Part One:

Introduction to Tibetan Buddhist History

The history of Tibetan culture and politics is inseparable from Tibetan Buddhism and indicates the process by which the religion became a pervasive aspect of Tibetan society. Since Buddhism became the religion of state in the seventh century the perspective of Tibetan history and identity has been completely adjusted. Tibet’s myth of origin displays this archetypal shift.

The myth places the beginning of Tibet, (known to Tibetans as Bod), at the time it rose from the ocean. Geologically speaking, this was about forty million years ago when India collided with Eurasia and formed the Himalayas. There is said to have been two inhabitants of the region, a monkey that was an incarnation of Chenrezig (see page seven) and a lustful ogress. Out of compassion for the lonely ogress, Chenrezig procreated with her, creating the Tibetan race. This story describes the dual nature of the race and establishes the interest Chenrezig is considered to have for the Tibetan people.

Since this beginning, Chenrezig is thought to have watched out for the Tibetan people but did not introduce the dharma, knowing they would not be prepared for Buddhism until much later. Tibet was a collection of warring tribes until it was unified under the Yarlung dynasty and became a military power. Originally this dynasty adhered to the indigenous faith of Bon, which was not an organized religious system but an assortment of shamanistic and animistic beliefs. Buddhism did not make a major appearance until the mid-seventh century, after which it can be split into two disseminations.

The first dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet is accredited to the three ‘Chogyel’, or ‘Religious Kings’ of Tibet. The first king, Songtsen Gampo, (ca. 618-650) is considered to be an incarnation of Chenrezig. For political reasons, Songtsen Gampo married princesses from the Buddhist kingdoms Nepal and China. These wives, Tritsun and Wen-cheng, were considered to be manifestations of the bodhisattva Tara (Dolma), the only suitable mates for the first religious king. They each brought images of Buddhas and initiated the construction of many temples.

During Songtsen Gampo’s rule the cultural atmosphere experienced major shifts. He realized that Tibet was behind the surrounding civilizations, especially in the fact that there was no written script for the Tibetan language. Songtsen Gampo sent scholars to India, where the scholar Tonmi Sambhota created the standard Tibetan script and grammar. The Tibetan people will always revere Songtsen Gampo as the first great Tibetan religious king.

The second great religious king, Trisong Detson (ca. 740-798), is considered to be an incarnation of the Buddha Manjushri (Jampel yang). Trisong Detson was responsible for inviting many Indian scholars; the most important of whom was Padmasambhava, known to Tibetans as Guru Rinpoche. Guru Rinpoche defeated the hostile demons of the Tibetan landscape, paving the way for universal acceptance of the Buddhist faith in Tibet. In 775 the first monastery, Samye, was established and the Tibetan sangha was begun by the initiation of seven monks. The government funded trips to India so that translations of texts could be made. Trisong Detson greatly influenced the spread of Buddhism during his rule.

The third great religious king, Relbachen, is believed to be an incarnation of the Buddha Vajrapani. Relbachen is reported to have been a greatly devoted Buddhist that supported the construction of temples and sent more scholars to India. While promulgating the religion he neglected matters of the state and was indifferent to the expenses lavished on religious matters. He was assassinated and replaced by Lang Darma.

The succession of Lang Darma marked the end the time period known as the first dissemination. During his rule, Buddhism was greatly persecuted; monasteries and nunneries were closed, many monks and nuns were executed, contact with India ended, and Buddhist texts and images were destroyed. Eventually, Lang Darma was also assassinated, bringing a close to the long rule of the Yarlung dynasty and initiating a period of political turmoil.

During the next hundred years, Buddhism dwindled but remained culturally strong in western Tibet. In the last half of the tenth century a western king named Tsenpo Khore renounced the throne and became a monk. He raised funds for dharma practice and sent scholars to India. Two of these scholars, Rinchen Sangpo and Lekbe Sherap, returned to Tibet in 978 and began the second dissemination of Buddhism. Rinchen Sangpo traveled to India many times, discovered many Buddhist texts and commentaries, received oral transmissions, and produced Tibetan translations of these teachings. He was the major Tibetan force of the Buddhist renaissance in Tibet.

Another important figure of this time period was the great Indian scholar Atisha. In India, Atisha was an esteemed figure in the university of Nalanda and a renowned tantra adept. In 1042, at the age of sixty, he arrived in Tibet and immediately became a venerable presence in the Tibetan religious environment. He composed many texts on Mahayana and tantra for the benefit of Tibetans. He was revered by people in all levels of society and was a major influence of the solid establishment of Tibetan Buddhism.

