committed Buddhist monk.
Two things I believe are really important when trying to understand what any spiritual experience means:
1) Like dreams, visionary experiences carry their messages in symbol, not in the literal, fact-filled terms of everyday speech. Taking them at their literal appearance is rarely accurate.
2) In much the same way, near-death experiences seem universally directed to the human spirit and psychology generally, not to the interests of particular religious views. Within the NDE their elements exist principally as images rather than as doctrinal messages, because interpretation comes when the NDE is turned into language and told as a story.
I am respectful of cross-cultural content because I am an observant Christian whose NDE message was delivered by a totally unfamiliar Chinese Yin/Yang symbol. But the presence of that symbol in my experience was not to say that Buddhism is right and Christianity wrong. It took a very long time for me to understand that it was not delivering an explicit teaching about religious doctrine but was functioning as a symbol—like an arrow pointing beyond itself.
Culturally, we see fire in an experience like the monk’s and immediately think “punishment in eternal torment.” We don’t stop to consider that the presence of God has traditionally been associated with fire, as with Moses and the burning bush. In fact, the Bible includes some ninety references to the presence of God as fire. We can do the same double-check with any element of a spiritual experience—what might this mean, other than what seems to be sitting right on the surface?
Certainly we can look at these troubling experience accounts and choose to interpret them as pointing to a traditional, literal hell. But that is our choice. We can also choose to take the time and trouble to explore what else they might mean, what they may be pointing to about our lives or our way of thinking that could use some change, or that would revolutionize our approach to life itself.
It is clear that some spiritual experiences are really scary. Having worked my way through one, I know just how cataclysmic they can feel. But am I ready, after all these years, to say they point to a concept like eternal physical torment? Not on your life. Or mine, either.
The same universe that has room for these profoundly traumatic events also encloses the peaceful experiences that people describe as heaven. It is worth taking time to look at displays of the Hubble photos showing “what’s out there”—wonderful, serene visions of breathtaking light along with black holes and incomprehensible violence. Why should our spiritual landscape be different than that of our universe? We are required to learn how to be with it all, in ways that make sense to us.
The idea that a God of such immensity would display soul-killing wrath because, as one letter-writer wonderfully put it, two early people “ate fruit and had opinions”…that is so incongruent a notion that it makes no sense to me whatever. (Yet there are great truths buried in the Genesis story!) So, let me openly state my conviction that the expectation of such divine punishment as the monk’s account claims is the product, not of God, but of our projection of human fear, guilt, and rage onto whatever we conceive as Divinity. Our doing, not deity’s!
Similarly, I have come to see that the NDE which at first seemed to destroy my faith has turned out to be a gift. Yes, it is a dubious gift but a genuine one nonetheless, because it has required me to examine these kinds of questions. It has forced me to understandings I could not have had otherwise. Howard Storm’s agonizing shamanic initiation experience stripped him painfully of one existence and exchanged it for one more satisfying. Who’s to say that was punishment?
Could the Buddha have even had a chance to believe in Jesus Christ, since he was born 600 or so years before Christ?
Always an interesting point, Matt!
hi nan bush..you should know one thing is so simple..big man have big responsibility…correct?..what you say is right…but..he mislead million of million people with endless till now…if he is in heaven and his mislead where in hell…????? think about it…
Hi Danny as you are a christian obviously u will have an grudge on Buddha, he never misleaded anyone tell me one thing he misleaded others he always taught good thing to people infact christians infact christians are converting people in to christians just like muslims converting in to islam.
If he didn’t teach about Jesus Christ, he mislead millions. Sorry, but that is the truth. The Bible clearly says that those how mislead others into false doctrines will be held accountable. I watched the video, and I believe him.
I believe you will find that the quote you mention is from Paul, arguing in favor of his teachings rather than those of other early evangelists. it had no relation to other religions.
no one even knew about god before jesus god is fake tell me one thing why buddhist is saying wrong
@ Amish Author Sicily Yoder: Even if you are right about preachers of false doctrines being held accountable, I can still just about guarantee you that this story is not genuine. The main reason? I found a very convincing rebuttal of it on, of all places, the website of an evangelical Christian organization (which was very interested in the account partly because of its own involvement in Burma; however, investigations by its director during a visit to the country in late 2000 revealed that it appeared to have been heavily embellished, and that while its central character being a real person who had seemingly switched from Buddhism to Christianity could be confirmed, there was no truth in reports that masses of Buddhists had been converted by his testimony, no proof that he had been in jail, and no hard evidence that he had died and resurrected, even):
http://www.christianfaith.com/lookout/the-tale-of-the-resurrected-monk
Thanks, Jon. See my original post for more evidence that this story is not genuine. It has all the hallmarks of being exaggerated and untrue.
Now that I have had a chance to read the linked article, I am even more convinced that this is the NDE of a disturbed young man who is having a terrible time distinguishing between his experience and consensual reality. There is not enough information in his account/s or the linked article to suggest what might have precipitated that particular NDE. Certainly it is obvious that a literal interpretation of the images could lead to serious conflicts, both within himself and with the Buddhist community.
Nonsense. How could the Buddha teach about Jesus Christ when he predated him by 600 years?
Strawman, such a logical question! I’m afraid it won’t take us very far with the original account here. But thanks for asking!
