I guess naraka/diyu/jigoku could be more accurately translated as purgatory, as their ultimate role is purification, not punishment. Growing up Buddhist I never dreaded the concept like some of my Christian friends do, it always felt like a "hey, don't be a bad person or your soul is going to go to this really sucky prison", not "your soul will burn for all eternity".
You sugar coting it your hells has is far more descriptive of the forms of punishment they have and no in many Abrahamic traditions you could be eventually saved from hell
I grew up Catholic and from the video it looks like Catholicism is more similar to Buddhism than the protestant/evangelical versions of Christianity. Unlike evangelicals where only “grace” can save you, Catholicism is based on works. Good people go straight to heaven, the really evil unrepentant go to hell, but the majority end up in purgatory for cleansing. The length of the stay is determined by how many sins one has to cleanse and can be reduced by prayers of the living. The more the prayers the higher the discount. Paying to have mass and prayers said for the benefit of the soul of a passed love one used to be customary. In Italy we also have our own story of Dante going to a tour of the underworld and back, with a detailed description of all the “amenities” there. It’s not scripture but it’s almost considered as such in popular religiosity.
In Tibetan Buddhism hell is an extremely important topic which is expounded in a lot of stories. A lot of Westerners don't understand why Buddhism has hell realms at all since it is a religion based on the mind, but one of my teachers put it this way: You experience various forms of hell here on earth because of your mind, and it's the same way if you cling to desire when you die. Think of all the terrible thoughts that you can possibly have--These are the basis for all the possible hell realms you can experience after you die if you don't discover virtuous conduct.
@@danielsparham Buddhism isn't getting rid of desire--It's conditioning yourself to not cling to your desires in order to make suffering decrease. Once you stop clinging to attachment and aversion, they both decrease overall.
@@danielsparham i understand. desires are indeed what give us motivation... but the idea is to have gratefulness be your default instead of desire. to understand that no matter what you desire you still already have everything you need or it is very much easy to get... without like putting others down to get it
I've been a Buddhist since I was a kid, and anytime I was handed a Buddhism book about almost anything, I always try and find something that relates to the afterlife. And when I'm really lucky, I find a couple of pages filled with art of Neraka. It was pretty cool actually.
Can you recommend the names of some good books? I see it mentioned in alot of comments in Buddhist videos that the books have cool art. It doesn't have to be English books! I'd love to read some super old like 200 year old books even if I can't translate them it would be awesome to own something like that
As an asian buddhist, i have a lot of things want to say when seeing some misconception Western people often have. But the end of the day, returning to Buddha's teaching - there is no such thing wrong so that there is no such thing right. I'm very glad that you make a video about this aspect about Buddhism. Buddhism is special because it's very keeping with the goal of the seeker. If you look at Buddhism as a scholar, it can be controversial sometime, just like a loop - "oh Buddhism is more like Atheism. Oh Buddhism is more about supernatural....." . So yeah, history and theory of Buddhism is very intersting :vvv
There is sanskrit buddhism and chinese buddhism, both differ greatly. the former being mostly out of practice, the latter having more mysticism and dogma. the original buddha wasn't chinese afterall. probably why many are confused...
A great video and I appreciated your segment on Orientalism. Our perception of Buddhism is painted by the hippie counterculture’s interpretation of Asian religions without really understanding the millennia long histories of these practices. It’s not talked about often enough and I appreciate you spoke about it.
@@chendaforest My Japanese cousin told me goths in Japan we’re really into crosses because they heard Jesus came back from the dead. “Coming back from the dead” is not an unheard of story in Japanese religions and myths but for some reason when Jesus does it it’s kinda dark and mysterious.
@@DenisRicardo I'm not into goth culture myself but ordinary peeps here in Japan know literally nothing about Christianity (or Buddhism FYI) and crosses are liberally used purely for cool factor in a lot of clothing brands targeting younger teens. Obviously, as they get older they become super cringe tho lol
@@chendaforest well judging by some animes for example Saint Seiya when one character is said to be Jesus, and Lucifer also appears in what of the movies. Or how there was a controversy in the West because one character in DBZ is called "Mr Satan" and fundies yell that it was satanic while asked its creators just though that Satan was the name of a Western demon and though it was like calling a character "Oni".
Great segment on positive Orientalism. Its a common problem I see when trying to find english resources on eastern religions. The book Orientalism is a little dated, but still a great introduction to the topic I'd highly recommend people read.
@@rasmusn.e.m1064 Its been a few years since I've read it so my memory is imperfect. I found Said prone to making overly sweeping statements that generalized entire fields of thought as low quality and based on what he called Orientalism. The fields he critiqued did (and still do) have serious issues of stereotyping and Orientalism I find he focused too narrowly on a small number of writers and framing it like they represent their entire fields. Its still a great starting point and I highly recommend you read it. These critiques are not new and Said's latter writing and other post colonial writers do a great job of improving.
@@DianaCHewitt "Focused on a small number of writers and framed it like they represent their entire field" - this, I can't take claims of "orientalism" too seriously.
@@abominationdesolation8322 Orientalism is a very real thing and many writers do fall into the trap of uncritically believing stereotypes. Flawed criticism can still be useful. The fields of history, linguistics, and anthropology have made massive strides toward being less biased than during when Said first wrote the book and a small portion of that change was a product of his criticism. Modern hippy-esque writers are very prone to Orientalism. Asia isn't some mystical land full of Buddhist harmony. Its a place filled with normal humans with normal human flaws.
Yes, I am from a buddhish family. When I was young I heard all about all kinds of hells and what kinds of torture they do. It was very scary. And there were books filled with detailed drawings of the hells too. For me the budhish worldview is actually really really scary as it seems to be a system that is designed to keep you surffering forever with the only way out being extremely unobtainable and paradoxical.
Actually, since the system is not made by a moral arbiter, it is extremely breakable with cheese strategies like a video game. Karma is more like a level and corruption system in an RPG than how it is usually shown. That explains why dumb karma like a dumb software is able to keep it up, why you don't lose sentience on entering a lower lifeform, why good and bad karma do not cancel, etc. Karma is only really supposed to nudge you in the direction. The main reason for being good is just because you will reincarnate on Earth. Sure, technically it means you have no reason to directly care about present time people, except for the chaos it will start immediately and when they reincarnate. But it is only off by an infinitesimal percent.
The best example is a lot of the punishments in Hell actually come from the government being incredibly authoritarian, understandable as almost all animals, plants, fungi, and sapient beings there are evil and thus hard to trust. Thus, any level up (good karma) that makes you get along better in an authoritarian regime has a high chance of making you immune to the punishment. E.g. not taking risks out of greed/pride, not being addicted to material desires so you can land yourself in trouble, a general trend to non-violence so no one retaliates, being trustworthy etc. Your personality does not completely reset when you reincarnate and your resting personality is especially not affected.
The kind of Buddhism I practice, the focus is on Pure Realms/Buddha Fields, taking the Bodhisattva Vow, and how to get to the Pure realm like Sukhavati. I've barely heard about the Hell Realms accept light descriptions of hungry ghosts and a little bit of "suffering the extremes of cold and heat" as a description for the hell realms. I've read several books, watched a lot of teachings, and none of them even mention the hell realms as it's believed if one has found the Dharma, begun the path of the Bodhisattva, and stick with it, then one will be able to be reborn in at least Amitabha's pure realm Sukhavati.
mmhmm, the other commenter's right if you read the Mu Lien story there are a lot of ways to get out actually, but parts of it also depend if your family is willing to help or if rites are done accordingly
I'm a Sri Lankan. Theravada Buddhist ... I watch all episodes which relate to Buddhism. I give honor to you BCS your videos talk about the most realistic Buddhism and actually what it is... I'm so impressed with your studies and understand about it. The due respect pls do an episode about Theravada Buddhism .... BCS is according to Buddha and my belief showing the path to real satisfaction and the end of suffering of humans is the most valuable help you can do to another human...Then you will be a "Kalyana Mithara" to many more intellectual humans seeking the ultimate truth... I may Bless you with Nobal Triple Jem to obtain " Nirwana " as soon as possible...
This is an excellent video! I myself belong to Vaidika Astika Dharma (Hindu) but I love reading about Nastikas (Buddhism, Ajivika, Ajnana, Carvaka and Jainism) too. We have shared entities with both philosophies. It's really hard to come by good material but you're one of the best channels I've come across so far!
@@jayantkamble6082 Hinduism considers it to be something, because of it's nature as accepting diversity. Will you cry about that? Buddha taught hindus, not buddhists.
@@CountingStars333 maybe you don't know much about Buddhism in India Current Hinduism is a blend of Buddhism, Jainism and many other religions. May be you should know before Buddha became Buddha, he was the follower of Sanatan Dharma. He is also considered as 10th avatar of Lord Vishnu ( one of the Trinity god ). Stories vary from region to region. People's from ancient times really respected each other's religion. I still have statue of Buddha in my house
Just that after Catholic purgatory, these ex sinners then go to heaven. Buddhist ex hell beings just re-enter the cycle of reincarnation according to other unspent karma and habits they still have.
Yes, I was a Catholic that converted to buddhism and have also noticed some similarities in that regard. The difference being that in buddhism no suffering is eternal.
Long list of things in common with “Mediterranean” Catholicism, including the journey to hell. Well, Dante’s Inferno is not scripture but still its depiction of hell and purgatory has left a mark in popular religiosity.
@@SrValeriolete nor is it in Christianity - if you actually read the scriptures. If you're interested in scripture in it's context (ANE) I'd recommend Michael Heiser's Naked Bible Podcast - episode 090 for the subject at hand. They are free and can be found by using your favorite search engine or on any major podcast platform. Cheers.
positive orientalism seems really commum among a lot of 'spiritual channels' here on youtube. very often i see them talking about the west as this horrible capitalist place where everybody is selfish and only care about consumerism, while the the east (specially India) is this incredible place, full of so called 'spiritual people'. Such a naive view is all over the place among so called 'spiritual teachers' here on youtube, and they are almost always western people, go figure. i guess they get disapointed with our society, and end up believing the east is somehow different, better.
@@maxion5109 yes, they are different, but these youtubers seems to think that in the east, ppl are better than western, they believe easterns are 'super spiritual' and actually take spirituality seriously contrary to western christians for example. that's a naive worldview.
That Yama stuff makes sense on a level. I remember getting in trouble at school and being given the choice between a couple of days of boring in school suspension, or a couple of whacks with the paddle. The paddle was my choice most of the time.
You should create a video about how Hinduism and the early relationship with Buddhism. And how religion from South and East Asia interact and evolve around each other.
