{"id":4600,"date":"2024-06-01T15:57:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T15:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=4600"},"modified":"2024-06-01T15:57:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-01T15:57:31","slug":"4600","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=4600","title":{"rendered":"Heaven & Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Heaven and Hell<\/h1>\n

by Ming Zhen Shakya<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n\"\"<\/picture>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n\"\"<\/picture>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>
Credit: Fa Ming Shakya<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I wish I didn\u2019t enjoy my prison ministry so much. If it were less agreeable I could make myself seem like a martyr for making the trip out to Jean every Wednesday.<\/p>\n

But the fact is, I like going there. It keeps me on my toes. Every cleric is a philosopher of sorts and prisons are often the true enclaves of philosophy. The men don\u2019t have an awful lot to do in their free time. So they think and then discuss what they think and then, I think, lay intellectual traps for me to see what I think.<\/p>\n

The subject of heaven and hell came up recently. One of the men quoted Milton to me\u2026. or threw him at me, I should say. \u201c\u2018Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven,’\u201d he challenged. \u201cGeez,\u201d I said, responding with the standard comeback, \u201cWhat makes you think that if you go to heaven you\u2019ll be a servant but if you go to hell you\u2019ll be a king?\u201d And he countered with a certain, histrionic flair, \u201cIf? If I go? I am in hell.\u201d And after the others stopped grunting in affirmation, I said, \u201cWell, Your Majesty,\u00a0there\u00a0you may be, but not for the reasons you think.\u201d And then I had to start thinking about reasons and as I say, it keeps me on my toes.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, he had picked the best known passage in Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost. Had he been more esoteric in his reference, he might have made me switch subjects\u2026 after all\u2026 I haven\u2019t read the whole of it. He probably had\u2026 but then it would pretty much take a prison term \u2014 I\u2019d better quit before I offend Milton lovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d I said with a sizzling riposte, \u201cjust before Satan said that, didn\u2019t he say something about the mind being its own place and inside itself could make a heaven of hell and a hell of heaven?\u201d This equally famous line constitutes, you see, the core belief of Zen Buddhism. We can\u2019t help it if Milton put the line in Satan\u2019s mouth. Satan surely can get a few things right. As they say, even a stopped clock is correct twice a day.<\/p>\n

Then, to illustrate the point I was trying to make, I invited the men to play a kind of game and tell me what I was describing: I said, \u201cI see a group of buildings surrounded by a high wall and a locked gate. The inmates wear uniforms of plain, coarse material. They eat simple food, prepared without garnishment or sauce. They rise early and retire late. Everywhere they go and in everything they do, they are subject to someone\u2019s absolute authority over them, and to endless rules and regulations and punishments for breaking same. They are expected to work for many hours a day and to keep silent for many other hours. They have virtually no freedom of choice. They sleep in rooms called cells, and when they retire to their beds at night, they are alone\u2026 for no female companionship is allowed them. OK,\u201d I said, \u201cWhat am I describing?\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t fool any of them. \u201cA monastery,\u201d they all answered, and we laughed because it is funny the way a monastery headed by an abbot and a prison headed by a warden are so strangely similar in design. But there the similarity ends. The obvious difference between monks and convicts is that the former desire to live under such conditions and are usually happy and the latter are forced to\u2026and are usually miserable. The conditions are the same. The state of mind\u2026 the desire\u2026 is different.<\/p>\n

Zen has a very pragmatic approach to the subject of heaven and hell. We recognize them as two states of mind that can be experienced in the present moment.\u00a0Regardless of whatever happens at the end of life, Nirvana and Samsara, our earthly states of Heaven and Hell, can be experienced right now while we\u2019re still breathing.<\/p>\n

According to Buddhism\u2019s Four Noble Truths, life in the world of the ego, which we call Samsara or Hell, is bitter and painful. No argument there. And the Second Noble Truth is that the cause of this bitterness and pain is egotistical desire. And isn\u2019t that the difference between monks and convicts? One group wants to be where they are and the other doesn\u2019t. The question is why\u2026 specifically why do monks\u00a0want\u00a0to be there? If you ever spend any time in a monastery, you\u2019ll likely ask yourself that question a few times a day.<\/p>\n

