From ‘Divide “between religions, not religious and non-religious”‘ in The Straits Times on 6 September 2011: ‘Mr Lee (Kuan Yew), whose agnosticism is well-known, concluded on a sanguine note: “If you try to convert me, I’ll say, thank you very much. I’ve thought about heaven and hell, I’m prepared to face either, if either of them exists.”‘
But is it possible for anyone to truly imagine or to be ever prepared to face the endless terrors of eternal hell, if it really exists? Can one be extremely prepared for the extremely unknown? If we contemplate the possibilities of the afterlife as being simply nothing other than the extremes of eternal heaven or hell, and consider that being sufficient thinking, we are being extremely simplistic – because how can anyone do enough of any good and evil in a limited lifetime to deserve extreme reward or extreme retribution? Between such extreme ends, not that they are real, there should naturally be a spectrum of other possible and temporal states (realms or planes) of the afterlife for those who are neither extremely good nor evil – us. Many agnostics have not reflected on this thoroughly, while they might believe they have already done so, thus dismissing the need for further reflection.
There are two extreme misconceptions about the afterlife, as highlighted by the Buddha, which agnostics, free-thinkers and even some religionists might oscillate between, both of which we should avoid. The first misconception is Nihilism (断灭见), which proposes that since there is nothing after this life, there is no state of existence hereafter and no rebirth, and nothing we do now to ensure a better (or worse) afterlife will ever matter. But how can something become nothing, when even scientists cannot destroy energy? Energy can only transform from one state to another. The mind or consciousness is very definite and powerful energy – that cannot simply fizzle out into ‘nothingness’. The second misconception is Eternalism (长见), which proposes that the state we are in after this life will be eternal – as an unchanging heaven or eternal hell.
What the Buddha realised is that the truth lies on the Middle Path between these two erroneous views. There is the phenomenon of ongoing rebirth for the unenlightened. Between the idea of ‘fixed nothingness’ in Nihilism, and the idea of ‘fixed somethingness’ in Eternalism, lies constant change of ‘everythingness’ via rebirth – from life to life. Agnostics should thus reconsider the laws of cause and effect, of how what one does now can karmically affect the afterlife, which is more likely to exist than not. We need to guard our thoughts, speech and deeds now – because they will lead us to somewhere and not nowhere. And when that somewhere is reached, we need to continue being mindful as what we do there will lead elsewhere!
If there is karmic afterlife, you will have a good rebirth if you do good.
If there is no karmic afterlife, you will live happily now if you are free of ill will.
If evil befalls the evil, you will not be affected if you do no evil.
If evil does not befall the evil, you will be pure both ways if you do no evil and do good.– Stonepeace
(rephrased from Kalama Sutta)
Related Articles:
Is Life in Pure Land Eternal?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amituofo/message/340
Differences Between Heaven(s) & Pure Land(s)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amituofo/message/280
How Even the Gods May Fall
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2011/09/how-even-the-gods-may-fall
Is There Eternal Heaven or Hell?
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2011/08/is-there-eternal-heaven-or-hell
Walking the Physical & Mental Middle Path
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2009/12/walking-the-physical-mental-middle-path
Should We See Only Inter-Religious Similarities?
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2011/09/should-we-see-only-inter-religious-similarities
Will Any Mantra Do? (LKY’s view on rebirth)
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2010/09/will-any-mantra-do-for-you
Meditation By Catholic & Buddhist Chanting (LKY’s spiritual practice)
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2010/09/meditation-by-catholic-buddhist-chanting
Keannu Reeves gave a very good quote as an alien in the movie “The Day The Earth Stood Still”. He said that “Nothing truly ever dies. The universe wastes nothing. All things are simply transformed”. If life after life, life goes on in different bodies and even states of being the same way ice is solidly water in a form while it’s transition to steam is almost a state of the formless which there are also beings in formless realms. Our existence is constantly a self configuration of the results or causes we create through our body, speech and mind. In cycles and cycles we keep going round. Even in the comfort of heavens, if one even had a thot of rebellion, would our existence for eternity there be ensured or assured. That’s why for all that is good to exist, all good must always start with us or end with us. There is no shortcut. There is not substitute for goodness becos only when we are the vessels ensuring goodness that goodness can fill all of existence. Nobody can exists for you in your place.