@@matheussantana2390 Buddha is believed to be the 9th(second last) Avatar of Vishnu. The 10th one is still awaited(it'll be there at the end of Kalyug)
@@matheussantana2390 There's no evidence of strife among eastern religions. We have never had an idea of a monopoly on God. Heck, many don't even have gods. Ashoka, India's most fearless venerated warrior was Buddhist, not Hindu.
it's a very common type of story. Ancient greece, rome, japan, judaism and india all have stories about people going to hell to save a loved one and returning without their loved one
The Journey To The West has a similar plot arc as well, where a King tours hell, although that one was undoubtedly inspired by the traditions discussed here since the author was very very Buddhist.
Thank you for making this video and raising the awareness on Buddhist cosmology. There are hells and havens, miracles, magic and all sorts of things. What is really fascinating is how these all tie together with the mindfulness and self-discovery parts of Buddhism that is popular in the west. Once you understand Buddhist phenomenology and psychology there is the understanding that there has to be hell realms. It is not removed from mindfulness at all.
I did not expect this video to be as interesting as it was, but you surprised me and I thank you for it! I learned a lot about mythology, Buddhism, and history.
One of my teachers made me read Geshe Lhundub Sopa's descriptions of the hells from his commentary on the great treatise and the vivid descriptions really had the intended effect on me, I couldn't eat for a while afterward but came out of it with a renewed dedication to good action xD
Also one thing about buddhism as well is conversion. While it doesn’t go around like monotheistic religions promoting itself. It does have conversion, because someone who claims to be a buddhist, vs someone who took refuge in the three jewels and have a master is very different. So many people don’t consider it to be a religion because there is no creator, but we do worship some deities, and pay homage to the buddha. Buddha didn’t say those were not real or wrong, he just simply stated that worshiping gods and deities would not aid in anything when it comes to reaching enlightenment. Hope that helps!! Peace everyone!! 📿🙏🏼
It doesn't just not aid, it is frequently wholly counter-intuitive and spins for yourself a fake world for you to find enlightenment in. You basically set up another obstacle for yourself to overcome except it's one you'll find very hard to notice is even there.
@@dopaminecloud yeah, in my personal view of the buddha, I worship his qualities, what makes him a buddha. But on the personal view he is my teacher rather than a god. For a god is our lord who we have to obey versus a teacher who gently guides your way but still let you choose what to do. I totally agree with you, everything we do in this world is simply Illusion.
I can't thank enough for this an amazing and informative video created by ReligionForBreakfast, I've learned tons of useful information by just watching you as well as giving recommendations to my all friends no matter what they believe, sceptical, believer, atheist.
The main issue is pragmatism, which a lot of the Eastern faiths incorporate. Obviously, a place where all the animals, plants, fungi, and sapient beings are animated by evil souls will likely be terrible. Unless you are very scrappy. Also, some dogs live there, presumably because they are naturally pain resistant they barely notice where they are. Also a bunch of creatures from higher plains, who apparently ended up there for some reason or another. Maybe they were running from an army.
@@TomorrowWeLive I don't think anyone with a Fascist symbol as their profile picture is in a position to claim that they value learning about other cultures. Your ideology is probably the greatest expression of orientalism there is, treating anything and anyone outside your definition of 'the west' as sub-human
@@TomorrowWeLive The reverse, when people misrepresent Western culture, is called Occidentalism. So it’s not as if people using these terms believe *white people* are all ignorant of all cultures while the rest of humanity isn’t. Westeners are just much likelier to be orientalists than be occidentalists and misrepresent themselves, that’s why you mostly hear about the former.
@@TomorrowWeLive no I think comes down to the historical context of imperialism and living in a post modern world. Generally people are ignorant even of their religion. More often than not it was the general public would claim thier neighbor was a witch and try to get them killed more than not the inquisitors need to step in because they were aware people were very superstitious. This is that but for the modern day and because the west has secularised so much they sought superstitions elsewhere
In the West, many people were introduced to Buddhism by the actor Richard Gere. It’s important, especially if you are just becoming aware of Buddhist teachings, that you know this was a specific form of Buddhism as was practiced in Tibet. Buddhism is so much more than that.
What do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Here is what he says about hell. *Gospel of St. Luke* *Chapter 13* *The Narrow Door* 22 Then Jesus traveled throughout the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way toward Jerusalem. 23“Lord,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?” Jesus answered, 24“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ 26Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out. 29People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30And indeed, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”
@@VirginMostPowerfull Buddhism has existed 500 years before Jesus was even born. What did the Buddhists back then feel about Jesus before he even existed? Can someone quote some meaningless text back then? Lol
@@yuhanzhang2882 I just asked a question, what's your problem ? Buddhism existing before doesn't prohibit him from answering. Besides, if you really want to do this then I suggest you look up the video "God in ancient China" to learn something new and hopefully humbling.
SO glad you mention Orientalism here! I always find it an annoying obstacle of Western discussions about Buddhism but you handled it really gracefully :))
As an 'officially' Budhist who grew up in Budhist country(Thailand), I can tell you that Budhism is very pro-capitalist based on the idea that someone's wealth and 'Birthright' are the results of their Past-life Karma. This made me realized the 'Past-life Karma' might have always been a subliminal message to support wealth inequality. In Thailand, budhism is very consumerism friendly. Our Budhist monks are among the richest group of people in the country. And Thailand is not 'serene' per-say. Our people are quite wild from time to time. :D Love your video. I learnt more about Budhism in other countries here than schools even teached me.
Thailand is also pretty damned liberal with its death penalty, which I've seen monks themselves advocate for, since the victim will just be reincarnated and given another chance anyway. I've also seen men in saffron robes and Nike sneakers smoking cigarettes. I think Buddhism is fascinating, in a scholarly way; the various braches and traditions and the way it often blended existing rituals and stories when it landed in a new place is genuinely fascinating to me. But anyone already familiar with the more cynical aspects of more common religions in the West wouldn't have to look very hard to find a Buddhist equivalent.
Well, yeah, this is the case with most religions. The people who possess wealth and power EARNED that. They DESERVE it because God/Karma/Whatever-Fake-Mechanism determined as much. So all the poors and homeless need to stop complaining about their stations in life because they also deserve the position they're in.
@@johnromero6315 indeed. The zoroastrian idea that the world is unjust and needs to be made just is an attractive one to me. (not that zoroastrians have always put this into practice)
Ive always have a question about religion in Thailand specially about Phra Phrom, the four faced monk-god, aka Brahma. Is he a part of the Buddhist tradition and what is your opinion about the tradition surrounding it?
The enactments of naraka is also extremely common in Sri Lanka as well. Local temples often have very dramatic representations of hell and sometimes during poya days, local public places especially like schools will construct temporary naraka (or apayas as we call it here) where you can walk in and see each level of naraka as you progress. It's quite similar to an amusement park haunted house ride lol. Anyway, great job covering Buddhism as usual. Just wish that you will give Sri Lanka a more prominent place when discussing about buddha dharama.
Tbh… I assumed Chinese people were atheists. I see some Chinese people calling themselves Buddhist. Given that China illegally occupied a peaceful Buddhist nation, Tibet, destroying +6000 monasteries, killing innocent monks & nuns and the communist founder, Mao, calling religion a poison. Chinese people being a Buddhist is questionable
Your videos are incredible. Your scholarly lens is refreshing and it’s nice to see someone working to unravel biases :) Thank you for your contribution 🙏
In Buddhism you should focus on the 3 studies: precepts, meditation and cultivating wisdom. A lot of people in North America sees only meditation, which is not what Buddhism is all about. I now realize that orientalism is a big contributor to that...
I'd love to see some videos on the "positive Orientalism" thing. Like, was Kerouac just responding to the presentation of Buddhism given by, e.g., Suzuki? His presentation really seems very compatible with Kerouac's depiction.
Not "we". But yes, some of the beings here on earth live through experiences similar to those in a hell realm at least temporarily. Primarily, hell may be a place, but it is also a state of mind.
What scares me is the specificity of the length of time one must stay in a Naraka. Some for hundreds of millions of years. 2.5×10^21 in some cases! The amount of time to empty a barrel of seeds if you took out one seed every 100 years. Somehow that’s more terrifying to me than the vagueness of forever.
Wonderful. I had been involved in Buddhism for a while before I got into the descriptions of the hot and cold hells and I was more than a little disturbed in the description.
On positive Orientalism specifically about Buddhism. I remember a conversation I had many years ago. We where talking about a fictitious religion in some fantasy game, and I said something to the effect of: "It's kinda like militant Buddhism" To which someone replied: "Well that is a contradiction in terms." Later in my life, learning more about Asian history, I have realized that militant Buddhism is very much a thing that have existed.
Militant Buddhism is not Buddhism in practice as it goes against the Teachings of the Buddha. As usual people justify their unwholesome actions by falsely attributing it a wrong view of Buddhism.
@@mattisvov yes correct as long as any religious text does not implies violence towards others or oneself in any kind. Or else an excuse will be used to do so. Bear in mind that not all religions are pacifist in nature. I only know of Jainism so far.
@@mattisvov Yeah if you commit violence as a Buddhist you are breaking the first and most fundamental teaching that the Buddha taught which was to not take the life of any human or animal.
And yet Frank Turek thinks many people convert from Christianity to Buddhism to not be held "accountable" for their sins and avoid a belief in hell LOOOOL shows how little most apologists know about world religions
Great video.....as a Theravada Buddhist from south asia, I found a lot of stereotypical image of buddhism in America (they think all kinds of weird things about buddhism).....but thanks for shedding light on this matter. BTW, we actualy have 8 majon Niraya(Hell), Tiryaka(Animal) loka, Manussa(Human) loka, Asura(devil) loka, 6 Sagga(Heavens) loka,16 rupa(form) Brahma loka and 4 arupa(forless) Brahma loka.......yes buddhism is rich in mythology......
I learned about Buddhist hells as a kid thanks to Shaka from Saint Seiya (Caballeros del Zodiaco). Funny enough, you could compare Western Orientalism with how that show uses Greek mythology.
Glad you brought up the orientalist view of Buddhism! It’s not a monolith and there’s sects like pure land, that completely differs from the stereotypical view of Buddhism in the west. If you haven’t done so already, please talk about pure land buddhism! Edit: nevermind, you have!!
This video is so useful. Every person I know has a romanticized view that Buddhism is a freewill 'philosophy' whereas Christianity is an authoritarian religion.
