glenn..hell is in the mind..merle Hi, Joe, I resonate with your answer to the koan.
I used to say that if god wanted to send me to hell, he would make me move for eternity (I'm glad to be in a home I plan to live in for many years; and yet, everything is impermanent . . .) Hell is a difficult thing for me to talk about; it still has too much Christian residue sticking to it. There's plenty of hell on earth; no need for one in the here-after, whatever that is. And yes, a bodhisattva chooses to enter that hell every day because s/he accepts whatever the universe brings that day, which may be blessed (heaven), suffering (hell) and/or neutral. Glenn --- In [email protected], "Joe" <desert_woodworker@...> wrote: > > Glenn, > > It might be "a sin to say", from one perspective, but ...some have even vowed > to go to hell, for the good it may do for OTHERS, there. > > Of course, this -- or these -- is/are the Buddhist Hell(s), not the Christian > one. But the Buddhist hells don't sound very cushy and comfortable, either. > Knife-mountains, where everyone must climb these hills covered in razor-sharp > blades. Etc. > > The one that most made me squirm, as an adolescent, was the made-up > "Buddhist-Hell-of-Perpetual-Dentistry". Ouch. Nightmare stuff. ;-[ > We don't find this one in the Sutras, though, fortunately. ;-) > > Some Buddhist bodhisattvas vow not only to put off their own final and > complete enlightenment, but to "do time" in hell to comfort others, where > "time" means Eternity. But what's eternity compared to just a couple of > kalpas? > > In my best moments, I too have vowed to go to hell, feeling that I've known > enough of pain and pleasure to be done with both of them, and just in order > to help and comfort others, and help them to practice. > > Well, we'll see about the final (?) disposition of my spirit (?). > > Yes, is there a spirit? And anything which survives this life? > > Maybe "survives" is not the operative concept. Is there any residue? I > think, "Yes". It is the original stuff, of which we are only differentiated > piles of. > > Old Alan Watts had a beautiful phrase I loved. He spoke about the Absolute, > or about original nature. He called it, "The WHICH than which there is no > whicher." Puts a smile on my face to this day, 40 years after. But that's a > short time, in the scheme of things. > > "The Ten Thousand Things return to the One; but what does the One return to?" > > Why, to the Ten Thousand Things, I say. That's what's so friendly about It. > > (but that's "my" answer to the koan; not yours) ;-) > > --Joe > > > "Glenn Rogers" <rgthiessen@> wrote: > > > > Thanks for this, Joe. I forget that it wasn't too long ago that I struggled > > between the poles of the revealed and mystical traditions. >