Our existence and the type of existence are all self configured by us. This life is lived via a blueprint we created in our previous life. In this life, we are creating the blueprint for our future lives. We cannot lie to our conscience and our consciousness which I speculated are these two elements becos they are like two keepers of truth, two databanks spying on you and keeping you in check. Even heard of the phrase “keep these words in your heartâ€. Your heart functions like a bank on top of our brain. Even the Chinese character “æ€å¿µï¼‚has the character “心＂in it.
When the white bindu from the father and red bindu from our mother merges upon our deaths, these two banks merges and emerge as a sort of bardo consciousness migrating to new states or modes of existence or vessels of existence. If anyone think that their darkest secrets
are safest with them, they are totally wrong. Holding to one’s dark secrets especially on one’s death bed will only ensure rebirth in place of darkness. Even upon death, one is weighed down by the weight of one’s unconfessed sins and secrets, can the consciousness be light enough to fly to higher realms?
What does this mean – ‘Even in the comfort of heavens, if one even had a thot of rebellion, would our existence for eternity there be ensured or assured.’ ?
This life is also lived via a blueprint we draw as we speak, in this life and for this life, not just for future lives.
How can two banks from others merge to form us?
There are some people out there who lament that becos Buddhist are so affected by karma, they are always on their toes, watching themselves, generating merits and keeping their merits alive and growing. The point I am trying to put across is that even when one is in heaven, should one slag into eternal enjoyment and retirement mode? Therefore, Eternity in heavenly plane is only possible if we eternally keep check and improve on our conduct there. There is no shortcut to good conduct. You must constantly be checking oneself. If not, even an eternity in heaven may be cut short due to the disgrace we bring with our conduct. Indeed deeds do matter. No man can promise you eternity unless you can promise to be eternally good.
If deeds are not important then nobody should be watching you or judging you. To serve a perfect being, we must learn to serve imperfect beings first. Surely a perfect being has higher standards and can be extremely perfectionist.
In the sutras, there is no record of any god being able to have eternal life, while there are records of many gods who fall after exhaustion of good karma. Because if one practises good, one naturally outgrows mere goodness and cultivates wisdom too, which elevates one way from being a mere god towards enlightenment. (Only the fully enlightened are flawlessly eternally good – or rather, pure.) Here is an example of a god who assumed wrongly that he has eternal life: http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2010/03/can-a-%E2%80%98creator-god%E2%80%99-be-created/
While it is true that gods do fall, as stated they fall due to exhaustion of their good karma. Exhaustion of good karma is as good as not doing anything to top up their karma or knowing how to top up their good karma. Gods live the same life as we humans. For us, we know death is certain. But we continue to live, enjoy and make merry till death take us. For gods, they dunno they will fall until it takes them by surprise. All religions have their own brand of eternity. While it is pointless to dispute whose eternity is more real but one thing for sure, in heavenly realms where it is democratic and meritocratic where dharma can be found, eternity can be sustained and prolonged. In the usnisa vijay a dharani, lord sakra is a very good example. The moral of the story is as long as one can meet the dharma in heavenly realms, eternity can be prolonged. The only question is whether one can meet and practice the dharma there or not. The message here is basically to share the message that eternity can only be as eternal as our goodness without which one will fall when one slack and stop working towards good karma. I never believe that one can survive on grace alone. Obviously the word “grace” is such that it has a grace period. Grace does have a period and one very fine example is how infidels will burn when the grace period turn into a grave period.Â
 In addition, I am sure even heavenly systems have different system of rule. If we look at this world, the world started out with autocracy before it moves into democracy and meritocracy. In the same way, if heavenly planes are filled with our autocratic pioneers, it’s unlikely dharma can be heard down there since it is ruled with autocracy. Of course, the ideology of  Buddhism is always a teacher-student relationship. To die Buddhist and to embark on a spiritual journey and learn from the Buddhas of the three times in pursuit of enlightenment and cosmic knowledge in the cosmic university of the pure land is indeed what I look forward to. Going back to school is such a great experience. We can be very sure that the pureland is definitely a democratic and meritocratic place to be in.Â
It would be a great time to be able to learn in a place where one can question since the Buddha is one teacher who can be considered radically different, one who is free from dogmas and one who dares to challenge conventions. Since Buddhism founded the first university in the world, it is already certain that knowledge and truth comes in volumes. The depth and concise coverage in the scriptures sometimes make one wonder how the Buddha who never claim to have created the world seems to know more the creators themselves.
‘Gods live the same life as we humans.’ Not true at all. If so, they would be humans. Humans too can have sudden deaths.
‘…it is pointless to dispute whose eternity is more real…’ Not true. We should know for ourselves which makes more sense. Sitting on the fence is spiritual ambivalence.