As a Buddhist, I agree. Buddhism is not a philosophy, we literally pray and believe in gods like Avalokitesvara and Tara. Even the most "atheistic" branch still follows scriptures that confirm the existence of spirits, demons and other worlds. We even believe in the devil, known as Mara
Great episode though I understand that the length of time in these Hells is far longer than "hundreds of thousands of years". I think they start at 1.6x10¹² years and multiply by 8 for each level up to 3x10¹⁸. Not an insignificant amount of time! By way of comparison, the lowest level works out (if I've done my sums right) at over 100 times the age of the universe.
There's some debate among Buddhists (I'm Buddhist) to what exactly is the time in hells, there's no a exact amount you can pin and some translations are also faulty, in any case the average consideration is that in reality the number given just mean "a lot" or "incontable" like the number 8 million in Japanese. Should not be taken literally specially because it depends on translation.
This belief is one hell of a motivation to be in line, cthu. I would be the best-behaving person if i believed in karmic justice. Maybe we should teach unruly people this.
"...their work portrays American culture as strict and uptight, and Asian culture as focused on freewheeling journeys of self-discovery." That seems so contrary to everything I've ever learned about Asian culture that it baffles me as to where they got these notions. When I think of strict and uptight cultures, the first things that come to mind are the cram schools, tiger moms and karoshi (death by overwork) of East Asia.
The stereotype of "freewheeling journeys of self-discovery" in relation to Asian cultures is rooted in the gurus, sadhus and monks you find meditating in the Himalayas or across other parts of Asia and those who partake in Eastern religions. Not to mention the Asian wellness practices like yoga and mindfulness.
in holy buddhist scriptures Buddha was mentioning hells and heavens as really existing realms, so whole asian tradition believe in existence of hells, because they mentioned by Buddha in Tripitaka (Tipitaka)
There are indeed some Buddhists who *don't* teach about heavens, hells, deities or even rebirth in a literal sense. However, these "secular" or "humanistic" versions of Buddhism are relatively new developments that can be traced to Western-style modernization movements in various Asian nations during the 19th and 20th centuries C.E.
And no, Yama is not the lord of hell. Yama is the personification of impermanence and death, a bit like the Grim Reaper. It's quite neutral in quality because pleasurable AND painful experiences both have to come to an end. Just we don't like the pleasurable experiences to end, while we want the painful ones to go away ASAP.
In Sri Lanka, we practice pure Theravada Buddhism almost for 2500 years and we don't only offer food and things to Buddhist monks but for the people who need those things. Who are starving, Who wants basic needs. We usually each and every full moon day go to temple and offer many offerings to Statues of Lord Buddha, Bodhi Tree and Dagobs then to Buddhist monks then after for the people who are at the temple. Usually every full moon day in Sri Lanka is a public holiday and Those days represent some of the most important moments in Buddhist History. We don't organize any kind of Ghost Festival or something. Once one of our family members or friend or someone like them dies we organize an offering ceremony at 7th day from the death and we offer food and things to buddhist monks and all the people who participate the event. Then we offer our credits which we have gained through the offering to ones who have passed away. Then those souls can reach a peaceful place in their next life with those credits if they were lack in credits.
Hinduism explicitly clarifies you don't reincarnate as a human in at least some Hells. Dharmic faiths make more sense that way, as Hell is supposed to be a natural formation with a very authoritarian government, not a place created by a moral arbiter. It also means you can live there well if competent and scrappy enough with a bit of luck like you can in a war-torn country. There are also dogs there, who seem genuinely nice if you manage to get them to stop trying to kill you. Also, Hindu Hell is ironically a very nice holiday destination, as it seems quite beautiful for the most part. So the phrase holiday from Hell does not really make sense. Make sure to bring guards though.
@@khosrowanushirwan7591 That's just my observation. The countries of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India have many poor people with difficult lives but they somehow to live in spite of it, and they also have the same of kind of governments as described by the commenter.
The Tibetan game "Rebirth" shows virtually all of the Buddhist hells. A friend bought a copy in the 1970's and we spent many hours playing this in the military barracks.
It's always the military weirdos doing junk like this. Like who else has the opportunity to play games about Hell in military bases on different lands?
@@EmptyMan000 It was a reprieve from the other sorts of games on watch where we acted as score keepers for dress rehearsals for what was intended to be a very final game without a sequel.
Which really emphasizes how much of a shame it is that we're willing to judge, harm, and destroy each other over the details of how we all reach the same ultimate goal in life. Religions are like a path to that goal. There doesnt need to be one singular path, and no path is superior to the others, it's what works best with an individual's spirituality and community. We should appreciate and embrace that we ultimately want the same thing out of life. It should be okay if we take different paths as long as we achieve our goal; follow the Golden Rule, live a good life, and try to make life better for future generations.
Thank you for this wonderful video. It was amazing to watch someone explain our realigion in such a good way. I can now just send this to my friends when they ask me
I like the wider perspective on how practicing Buddhists interpret and think of hell. My reading of the Pali canon had me thinking of a hell I've been to - one that is a world constructed by our false understandings of the world run amok. Certainly not from the general entire canon, but certain parts of it painted hell in this way, as you briefly mention, of the mental projection hell, the created hell. As I read about it, I realized I was living in a layer of hell, and had been to some of the deeper layers as well. See, we don't see with our eyes, we see with our mind, we see a model of the world constructed in our heads. We see objects and spaces around us, we do not see the raw input of our eyes - this is why suppressing a small part of the brain that tells you that you are behind your eyes can create, reliably in the lab, out of body experiences where your perspective is from a place in the room not behind your eyes. We build a world model and then we make it transparent to our understanding of the world because a coherent sense of self is necessary to not appear crazy, if we saw through the illusion we'd be insane. Just as our visual input is constructed into a world model, so is our interactions with others and our larger behavioral understanding part of the brain, these images can be distorted by trauma, by addition, by lust for power, etc. Uncompassionate and mindless action creates feedbacks that pull our models of the world out of line with reality and create dark, painful distortions that, added enough on top of each other, build a complete and total hell. Extensive compassion for the self and others and mindful action can bring the model back in line with reality and bring you away from hell. And my understanding of the pali canon's interpretation on the death sequence is that all of this happens basically instantly at death to ressurect you into a new realm. I don't really jive with their interpretation on what's happening when a body dies but it's easy to go from the understanding of descending into a hellish or heavenly realm here on earth through strong mental control can translate through their interpretations of death to the larger idea of hell realms.
Or, one Hell. The one we make for ourselves. Little known to most is the heavens and hells in Buddhism are both another place and your internally created existence. You can see it either way: which ever will allow you to see reality for what it is. *As example in the Tibetan book of Liberation in the between states(Bardo Thodol/book of the dead) - it clearly explains these demons that we are tormented by: are mind born. They are real, both to us and in their effect, but they are not real in the sense we consider it. They are manifestations of aspects of experience, personality, attachment... Like the shadow to Jung.
@@alohm Storehouses, as explained by my lama, are generally used within the context of the school of Yogacara, or mind only. While I notice my lineage (Karma Kagyu) tends to emphasize Madhyamaka (middle way of Nagarjuna), I agree with the potentiality of ourselves making our own hells or even ones we can be unfortunately born with/into. This is Sakyamuni's Pure Realm and we only have to recognise it. It also brings to mind the Short Vajradhara Prayer and the line "Bless me to know Samara and Nirvana are not two." Though I feel the extremes of Yogacara in my experience, as with its description of emptiness, that passive nihilism can be born.
@@roxyamused Gharba is Sanskrit for womb which is often translated as treasury or storehouse ;) but you are correct that the storehouse(consciousness or self) alaya is the store of the self. Another context in this case.
Man, I never heard this term orientalism, but it makes a lot of sense. Loved that section. I'm gonna research more about it. Thanks for the great video!
I was surprised that Buddhism has hells, not because I thought they was all peaceful and meditationy, but because I know rebirth is such a giant part of it and I guess I just only ever heard about the bare bones "you die and come back until you reach a state of enlightenment and move on from our current existence" and that your karma affects how, I guess a good word would be "pleasant" your next life is, as opposed to having that "balance" come from an outside force.
There is an orientalism of buddhist religion, but buddhist philosophy can mostly stand without any uncommon supernatural belief. This is why some people say that buddhism "isn't really a religion". It is what you should think to some. It is only a way of thinking to others. I would not call myself a buddhist but I am learning the Buddha's teachings and many of them are quite great, even secularly.
Since I first read about the Naraka hells I never stopped wondering how people came up with the astronomically high amount of years needed to burn out bad karma (rivaling the evaporation time of supermassive black holes).
The progenitor religion of Buddhism is Hinduism where ridiculous numbers are thrown around way too casually. I guess people in India liked big numbers because they seem incomprehensible to normal people?
I remember Bramha's single day is a hundred years of human life or something. Bramha has the same lifespan as the universe and will live for another 364 trillion years or something. Mind-boggling number of years for any human to fathom in reality even though we can all say it easily.
It’s bizarre to me that there are people out there that legitimately believe that Catholicism, Christianity and all other Western religions are the only ones that punish transgressors. Divine punishment is a thing in pretty much all religions and mythologies and the idea of being punished for not following the practices/instructions given by deities is pretty universal. I’ll admit I’m not well-versed in Asian/Eastern religions and practices, but I don’t think there was ever a time that I believed that those religions don’t also feature punishments; after all, tragedy and evil human acts happen everywhere, it makes sense that anywhere that bad things can be done there will be at least some semblance of divine punishment/retribution later down the line.
This takes me back to early teens, watching Saint Seiya. Virgo Shaka had the power to send anyone to any Buddhist hell. The worst place he could send his enemies, though, was heaven, as any bad thought could send someone from there to some hell. He was also the first saint to learn how to go to hell without dying, like in those legends.
I was waiting for the first fellow latinamerican to mention saint Seiya. Authough I never understood why shaka mentioned heaven to be the worst. At least for us Catholics it was confusing.
Haha yeah I've "heard " key word " heard" I do that alot when talking about life in general lmao! idk? If it's true or not though, but I don't know why they'd be lying lol!
As someone from a Catholic background, I find it interesting how narakas are reminiscent of purgatory, a realm of temporary suffering for the purpose of spiritual cleansing. Additionally, the bodhisattvas actively trying to comfort and guide people in hell reminds me of how Catholics would pray for the saints’ intercession on behalf of deceased loved ones in purgatory.
I was born Christian, but things written in bible and that story about Adam and Eve are too ridiculous for me and I became Agnostic. However now after getting into meditation I am getting interested and believe in buddhism more and more, it is such a fascinating religion that has things in which I believed in even before researching more about it.
I was born a christian and was baptized. I dont know if i wanna stay as christian though. I wanna stay, but i see that buddhist is interesting. Christian is also interesting, but my grandmother is buddhist and ive been getting pretty interested within the buddhist religion.