According to the Christian Bible, those that are not introduced to the gospel are not held accountable to belief in Jesus.
The religion this supposed ex-monk now supposedly adheres to, he is blossoming against.
By Christian tenants, the Buddha’s good works would not earn his way into heaven, but Jesus sacrifice would earn his way there anyway, and this account would earn their authors way into hell for bearing false witness and blasphemy.
Such a tangled-up account, isn’t it! Thanks for your comment.
How can he believe in Jesus when Jesus was non existent during his time?
Thanks for commenting. Many people would agree with the point of your question. Makes sense, doesn’t it!
Not to fast ..to judge….all now religion stand for they believing… What u believed is ( faith )…how the monk believed what Satan said to him..if the Satan is the father of deceiver…2scond….Satan didn’t live in hell…the hell is the place of punishment from god…it build to those who doing bad things and against god law and good ….I’m sure Satan have live in earth or some other else……i don’t trust that monk story
Thanks for writing. I don’t trust his story, either!
Yashua existed before time. The laws of God are written upon mans hearts. If buddah wasn’t so centered on the creations he would have known that the Creator existed before all of creation. He would have bowed and proclaimed the one true God in his heart knowing that God gave him the discernment to have compassion towards all living things. Instead, he would meditate and proclaim he achieved such things from himself. All religions are self centered on how to attain enlightenment but the gospel message is that it’s not of yourself but a gift from God lest any man should boast Ephesians 2:8-9, it is the saving power of God and through Him we are justified in the final revaltion of Yashua.
Just read your bible carefully:
The times of ignorance (BEFORE EVANGELISATION SUPPOSEDLY, BUDDHA’ S TIME INCLUDED) therefore God overlooked(NO PUNISHMENT AS HELL); but now(A CENTURY AFTER MYTHIC JESUS) he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:
Acts 17:30
And if we just blindly accept accusation of buddha as misleading others, what about Moses who wrote laws as eternal way for purity and salvation(hundreds of commandment to be accomplished in its entirety, even New Testament talks about it) and even if he s dead hundred years before jesus, his teachings still makes jews not wanting to believe in jesus.
If he has ever existed why would there be so many apologetics wanting to convince people of his existence as early as the century after his era? People can’t be so amnesic
Re: “Could the Buddha have even had a chance to believe in Jesus Christ, since he was born 600 or so years before Christ?”
I think the tale is referring in that instance not to the Buddha himself, but to U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw, a Buddhist teacher who died in a car crash 1983.
The tale is debunked in these two articles – articles on an evangelical Christian website, ironically:
http://www.christianfaith.com/lookout/the-tale-of-the-resurrected-monk
http://www.christianfaith.com/lookout/resurrected-burmese-monk-story-revisited
Jesus died for ALL Sin Past Present And Future!
Notice that the King of Hell says that Gautama Buddha was in Hell because he did not believe in “The Eternal God.” No mention of Jesus. I know very little about Buddhism, so I am under the impression that The Buddha kept quiet i.e. did not address the issue of whether the Universe was created by Creator(s.)
Yes, isn’t that interesting!
This is the crux of the matter. Only the self sacrifice of Jesus Christ will satisfy the justice that the almighty God must demand and execute. If you want to stand before God, which you shall do, in any other name besides Jesus Christ, the one that God claimed would satisfy the demands of justice, then good luck to you. You will not see the Heavenly Father and you will experience going to hell for eternity. Only the Judeo-Christian scriptures give example after example of prophecy being literally fulfilled in the world. The establishment of Israel after 2000 years is one of the most astounding fulfillments of prophecy ever seen. Jesus said the way to hell was broad, but the way to salvation is narrow and few there be that find it. He didn’t mean that it was difficult receive salvation, he meant that there’s only a few in the world population that would find it because it could only come through faith in his personal sacrifice and resurrection, his way and no other. It’s easy to be saved, simply put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept his free gift. You will be one of the few that find paradise.
I have a couple of takes on this.
First is the Budda is conveying a message of solace, “don’t be afraid, see………..Hell isn’t so bad. I don’t have to pay the oil bill for the furnace.
Second, when any high ranking person leaves a position of power, it’s customary for his friends (some who are also his enemies in disguise) to have a “roasting” ceremony to commemorate his mistakes.
LOL. I count on you, Dave, for just this kind of take.
True Dave
You refer to yourself as an “observant Christian” yet deny hell as real place of torment? How do you explain a passage like Matthew 10:28?
Cris, I don’t get into single-verse explanations because almost any verse can be compared with another that says something different. So I guess my answer is that I don’t try to explain Matthew 10:28 but look at the whole sweep of Gospel to see its direction. Which leads me to believing in hellish experiences but not necessarily hell as a geographical entity. In spite of all those uses of the term. (I also notice dubious translations of Greek and Hebrew words whose connotations in the original are different than what we mean by “hell.”)
The original intention of politics was an individual or a group of individuals to represent the interests of a vast majority of individuals who couldn’t individually represent themselves.
The Bible has been has tampered with by political power even before Constantine. certain Christian viewpoints were deliberately excluded. The Gnostic s are a good example.
Constantin’s idea of Christianity was simple. “If yuh’ can’t beat em’ join em’. Where as earlier powers decided to exclude Christian beliefs they wanted to ignore, he chopped out everything that could be considered a threat to his political power.