The teachings of Atisha lead his disciple Dromdon to institute the Kadampa order and found Reting Monastery. Through time, other orders were founded and became politically omnipresent. Both the Sakya and Gelukpa sects had political and religious contact with the powerful Mongols. These contacts lead to the political rule of religious figures such as the Dalai Lamas of the Gelukpa sect.

After four hundred years of dissemination Buddhism finally became the main religious system of the Tibetan population. It was embraced in all spheres of life, from the aristocracy to the peasant villagers, creating a major paradigm shift. This vibrant religious culture has not been dulled over the centuries, nor has it become a less pervasive aspect in the society of refugees in India.

The Three Trainings of the Path: Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom

The Buddhism of Tibet can be considered an inclusive and receptive religious system. It accepts that individuals are on different levels of spiritual realization and will have different practices. There is no single correct formula for individuals to complete to make them the perfect Buddhist. However, Buddhist doctrine does present a specific path that one can follow to reach the ultimate goal, enlightenment. This path is often broken into eight parts and is entitled the noble eightfold path, phag pai lam yan lag gyad.

The eightfold path is frequently broken into three groups called the three trainings of ethics (hul hrim), meditative absorption (ting nge dzin) , and wisdom(hes rab). The first two of the eight are correct view and correct intention and fall under the wisdom category. Correct speech, correct action, and correct livelihood are of the ethics training. The last three, correct effort, correct mindfulness, and correct meditative absorption are all part of the meditative absorption training.

There is no exact order in which one must practice these eight steps to escape suffering. Each of the three trainings support the other two and are interrelated. Progress on the path is made by building the trainings on top of each other until all three are perfected. For example, a being must have a certain amount of wisdom to desire an ethical life and know what is ethical and what is not. Also, one must have good ethics to meditate properly and perfect wisdom cannot be attained without meditation. While each training is interconnected, ethics is usually considered to be the foundation of all practice.

The training of ethics is closely involved with the Buddhist conviction of responsibility. A being is responsible for every action of the body, speech and mind and will be affected by each action through karma (ley). There are three kinds of ethical discipline; restraint from harmful actions, creation of virtue, and the assistance of others. Restraint from the ten harmful actions, (application of the ten virtues), is the foundation of ethical discipline. The ten immoralities are split into actions of the body, actions of the speech, and actions of the mind.

The first three harmful actions are physical misdeeds; killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. Restraint from these activities is observable in any Tibetan community. It is not uncommon to see a Tibetan go to great lengths to avoid the death of insects or other animals. Stealing is reacted to by shock and any sort of sexual deviation, including homosexuality and masturbation, is considered foreign. While restraint from these three activities is important, it is considered even more consequential to restrain from the four verbal immoralities.

The harmful actions of speech are; lies, harsh speech, the sowing of discord, and idle chatter. These four activities create great negativity within the perpetrator as well as within others. Speech is a very powerful force in the human world and is a reflection of thoughts and attitudes. Both physical and verbal actions produce major consequences but are caused by mental activity. Because of this fact, the actions of the mind are paramount.

The three immoralities of the mind are; attachment, ill will, and wrong views. The restraint of these mental attitudes necessitate a transformation of the mind, a unique and vital aspect of Buddhist thought. It does no good to attempt to modify actions if the root of the actions are left untended. In fact, if one has wrong views, the most weighty of the ten immoralities, one will most likely not wish to improve one’s behavior. All three mental activities are based in and propagate ignorance, the main cause of cyclic existence, khorba.

The restraint of these ten harmful activities is the foundation of all ethical behavior and the ability to take a higher rebirth. A being cannot create virtue or help others create virtue while causing harm. This system of thought is the basis for the Buddhist concept of non-violence, which considers all negative actions of the body, speech and mind to be forms of violence. As the mind is ultimate, restraint must be a mindful and active restraint. One is able to avoid negative activity by being inactive but this does not create merit. As beings of the mundane world, an ethical view is the conviction that positive actions lead to happiness and negative actions cause suffering.

The performance of positive actions for the benefit of others leads to the Mahayana (thegpa chenpo) path. This includes benefiting beings physically, such as giving to the poor, as well as assisting others to perform positive actions. One must have correct views to have this attitude and must also have skillful means to benefit others. To attain a serviceable mind it must be purified of negativity and be able to distinguish between the constructive and the destructive. To develop these abilities one must practice the six perfections (pha rol tu pyin pa).