@@kene.9386 says the one that got too mad at others for not believing in your savior in your religion. Let them believe and be whatever they want, let them find a perfect religion for themselves.
@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl The difference is the sin germinates within you and takes shape, whereas being punished for your sins you have to imagine a third party judge such as a bearded man in the sky. I think the former is a more sophisticated understanding and is the basis for Dante's Divine Comedy and some eastern conceptions of hell.
@@kangaroocaliphate1577 You have a narrow understanding of God plenty of people don't believe God is a beared man in the sky . For me God is a fair judge and won't punish someone for not living a nihilistic Buddhist life or what religion they were born into but by deeds .
Sounds a lot like the modern Christian Hell borrowed a lot of its ideas from Buddhism. Christian hell wasn't very well developed when the canonised Christian texts were being penned. Much of the modern concept of Hell comes from Dante's Inferno written in the 14th century by which time contemporary writers would be well versed in eastern Religions ideas.
Speaking of orientalism, anyone else irritated by depictions of the Buddha being used as interior decor tchotchkes? I’m not Buddhist nor religious at all, but it seems so disrespectful.
Man that was disturbing scary hearing that. Going to hell for hundreds of thousands of years being tortured forever. I find it scary because my whole life it felt like I knew what hell was like. Being thrown so far down and looking up at the walls of hell trying to find a way escape but there is none. I feel like we are cosmic in nature and turned into humans to figure out what our soul looks like, so once we die what we were as humans reflects where we will end up after the unknown. I'm honestly scared where I will end up after I die. I wonder about the afterlife a lot it's unhealthy.
What If you focused that energy into trying to be your best and do your best during the short time we all have in this world? Maybe it could bring you some peace of mind and contentment.
I'm a Buddhist and Taoist, aside from all these stories and practices, I believe that at the very core of a religion, the main idea is to do good, don't have to force yourself, just do your best. The happiness I experience when helping others knowing that this person, animals or even trees are so joyful that I feel like at that moment, I am experiencing Heaven.
That’s the problem with your religion. You are your own god. There’s no one to hold you accountable but yourself. There’s no moral laws. You make your own. Please just read the Gospels of Jesus Christ. Do some biblical historical research on the Bible. It will change your whole life. Please.. I’m praying for you ❤️🙏🏽✝️
@@jayrocky9067 Hi, I just think you are a little misinformed of buddhism. A person can have his own views of what is right and wrong. But like closing your eyes won't block an oncoming punch, a person is not judged by his own laws, but by the karmic law, which rewards and punish us justly. According to Buddha, that is what holds us accountable. He said this this law is common to all such as Buddhas, brahmas, gods, humans, animals...etc. So Buddhism is a religion that say even gods are accountable for what they do and can be born in hells according to their karma. In that way Buddhism holds people more accountable than christianism. Because even if we go to heaven, we will still be judged as that life too is temporary. Also Buddhism say good karma don't cancel bad karma.(except for very weak karma and a specific type of karma gained upon enlightenment) That good and bad effects will come to us separately, This too, is a point where Buddhism holds people more accountable than christianism where you can do a sin and can be forgiven. This is a vague description of concepts of reward and punishment in buddhism. I hope you will view this religion in a new light from now on. Have a good day! :)
The Lotus Sutra and the Tibetan book of the Dead are really good reads. The mystic law of cause and effect and karma. The Four Noble Truths-Suffering, Cause of Suffering, the path that leads to the end of suffering and the truth about the end of Suffering. The eight fold path- right view, right speech, right livelihood, right mindfulness, right resolve, right conduct, right effort and right Samandi which is the spiritual mediation the Buddhist monks do.
Hells in almost every single religion, are always so excessive that it becomes rediculous.. Something like: You spoke rudely or you told a lie, now literally burn for a trillion years.
people have been beaten and enslaved to sick ponzi schemes that emotionally and psychologically abuse them into obedience at the threat of punishment with non-existent hells since time immemorial. it's like the past 4,000+ years were a global series of variations of the premise of "finding ways to enslave the common rabble"
This was a fantastic video and I love how you brought how our bias skews our perception and it really made me rethink how I view other religions. Thank you so much for making this video!
Excellent work, as usual. One thing though: while I'm sure many Buddhist, particularly lay practitioners in Asia, but even monastics, take the hell realms literally, I have heard many Eastern and Western scholars and meditative adepts and teachers talk about the hell realms in terms of "where" they take place. They often make the connection: "where do NIGHTMARES take place? Is it a real geographical location?" They talk in a similar way about all of Samsara and Nirvana. This could be indigenous to the "Mind Only" and/or Yogacara schools, and it is not mutually exclusive to see hell realms as both real AND as being states of mind, but... clearly it's not some purely Western projection onto Eastern beliefs. In my experience it seems to be a strong current of thought from within Buddhism itself, perhaps going back as old as the concepts of the hell realms themselves.
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The hell is similar in Islam like the molten lava and questions about how you didn't believe and how you ignored the signs of his
So its kinda like purgatory?
In catholic tradition you can pray for your ancestors in purgatory and help expedite thier entrance into heaven
Would it be a correct analysis to say hell here and by by extension other religions hell is a way to guilt trip people to foolow it?
Would it be a correct analysis to say hell here and by by extension other religions hell is a way to guilt trip people to foolow it?
Yama is a really interesting deity. He can be found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Dragon Ball Z.
And yu yu hakusho
ah the big five eastern religions
@@unholydoll1616 Last one is also huge in Latin America. I myself I'm a firm Dragon Ball Z-ist
Seriously? haha....?
@@unholydoll1616 yer name lol!
I guess naraka/diyu/jigoku could be more accurately translated as purgatory, as their ultimate role is purification, not punishment. Growing up Buddhist I never dreaded the concept like some of my Christian friends do, it always felt like a "hey, don't be a bad person or your soul is going to go to this really sucky prison", not "your soul will burn for all eternity".
You sugar coting it your hells has is far more descriptive of the forms of punishment they have and no in many Abrahamic traditions you could be eventually saved from hell
Unfortunately your Christian friends are right, hell is forever
I grew up Catholic and from the video it looks like Catholicism is more similar to Buddhism than the protestant/evangelical versions of Christianity. Unlike evangelicals where only “grace” can save you, Catholicism is based on works. Good people go straight to heaven, the really evil unrepentant go to hell, but the majority end up in purgatory for cleansing. The length of the stay is determined by how many sins one has to cleanse and can be reduced by prayers of the living. The more the prayers the higher the discount. Paying to have mass and prayers said for the benefit of the soul of a passed love one used to be customary.
In Italy we also have our own story of Dante going to a tour of the underworld and back, with a detailed description of all the “amenities” there. It’s not scripture but it’s almost considered as such in popular religiosity.
same, never dreaded it
The eternity part is where they really hook you, and torture your mind and body in the now!
In Tibetan Buddhism hell is an extremely important topic which is expounded in a lot of stories. A lot of Westerners don't understand why Buddhism has hell realms at all since it is a religion based on the mind, but one of my teachers put it this way: You experience various forms of hell here on earth because of your mind, and it's the same way if you cling to desire when you die. Think of all the terrible thoughts that you can possibly have--These are the basis for all the possible hell realms you can experience after you die if you don't discover virtuous conduct.
thankkkk you a lot for the clarification !!
Where the soul swells in life, it shall pass to in death.
Having desire is what makes you human, to get rid of desire is to become a walking apathetic zombie
@@danielsparham Buddhism isn't getting rid of desire--It's conditioning yourself to not cling to your desires in order to make suffering decrease. Once you stop clinging to attachment and aversion, they both decrease overall.
@@danielsparham i understand. desires are indeed what give us motivation... but the idea is to have gratefulness be your default instead of desire. to understand that no matter what you desire you still already have everything you need or it is very much easy to get... without like putting others down to get it
I've been a Buddhist since I was a kid, and anytime I was handed a Buddhism book about almost anything, I always try and find something that relates to the afterlife. And when I'm really lucky, I find a couple of pages filled with art of Neraka. It was pretty cool actually.
Can you recommend the names of some good books? I see it mentioned in alot of comments in Buddhist videos that the books have cool art. It doesn't have to be English books! I'd love to read some super old like 200 year old books even if I can't translate them it would be awesome to own something like that
@@pharaohsmagician8329 If you ever find any please do share
Preaching the Dharma of the Buddha It's like a lion snatching a prey.
@@pharaohsmagician8329 Me personally I found most of my Buddhist books from my school library, never bothered to remember the names tho 😅😅
you may find this interesting. latest zen buddhist video "You will never be lazy again" th-cam.com/video/gCZc-nWMfoY/w-d-xo.html. cheers
As an asian buddhist, i have a lot of things want to say when seeing some misconception Western people often have. But the end of the day, returning to Buddha's teaching - there is no such thing wrong so that there is no such thing right. I'm very glad that you make a video about this aspect about Buddhism. Buddhism is special because it's very keeping with the goal of the seeker. If you look at Buddhism as a scholar, it can be controversial sometime, just like a loop - "oh Buddhism is more like Atheism. Oh Buddhism is more about supernatural....." . So yeah, history and theory of Buddhism is very intersting :vvv
I want to be a Buddhist do you know how I can start
Are you Vietnamese? Are Vietnamese communists Buddhist?
@@ana.eduard1493 South east Buddhism. Learn about 5 Thila and 10 things you should not do in Buddhism and goes from there.
There is sanskrit buddhism and chinese buddhism, both differ greatly. the former being mostly out of practice, the latter having more mysticism and dogma. the original buddha wasn't chinese afterall. probably why many are confused...
@@nogrammer You mean Theravada Buddhism. The language associated with Theravada Buddhism is Pali.
A great video and I appreciated your segment on Orientalism. Our perception of Buddhism is painted by the hippie counterculture’s interpretation of Asian religions without really understanding the millennia long histories of these practices. It’s not talked about often enough and I appreciate you spoke about it.
I wonder if Eastern people similarly exotify western religion?
@@chendaforest My Japanese cousin told me goths in Japan we’re really into crosses because they heard Jesus came back from the dead. “Coming back from the dead” is not an unheard of story in Japanese religions and myths but for some reason when Jesus does it it’s kinda dark and mysterious.
@@DenisRicardo interesting...though thinking about it Christianity is an Asian religion by geographic origin anyway...