The King James version was the last one, and who was this clown? He was just another politician securing his power over the people. Heaven help us from those who put God on their side.
The Catholic Church was the ruler for about 400 years, and they used Hell to intimidate people. Political power was their thing. No pun intended, but this really burns me up.
When I’m in the street, and someone asks “where’s your church?. I say “I’m standing in it”, where’s yours.
EXACTLY !!
No, Hell is in the Bible. Reading it plainly will tell you that. Don’t listen to the daemons inside.you.
Angel, you have made your point with almost a dozen proselytizing posts. We understand this is your point of view. I will delete any more that say nothing except that you believe you are the only one with an acceptable belief. God is with us all.
Hell doesn t exist and doesn t need to exist. What we live as hell during and NDE are just the nightmares and fear, and hate that we take with us when we leave the body. I have lived hellish NDEs here on earth in my dreams without needing to have an NDE. There is no difference because while I dream the hellish experience is as real as during an NDE
Does this equate to it’s an experience rather than a place?
Wonderful exegesis, Nan! Thank goodness you’re out there posting this kind of good sense. And I so appreciate your deep religious tolerance and humility.
As usual, Sheila, 🙂
While I agree that this NDE looks suspicious, it is not unheard of for persons of one religion to see religious figures of a different religion. I personally have met two Jews who saw Jesus during their NDEs; one converted to Christianity, and the other was thinking about it.
Thankfully, we now have a large number of non-Christians sharing their spiritually transformative experiences. Recently, Cafer Yaran has completed a study of religious experiences of 1200 Turkish Moslems. Most of them involve answers to prayers or being in the presence of God. A recent study of over 3000 Chinese by Prof. X. Yao and Prof. P. Badham found that 18% experienced Bodhisattvas. In Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Omito (aka Amida Buddha) and Guan Yin are Savior figures who can get you out of Hell. Likewise, Lord Krishna is a Savior figure in the Hindu religion; in Osis and Harraldson’s AT THE HOUR OF DEATH, Krishna occasionally appears in deathbed visions.
Prof. John Hick notes that, at first glance, one might doubt the veracity of these visions, but there is overwhelming evidence from data on spiritually transformative experiences that they changes people’s lives for the better. Apparently, the old Hindu maxim is true that God comes to us in forms that we can understand.
Hi, Ken. Great data about non-Judeo-Christian NDEs! Thanks for that.
My argument is not what the monk saw–especially as it does not seem odd that a Buddhist monk might perceive the Buddha and his own spiritual teacher–but the proselytizing quality of what was purportedly told him throughout the NDE. NDEs do not generally advocate such specific doctrinal precepts. I am profoundly suspicious of an account in which Yama, the Theravadan death-figure responsible for judging character in light of Buddhist principles, begins preaching conservative Christian dogma. It’s that systematic proselytizing that bothers me about this.
In any case, if buddha went to hell, what would happen would be more like this:
http://theoryofeverythingcomics.com/god/DM/index.htm
Spectacular! I’ve just Tweeted it. That is very cool. (And I used to study with Shinzen! No wonder I like your comic.)
Luxspes i think u r leaving in a false world, this is true this is the world u cannot trust anyone no one has seen jesus but people have seen Buddha in the past thousand years ago, so please stop showing hoax things. I am not a Buddhist but Buddha was alive
I belive you didnt actually read the comic link, because that comic agrees with you… and you write as if the comic were against you
Greetings Nancy
Well thought out blog.
I tend to agree with your concerns.
I personally think that these symbols that appear during our NDE’s are “loving and GENTLE ” response to our energy we are bringing BACK to it. We all felt the “love”…we all swam in it’s warmth, we all touched it, and because this energy that we are part is based solely on LOVE…the loving reponse would be to alleviate that fear through what we have come to trust. Yet, once that NEED is assuged, the NEED for it to be Hell, Jesus, Buddha…whatever FADES.
Much like looking at a tree at dusk, when we focus on a point past the tree and put the tree out of focus, the tree begins to fade and the energy, or aura, of the tree becomes visible. When we try to focus on the aura that has just been revealed, we then see the tree and the aura disappears.
The whole Buddhist concept of “enlightenment, to me is interpreted incorrectly.
We assume that to be “enlightened” is based on an expansion of our current understanding.
Having had an NDE myself, I must say that this is not true.
Enlightenment is actually a destructive process.
It has nothing to do with becoming a better person or being happier.
Enlightenment, to me, is the crumbling away at UNTRUTH. It is seeing through the facade of pretense. For me, with the nDE being the vehicle, it was the complete eradication of everything I imagined to be true.
So, to be “enlightened” is to be HUMBLED.
We are at the age where we can think for ourselves. Enlightenment is a misunderstood process..it is not the expansion of knowledge that makes you enlightened, it is the deconstrusting of the sandcastle that we rely on to make us feel secure and safe that leads to enlightenment.
Much blessings to you!
Turtle! Welcome.
I can’t do better than repeat the quote from psychotherapist Alex Lukeman, who has described these kinds of experience as “…the ego’s encounter with the underlying unconscious and transcendent dynamics of the [Holy], and the accompanying destruction of traditional and habitual patterns of perception and understanding, including religious belief structures and socially accepted concepts of the nature of human existence and behavior.”