The six perfections are; 1)generosity, 2)discipline, 3)patience, 4)diligence, 5)concentration, and 6)wisdom. Each perfection is correlated to a bodhisattva (byangchub sempai) level, the perfection of each trait is a goal of Buddhism in the same way that Buddhahood (sang gyas nyid) is a goal. The first three perfections are concerned with the training of ethics. All beings can have a certain amount of generosity, discipline, and patience but only a bodhisattva perfects these qualities.

Generosity is practiced on two levels, mundane and supramundane. Generosity is one of the best ways for unrealized beings to gain merit and begin the path toward an ethical life. Giving is the cause of all resources so it is not difficult to find motivation for generosity. The perfection of generosity entails a complete lack in selfishness and attachment. Bodhisattvas who have reached this level are said to be willing to give their own flesh if it benefits another being. This denotes the willingness to give, not only the physical act of giving.

The perfection of ethical discipline is acquired by bodhisattvas of the second level. For ethics to be perfected, the negative act and the predisposition towards such actions are eliminated. To cease all negative activity leads the individual to a special mental stability, which allows one to continue on the path.

The third perfection, patience, is the last perfection directly related to the training of ethics. This ethical quality is most difficult for beings of the Desire Realm because it involves a complete shift in perception. To have perfect patience one must realize that all beings are caught in an endless cycle of activity. Complete equanimity is attained only when a being has a cogent grasp of dependent arising and emptiness.

In all of the six perfections and ten virtuous actions the mind is the essential aspect. The intention of an action is what causes it to be negative, positive, or neutral. The three trainings are practiced because they allow the mind to be transformed, the mind is paramount in each of the eight steps of the three trainings. The training of ethics, as the foundation of the other two trainings, are of main importance in the society of the physical world.

Ethics is the training most visible and most widely practiced by Tibetan laity. As a code of conduct, ethics is more applicable to daily life and common behavior than the trainings of meditation and wisdom. In general the training of ethics is a slightly more mundane and worldly practice and therefore more tangible and feasible to the average practitioner.

As was mentioned above, the practice of ethics is clearly evident in the daily life of Tibetan communities. In Dharamsala one can view the ingrained ethical lifestyle of Tibetans. The ten virtues and the first three perfections can be observed in every sphere of society; children and the elderly, in businesses and homes. This is not to say that meditation and wisdom are unimportant in Tibetan society, but that they are not as noticeable and intrinsic to everyday life.

The training of meditative absorption (ting nge dzin) is often discussed following ethics because ethical behavior is necessary for successful meditation practice. The purpose of meditation is to aid awareness, keep the mind pliant, and to familiarize the mind with certain objects. The mind must be trained to control the afflictive emotions of attachment and ignorance, which cause faults and shortcomings. With meditation the mind is withdrawn from emotions so it can be used as one wishes. The training of concentration does not involve sporadic bouts of meditation but an entire lifestyle.

The forth and fifth perfections, diligence and concentration, are regarding the training of meditative absorption. Diligence indicates the necessity of aspiration and fortitude. Effective meditation cannot be practiced without constant effort. Concentration involves the actual process of meditating after one has diligence.

A meditative lifestyle is separated into two parts; meditation sessions and in-between meditation sessions. Even while one is not meditating one should maintain mindfulness and study the texts. For meditation to be productive, one must have practiced hearing the dharma, giving one suitable objects of observation. The serious practitioner will choose to live in an environment conducive of positive and mindful habits.

There are particular features a place must have for it to be an ideal environment for meditation. A remote and quiet area is most suitable and it should be safe with all the necessities to support life. These qualities all prevent obstacles to practice. The practitioner should be surrounded by good companions with similar goals and convictions. There should also be all the necessary equipment for meditation, including the teachings and a qualified spiritual master. If an environment has these qualities it is an ideal location and conducive of good habits.

A practitioner should accumulate the four merits; restraining the senses, engaging knowingly, moderate eating, and moderate sleeping. If the six sense consciousness are guarded, the responsive afflictive emotions will not be allowed to arise. One should know what is positive and negative so one can engage in restraint and constantly watch oneself. All neutral activities can be made positive if one engages in them mindfully. Moderation should be practiced for a healthy balance of body and mind. Sleep is neutral but if one prepares the mind properly it can become a positive activity. In this way the teachings and meditative realizations can be retained throughout the twenty-four hour day.

