“Is there really hell or heaven after life?”

“Is there really hell or heaven after life?”

“…Hell and heaven are already here in this life and also in the afterlife. 

When we feel good after having done something good, this is heaven already. It’s all in the mind. When we do something bad, we feel bad, which is hell already, right in this life. In Buddhism, heaven and hell also exist after we die, depending on our kamma, that which what we have previously done.

For instance, when we die and it’s time for our bad deeds to bear fruit, then we’ll have to go to hell. If it’s time for our good deeds to bear fruit, then we’ll go to heaven. But heaven or hell is not a place or a location. It’s a state of mind. The nature of the mind is very difficult to grasp. We all have a mind. 

Without the mind, we would not be conscious or be able to feel or know. The mind is the consciousness, the one who knows, the seed of our emotions, our suffering and happiness, resulting from what we do, say and especially what we think.

When we think good thoughts, we feel good. We are already in heaven at that moment. Whatever we do, good or bad, will accumulate and become a habit that will compel us to do it again and again. Heaven and hell are inside the mind, which cannot be perceived with the naked eyes. The only way to perceive the mind, to get to know the mind, is through meditation whereby we focus our attention on one particular mental object, such as the in-and-out breath until the mind converges and rests in peace and calm. That’s when we will get to see the mind, because during that time the mind is temporarily detached from the body and all sensual objects like sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects that come through the corresponding sense doors of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body.

There we’ll see the mind in its pure form and will know that heaven and hell are in the mind itself. Because when the body breaks up, the mind doesn’t break up with the body. The mind will continue on with the state of mind that we have developed. If we have consistently done good, good mental states like heaven and Nibbāna will appear. In Nibbāna, the mind is totally free from all forms of suffering because the three defilements of greed, hatred and delusion have been completely eliminated. If we have consistently done bad, woeful states of mind like stress, worry and anxiety will consume the mind. This is hell.

So, to answer your question about whether hell and heaven really exist, the answer is yes. It’s not a place or location though, but rather a state of mind at the time of the body’s dissolution. It can last for a long time, but will eventually disappear and a new state of mind will take over. If it is a happy state of mind, it is heaven. If it is a state of mind consumed by the fire of suffering, anxiety, worry, hate and fear, it is hell that will remain for a while and will eventually be supplanted by another state of mind. This process goes on and on, driven by the kamma that we have committed previously, until we once again reap the state of mind of a human being. We will then take a human birth again. Or if we have the state of mind of an animal, then we will be born as an animal.

The thing that separates humans from animals is the observance of the five precepts. If we can keep the five precepts, we are creating the state of mind of a human being. But if we keep breaking the five precepts, we are creating the state of mind of animals. It’s good and bad kamma that makes us humans or animals and that sends us to heaven or hell…”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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