@@DenisRicardo I'm not into goth culture myself but ordinary peeps here in Japan know literally nothing about Christianity (or Buddhism FYI) and crosses are liberally used purely for cool factor in a lot of clothing brands targeting younger teens. Obviously, as they get older they become super cringe tho lol
@@chendaforest well judging by some animes for example Saint Seiya when one character is said to be Jesus, and Lucifer also appears in what of the movies. Or how there was a controversy in the West because one character in DBZ is called "Mr Satan" and fundies yell that it was satanic while asked its creators just though that Satan was the name of a Western demon and though it was like calling a character "Oni".
Great segment on positive Orientalism. Its a common problem I see when trying to find english resources on eastern religions. The book Orientalism is a little dated, but still a great introduction to the topic I'd highly recommend people read.
If you don't mind answering; how is it dated?
@@rasmusn.e.m1064 Its been a few years since I've read it so my memory is imperfect. I found Said prone to making overly sweeping statements that generalized entire fields of thought as low quality and based on what he called Orientalism. The fields he critiqued did (and still do) have serious issues of stereotyping and Orientalism I find he focused too narrowly on a small number of writers and framing it like they represent their entire fields.
Its still a great starting point and I highly recommend you read it. These critiques are not new and Said's latter writing and other post colonial writers do a great job of improving.
@@DianaCHewitt Ok, thank you for taking your time :) I'll go and check it out.
@@DianaCHewitt "Focused on a small number of writers and framed it like they represent their entire field" - this, I can't take claims of "orientalism" too seriously.
@@abominationdesolation8322 Orientalism is a very real thing and many writers do fall into the trap of uncritically believing stereotypes. Flawed criticism can still be useful. The fields of history, linguistics, and anthropology have made massive strides toward being less biased than during when Said first wrote the book and a small portion of that change was a product of his criticism.
Modern hippy-esque writers are very prone to Orientalism. Asia isn't some mystical land full of Buddhist harmony. Its a place filled with normal humans with normal human flaws.
Yes, I am from a buddhish family. When I was young I heard all about all kinds of hells and what kinds of torture they do. It was very scary. And there were books filled with detailed drawings of the hells too. For me the budhish worldview is actually really really scary as it seems to be a system that is designed to keep you surffering forever with the only way out being extremely unobtainable and paradoxical.
Actually, since the system is not made by a moral arbiter, it is extremely breakable with cheese strategies like a video game. Karma is more like a level and corruption system in an RPG than how it is usually shown. That explains why dumb karma like a dumb software is able to keep it up, why you don't lose sentience on entering a lower lifeform, why good and bad karma do not cancel, etc.
Karma is only really supposed to nudge you in the direction. The main reason for being good is just because you will reincarnate on Earth. Sure, technically it means you have no reason to directly care about present time people, except for the chaos it will start immediately and when they reincarnate. But it is only off by an infinitesimal percent.
The best example is a lot of the punishments in Hell actually come from the government being incredibly authoritarian, understandable as almost all animals, plants, fungi, and sapient beings there are evil and thus hard to trust.
Thus, any level up (good karma) that makes you get along better in an authoritarian regime has a high chance of making you immune to the punishment. E.g. not taking risks out of greed/pride, not being addicted to material desires so you can land yourself in trouble, a general trend to non-violence so no one retaliates, being trustworthy etc. Your personality does not completely reset when you reincarnate and your resting personality is especially not affected.
The kind of Buddhism I practice, the focus is on Pure Realms/Buddha Fields, taking the Bodhisattva Vow, and how to get to the Pure realm like Sukhavati. I've barely heard about the Hell Realms accept light descriptions of hungry ghosts and a little bit of "suffering the extremes of cold and heat" as a description for the hell realms. I've read several books, watched a lot of teachings, and none of them even mention the hell realms as it's believed if one has found the Dharma, begun the path of the Bodhisattva, and stick with it, then one will be able to be reborn in at least Amitabha's pure realm Sukhavati.
mmhmm, the other commenter's right
if you read the Mu Lien story there are a lot of ways to get out actually, but parts of it also depend if your family is willing to help or if rites are done accordingly
@@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana mmmmmm... cheese strategy.... *drools*
I'm a Sri Lankan. Theravada Buddhist ... I watch all episodes which relate to Buddhism. I give honor to you BCS your videos talk about the most realistic Buddhism and actually what it is... I'm so impressed with your studies and understand about it. The due respect pls do an episode about Theravada Buddhism .... BCS is according to Buddha and my belief showing the path to real satisfaction and the end of suffering of humans is the most valuable help you can do to another human...Then you will be a "Kalyana Mithara" to many more intellectual humans seeking the ultimate truth... I may Bless you with Nobal Triple Jem to obtain " Nirwana " as soon as possible...
using zen buddhist story to unveil truth. "How to deal with toxic people at your workplace" th-cam.com/video/f4XU2yEZMRk/w-d-xo.html
😢
This is an excellent video! I myself belong to Vaidika Astika Dharma (Hindu) but I love reading about Nastikas (Buddhism, Ajivika, Ajnana, Carvaka and Jainism) too. We have shared entities with both philosophies. It's really hard to come by good material but you're one of the best channels I've come across so far!
Buddhism is neither astika nor nastika.
@@jayantkamble6082 Hinduism considers it to be something, because of it's nature as accepting diversity.
Will you cry about that? Buddha taught hindus, not buddhists.
Ajivika, Ajnana, Carvaka I haven't heard of these Dharmic sects before, what are they?
@@ikengaspirit3063 They are long forgotten communities of ancient India.
@@CountingStars333 maybe you don't know much about Buddhism in India
Current Hinduism is a blend of Buddhism, Jainism and many other religions.
May be you should know before Buddha became Buddha, he was the follower of Sanatan Dharma. He is also considered as 10th avatar of Lord Vishnu ( one of the Trinity god ).
Stories vary from region to region. People's from ancient times really respected each other's religion.
I still have statue of Buddha in my house
This was really interesting. Given the temporary nature of these hells, they almost seem like a more extreme version of purgatory in Catholicism.
Just that after Catholic purgatory, these ex sinners then go to heaven. Buddhist ex hell beings just re-enter the cycle of reincarnation according to other unspent karma and habits they still have.
Yes, I was a Catholic that converted to buddhism and have also noticed some similarities in that regard. The difference being that in buddhism no suffering is eternal.
Long list of things in common with “Mediterranean” Catholicism, including the journey to hell. Well, Dante’s Inferno is not scripture but still its depiction of hell and purgatory has left a mark in popular religiosity.
@@SrValeriolete nor is it in Christianity - if you actually read the scriptures. If you're interested in scripture in it's context (ANE) I'd recommend Michael Heiser's Naked Bible Podcast - episode 090 for the subject at hand. They are free and can be found by using your favorite search engine or on any major podcast platform. Cheers.
@@betrion7 It is in the roman catholic dogma, one of the reasons I left
positive orientalism seems really commum among a lot of 'spiritual channels' here on youtube. very often i see them talking about the west as this horrible capitalist place where everybody is selfish and only care about consumerism, while the the east (specially India) is this incredible place, full of so called 'spiritual people'. Such a naive view is all over the place among so called 'spiritual teachers' here on youtube, and they are almost always western people, go figure. i guess they get disapointed with our society, and end up believing the east is somehow different, better.
Self hating whities brainwashed by leftist media.
I mean, the critiques against the west are definitely true, the "east" deals with a lot of the same problems unfortunately
Well, historically there are differences. The philosophies of Asia differ in nature from Western philosophies
@@maxion5109 yes, they are different, but these youtubers seems to think that in the east, ppl are better than western, they believe easterns are 'super spiritual' and actually take spirituality seriously contrary to western christians for example. that's a naive worldview.
@@compulsive_jaywalker1861 no. Eastern problems are very different and niche specific than western ones. Hence,the east is less developed.
This was extremely well done! I really enjoyed this.
Oh Hi Derek 👋 Love you're channel.
That Yama stuff makes sense on a level. I remember getting in trouble at school and being given the choice between a couple of days of boring in school suspension, or a couple of whacks with the paddle. The paddle was my choice most of the time.
I am a Thai and consider myself a Buddhist. I agree with what you said about positive orientalism mentioned in the video. Totally agreed 👍
ในคลิปนี้เขาพูดอย่างไรบ้างครับพี่ พูดไปในแนวทางไหนครับ
@@rastafah2263 เขาพูดถึงประเด็นที่ว่า ในตะวันตก มักมองแต่ด้านดีของศาสนาและวัฒนธรรมจากทางฝั่งเอเชียครับ เช่นการมองศาสนาพุทธในเชิงปรัชญามากกว่าศาสนา และมองว่าอะไรที่ไม่ดี หรือไม่มีในวัฒนธรรมตะวันตก ทางฝั่งเอเชีย เช่นศาสนาพุทธ มีทางออกให้หมดแล้ว เช่น กาลามาสูตร 10 ศาสนาพุทธในทางปฎิบัติหรือโดยคอนเซป ไม่มีเรื่องงมงายเลย
โดยที่ไม่รู้ว่าคัมภีศาสนาพุทธก็มีการพูดถึงนรก โลกหลังความตายอย่างละเอียด รวมถึงในรายละเอียดและการประยุกย์ใช้ในสังคม ก็มีหลายเรื่องที่อาศัยศรัทธาเป็นหลักคล้ายกับศาสนาอื่นๆ ในทางตะวันตกครับ
Dante walks into the room: I have written the greatest description of hell!
Sees Hell realms
Dante: I'll come back later.
You should create a video about how Hinduism and the early relationship with Buddhism. And how religion from South and East Asia interact and evolve around each other.
Hmmm ... cool bruh.
I'd love this! I once read that there are some sects of Hinduism that see the Buddha as some sort of prophet.
@@matheussantana2390
Vaishnavas sects believe in Buddha as avatar of Vishnu just like Krishna and Rama
@@matheussantana2390 Buddha is believed to be the 9th(second last) Avatar of Vishnu. The 10th one is still awaited(it'll be there at the end of Kalyug)
@@matheussantana2390 There's no evidence of strife among eastern religions. We have never had an idea of a monopoly on God. Heck, many don't even have gods. Ashoka, India's most fearless venerated warrior was Buddhist, not Hindu.
The story of Mulian sounds similar to Dante's Inferno (A living person going to see what Hell is like)
it's a very common type of story. Ancient greece, rome, japan, judaism and india all have stories about people going to hell to save a loved one and returning without their loved one
The Journey To The West has a similar plot arc as well, where a King tours hell, although that one was undoubtedly inspired by the traditions discussed here since the author was very very Buddhist.
Or the Greek myth of Orpheus.
I would imagine that the theme of "Mortal goes on journey and bears witness to the other realms" is one of those themes that occurs mythology a lot.