With a positive environment and lifestyle, the practitioner can focus on transforming the mind. The outcome of meditation is of primary importance, not the method. However, throughout history, masters have discovered certain effective techniques and have taught them to practitioners. Preparation for meditation is emphasized and there are six basic steps to follow.

The first two preparations involve the purification of the environment and setting up the alter and offerings. These practices should be on both the physical and mental level. After these duties, one should sit before the alter in the posture of Vairocana (dhyanasana); full or half lotus, straight back, with the eyes half closed and directed downward. The remaining three preparatory practices are mainly verbal and mental, including: visualizing the merit field of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and masters; mandala offering, prostrating and confessing; and the making of special prayers. These six practices thoroughly prepare the practitioner for meditation.

There are two kinds of meditation; one pointed or fixed meditation and analytical meditation. These two kinds of meditation correspond with the two ultimate goals of meditation; calm abiding (zhi nas) and the special insight of wisdom. Faultless fixed meditation or meditative stabilization is calm abiding, while faultless wisdom attained in meditation is the special insight of wisdom. There are many different levels that lead to the perfection of these practices. Calm abiding must be attained before special insight.

A calmly abiding mind is achieved in isolation, staying within one’s mind and repeatedly focusing on the chosen object. The practitioner actualizes physical and mental buoyancy, a physical and mental bliss which is calm abiding. This is a one-pointed mind with no distractions and no dependence on the internalization of suchness, making it a non-conceptual practice.

To achieve this state one must avoid the two extremes of mental excitement and mental laxity. Mental excitement is a state of mind without peace. This condition of the mind holds undesirable characteristics of attachment. Mental laxity is defined as a mind with no distraction but without clarity and sharpness. It is important for the practitioner to be able to notice these extremes and to counteract them, or special insight will never commence.

Special insight is attained using analytical meditation, analyzing a specific object until one achieves physical and mental pliancy. Special insight is achieved through thorough analysis and is therefore conceptual. The special insight gained by the practitioner is reliant on the object of meditation. Both fixed and analytical meditation can produce a variety of results depending on the object chosen.

The object of meditation can be a physical or mental object. One can meditate on anything but there are added benefits in using a special object such as an image of Buddha. By doing this one is also collecting extensive merit. To effectively meditate on an image of Buddha using fixed meditation, one should see the actual body of Buddha and not just the image. External objects are used more frequently in fixed mediation, while mental objects are frequently applied to both fixed and analytical meditation.

Internal, or mental objects are typically taken from texts. Common topics are death, impermanence, and loving kindness. The object of emptiness is usually only used in analytical meditation to attain the higher insight of wisdom. One can attain special insight of any object but the insight of wisdom on emptiness is supreme and only occurs after a mind has been trained in calm abiding and enters tantra practice.

Tibetans know that not all Buddhists are able to reach calm abiding. In actuality, very few members of Tibetan laity practice formal meditation. All Tibetans are aware of the existence and significance of meditation but most do not include it in their daily routine. However, there are certain practices that are similar to meditation and are simply less formal.

Most Tibetans perform a few or all of the six preparatory practices. Everyday, the typical resident of Dharamsala will set up an alter, make offerings, do prostrations, confess, and then make special prayers. While this is not a complete meditation session the special prayers will often include meditation-like thought processes. Another common practice is circuambulation, often considered ‘walking meditation’ (see page 79). This is not a formal session but involves mantras, prayers, and deliberate reflection. A certain amount of wisdom can be gained through these practices.

There are three forms of wisdom in Buddhist thought: 1)the wisdom of ultimate reality, understanding selflessness of the self and phenomena; 2) the wisdom of conventional truth regarding the five sciences; 3)the wisdom realizing the purpose of sentient beings. The first wisdom, the wisdom of emptiness, is the main wisdom and the subject implied in the training of wisdom.

The complex theory of emptiness is a topic too subtle and involved to be thoroughly explained in this document. The basic aspects of the theory, however can be explicated in a simple manner. Emptiness can be described by breaking it into two forms, the selflessness of the self and the selflessness of phenomena.

Existence itself, is not negated, only inherent existence. Establishing the lack of inherent existence of ‘I’ is not exactly the meaning of the Buddhist usage of the term emptiness. The ‘I’ or ‘mine’ realization should be on two levels, the lack of independence of the person and the lack of existence of phenomena.