It has to be read slowly! I’ve quoted this at least twice in the book, it’s so important: the destruction of all one’s understandings about reality. The shock of that destruction is central to near-death and similar experiences.
http://www.ccgm.org.au/index.php?g=articles&a=0036 i dont think this story is even real take a look
The most curious thing to me is that he is being condemned for not believing in Christ, by a Buddhist God. If Yama sends you to hell for not believing in Christ, shouldn’t Yama send you to hell for believing in Yama?
Exactly! LOL
Exactly Terri, good one
“Yama” is the Buddhist Judge who sends people to Heaven Hell or reincarnation when they have just died. I understand him as being confronted by Satan a.k.a. The King of Hell, whom he at first incorrectly presumed was Yama.
The greatest thing which makes me suspect this story is fake is: WHY WOULD SATAN TELL “PAUL” TO GO WORSHIP & ACCEPT JESUS?! That contradicts all Christian theology I have ever heard!
Thanks for this. Re: “That contradicts all Christian theology I have ever heard!” Yes, doesn’t it, though! I think it contradicts all Buddhist philosophical principles also, which is why I have consistently found this experience simple enough on one hand yet such a conundrum underneath.
All NDEs are really just personal experiences meant for the individual who had them to grow spiritually. Now given that the monk would not kill a mosquito that infected him with malaria, perhaps the entirety of the NDE was what occurred for the monk and what the monk needed to break away from Buddhism. Perhaps Buddhism was not the best religion for his spiritual growth. I don’t think it is about the best religion, but the best religion for the person at the time.
From what I have seen of NDEs they tend to suggest an all-loving (and non-religious) God. But they also tend to suggest a hard task-master as well. In other words, if we do not learn the lessons we need to know by joy, then we will learn them through pain. Sort of like a drill sergeant and a grief counselor.
What are your thoughts on this?
That’s certainly one way of understanding NDEs. It doesn’t seem clear to me that they are always intentional, that is,imposed by an external source to teach a specific person a specific lesson. Some people have both joyful and painful NDEs; why both? So much to think about!
I agree that the source is not external, but then I don’t view God as entirely external of ourselves. I tend to think that the lessons of loving even your enemy are very difficult lessons and why we are here. I think God/karma/unifying force is a hard taskmaster that pushes us to learn these lessons. The more we resist the lessons of love, the harder our life (possibly lives) and our reality becomes.
Ah, now I get you. Agree. And with generations piling up on each other, and each individual having to learn (or resist learning) the lessons, it’s no wonder the lessons of loving keep being overbalanced by all the ego stuff.
NDEs are EXTREMELY subjective; any truth you glean, while always notable, is very filtered, if you know what I’m saying. For example, some people raised atheist see Jesus, and some people raised Catholic have claimed that Jesus probably never existed.
I read a few sites: Ask Real Jesus and AscendedMasterAnswers, and they provide extraordinarily enlightening knowledge. God bless you all.
Thanks for your observation. Plenty of mystery to go around!
We should believe in the truth, always. Jesus is the way, truth, and life. None can go to the Father but through him.
These channeled messages are new age garbles from the mischievous other side full of deceptions and provide more confusions than not in most cases. Just read those channeled Ashtar Command, Christ Maitreya, Kuthumi, Seth Speaks, Sananda….etc, you are left with your psychic energy all sucked out into an ethereal atmosphere leaving your earthly duties all unattended…..
There was No
Report of the Buddha suffering.
The Buddha lies in anything, and in nothing.
The same concept of the Christ,
separated only by
Time and Space.
I’ve been working on a post rather like this. Also, see Bernardo Kastrup’s post, http://www.bernardokastrup.com/2013/02/zen-buddhism-and-christianity.html . Are we a trend?
Thanks, Nan. That’s a great post. I’m happy I stumbled across this website; I read Dancing Past the Dark a while back and I think it is a brilliant commentary on how near-death experiences, and all experiences, are interrelated on a symbolic level to guide our lives and the lives of all. I have long believed that all religions, as well as science, point to the same truth, only from different perspectives. I will continue to return to this site to read your posts. Keep up the good work!
Only Jesus can save you. John 3:16. The gospel of John is wonderful to love.
i have read this rubbish and let me tell you this : in christian theology hell did not start yet, the lake of fire is after judgement day so not even Hitler would be there yet,and don’t forget, this is a frustrated buddhist who did not reach enlightment;as for me i am a frustrated christian who did not ever grow into the christianly covetable state of unbreakable faith for this they want just like buddhists want to reach enlightment,plus investigations of the bible and other ancient christian manuscripts discovered confirm that hell ,the lake of fire is not forever but this was added by the church to control the minds,who knows maybe we’ll see billy graham,jimmy swaggert, etc in the buddhist hell chambers which ain’t forever just as grim as christian hell,yet fair punishment for this or that SIN, EVIL deeds!!!!,not a natural born destiny like fundamentalist christians suggest. just because they didn’t believe , so any vision of christian helltheory is a HOAX !a LIE! because the lake of fire didn’t start yet but my beliefs are diffrent .
Hell is not a lie. Lazarus parable is legit. John 3:16.
Danny said….”he mislead million of million people with endless till now…” Now that is an utterly unintelligent and biased answer. If you reflect deeper, how about the so called God creating Lucifer and letting Lucifer loose to tempt others until now? Don’t you agree this even a greater sin on God’s part?