@@NovaSaber As far as I know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice directly influenced Divine Comedy
Thank you for making this video and raising the awareness on Buddhist cosmology. There are hells and havens, miracles, magic and all sorts of things. What is really fascinating is how these all tie together with the mindfulness and self-discovery parts of Buddhism that is popular in the west. Once you understand Buddhist phenomenology and psychology there is the understanding that there has to be hell realms. It is not removed from mindfulness at all.
I did not expect this video to be as interesting as it was, but you surprised me and I thank you for it! I learned a lot about mythology, Buddhism, and history.
It's very disappointing to find out that Buddhism uses hell the way the Abrahamic religions do, to frighten people into following it.
One of my teachers made me read Geshe Lhundub Sopa's descriptions of the hells from his commentary on the great treatise and the vivid descriptions really had the intended effect on me, I couldn't eat for a while afterward but came out of it with a renewed dedication to good action xD
Also one thing about buddhism as well is conversion. While it doesn’t go around like monotheistic religions promoting itself. It does have conversion, because someone who claims to be a buddhist, vs someone who took refuge in the three jewels and have a master is very different. So many people don’t consider it to be a religion because there is no creator, but we do worship some deities, and pay homage to the buddha. Buddha didn’t say those were not real or wrong, he just simply stated that worshiping gods and deities would not aid in anything when it comes to reaching enlightenment. Hope that helps!! Peace everyone!! 📿🙏🏼
It doesn't just not aid, it is frequently wholly counter-intuitive and spins for yourself a fake world for you to find enlightenment in. You basically set up another obstacle for yourself to overcome except it's one you'll find very hard to notice is even there.
@@dopaminecloud yeah, in my personal view of the buddha, I worship his qualities, what makes him a buddha. But on the personal view he is my teacher rather than a god. For a god is our lord who we have to obey versus a teacher who gently guides your way but still let you choose what to do. I totally agree with you, everything we do in this world is simply Illusion.
@@roberttran435 it’s all good until you worship Buddha himself, he stated that he didn’t want that at all
Preaching the Dharma of the Buddha It's like a lion snatching a prey.
Not Just in Buddhism most of the asian religions don't believe in promoting itself forcefully. Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Jain, Tao etc
I can't thank enough for this an amazing and informative video created by ReligionForBreakfast, I've learned tons of useful information by just watching you as well as giving recommendations to my all friends no matter what they believe, sceptical, believer, atheist.
Wow, it surprises me how brainwashed I was as a kid by Orientalism and it's variants growing up. This was really eye opening!
The main issue is pragmatism, which a lot of the Eastern faiths incorporate. Obviously, a place where all the animals, plants, fungi, and sapient beings are animated by evil souls will likely be terrible. Unless you are very scrappy.
Also, some dogs live there, presumably because they are naturally pain resistant they barely notice where they are. Also a bunch of creatures from higher plains, who apparently ended up there for some reason or another. Maybe they were running from an army.
Really sheds a new light on the karate kid
@@TomorrowWeLive I don't think anyone with a Fascist symbol as their profile picture is in a position to claim that they value learning about other cultures. Your ideology is probably the greatest expression of orientalism there is, treating anything and anyone outside your definition of 'the west' as sub-human
@@TomorrowWeLive The reverse, when people misrepresent Western culture, is called Occidentalism. So it’s not as if people using these terms believe *white people* are all ignorant of all cultures while the rest of humanity isn’t. Westeners are just much likelier to be orientalists than be occidentalists and misrepresent themselves, that’s why you mostly hear about the former.
@@TomorrowWeLive no I think comes down to the historical context of imperialism and living in a post modern world. Generally people are ignorant even of their religion. More often than not it was the general public would claim thier neighbor was a witch and try to get them killed more than not the inquisitors need to step in because they were aware people were very superstitious. This is that but for the modern day and because the west has secularised so much they sought superstitions elsewhere
In the West, many people were introduced to Buddhism by the actor Richard Gere. It’s important, especially if you are just becoming aware of Buddhist teachings, that you know this was a specific form of Buddhism as was practiced in Tibet. Buddhism is so much more than that.
westerners interested to know buddhism way before him
In India Buddhism is very different from the west. Hindus and Buddhists get along best unlike abrahamos
ALL major Versions of Buddhism have multiple Hells
Nope, every Buddhist canon contains the accounts of hells in them.
Shinryu Suzuki is the founder of Buddhism in America. Focused on Zen Buddhism, which fits well with the logical scientific minds in the west.
As a Buddhist THIS GIVES ME HAPPINESS
Leave this foolish thing you call your religion
What do you think of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Here is what he says about hell.
*Gospel of St. Luke*
*Chapter 13*
*The Narrow Door*
22 Then Jesus traveled throughout the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way toward Jerusalem. 23“Lord,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?”
Jesus answered, 24“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’
But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’
26Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
27And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’
28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out. 29People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30And indeed, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”
@@VirginMostPowerfull Buddhism has existed 500 years before Jesus was even born. What did the Buddhists back then feel about Jesus before he even existed? Can someone quote some meaningless text back then? Lol
@@VirginMostPowerfull both of you are wrong. islam is the last religion,with the last message and messenger
@@yuhanzhang2882 I just asked a question, what's your problem ?
Buddhism existing before doesn't prohibit him from answering.
Besides, if you really want to do this then I suggest you look up the video "God in ancient China" to learn something new and hopefully humbling.
SO glad you mention Orientalism here! I always find it an annoying obstacle of Western discussions about Buddhism but you handled it really gracefully :))
As an 'officially' Budhist who grew up in Budhist country(Thailand), I can tell you that Budhism is very pro-capitalist based on the idea that someone's wealth and 'Birthright' are the results of their Past-life Karma. This made me realized the 'Past-life Karma' might have always been a subliminal message to support wealth inequality.
In Thailand, budhism is very consumerism friendly. Our Budhist monks are among the richest group of people in the country.
And Thailand is not 'serene' per-say. Our people are quite wild from time to time. :D
Love your video. I learnt more about Budhism in other countries here than schools even teached me.
Thailand is also pretty damned liberal with its death penalty, which I've seen monks themselves advocate for, since the victim will just be reincarnated and given another chance anyway. I've also seen men in saffron robes and Nike sneakers smoking cigarettes.
I think Buddhism is fascinating, in a scholarly way; the various braches and traditions and the way it often blended existing rituals and stories when it landed in a new place is genuinely fascinating to me. But anyone already familiar with the more cynical aspects of more common religions in the West wouldn't have to look very hard to find a Buddhist equivalent.
Yes this is a problem with karma, it promotes the just-world fallacy.
Well, yeah, this is the case with most religions. The people who possess wealth and power EARNED that. They DESERVE it because God/Karma/Whatever-Fake-Mechanism determined as much. So all the poors and homeless need to stop complaining about their stations in life because they also deserve the position they're in.
@@johnromero6315 indeed. The zoroastrian idea that the world is unjust and needs to be made just is an attractive one to me. (not that zoroastrians have always put this into practice)
Ive always have a question about religion in Thailand specially about Phra Phrom, the four faced monk-god, aka Brahma. Is he a part of the Buddhist tradition and what is your opinion about the tradition surrounding it?
The enactments of naraka is also extremely common in Sri Lanka as well. Local temples often have very dramatic representations of hell and sometimes during poya days, local public places especially like schools will construct temporary naraka (or apayas as we call it here) where you can walk in and see each level of naraka as you progress. It's quite similar to an amusement park haunted house ride lol.
Anyway, great job covering Buddhism as usual. Just wish that you will give Sri Lanka a more prominent place when discussing about buddha dharama.
Tbh… I assumed Chinese people were atheists. I see some Chinese people calling themselves Buddhist.
Given that China illegally occupied a peaceful Buddhist nation, Tibet, destroying +6000 monasteries, killing innocent monks & nuns and the communist founder, Mao, calling religion a poison.
Chinese people being a Buddhist is questionable
Your videos are incredible. Your scholarly lens is refreshing and it’s nice to see someone working to unravel biases :)
Thank you for your contribution 🙏
In Buddhism you should focus on the 3 studies: precepts, meditation and cultivating wisdom. A lot of people in North America sees only meditation, which is not what Buddhism is all about. I now realize that orientalism is a big contributor to that...
This type of torment would so deeply traumatize any soul that they would be affected in all future incarnations and would never develop spiritually.
I'd love to see some videos on the "positive Orientalism" thing. Like, was Kerouac just responding to the presentation of Buddhism given by, e.g., Suzuki? His presentation really seems very compatible with Kerouac's depiction.
"Buddhism Has a Lot of Hells"
Are we in one of them?
close, we're in america
Not "we". But yes, some of the beings here on earth live through experiences similar to those in a hell realm at least temporarily. Primarily, hell may be a place, but it is also a state of mind.
@@aubreylear Bold assumption
@@aubreylear Search up Duranda district Ózd Hungary European Union. That's the bottom of Catholic Protestant Buddhist and Jewish hell.
Technically we're in Sakyamuni's Pure Realm, but it's in the mind of the beholder.
What scares me is the specificity of the length of time one must stay in a Naraka. Some for hundreds of millions of years. 2.5×10^21 in some cases!
The amount of time to empty a barrel of seeds if you took out one seed every 100 years. Somehow that’s more terrifying to me than the vagueness of forever.
Wonderful. I had been involved in Buddhism for a while before I got into the descriptions of the hot and cold hells and I was more than a little disturbed in the description.
here got latest zen buddhist story you may like. "How to deal with toxic people at your workplace" th-cam.com/video/f4XU2yEZMRk/w-d-xo.html
On positive Orientalism specifically about Buddhism.
I remember a conversation I had many years ago. We where talking about a fictitious religion in some fantasy game, and I said something to the effect of:
"It's kinda like militant Buddhism"
To which someone replied:
"Well that is a contradiction in terms."
Later in my life, learning more about Asian history, I have realized that militant Buddhism is very much a thing that have existed.
Militant Buddhism is not Buddhism in practice as it goes against the Teachings of the Buddha. As usual people justify their unwholesome actions by falsely attributing it a wrong view of Buddhism.
@@eseetoh I guess the same thing could be said for militant Christianity.
@@mattisvov yes correct as long as any religious text does not implies violence towards others or oneself in any kind. Or else an excuse will be used to do so.
Bear in mind that not all religions are pacifist in nature. I only know of Jainism so far.
@@mattisvov Yeah if you commit violence as a Buddhist you are breaking the first and most fundamental teaching that the Buddha taught which was to not take the life of any human or animal.
It still exists. Just look at the very late Rohingya genocide.