To establish the selflessness of phenomena one must refute production. Production means to make evident and one must understand dependent arising to grasp this. If something has inherent, objective existence it is contradictory to claim that it has causes and conditions. Inherent existence equals independence. Understanding dependent origination will eliminate the two extreme views of existence and nihilism.

If a being acquires this wisdom there will also be a complete cognition of the workings of karma. This knowledge extends to every aspect of a beings’ existence, filled only with wisdom and empty of ignorance and misconceptions. At this point a being has reached the goal of liberation. It is the Mahayana view that the being is then on the bodhisattva path, is acquiring bodhicitta, and is heading toward complete enlightenment.

This theory explains the importance of meditation and all mind training practice. These trainings are steps on the path to the ultimate goal of the religious system. While common Tibetan Buddhists have complete faith in this philosophy, most do not apply it to their daily lives by withdrawing from the world and leading the twenty-four hour meditation lifestyle. The majority of the laity population find it acceptable to have their individual goal of higher rebirth and continuation of Buddhist practice. Within a theory measured by incalculable eons, people seem to believe they have time in this endeavor.

Tibetan Buddhists believe there are three Buddhist vehicles that can be applied in human reincarnations: Hinayana or ‘lesser vehicle’, Mahayana or ‘great vehicle, and Tantrayana. All three vehicles are utilized by Tibetan Buddhists of different levels and it is generally believed that one must go through each as stages to highest enlightenment. The term Hinayana is only used in comparison to the Mahayana, the different cultures that solely apply this vehicle use other terms.

Mahayana (Thegpa Chenpo) is the main vehicle of Tibet and is the vehicle of preeminent importance is this thesis because of its utilization by all Tibetans. It is often called the Bodhisattva Path and is considered the ideal practice with ideal motivation. The Tantrayana (otherwise known as Mantrayana, Vajrayana(Dorje Thegpa) and the Diamond Path) is the vehicle for those with high realizations. Therefore, tantra is not as widely applied by the common populace, mainly utilized by the monastic community. The previous pages, as well as the rest of the thesis, focuses on the Hinayana and Mahayana practices of Tibetan laity.

Suffering in the Desire Realm: The Six Rungs of Cyclic Existence

The ultimate goal of Buddhism is enlightenment and the escape from cyclic existence, which is composed of suffering. All unenlightened beings are caught up in an endless cycle of rebirths, entitled samsara or khorba. The consciousness of a being does not disappear after death, it either goes to the higher rungs of gods (lha), asuras (lhama yin) and humans or to the lower rungs of animals, preta (yiwag) and hell beings (nyalba). The consciousness will go where its past actions, known as karma (ley), dictates. Without the basic tenets of reincarnation and karma, Buddhist Dharma would lose its relevance.

The comprehension of one’s place in the cosmos is a major intention of all religious systems. Tibetan Buddhism maps a clear picture of the cosmos and the individual’s place in it, as well as how one’s actions contribute to existence. In this cosmology there is no creator that punishes or rewards individual deeds, there is only a system of cause and effect. Beings of samsara are directly responsible for their actions but they are not alone. All beings are interdependent and equal in their potentiality, all having the Buddhanature. It is important, especially for the laity, to understand the nature of their role in the cosmos.

Buddhism separates samsara into three realms (kham sum); the Desire Realm (dod kham), the Form Realm (zug kham) and the Formless Realm (zugmed kham). The Form and Formless Realms are realms of gods and are practically impossible to describe to beings of the Desire Realm. The gods in these realms are a part of samsara and still experience true suffering, but it is not suffering comparable to those of the Desire Realm. As the lowest rung is comprehensible it is the realm focused on in most teachings.

To understand even the basest of the three realms, one must understand the Buddhist concept of time and space. Both time and space are indefinite and have no creator or point of creation. Samsara is caused by delusion of the mind, has no beginning, and ends only with enlightenment on an individual basis. Spatially there are infinite worlds full of beings of the different rungs. Time is separated into kalpa rang medpa, or incalculable eons, which are unfathomable to the unrealized human mind. The amount of beings that exist in this time and space are equally limitless and caught in the repeated cycle of rebirths. This existence is defined by all types of ignorance (ma rigpa) and suffering (dug ngal). If one is to analyze the suffering of the many rungs of the Desire Realm one would develop a fear of these states and a wish to build merit so to not fall into them.

Beings of the animal rung suffer varying degrees of ignorance. They are in constant fear for their lives and experience pain from heat, cold and the lack of food. The life-spans of animals vary greatly and they suffer from uncertainty of life. Buddhism often separates the animal rung into two categories; animals of the depths and scattered animals.

