Lifespan of beings in the hell realm

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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retrofuturist
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Re: Lifespan of beings in the hell realm

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Aloka,
Aloka wrote:Could you share your own experience of other realms, please Paul?
Such a loaded question, when all I said is they "can" be experienced, because there is the potential to do so... :lol:

What I can say, is that I can recall instances which I would happily call hellish, and those I would happily call heavenly. For the purposes of understanding the causality of kamma and its fruit, I have found these sufficient to demonstrate the principle first-hand, without speculation.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Aloka
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Re: Lifespan of beings in the hell realm

Post by Aloka »

Paul Davy wrote:
What I can say, is that I can recall instances which I would happily call hellish, and those I would happily call heavenly. For the purposes of understanding the causality of kamma and its fruit, I have found these sufficient to demonstrate the principle first-hand, without speculation.
So in these cases you interpret them as mental states ?


:anjali:
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retrofuturist
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Re: Lifespan of beings in the hell realm

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Aloka,
Aloka wrote:So in these cases you interpret them as mental states ?
I wouldn't restrict it to "mental" because that would preclude the "physical" - both are experienceable.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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Aloka
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Re: Lifespan of beings in the hell realm

Post by Aloka »

Paul Davy wrote:Greetings Aloka,

I wouldn't restrict it to "mental" because that would preclude the "physical" - both are experienceable.
Greetings and felicitations, Paul,

Indeed.

:anjali:
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Kusala
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Re: Lifespan of beings in the hell realm

Post by Kusala »

Khalil Bodhi wrote:
Kusala wrote:
Thanissaro:

"I was given a lecture a while back by someone who was quoting an academic, saying that 'to say that there is a right Dharma and a wrong Dharma is very dangerous thing'. The analogy they gave was, 'the Dharma is like a map, everyone's Dharma is like a different map and as we know all map's distort to one extent or another, so there's no one true map. There's no one map that corresponds to all of reality. We have to accept the fact that everybody's map distort in one way or another'. But that's a false analogy.

What the Buddha's giving is instructions on how to find the fire escape. And you can go anywhere in the world, any hotel in the world, and the maps to the fire escape are all the same regardless of the culture, regardless of fancy or un-fancy the hotel is...

They don't have to tell you how the hotel was built or what's in the walls or what's in the foundations, all they have to tell you where you go to get out. No types of information are all very standard. And there are good and bad maps to the fire escape. Some diagrams will put you in a dead end corridor where you'd be consumed by flames, or asphyxiated by the smoke, others take you to a door and then you open the door and it drops for 50ft. So you want to avoid those maps... "
Great quote! Thank you for this. Do you have a link too? Be well! :anjali:
11:12-12:54... http://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/y201 ... scapes.mp3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"He, the Blessed One, is indeed the Noble Lord, the Perfectly Enlightened One;
He is impeccable in conduct and understanding, the Serene One, the Knower of the Worlds;
He trains perfectly those who wish to be trained; he is Teacher of gods and men; he is Awake and Holy. "

--------------------------------------------
"The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One,
Apparent here and now, timeless, encouraging investigation,
Leading to liberation, to be experienced individually by the wise. "
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Monkey Gift of Honey
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Re: Lifespan of beings in the hell realm

Post by Monkey Gift of Honey »

The Bottomless Pit

Patala Sutta - SN 36.4

"Monks, when an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person makes the statement, 'There is a bottomless chasm in the ocean,' he is talking about something that doesn't exist, that can't be found. The word 'bottomless chasm' is actually a designation for painful bodily feeling.

"When an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is touched by a painful bodily feeling, he sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. This is called an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person who has not risen up out of the bottomless chasm, who has not gained a foothold.

"When a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones is touched by a painful bodily feeling, he does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. This is called a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones who has risen up out of the bottomless chasm, whose foothold is gained."

Whoever can't endure them
once they've arisen —
painful bodily feelings
that could kill living beings —
who trembles at their touch,
who cries & wails,
a weakling with no resilience:
he hasn't risen up
out of the bottomless chasm
or even gained
a foothold.

Whoever endures them
once they've arisen —
painful bodily feelings
that could kill living beings —
who doesn't tremble at their touch:
he's risen up
out of the bottomless chasm,
his foothold is gained.


Patala Sutta, translation from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

Patala Sutta, translation from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .nypo.html
As a mother watches over her child, willing to risk her own life to protect her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings, suffusing the whole world with unobstructed loving kindness. Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, during all of one's waking hours, one should sustain this heart and this way of living.
- Karaniya Metta Sutta
D1W1
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Re: Lifespan of beings in the hell realm

Post by D1W1 »

zengen wrote: Sun May 29, 2016 1:42 am
santa100 wrote: ...one thing that's certain is that once one's fallen down to the state of woe, it's exceedingly difficult to go back to the higher realms...
But it's very easy to fall into the hells... :weep:
I must say however the fact and academic theory could be two different things. I know someone who have abhinna and said someone's relative have been reborn in peta realm. They asked the relative to dedicate merit to the deceased ones, not long after that they were reborn into one of the heavenly realm.

If lifespan in woe state is extremely long and exceedingly difficult to go back to the higher realms, the story I described above
would not exist.
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