Hello again, Right this minute I am quite upset. Yesterday evening I had my blog nearly finished but wanted to do some research to complete it, but didn't have time, what with one thing and another, and so I put the blog in SAVED. Now, I can't find what I had written, can't finish the blog and now must start over. Grrrr!
My subject matter was on the difference between religions or basically Christianity and Nichiren Buddhism as to Heaven and Hell. When you think about it, religions differ only in their points of view, and the hope that enough people will prefer their view over the others, enough to fill their churches etc.
In Christianity, they have heaven, where good people go to eventually to join past family members in a place where everything is perfect and all attended to by Angels and headed by this Man God figure. Hell, on the other hand is a place down under, all fire and brimstone, an unbearabley hot place, where bad people go, and tormented throughout eternity. All this overseen by the Devil, a creature, red in color, with a tail and a pitch fork to nudge the miscreants.
Now most people I know and have known, have been both bad and good all their lives, so I don't know how one keeps score to earn the right to either of these places. Again, many people don't believe in this picture of hell, but would like to believe in this wonderful heaven idea. I can't swallow either one, but then that is why I am a Nichiren Buddhist.
We learn about the Ten Worlds, where everyday we live in at least half of them. They are in order, Hell, Hunger, Animaility, Anger, Tranquillity, Rapture, Learning, Relaxation, Realiza-tion, Bodhisattva, and Buddhahood.
1. Hell is the state of suffering.
2. Hunger is the state of being under the sway of desires.
3. Animality is the state of instinctive behavior.
4. Anger is the state of constant competition or conflict in which one tries arrogantly to surpass others.
5. Tranquillity is the neutral state of peace and calm.
6. Rapture is the state of being temporarily overjoyed at the gratification of a desire.
7. Learning is the state where we something from the teaching of others.
8. Realization is the state in which we come to some partial understanding of life, however great or small, through our own efforts and observations.
9. Bodhisattva is the state of altruism - in finding joy in helping others.
10. Buddhahood is definded as absolute happiness, and is attained only as the result of the actions we take when in the state of Boddhisattva.
You will notice there is no mention of Heaven. Well, as you study, which you will love doing in your practice of Buddhism, you will learn why no heaven, as in, Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death, by Daisaku Ikeda, President of Soka Gakkai International, the management and practice arm of Nichiren Buddhism. That explanation for another time.
I think I will stop here for today and let you digest what I've just written, because in my next blog I will get into explaining what Hell is to a Buddhist. Thanks for reading. Cheers CJ
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