The oceans teem with living creatures varying in size. There are great monsters and myriad micro-organisms. The larger creatures swallow the smaller ones. The small creatures burrow into the larger ones and feed on their flesh. They experience great suffering from each other and from the environment. They have no comprehension of right and wrong and are likely to take a lower rebirth after death. Nagas, or ku, are serpent-like creatures of the depths. Nagas have many positive traits such as magical powers but are still a part of the animal rung. Most are stupid and aggressive, creating an excessive amount of negative karma.

Scattered animals range the earth with humans. There are subsequently two kinds of scattered animals; domesticated animals and wild animals. The animals exploited by humans suffer terribly. They are worked and beaten until old age and then are killed. Babies are taken from their mothers and milk is stolen out of the young creatures’ mouths. The living conditions are squalid and painful and many animals can sense their impending death. Domesticated animals suffer and are killed because of the body they are born with. If a being has much negative karma but has performed positive actions they may be born an animal with an easy life, such as a dog that is pampered.

The experience of wild animals is also filled with suffering. These creatures live in constant fear. They must beware of all other creatures, the harsh environment, and starvation. This fear often causes a vicious nature, which stains their future lives. An animal has little hope to rise into the higher rungs and will probably fall into the hells or lands of preta.

Preta, or yiwag, are often translated as hungry ghosts because they constantly desire the human comforts that they are denied. They suffer from extreme hunger, thirst, exhaustion, and mental fear. The minimum life span of a preta is sixteen thousand human years. Preta are usually withheld their desire by having innumerable obstructions, both external and internal.

Preta with external obstructions live in lands without food or water and obsessively hunt for sustenance. Occasionally they catch sight of a stream of water in the distance but when they arrive the water is gone and only a dry bed remains. Or an orchard is seen that becomes withered as they reach it. If a table of food is in reach it is guarded by a viscous army that beats them away from the delicacies. If food is obtained it becomes blood, pus or other disgusting items in their mouths.

Preta with internal obstructions are able to find sustenance but are unable to enjoy the food and drink because of their anatomy. Their stomachs are the size of entire countries but their mouths are the size of needlepoints and have throats like hair with knots. If they drink an entire ocean the water evaporates before it can reach the stomach. What little food and water reaches the stomach bursts into flames or turns into sickly matter causing painful indigestion. These preta are unable to move well because their straw-like limbs cannot lift their huge stomachs.

Other preta have a specific suffering that they must bear caused by a particular negative action. An example is a beautiful woman pretan who sits on a throne with three preta on each pedestal. The woman was once a wealthy Brahmin who fed Katyayana while he was collecting alms. Her husband became angry and asked her why she had not given him chaff. Her son told her she should have given the arhat lumps of iron. Her daughter-in-law stole food from her and lying, declared she would rather eat her own flesh than steal. Each of these people were reborn into the preta lands and all their food became the specific substitution they suggested. The beautiful woman became a powerful preta because she wished to see how they would suffer for their actions.

Other preta move through space and suffer terribly. They have horrible hallucinations and are in constant terror. They experience intense heat and cold with distorted perceptions. Sunlight freezes their entire bodies and the light of the moon burns them until they blister. Powerful magicians often torture them by burning them, burying them in darkness, and splitting their heads open. While the preta endure a wretched existence the beings in hell suffer more extreme torments of pain and fear.

There are many different hells, or nyalwa; eight hot hells, eight cold hells, four neighboring hells, and ephemeral hells. The hot hells lie one above the other like stories of a building, the worst on the bottom. All the ground and perimeter is composed of white-hot iron and blazing flames. There is nowhere to place one’s feet and no escape. The names of each of the hells are descriptive of the form of torment experienced. The first hell, on the top level and of the least torment is named the Reviving Hell.

The beings caught in this realm are overwhelmed by hatred and anger, regarding each other as enemies. They are supplied with unimaginable weapons and strike each other until there is nothing left. A voice from the sky calls, "Revive!" and they immediately come back to life and continuing brutalizing each other. This continues ceaselessly for an amount of time unfathomable to the human mind.

The second hell is the Black Line Hell. In this realm the hell denizens lay their victims on the burning metal ground and cross-rule their bodies with black lines. The victims are then cut along the lines with scorching saws. When the bodies are completely cut up they become whole and the process is continuously repeated.