Keep reading the blog. I’ll get to this at some point.
So he saw Yama, condemn Budhha, cause he didn’t believe in Christ?
What a revolutionary way of mixing up religons. There
are already so many paradoxes mentioned above.
Maybe Christians are banished to hell by christian holy figures for not believing in Buddhism? Even Buddha would not approve of that thought.
Christians, I respect Christianity as a pure and holy religon, please do not bash your own reputation and purity.
Fellow Buddhists, don’t hate on Christ, it goes completely against our teachings, and crucifixion is not fun.
Thank you for this very sane comment. Yes, the account is indeed “a revolutionary way of mixing up religions”! I am routinely astonished by how many people think in such unworkably literal ways, and by how completely they miss the point of their religion, especially some types of Christianity.
A compassionate god does not punish, he loves his creations unconditionally. Theirs neither heaven nor hell, its what you make of the existence. I believe in god, but not because I dont want to go to hell
Yes. Thank you.
I dont mean to be crude and rude, but there have been reports of Jesus himself travelling to the East (India) to learn of other religions before his reappearance as an adult spreading his faith. So it amazes me that Jesus Christ who went to learn of other religions would disrespect them by saying things such as not believing in God equates to going to hell. I just can’t believe there are people who ignorantly and arrogantly says that all who don’t believe in Christ will go to hell.
Isn’t the notion of most religion to spread the essence of humility and “brotherly” love? What these people do (spreading this kind of things) is just simply destroying the concept of appreciation of “God”.
Also many don’t realise that Buddha is not a “God”. He never was one, he never said he was one. The Enlightenment he have achieved and spread as teachings have already “ascended” him to nirvana. Nirvana is not heaven. It is a place that is away from everything worldly and materialistic.
So in a rude term, its like saying going to heaven is still a desire, albiet materialistic desire cos it is “perfect/abundant (whatever connotations there are with heaven)”. Buddha have transcended this view and gone into nirvana.
Oh, and good review of this offending rumor. Thank you for your response in questioning that rumor too.
Jeff, as with so many things, it’s all in the interpretation. Regarding what Jesus (or anyone else) is reported to have said, too many supposedly Christian interpretations are not only based on flawed translation but are wildly out of sync with first century culture.
In short, there’s a lot of hooey going on. Just because someone makes a claim doesn’t mean it’s reasonable or true, and the fact that one segment of the Christian community believes something outrageous doesn’t mean that the rest of Christianity believes it. Thanks for your observation.
Buddha is everywhere , omnipresent but detached & blissful , he has become formless, a sea of light like dark energy and thats what all those who attain nirvana become.
So Buddha is in hell worlds as well in heaven worlds and also everywhere.
He look like the buddha “Jizo Bodhisattva (Bosatsu), Ksitigarbha, Savior from Torments of Hell
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/jizo1.shtml
Dear Christian do u want to known what is hell ?
jesus is not a god ,a god cannot take a humain form ,jesus is a prophet he save jerusalem peoples from sins not the world ,look at yourself in one of this status if you continue to not practice good deed ,no one cannot save your soul ,only you can to do it //http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/six-states.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avīci
A christian friend referred me to this video and I was a little disturbed that I started to question my religious standing as a Buddhist. I am more of a Taoist converting slowly into a Buddhist. Hard to describe.
This blog has been really great and it is fantastic reading all your thoughts and views.
A very big ” Thank You ” , everyone !.
I am amazed by the continuing fascination with this topic. Thanks for adding your voice!
If you dont believe in the Son of God..Jesus then you deserve to rot in helll for passing up a free gift. Morons.
So much for world religions. Name-calling anyone with different views has never created an effective argument.
It seems very possible that this monk was struggling with his own fears of whether or not he was following the correct path. As the author has already mentioned that his journey led him through an area of Myanmar with a larger than normal percentage of Christians… It is not hard to conclude that the monk took some Christian ideas along with him which he could not make heads or tails of.
Unfortunately our mind plays tricks like this on us all of the time, we seem to be constantly bombarded with fears and worries of all sorts. That does not suggest that they are actual realistic or even meaningful problems. It may simply be a humble reminder of how fickle the human mind truly is. This is among one of many reasons that we must work hard to establish a well rounded view of the world and overcome the current global ignorance.
As far as who is right and who is wrong… These are simply the wrong questions to be asking.
Thank you Nan for all of your positive insight.
And thank you for your comment. It seems to me quite possible that a devout monk encountering Christian ideas might indeed struggle with them. My problem with that account is the number of people who read it and believe, quite literally, that the Buddha is in hell. So the problem is not how his account might reflect the struggles but how so many of its readers fail to reflect at all.
I am a devout follower of Jesus who prays everyday that God’s Spirit would guide me into all truth and keep me from deception. In saying that, I have always had serious problems with the interpretation of hell as being an eternal, conscious torment. This doctrine goes against everything that I believe to be true about my God. I cannot imagine what the purpose would be in God subjecting billions of His creatures to endless torture. However, I also must reject the doctrine of Universalism. The Scriptures are clear that not all will be saved and live eternally with God and Jesus Christ. In light of this, I believe that the most accurate interpretation of final judgment by fire would be to hold to some form of annihilationism. Judgment, or God’s holy fire, will find us all and only those who belong to God and the Eternally crucified Christ will pass through that fire, the rest will be destroyed. I believe in a “lake of fire” as described by John the Revelator and I believe in a Gehenna as described by Christ. However, my understanding of these metaphors is that the fire is a fire that will consume and destroy, not torture. In the end, all that will remain will be those who belong to God. This, to me, accurately represent the Gospel of the Kingdom and the loving and redemptive nature of God.