‘in heavenly realms where it is democratic and meritocratic where dharma can be found, eternity can be sustained and prolonged.’ – Not true. The Buddha never taught that life in any heaven is eternal. There is no teaching that encourages living forever in any heaven. Even beings in Pure Abodes will end with enlightenment. Even beings in Pure Lands leave when they graduate. Many gods fall badly. Please do not encourage wrong thinking. Only the Pure Lands and Pure Abodes are safe.
A personally meritocratic world is not good enough. Amitabga Buddha’s Pure Land is better, as he helps to top up the merits of beings there to expedite the path the enlightenment.
Enlightenment is liberation from birth, old age, sickness and death. Is not freedom from birth, old age, sickness and death a form of eternity? If something that does not die is not eternal, what is that? Eternity doesn’t mean one has to be fixed into a certain personas, form or an ego. It couldnt just be abiding in a certain state of nature in it’s primordial form.
If beings in pure abodes will leave, graduate…..what continues after them? Do they graduate as Buddha’s or bodhisattvas? I am sure there are a mix of choices available. If they graduate as Buddhas, do they continue to exist as Buddhas? If they continue to exist, isn’t Buddhahood a form of eternity? It may not necessarily be a fixed form. It can change into anything but the power of change as a constant is a form of eternity.
Sure, pure land and their abodes are the safest. The message here is since all beings have different karma with dharma, for those who choose heavenly realms, it’s important they keep at the back of their heads that only the dharma can free one from transmigration once they feel something is not right like their partners disappearing in heavenly realms. Of course given the luxurious life of heavenly beings and the blind spot of thinking that everything is so perfect and living llike kings, how can we actually fall makes heavenly beings harder to convince to practice the dharma vs our human form which is expose to both sides of happiness and suffering and in some cases, the irony of happiness being the catalyst for the suffering that comes as a result of it.
Of course, in Lord sakra case, definitely upon the Buddha’s advice, he would certainly led him to move on to pure abodes. Since we have the fortunate chance to meet the dharma and have chosen the path, we should stick to it. To tell someone to avoid the mud while they can and to
pull someone out of the mud, the second choice is definitely more tedious. To aim for heavenly planes is definitely a detour while pure land practice is really extremely compassionate. Amitabha Buddha saves whoever is possible to save as long as certain conditions, whether it is so small to be noticed is there. You dun need a relationship with him. This is a true mark of messiahship, one that does not sleep and is always looking out for you. One that does not judge becos all sentient beings are not seeing the truth with their Buddha mind and heart. Even those who fall into the lower realms, kshitigarbha bodhisattva will still guide them to the pureland. The only question is whether we have synchronize our hearts and minds to look up or to look down.
Realm after realm sentient beings migrate. But the dharma never sleep becos even sentient beings who fall into hell, be reborn as animals, it will try to reach them which explains that there are still sentient beings who are liberated from the realms they are in. But alot depend on karmic causes. Still why do sentient beings choose the harder way out when they have the easier way out while they can. It all starts now. Evenly a small act of planting a small cause for dharma would be that very cause that cause one’s liberation.
Please be mindful of your words. Your original words were ‘in heavenly realms where it is democratic and meritocratic where dharma can be found, eternity can be sustained and prolonged.’ You were suggesting that eternity is in the heavens, which is not true in general without qualification that you were talking about the Pure Abodes. You should state so clearly in the first place. Life there is not eternal though the realm is. This is a dangerous statement because readers who don’t understand might think you were saying all heavenly realms have eternal life. Birth in the average heaven is dangerous.
There was no mention by you originally that the eternity was referring to enlightenment itself. Readers might take it that all heavens are eternal. I notice you comment sporadically. Please write your comments elsewhere and think twice before posting to avoid the need for constant clarifications.
Beings in Pure Abodes will at least become Arhats, who can be Bodhisattvas, who will be Buddhas eventually. It doesn’t mean that Buddhahood is attained in a heaven, as it is manifested in the human realm. The Buddhas are essentially beyond all planes of existence, not limited by any of them.
‘Amitabha Buddha saves whoever is possible to save as long as certain conditions, whether it is so small to be noticed is there. You dun need a relationship with him.’ This is self-contradicting – as there must be karmic affinity with Amituofo to be helped. This is the ‘certain condition’, that sustains the relationship. Please be very careful with your use of words, which stay in cyberspace indefinitely, generating indefinite karma… Amituofo