And yet Frank Turek thinks many people convert from Christianity to Buddhism to not be held "accountable" for their sins and avoid a belief in hell LOOOOL shows how little most apologists know about world religions
Indeed, seems hardcore atheism loses the chance of understanding religion literature
Thank you for all of your hard work on these videos. I really enjoy your content, truly.
Great video.....as a Theravada Buddhist from south asia, I found a lot of stereotypical image of buddhism in America (they think all kinds of weird things about buddhism).....but thanks for shedding light on this matter.
BTW, we actualy have 8 majon Niraya(Hell), Tiryaka(Animal) loka, Manussa(Human) loka, Asura(devil) loka, 6 Sagga(Heavens) loka,16 rupa(form) Brahma loka and 4 arupa(forless) Brahma loka.......yes buddhism is rich in mythology......
well I just found my new favourite religion channel, so informative and unbiased. just fricking great. so impressive.
I learned about Buddhist hells as a kid thanks to Shaka from Saint Seiya (Caballeros del Zodiaco). Funny enough, you could compare Western Orientalism with how that show uses Greek mythology.
@mlovecraftr
Hell yeah! Saint Seiya is awesome.
Perturbing, but interesting, especially the idea that punished souls eventually are reborn in a nicer realm, redeemed.
Glad you brought up the orientalist view of Buddhism! It’s not a monolith and there’s sects like pure land, that completely differs from the stereotypical view of Buddhism in the west. If you haven’t done so already, please talk about pure land buddhism!
Edit: nevermind, you have!!
Funny thing is, when westerners came to Japan and discovered Pure Land Buddhism, they actually believed that it was an offshoot of Protestantism.
This video is so useful. Every person I know has a romanticized view that Buddhism is a freewill 'philosophy' whereas Christianity is an authoritarian religion.
As a Buddhist, I agree. Buddhism is not a philosophy, we literally pray and believe in gods like Avalokitesvara and Tara. Even the most "atheistic" branch still follows scriptures that confirm the existence of spirits, demons and other worlds. We even believe in the devil, known as Mara
Great episode though I understand that the length of time in these Hells is far longer than "hundreds of thousands of years". I think they start at 1.6x10¹² years and multiply by 8 for each level up to 3x10¹⁸. Not an insignificant amount of time!
By way of comparison, the lowest level works out (if I've done my sums right) at over 100 times the age of the universe.
There's some debate among Buddhists (I'm Buddhist) to what exactly is the time in hells, there's no a exact amount you can pin and some translations are also faulty, in any case the average consideration is that in reality the number given just mean "a lot" or "incontable" like the number 8 million in Japanese. Should not be taken literally specially because it depends on translation.
This belief is one hell of a motivation to be in line, cthu. I would be the best-behaving person if i believed in karmic justice. Maybe we should teach unruly people this.
The deepest hell is called in Buddhism. Vajra black hole hell.
@@user-Void-Star what exactly is that?
"...their work portrays American culture as strict and uptight, and Asian culture as focused on freewheeling journeys of self-discovery."
That seems so contrary to everything I've ever learned about Asian culture that it baffles me as to where they got these notions. When I think of strict and uptight cultures, the first things that come to mind are the cram schools, tiger moms and karoshi (death by overwork) of East Asia.
The stereotype of "freewheeling journeys of self-discovery" in relation to Asian cultures is rooted in the gurus, sadhus and monks you find meditating in the Himalayas or across other parts of Asia and those who partake in Eastern religions. Not to mention the Asian wellness practices like yoga and mindfulness.
I’m a Buddhist Sri Lankan My Mum Told me Yama 🇱🇰☸️❤️🇳🇵
Thats a really sick message at the end
DRAMATIC RE-ENACTMENT:
fruit ninja
My stint as a hell worker.
This was a very interesting topic. I thought Buddhists didn't believe in hell, but there are many versions of Buddhism in Asia.
in holy buddhist scriptures Buddha was mentioning hells and heavens as really existing realms, so whole asian tradition believe in existence of hells, because they mentioned by Buddha in Tripitaka (Tipitaka)
All buddhist schools believe in the existance of hell realms.
Every version of Buddhism has hells, to be clear.
Westerns like you have...... Fetishist understand of no western cultures that's why
There are indeed some Buddhists who *don't* teach about heavens, hells, deities or even rebirth in a literal sense. However, these "secular" or "humanistic" versions of Buddhism are relatively new developments that can be traced to Western-style modernization movements in various Asian nations during the 19th and 20th centuries C.E.
And no, Yama is not the lord of hell. Yama is the personification of impermanence and death, a bit like the Grim Reaper. It's quite neutral in quality because pleasurable AND painful experiences both have to come to an end. Just we don't like the pleasurable experiences to end, while we want the painful ones to go away ASAP.
In Sri Lanka, we practice pure Theravada Buddhism almost for 2500 years and we don't only offer food and things to Buddhist monks but for the people who need those things. Who are starving, Who wants basic needs. We usually each and every full moon day go to temple and offer many offerings to Statues of Lord Buddha, Bodhi Tree and Dagobs then to Buddhist monks then after for the people who are at the temple. Usually every full moon day in Sri Lanka is a public holiday and Those days represent some of the most important moments in Buddhist History. We don't organize any kind of Ghost Festival or something. Once one of our family members or friend or someone like them dies we organize an offering ceremony at 7th day from the death and we offer food and things to buddhist monks and all the people who participate the event. Then we offer our credits which we have gained through the offering to ones who have passed away. Then those souls can reach a peaceful place in their next life with those credits if they were lack in credits.
I appreciate how you explore/explain all mythologies equally.
Hinduism explicitly clarifies you don't reincarnate as a human in at least some Hells.
Dharmic faiths make more sense that way, as Hell is supposed to be a natural formation with a very authoritarian government, not a place created by a moral arbiter. It also means you can live there well if competent and scrappy enough with a bit of luck like you can in a war-torn country. There are also dogs there, who seem genuinely nice if you manage to get them to stop trying to kill you.
Also, Hindu Hell is ironically a very nice holiday destination, as it seems quite beautiful for the most part. So the phrase holiday from Hell does not really make sense. Make sure to bring guards though.
The Hindu Hell is just the present day Indian subcontinent lol
@@Jose-xh5qb the Indian subcontinent where 40% of the population is Abrahamic Muslim and Christian. No wonder it became such a hell
@@Jose-xh5qb That's racist
@@khosrowanushirwan7591 That's just my observation. The countries of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India have many poor people with difficult lives but they somehow to live in spite of it, and they also have the same of kind of governments as described by the commenter.
The Tibetan game "Rebirth" shows virtually all of the Buddhist hells. A friend bought a copy in the 1970's and we spent many hours playing this in the military barracks.
And I thought the game Life was bad.
It's always the military weirdos doing junk like this. Like who else has the opportunity to play games about Hell in military bases on different lands?
@@EmptyMan000 It was a reprieve from the other sorts of games on watch where we acted as score keepers for dress rehearsals for what was intended to be a very final game without a sequel.
very interesting the similarities that some religions have
Which really emphasizes how much of a shame it is that we're willing to judge, harm, and destroy each other over the details of how we all reach the same ultimate goal in life. Religions are like a path to that goal. There doesnt need to be one singular path, and no path is superior to the others, it's what works best with an individual's spirituality and community. We should appreciate and embrace that we ultimately want the same thing out of life. It should be okay if we take different paths as long as we achieve our goal; follow the Golden Rule, live a good life, and try to make life better for future generations.
The mother of all Isekai.
Thank you for this wonderful video. It was amazing to watch someone explain our realigion in such a good way. I can now just send this to my friends when they ask me
Funny thing, I was once invited to a Buddhist gathering and every single one of the attendees, except myself, were French Anglo-Saxons!😄
That is a pretty good joke 😂
Which means of course that you were the only invitee
That should give you a good score 😉
Though such a disturbing topic, this video really made me respect Buddhism a lot more than I use to
“Oh serene buddha what happens if we don’t follow your teachings?”
*buddha holds up a drawing of yama* “this man will make you feel bad”
And his officers will make you feel worse.
I like the wider perspective on how practicing Buddhists interpret and think of hell. My reading of the Pali canon had me thinking of a hell I've been to - one that is a world constructed by our false understandings of the world run amok. Certainly not from the general entire canon, but certain parts of it painted hell in this way, as you briefly mention, of the mental projection hell, the created hell.
As I read about it, I realized I was living in a layer of hell, and had been to some of the deeper layers as well. See, we don't see with our eyes, we see with our mind, we see a model of the world constructed in our heads. We see objects and spaces around us, we do not see the raw input of our eyes - this is why suppressing a small part of the brain that tells you that you are behind your eyes can create, reliably in the lab, out of body experiences where your perspective is from a place in the room not behind your eyes. We build a world model and then we make it transparent to our understanding of the world because a coherent sense of self is necessary to not appear crazy, if we saw through the illusion we'd be insane.
Just as our visual input is constructed into a world model, so is our interactions with others and our larger behavioral understanding part of the brain, these images can be distorted by trauma, by addition, by lust for power, etc. Uncompassionate and mindless action creates feedbacks that pull our models of the world out of line with reality and create dark, painful distortions that, added enough on top of each other, build a complete and total hell. Extensive compassion for the self and others and mindful action can bring the model back in line with reality and bring you away from hell.
And my understanding of the pali canon's interpretation on the death sequence is that all of this happens basically instantly at death to ressurect you into a new realm. I don't really jive with their interpretation on what's happening when a body dies but it's easy to go from the understanding of descending into a hellish or heavenly realm here on earth through strong mental control can translate through their interpretations of death to the larger idea of hell realms.
Or, one Hell. The one we make for ourselves. Little known to most is the heavens and hells in Buddhism are both another place and your internally created existence. You can see it either way: which ever will allow you to see reality for what it is. *As example in the Tibetan book of Liberation in the between states(Bardo Thodol/book of the dead) - it clearly explains these demons that we are tormented by: are mind born. They are real, both to us and in their effect, but they are not real in the sense we consider it. They are manifestations of aspects of experience, personality, attachment... Like the shadow to Jung.
*Kṣitigarbha's name shows this truth - it means the storehouse of our potential perfected nature(See Buddhism as an early Trauma treatment).
Your take is referenced in the video
@@alohm Storehouses, as explained by my lama, are generally used within the context of the school of Yogacara, or mind only. While I notice my lineage (Karma Kagyu) tends to emphasize Madhyamaka (middle way of Nagarjuna), I agree with the potentiality of ourselves making our own hells or even ones we can be unfortunately born with/into. This is Sakyamuni's Pure Realm and we only have to recognise it. It also brings to mind the Short Vajradhara Prayer and the line "Bless me to know Samara and Nirvana are not two." Though I feel the extremes of Yogacara in my experience, as with its description of emptiness, that passive nihilism can be born.