But the answer is really quite simple. The monks are seeking heaven and they\u2019re trying to qualify for gaining it. They\u2019re turning their attention inwards \u2013 away from the world \u2013 because they wish to become One with the King who reigns there, in that Kingdom that lies within. And before they can do that, they must learn to serve that King with unconditional love, in egoless humility and purity. The convicts were still living in the world of desire.. the one presided over by Satan or Mara \u2013 to use his Buddhist name.<\/p>\n

What is the nature of this desire that in seeking its satisfaction they, and we, create such hells for ourselves? Back in 600 AD Saint Gregory listed the Seven Deadly Sins and they\u2019re still very much alive and well \u2013 even after Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman got finished with them. Those seven universal expressions of egotistical self-indulgence have lost none of their virulence: pride; greed; jealousy; lust; sloth; gluttony; and anger. The mind that is infected with any or all of these Seven Deadly Sins is attached to, i.e., is emotionally engaged by desire or aversion to the people, places and things of this, the ego\u2019s, world. This ego-mind wants to be loved and admired, to be feared and respected, and to indulge itself in a variety of sensory pleasures; and it doesn\u2019t much care what it has to do to get what it wants.<\/p>\n

If Zen\u2019s goal had to be stated in a single word that word would be non-attachment\u2026 freeing the mind from its fixations on the things of the outer world and turning it inward, to its relationship with God or the Buddha Self. And it doesn\u2019t matter whether you are housed in a monastery or a prison since the accomplishment of this goal depends not on the nature of the real estate, but on the nature of the heart.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll close this little Dharma talk by relating one of Zen\u2019s favorite stories:<\/p>\n

There was once a very proud and powerful king who fancied himself a philosopher. After much disputation and argument, mostly with himself, this King reached the conclusion that there was no such thing as heaven or hell. These were mere superstitions, he decided, and he therefore decreed that henceforth there would be no further talk of heaven or hell in his kingdom. Anyone who defied his Royal Will by even mentioning them would be severely punished.<\/p>\n

One day a holy man visited the kingdom; and despite numerous warnings, this holy man began to preach about heaven and hell. Naturally when the king heard about it he was furious and ordered the man arrested and brought to court.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows that my conclusions are correct,\u201d the king said to the holy man. \u201cWhy do you persist in preaching a doctrine that is so obviously false?\u201d<\/p>\n

The holy man sneered and laughed at the king. \u201cDo you expect me to discuss philosophy with a buffoon like you?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Instantly the king was on his feet! Enraged, he shouted at his guards, \u201cSeize him!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then the holy man raised his hand and said, \u201cSire\u2026 Sire\u2026 Please\u2026 One moment!\u00a0Understand!\u00a0There is a hell and\u00a0right now\u00a0you are in it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly the king understood! He saw himself standing there, burning with rage, consumed with violence and contempt; and he understood that hell wasn\u2019t a place where the body burned, but where the spirit burned.<\/p>\n

And horror-struck by his own actions, he sat down on his throne and trembled and covered his face with his hands. And when he finally looked up again, he was filled with love and gratitude, and the wonder of enlightenment.<\/p>\n

Quietly, he said to the holy man, \u201cAnd to think of your great generosity in teaching me this! To think how you risked your life just to enlighten me to this truth! Oh, Master! Please forgive me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the holy man said, \u201cAnd you see, Sire, there is a heaven, and right now you are in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Humming<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heaven and Hell by Ming Zhen Shakya Credit: Fa Ming Shakya I wish I didn\u2019t enjoy my prison ministry so much. If it were less agreeable I could make myself seem like a martyr for making the trip out to Jean every Wednesday. But the fact is, I like going there. It keeps me on… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4600"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4603,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4600\/revisions\/4603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}