The Mass Destruction Hell is the third hell realm. Here beings are gathered in mortars of iron the size of valleys. The henchmen crush them with red-hot metal hammers the size of mountains. As the hammers are lifted the beings come back to life to wait for the next bout of excruciating pain. Occasionally the mountains on both sides turn into the heads of animals the beings have killed in past lives and crush them.

The Wailing Hell is next, a hell where the beings are roasted in buildings of red-hot metal with no exit. The beings scream and cry with no escape. The Loud Wailing Hell is below the Wailing Hell. In this realm the beings are shoved into buildings similar to the one above except there are double walls of blazing flames. The hell denizens then beat on the outer wall with hammers and various weapons. The beings here are tormented even more than in the Wailing Hell and scream louder with less hope of escape.

The Hot Hell is the sixth level of the eight Hot Hells. Here the beings are cooked in a huge cauldron, boiling in molten bronze. When the beings surface they are caught by henchmen with hot metal hooks and beaten with hot hammers. Sometimes the beings will lose consciousness for short spans of time and this is considered their rare period of joy. In the Intensely Hot Hell the beings suffer even more. They are trapped inside blazing metal houses. Hell denizens impale them through the heels and anus with a trident until the prongs poke through the shoulders and head. After this torture the beings are wrapped in sheets of burning metal until they are to be again impaled.

The bottom and worst hell is the Hell of Ultimate Torment. This is an immense edifice of blazing metal surrounded by the Neighboring Hells. The beings are tossed into the center of a mountain and whipped around until their bodies and the molten flames are indistinguishable. They are subjected to all the agonies of the seven previous hells. Beings remain in this realm the longest span of time, an entire intermediate kalpa.

The Neighboring Hells surround the Hot Hells and are stumbled upon after coming from the Hell of Ultimate Torment. The beings are tricked into thinking their negative actions have been worked off and hope to escape the suffering of their pasts. This hope leads them to further anguish after escaping the most terrible hell. There are four neighboring hells one each side of the Hot Hells.

The first Neighboring Hell is the Hot Cinder Hell. Here beings’ legs are placed in burning cinder and the flesh is burnt repeatedly. The second is the Decayed Hell, which is infested with birds and insects. Bodies are placed in the rotting mud and devoured. The third is the Sword Path Hell on, which feet and legs are chopped while traversing. The forth Neighboring Hell is the Hell of Fordless Water in which beings are drowned.

The eight Cold Hells are vast lands of freezing snow mountains and glaciers. Beings perpetually wander the landscape without protection from the environment. Each level is named after the particular suffering that is dominant. In the Hell of Blisters the cold causes blisters to erupt on the naked bodies and in the Hell of Burst Blisters, the blisters burst painfully. The Moaning Hell is a land where beings constantly moan in pain and anguish while in the Hell of Groans lips become chapped and only groans can be emitted. Next, is the Chattering Hell in which the unendurable cold envelops the beings and their teeth become clenched. Moaning, groaning, or chattering is the only sound these beings hear and they focus only on the pain of freezing.

The sixth Cold Hell is the Hell of Utpala-like Cracks. Here the beings’ skin turn blue and split into four pieces. In the Hell of Lotus-like Cracks raw flesh is exposed and the bodies break into eight pieces. In the eighth and most excruciating hell, the Hell of Great Lotus-like Cracks, the beings’ flesh become dark red and splits into innumerable pieces. Worms with metal hooks bore into the flesh and feed. The Hot Hells, Neighboring Hells, and Cold Hells are distinct lands separate from each other. The Ephemeral Hells are located throughout the many worlds.

The suffering of beings in the Ephemeral Hells vary greatly with certain punishments for specific negative actions. It is best to use examples to explain these individual hells. The great siddha Lingje Repa found a being in Blue Turquoise Lake, a large fish being eaten alive by small creatures. The siddha’s mental powers allowed him to realize this had been a lama who had misused offerings.

Another example is of a butcher who vowed never to kill animals at night and after death went to an Ephemeral Hell. During the night he experienced great pleasure with four lovely women who fed and pleased him. At daybreak the house would change to hot metal and the women became dogs that fed on his flesh.

Once there was a beautiful monastery of five hundred monks. When the lunch bell would ring the eating utensils became murderous weapons and the monks would violently beat one another for an hour. After the lunch period ended everything would return to normal. This Ephemeral Hell occurred because in the days of the Buddha Kasyapa many monks argued about the appropriate time for the midday meal. There is unlimited variety in the Ephemeral Hells as they are typically individual.