David, there are many who agree with you. I maintain that knowing how it all works is well beyond the powers of human reach, though we may speculate endlessly. Thanks for joining the conversation.
i do believe there is a gruesome but fair punishment for our sins and evil deeds,you should check out on the web the 11 thai near death experiences and see, several have seen the souls tortured as gruesomely as describable in the christian mythology hell,but in the christian theology,hell,the lake of fire didn’t start yet,and original hidden manuscripts found support the fact hell ain’t forever,my belief based on all i checked out is if your sins were too many to pay for in life or reencarnation you go to hell,tortured in justice ,when i read what the thai near death experiencer witnessed the gore of the pain suffering of diffrent sorts to different sinner types,it was as scary as christian hell (based on dante’s inferno) is all catholic and protestant belief of what it is supposedly is like,but for some reason,smelled like justice served because,and for sigh of relief(if your bad example ,criminal,sinful pal or family relative dies unrepented,it isn’t forever but grim enough the horror to discipline him\her and will reencarnate;this is what i believe,sinful souls go to pay their evil and sins then reencarnate, plus JESUS,never said hell, the word he used in language was Gehenna,the junkyard outside of jerusalem where executed criminals’ bodies were dumped,and so gross,the stink,or worms observable on the decomposing bodies,kids would only check it out once,grossed out by the mere sight of it,SO,translators put hell, hell is the state of the soul,Gods wrath and the bible says”Your(God’s) wrath is for a moment,plus 7th day adventists confirm hell isn’t forever,its the confusion of the translation”aionios” in greek is more like perpetuous not forever,and added in the book of revelation by the church ,forever and ever,plus eternal punishment,inthe old testment ,eternal( good for the righteous) and perpetuous confusion for the unjust.I dont remember xactly what it says where i read it but i memorized the point of the message, and the new testment was written and translated from greek originally ,the Cannon bible from that.and the true manuscripts hidden i think in aramaic maybe greek the true Pauline scriptures.ANYWAY the real God still scares me out of my wits and among adventists , there is truer healthy fear of God more among them then among those who think that hell is forever PLUS,someone said “by its fruits you will know the tree”(good from bad) and that special someone is JESUS,despite being a new age dude,i believe JESUS is Son of God,encarnate God as well,but just one of the avatars like buddha,sai baba,etc,since at the time a lot of preachers and exorcists(perhaps prophets of God and healers by His power) lived ambulantly like he did,like the sannyasi of india who are ambulant philosophers, even a bunch of fake prophets or empowered by evil forces faking being of God or mere showing their power from the devils forces ,magicians etc, JESUS said who isnt against us is for us,and Buddha would have been for them since the message of love;peace ,forgiveness,brotherhood and the discovery of the LIGHT(said God)by JESUS although He mostly said my father, one last thing Buddha prophetized the coming of the Christ ,that is ,what has been read ,matches JESUS .
You’ve certainly done a lot of research. Yes, some people’s experiences are absolutely terrifying. Lots of them on YouTube. I don’t pretend to have answers about what they actually mean, or whether they say anything factual about afterlife punishment. I do strongly believe that they carry messages to the people who have the experiences, if only the messages can be figured out. Thanks for your comment.
@ BFEGERGANUCT: My understanding is that Judaism had been a monotheistic religion long before Jesus arrived on the scene.
That is true. Judaism was officially monotheistic more than a thousand years before Jesus. Many of the common people were still interested in their pagan idols, but the religious teaching was that the Israelite people had only one God.
I would advice this critical analysis of the visions of heaven and hell, on a christian point of view :
http://reflexionsjesus.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/the-christian-eschatological-visions-put-into-question/
First of all.
The story talk about a monk that alive again.
Ok,
first, he is a monk, why not he in the river of fire?
instead standing and talking to the king of hell?
he is a monk, he doesn’t believe in christian? he been so devoted to the Buddhist way.
second, what did he do until he get a 2nd chance?
third, does he know the history of Buddha? what he did after he reach the enlightenment?
i guess no 🙂
Well,
believe in your own faith.
and i don’t believe just by believing in Jesus. we can do bad things! cool
Buddha attained NIRVANA, therefore he will not be born again. Those who believe these false stories of ignorance will go to hell.
Learn Buddhism as it is the only religion in the world with scientific free thinking.
If you cannot that is your choice.
The story is utterly false, nonsense and miserably fictious. I’ll point out several causes for my arguments:
1) There are some claims of the Buddha rejecting the presence of an Eternal God. If these claims are true, then they mean that the Buddha rejected the Brahma of the ancient Indian Brahmins, which can be simply seen as an Indian version of the Israelite Jehovah and the Muslim Allah. The Brahmins also had a doctrine about hell, and many Brahmin priests are said to have great supernatural power (even some Buddhist branches are influenced by their famous mantra). Therefore, if the Buddha was really put into the hell, the Brahmins will try their best to convince Buddhists that they had followed a wrong way and thus destroying Buddhism . But instead of doing so, many Brahmins had created the image of the Buddha as a representation of Vishnu in order to attract Buddhist followers, and to improve their religion as well. Many Brahmins also see him as an inspirational hero. That’s the way believers of a Creator view the Buddha, and it delivers a heavy blow an the false account above.