@@roxyamused Gharba is Sanskrit for womb which is often translated as treasury or storehouse ;) but you are correct that the storehouse(consciousness or self) alaya is the store of the self. Another context in this case.
Man, I never heard this term orientalism, but it makes a lot of sense. Loved that section. I'm gonna research more about it. Thanks for the great video!
I was surprised that Buddhism has hells, not because I thought they was all peaceful and meditationy, but because I know rebirth is such a giant part of it and I guess I just only ever heard about the bare bones "you die and come back until you reach a state of enlightenment and move on from our current existence" and that your karma affects how, I guess a good word would be "pleasant" your next life is, as opposed to having that "balance" come from an outside force.
One of the best channels on TH-cam. Excellent work!
0:05 Those are manifestly *NOT* nails.
There is an orientalism of buddhist religion, but buddhist philosophy can mostly stand without any uncommon supernatural belief. This is why some people say that buddhism "isn't really a religion". It is what you should think to some. It is only a way of thinking to others. I would not call myself a buddhist but I am learning the Buddha's teachings and many of them are quite great, even secularly.
Basically to sum up buddhism, life is like "do good reputation quests to get the better ending" game (I am buddhist btw)
Hozuki no Reitetsu (Hozuki's Coolheadedness), a two season anime, transforms this hellish landscape to a typical Japanese corporate bureaucracy.
Since I first read about the Naraka hells I never stopped wondering how people came up with the astronomically high amount of years needed to burn out bad karma (rivaling the evaporation time of supermassive black holes).
The progenitor religion of Buddhism is Hinduism where ridiculous numbers are thrown around way too casually. I guess people in India liked big numbers because they seem incomprehensible to normal people?
I remember Bramha's single day is a hundred years of human life or something. Bramha has the same lifespan as the universe and will live for another 364 trillion years or something. Mind-boggling number of years for any human to fathom in reality even though we can all say it easily.
It’s bizarre to me that there are people out there that legitimately believe that Catholicism, Christianity and all other Western religions are the only ones that punish transgressors. Divine punishment is a thing in pretty much all religions and mythologies and the idea of being punished for not following the practices/instructions given by deities is pretty universal. I’ll admit I’m not well-versed in Asian/Eastern religions and practices, but I don’t think there was ever a time that I believed that those religions don’t also feature punishments; after all, tragedy and evil human acts happen everywhere, it makes sense that anywhere that bad things can be done there will be at least some semblance of divine punishment/retribution later down the line.
I loved the closing statement so much!
This takes me back to early teens, watching Saint Seiya. Virgo Shaka had the power to send anyone to any Buddhist hell. The worst place he could send his enemies, though, was heaven, as any bad thought could send someone from there to some hell. He was also the first saint to learn how to go to hell without dying, like in those legends.
The hell of the gaki / preta is so Shin Megami Tensei, lol.
I was waiting for the first fellow latinamerican to mention saint Seiya. Authough I never understood why shaka mentioned heaven to be the worst. At least for us Catholics it was confusing.
Thanks for the info. Wish more knew this. Know you weren't trying to be funny but when u break this down makes me chuckle.
Haha yeah I've "heard " key word " heard" I do that alot when talking about life in general lmao! idk? If it's true or not though, but I don't know why they'd be lying lol!
As someone from a Catholic background, I find it interesting how narakas are reminiscent of purgatory, a realm of temporary suffering for the purpose of spiritual cleansing. Additionally, the bodhisattvas actively trying to comfort and guide people in hell reminds me of how Catholics would pray for the saints’ intercession on behalf of deceased loved ones in purgatory.
The Philippines was hindu-buddhist with parts also Muslim prior to Spaniard contact...
A foreign idea to the historical rabbi yeshua
That sponsor advertising is top notch man
As a Buddhist, you doing research really greatly
I was born Christian, but things written in bible and that story about Adam and Eve are too ridiculous for me and I became Agnostic. However now after getting into meditation I am getting interested and believe in buddhism more and more, it is such a fascinating religion that has things in which I believed in even before researching more about it.
I was born a christian and was baptized. I dont know if i wanna stay as christian though. I wanna stay, but i see that buddhist is interesting. Christian is also interesting, but my grandmother is buddhist and ive been getting pretty interested within the buddhist religion.
@@kene.9386 says the one that got too mad at others for not believing in your savior in your religion. Let them believe and be whatever they want, let them find a perfect religion for themselves.
"We are punished by our sins not for our sins"
It's the same thing
@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hl The difference is the sin germinates within you and takes shape, whereas being punished for your sins you have to imagine a third party judge such as a bearded man in the sky. I think the former is a more sophisticated understanding and is the basis for Dante's Divine Comedy and some eastern conceptions of hell.
@@stephenkeely1 When a monkey looks into a book, a monkey looks back 🐒 🙈
@@kangaroocaliphate1577 You have a narrow understanding of God plenty of people don't believe God is a beared man in the sky . For me God is a fair judge and won't punish someone for not living a nihilistic Buddhist life or what religion they were born into but by deeds .
This mostly contain details of Mahayana buddhism.
I could watch these videos all day. I love learning about different spiritual and religious views of the afterlife.
This is why I'm always baffled by Westerners who insist that Buddhism isn't a religion. Yes, it very much is.
Sounds a lot like the modern Christian Hell borrowed a lot of its ideas from Buddhism. Christian hell wasn't very well developed when the canonised Christian texts were being penned. Much of the modern concept of Hell comes from Dante's Inferno written in the 14th century by which time contemporary writers would be well versed in eastern Religions ideas.
Speaking of orientalism, anyone else irritated by depictions of the Buddha being used as interior decor tchotchkes? I’m not Buddhist nor religious at all, but it seems so disrespectful.
Yes kinda, I mean I don't really care but it's kinda odd. Although I just remembered I have one on my balcony so I guess I shouldnt point the finger.
It does make for good decorations but not in Bars n such!!
Wherever you may come across a sacred image, the best thing to do is show respect.🧎🙏
Maybe we need a Video about Yama and his role in the different religions.
As someone who likes to casually learn about religion, I am always fucken hyped when RFB drops a new vid
Man that was disturbing scary hearing that. Going to hell for hundreds of thousands of years being tortured forever. I find it scary because my whole life it felt like I knew what hell was like. Being thrown so far down and looking up at the walls of hell trying to find a way escape but there is none. I feel like we are cosmic in nature and turned into humans to figure out what our soul looks like, so once we die what we were as humans reflects where we will end up after the unknown. I'm honestly scared where I will end up after I die. I wonder about the afterlife a lot it's unhealthy.
What If you focused that energy into trying to be your best and do your best during the short time we all have in this world? Maybe it could bring you some peace of mind and contentment.
@@ronans9680 I was shown was the abyss was really afraid for my soul. God showed me the light.
I think I might be in the Blue Lotus hell living in Michigan.
I'm a Buddhist and Taoist, aside from all these stories and practices, I believe that at the very core of a religion, the main idea is to do good, don't have to force yourself, just do your best. The happiness I experience when helping others knowing that this person, animals or even trees are so joyful that I feel like at that moment, I am experiencing Heaven.
That’s the problem with your religion. You are your own god. There’s no one to hold you accountable but yourself. There’s no moral laws. You make your own. Please just read the Gospels of Jesus Christ. Do some biblical historical research on the Bible. It will change your whole life. Please.. I’m praying for you ❤️🙏🏽✝️
@@jayrocky9067 Hi, I just think you are a little misinformed of buddhism. A person can have his own views of what is right and wrong. But like closing your eyes won't block an oncoming punch, a person is not judged by his own laws, but by the karmic law, which rewards and punish us justly. According to Buddha, that is what holds us accountable. He said this this law is common to all such as Buddhas, brahmas, gods, humans, animals...etc. So Buddhism is a religion that say even gods are accountable for what they do and can be born in hells according to their karma. In that way Buddhism holds people more accountable than christianism. Because even if we go to heaven, we will still be judged as that life too is temporary.
Also Buddhism say good karma don't cancel bad karma.(except for very weak karma and a specific type of karma gained upon enlightenment) That good and bad effects will come to us separately, This too, is a point where Buddhism holds people more accountable than christianism where you can do a sin and can be forgiven. This is a vague description of concepts of reward and punishment in buddhism. I hope you will view this religion in a new light from now on. Have a good day! :)
This seems to be the "Theme" of the day!!
🤔
The Lotus Sutra and the Tibetan book of the Dead are really good reads. The mystic law of cause and effect and karma. The Four Noble Truths-Suffering, Cause of Suffering, the path that leads to the end of suffering and the truth about the end of Suffering. The eight fold path- right view, right speech, right livelihood, right mindfulness, right resolve, right conduct, right effort and right Samandi which is the spiritual mediation the Buddhist monks do.
4:51 are you telling me that they're bribing the Budda or something
Hells in almost every single religion, are always so excessive that it becomes rediculous..
Something like: You spoke rudely or you told a lie, now literally burn for a trillion years.
people have been beaten and enslaved to sick ponzi schemes that emotionally and psychologically abuse them into obedience at the threat of punishment with non-existent hells since time immemorial. it's like the past 4,000+ years were a global series of variations of the premise of "finding ways to enslave the common rabble"
That's not how Buddhist hells work... I hope you're exaggerating
@@hellion6737 Then how does't work
@@hellion6737 kind of is... your punishment is way worse
Karma sounds like Debt.
that's exaxctly what it is
This was a fantastic video and I love how you brought how our bias skews our perception and it really made me rethink how I view other religions. Thank you so much for making this video!
afternoon, here got latest zen buddhist story. "How to deal with toxic people at your workplace" th-cam.com/video/f4XU2yEZMRk/w-d-xo.html
Buddhist, has a lot of hells : **exists**
Hades : **confused blinking**
Excellent work, as usual. One thing though: while I'm sure many Buddhist, particularly lay practitioners in Asia, but even monastics, take the hell realms literally, I have heard many Eastern and Western scholars and meditative adepts and teachers talk about the hell realms in terms of "where" they take place. They often make the connection: "where do NIGHTMARES take place? Is it a real geographical location?" They talk in a similar way about all of Samsara and Nirvana. This could be indigenous to the "Mind Only" and/or Yogacara schools, and it is not mutually exclusive to see hell realms as both real AND as being states of mind, but... clearly it's not some purely Western projection onto Eastern beliefs. In my experience it seems to be a strong current of thought from within Buddhism itself, perhaps going back as old as the concepts of the hell realms themselves.