Upon page 90 of Dilgo Khyentse’s
“The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones” it is written:
from the mantra circle,
this time dispelling the sufferings of all sentient beings
in the Six Realms:
the searing heat and biting cold of the hells;
the insatiable hunger and thirst of tortured spirits {hungry ghosts};
the cruel stupidity, slaver and abuse of the animal realm;
the human sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death;
the jealousy and feuding of demigods {titans};
and the anguish experienced by the gods when finally,
from their exquisite worlds of pleasure and absorption,
they fall headlong to the depths of the lower realms.
All this misery is dispelled by the radiant light
streaming out from the mantra,
just as the morning sun melts away
{the} frost on a winter meadow.”
One of my teachers told me to think of Samsara
as a six story building
with hell on the bottom
and the god realm on the top.
Classically, the Six realms are taught as being six very real places, as
real as the room that we’re sitting in right now.
The problem with a Fundamentalist view is that it’s not
very spiritually productive.
I’ve never encountered a Buddhist Fundamentalist who’s ever
accomplished anything higher then the 6th Bodhisattva Bhumi.
Hey six out of ten might not sound that bad but
could you recall how in school anything
less then 65% was a failing mark?
So let’s take a relaxing break from fundamentalist dogmatism and
find progressive applications for these teachings that,
instead of relying on fear and faith, could
work with our daily experiences and
further empower our journey on enlightenment’s path.
Classically, we are taught of,
“the searing heat and biting cold of the hells.”
In the traditional texts we can read of the hell realms also being places of
violent torture who’s primary cause is anger and violence.
But remember, faith is a trap; as is fear. So…
let’s explore another view of these teachings.
We’ve all felt the sensation of feeling angry emotions, we’ve
all let anger govern our choices, words and yes even actions. And
we’ve all lived with the aftermath:
• the shame,
• the injuries,
• the foolish life-choices and
• the damaged relationships.
So Metaphorically we could say that the Tyranny of anger is
not only a literal cause of hell, but
also a figurative hell, in and of itself.
What could it mean to have a hell-like experience?
To live in a war zone, and experience first hand it’s
violence and atrocity could be hellish.
To be a child in an abusive home, or
an adult in an abusive relationship could be hellish.
To be homeless or lost and unable to find relief from
a summer in a desert, could also be a hellish experience.
Yes, we’re familiar with the idea of the hot hells, but
did you know that in classic Buddhist literature they
also write of cold, frozen hells?
Has anyone you:
• love,
• work with or
• live with
ever given you the “cold shoulder”?
How did that feel?
Loveless relationships could also be hellish.
And of course to be lost, or homeless during winter, and
to suffer exposure could also be hellish.
So without making stuff up,
without delving into metaphysics,
without relying upon faith,
we can look at the world around us and see
all kinds of hellish experiences.
Karma could play a role.
There are things we can do to invite suffering or
even exacerbate it.
Likewise we could also do things to help prevent or
at least minimize suffering.
Why?
Why could we embrace such a morbid contemplation and
how could it benefit us?
These contemplations can be useful on two levels.
• Conventionally, they could feed our renunciation of suffering and it’s causes.
• Ultimately they could feed our compassion and love for others.
It has been said that Buddha was born for two reasons:
#1 to accomplish the path in his lifetime and
#2 to take away the sufferings of the world.
Hey, do ya wanna know a secret?
That why both each of us were born as well!
Are hellish experiences permanent?
We’ve seen that everything changes.
Honestly we can’t know what happens after death, although
it can be empowering to karmically set space for useful things to happen.
However we need no faith in an afterlife, to
simply notice that suffering sucks, and
it could often seem to have causes.
We need no faith in an inter-dimensional savior to
know that if suffering has causes it’s solution could
also have causes and therefore we can seek intelligently for
the remedy for any suffering.
Remember Buddha taught that enlightenment could
be accomplished in as little as:
• 7 years,
• 7 months,
• 7 weeks or even
• 7 days!
I’d, therefore, be very suspicious of any teaching that
is predicated upon the assumption that
enlightenment requires numerous lifetimes.
Come, let us speak of dark and tragic things.
In politics we can see the paradox that often
the most qualified to lead desire it the least whereas
the least qualified to lead not only desire it the most, but
will do or say anything to wear the crown.
The same can be seen in spiritual circles.
We often see individuals politically maneuver themselves into
positions of spiritual leadership who are woefully unqualified.
Is it any surprise that the ruthless power grabbers could
do or say anything to rule and lead?
This comes into great focus when we read in the Buddhist scriptures of
Buddha’s foolish cousin, Devadatta, who
tried on numerous occasions, to murder Buddha, have him assassinated,
slander him, divide the community of spiritual and lay practitioners and…
strive to usurp it’s leadership
only to fail miserably.
How often in recent history have
rich, powerful and woefully unqualified villains,
corrupted elections,
bought political office, and
once there truly botched things up?
Come let us take a relaxing break from
heeding the words of the fear mongers.
Yes, let us do right, but
NOT out of fear of some future punishment, BUT
rather, let us do right out of compassion and love for
our fellow sentient beings and devotion for
our teacher and the Buddha of compassion.
May you and yours be
happy and healthy!
Om Mani Padme Hum,
NON-sectarian Buddhist: Monk, Teacher, Healer and Tantrika
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