2) The Christians have long been famous with missionary activities which massively convert people from other religions to the Christian faith. And the Church always approves of these activities. If the thing the monk sees is the real thing (in this case, it’ll possible to be confirmed by more experienced Christian followers including the wisest Christian priests who would have to have more accurate religious experience that such a weak-minded monk), the Church may stop sending wishes on the Buddha’s Vesak and has a moral and valid ground to encourage people to abandon the Buddhist practices. And obviously churches will celebrate the name of the “monk” (I’ll write in this style because he doesn’t deserve to be a monk at all).
3) Many scientists have pointed out many amazing, but credible stories about people who have undergone many reincarnations. Reincarnation is one of the centers of the Buddha’s doctrine, and the article seems that the “monk” interpreters Christianity as having only Paradise and Hell. And if what he saw had been confirmed by reliable and more experienced Christian elders in the past, why did the Pope John Paul II had to modified definitions about Paradise and Hell? And why did several European and Jewish historians had to research and reach conclusion that the Creator part of the Old Testament was just made of a collection of fairy tales.
4) The Buddha’s main objective was leading people to “go to see”, not “go to believe”. And he taught very much about sufferings of mischievous people who are reincarnated as thirsty demons or as Hell demons. And Buddhist oral and writing records have provided several stories about Buddhist followers meeting with such ghosts/demons, a reincarnation of the Buddha as a “Hell demon” would obviously destroy the Buddha’s “go to see” approach since ghosts or demons will have opportunities to harass Buddhist followers with the image of their respected Buddha among them (while the Buddha taught very much about their mischievous dee
deeds) and caused Buddhist believers to reject the religion. And any Buddhist follower who saw such things different to the Buddha’s teachings after their death will obvious appear in the dreams of their acquaintainces to encourage them to abandon Buddhism.
4) The article indicates that people who do good deeds but not believe the Eternal God will go to hell. So how about people who commit bad deeds but believe in God? The German Emperor William II and other European leaders in WW1? The medieval warring kings of Europe? The Muslim terrorists (the Arabian Allah is the equivalent of the Israelite Jehovah – the Eternal Creator)? the killers of Hypatia? the Muslim powerful rulers in the past and the present times? Gaddafi? We always know that there are no people who can claim to be morally perfect in our age (and the “monk” in the article also attested compassion which he claimed to cause his disease), does the “monk” indicate that the Buddha may be in the hell while Muslim terrorists may be in the Heaven?
For my 3) and 4) arguments, you can remember Jesus said that “Return your sword to its place, for all who will take up the sword, will die by the sword.” The main themes of religions are that if you want to come to the Heaven, you will have to do good deeds in your Present Life. And the Buddha and Jesus have vastly similar teachings on how to do good deeds contributing to the society. If you are a pure prayer who believes in God but did not do anything besides praying, how can you contribute to the society’s welfare at present times. And if Christian practices really led to Heaven, then European powers which have followed Christianity and dominated the world from the 16th century to 1918 would have created a peaceful and wealthy world instead of destroying much of its past glory through initiating the two WWs.
namoamitabha: Thank you so much for writing this! I cannot begin to say how much I have enjoyed reading your well-argued comment. The ‘monk’s’ account and his response are, in fact, among the most mysterious and complex situations I have ever encountered. It demonstrates exactly what is likely to happen when such a personally powerful experience happens to a person who is unprepared, who cannot understand the language of mystical images. It is very difficult for many people to see the humor–the joke, even–in the notion of the Buddha in hell, as well as the complexity of the spirituality it presents, and which you have discussed so clearly.
I am so sorry we can’t sit down and have a cup of tea or coffee to discuss this! I will try to get back to comment a bit more on your post. Thank you again.
PROFESSING TO BE WISE THEY BECAME FOOLS Romans ch 1
I believe this monks testimony, Jesus is cring out to us.
OF COURSE he is in Hell! Buddhism Hinduism Judaism Kaballa Freemasonry Materialists Wiccans Darwinists Scientism Atheists are all demonologists, worship of the fallen demons and Lucifer. Anyone who has studied world religions knows what these religions are. If you don’t know, it is because you haven’t done the research. If you want to debate this, you simply are ignorant OR you are a demonologist protecting your falsity to deceive the simple. Don’t be deceived. Do the research. VERY EASY to find these days. 😉
God calls HIS people back. Those who are not called are not his people and WILL burn in the lake of fire. Enjoy that!
Thank you for writing. There is such an intriguing range of perspectives on this site.
I suspect that most people who study world religions without great prejudice or rigid preconceived notions simply see them for what they are: sets of teachings that developed over time due to folks trying to make sense of things and bring about order. If every religion in existence other than Christianity is and has always been as ungodly and sinister as you say (except Judaism prior to when Jesus started preaching a new way), then God must have been detached from all or the bulk of His human creation for a very long time indeed, given that humans were around before Judaism was and that the majority didn’t get to become aware of the religion even after it had come into being thanks to their geographical remoteness from where it was practiced.
Why would God sit back and let religions like Hinduism (which is believed to predate Judaism) begin life and disseminate if they were nothing more than demonic philosophies put in place to lead people away from Him (not that being on a path to Him was possible in pre-Jewish times anyway, if it’s true that being an obedient Jew was the only way to be right with Him until that changed following the coming of Christ)?
Plus what about Zoroastrianism, which is very similar to the Abrahamic faiths and perhaps the world’s oldest monotheistic religion? Were those who adhered to it even in the days before Judaism doomed for not belonging to the correct religion even if they couldn’t because no such religion existed yet? If so, how did God manage to blunder so badly as to set things up so that, against His will, millions would be lost because they had no means of getting saved; and if not, why are His requirements for salvation so much narrower now than they were thousands of years ago?
R U FOR REAL?
I can’t believe the balcony rationalizations I read in ur reviews.
—Sheesh—
I don’t believe you know what Spirit you are of.
Hey you idiot, the monk actually encounterd Satan, and he thought that’s Yama. And Hell is prepared for those who did not believe in Jesus Christ. Stupid.
Astral Child, I suspect you will get farther in the universe if you cut the rudeness. The monk encountered Yama, whose function is not the same as Satan’s. Sorry you find differences of belief stupid.
Well the buddah God is real and has been seen very clearly.im on a mission for God.to show it’s real image
As many notable thinkers have observed, the worlds great wisdom traditions at their core hold that ultimate reality, i.e. God, is transcendent. That is, existence boils down to a state where all opposites, paradoxes and contradictions are resolved, or are present as potentialities. The alpha and the omega, the home of all possibilities, Brahmin, suchness, being…all are metaphors pointing to an a priori “something” that is apprehendable in consciousness through various practice. This apprehension has nothing to do with doctrine or belief and is only subjective. Like the country song, “you got to walk that lonesome valley, you got to walk it by yourself”. In light of this, I suspect that many Christians and particularly the hellfire and damnation variety, do not understand their own tradition. If you think about it, Jesus took everyday folks, the equivalent of Ralph the plumber or Joe the insurance guy, and within a very short period of time(at most the period between initial discipleship and Pentecost) these people are exhibiting the side effects of extreme spiritual development. Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras called them Siddhis, in the west they are known as miracles. The obvious conclusion is that original Christianity had practices taught by Jesus that have been lost or suppressed in the ensuing centuries. Our wayward monk’s story becomes even less likely in light of this, as the doctrinaire legalism inferred in his account is not a part of the narrative of any of the holy figures of history, be they Christian or otherwise.
Thank you, Bruce, for this fascinating perspective. More simply, yep!
LoL this was the most stupid blatant lie i ever came across in Christian literature. I did not read the Whole article because the title buddha being in hell was enough to disgust me. This kind of claims will make an illiterate or a complete dumbass to believe in Christianity but any person with some sort of education will be deterred from even being closer to a Christian person. I am a former buddhist monk following Jesus Christ, but I don’t believe founders of any other religions being in hell. Religion is to mend your mind and soul to gain eternal bliss, what is the point of following it if you were to become that scornful ? Do not believe in a religion that demands you to disrespect others and do not practice the religion that require you to harm others. I am deeply saddened by this outrageous BS claim by either a fake buddhist monk or someone who might simply lived in a buddhist monastery where monks only memorize a few scriptures but never study even a basic abc of buddhism.
I hope it is possible for you to see “the Buddha in hell” not as “the most stupid blatant lie” but as the result of a provincial monk’s deep misunderstanding of how spiritual experiences operate. Obviously, he has no educated understanding that they *always* represent symbolic truth rather than literal fact. He has a ton of company, as most Christian doctrine does not argue against the literal view. He has not heard a different way of understanding his experience and is left to figure out its meaning all on his ill-prepared own. There’s no point in calling him names or being insulting; he is at the stage he is at, as simple as that.
You have moved from that level to a more informed stage of spiritual understanding, but not far enough to get away from your own scornfulness. Yes, there will be both Christians and Buddhists who are alarmed and/or angry about his experience and who misunderstand it by taking it literally. I share your regret. The best we can do is help them (and ourselves) to keep moving in their spiritual journey toward a wider perspective, a larger sense of the sacred. Hopefully we will all be moving toward more love and less scorn all around. Thanks for writing.
Jesus will keep you from the lake of fire. Trust in Jesus, and you will see life. John 3:16.
Why would Siddartha be in hell? Because he didnt believe in Jesus, whom he predated by several hundred years? Because he didnt believe in YWHW, the God of the Jews and Israelites, whose hand he didnt extend unto the gentiles until after Yashua was sent to the Earth? Because he forfeited wealth, felicity and pleasure, in short, everything the lap of luxury offers and denied himself to live an ascetic life style, so that he could help others attain welfare? Something that most Christians do not do, yet which Christ advised.
Thanks for making a good observation, pointing out the absurdity of the notion of Siddartha’s being in a Christian notion of hell.
HALLELUJAH! YESHUA/JESUS THE ONLY WAY TO SALVATION!
John 3:16
For G-d so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son (Yeshua/Jesus) that whomsoever believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.