Beings of the lower rungs experience extreme amounts of the suffering of suffering. However, as all existence is suffering, no being of any rung escapes suffering. Gods, asuras, and humans also experience certain forms of suffering, which are impossible to avoid while in cyclic existence. All three higher rungs experience suffering of change and conditioned suffering and asuras and humans experience a certain amount of suffering of suffering.

The gods (lha)of the Desire Realm enjoy perfect health, comfort, wealth, and happiness. Their lives are very long, up to an entire kalpa, but they still experience death, hence the suffering of change. They spend their entire lives in pleasant diversions and never practice Dharma, nor desire to attain liberation and enlightenment. Before death, gods experience five signs that foreshadow death. The god’s luminescent body grows dim. The throne of the god becomes uncomfortable. The flower garlands the gods wear become withered and their garments become old and smelly. The gods begin to perspire. The gods are tormented by their impending death. The dying god’s friends abandon him and the god is left alone in misery. With the divine eye the god sees its place of future birth and if it is a negative existence feels great suffering. The god spends seven god days, which in the Heaven of 33 is seven hundred years, lamenting the departure of the heavens. This mental anguish of loss and regret is worse than the torment of the hells.

The pleasures of the lhama yin, or demi-gods, rival the wonders of the gods. Alas, the beings in this realm are born with an inclination for envy, quarreling, and fighting. Within their own world they have many disagreements regarding territory and spend most of their time fighting and quarreling among themselves. If lhama yin see into a heaven, seeing how this rung is preferable to their own, they are filled with intense envy. Donning amour and weapons they make war on the gods. The magical powers of the gods give them a strong advantage in war. Gods can only be killed by cutting off their heads while asuras are killed by hitting any vital organ. In war the asura are thoroughly demolished and sent back to their rung underneath the gods. This failure only causes them more envy and more suffering. They are never free from these destructive emotions.

A human life is considered the most preferable state of existence, as it is the rung most conducive of Dharma practice and enlightenment. The beings of lower rebirth have too much agony and ignorance, while the gods and demi-gods are too involved with pleasure for enlightenment to be appealing. Within the human rung there are two levels according to opportunity, the precious human life and the human life that is excluded from this position.

There are eight freedoms and ten endowments, which make a human rebirth an ideal basis for Dharma practice and higher attainment. The first four freedoms are regarding the attainment of human rebirth opposed to the other rungs, gods and demi-gods being combined into one category. The remaining four freedoms are in respect to the type of human life one has attained; 5) freedom from being born in an eon of darkness in, which the Dharma is not taught, 6) not taking rebirth in a remote region, 7) not having physical or mental disabilities, and 8) not taking rebirth as an individual with wrong views. The ten endowments are variations of the eight freedoms.

Beings who have succeeded in attaining a precious human life are advised to value and utilize the life to its full extent. Buddhists urge one to examine the rarity of a precious human life, the difficulty in attaining such a rebirth, and the temporary nature of human life. Apropos population, human life is extremely outnumbered by beings of the other rungs. The amount of micro-organisms on our planet are vastly more abundant than humans, yet there are even more hell-beings residing in the various hells. It also must be considered that a precious human life with the eight freedoms and ten endowments is more rare than other human existence. This rarity leads one to the next issue, the difficulty of attaining such an existence.

There is a saying that the attainment of human life is as difficult as it is for a blind sea turtle that surfaces once every hundred years to fit its head through a yoke floating on the surface of a great ocean. A being must have a great store of merit to achieve a human rebirth. This merit is accumulated by practicing the Dharma, especially the training of ethical discipline. Negative thoughts and actions drive beings towards the lower rungs while only positive thoughts and actions can lead one to the higher rungs and a precious human life.

Once a being has succeeded in attaining rebirth as a precious human it is necessary to take steps to not waste the opportunity. Human life is not only rare, it is also brief and fragile. Every moment holds the potential of death. Unlike other rungs, humans have no specific life-span. Death is definite in all rungs but humans are destined to have undefined and comparably short lives. On a greater scale this involves the doctrine of impermanence and emptiness in Buddhist philosophy.

From the Buddhist perspective, not wasting a human life can only involve Dharma practice. A human whom is not Buddhist can not attain enlightenment and can only hope to regain another human rebirth by practicing ethical discipline. To not live a moral human life is bound to lead a being into the lower rebirths of suffering and negativity. The continuance of human life is a temporary goal in Buddhism while the attainment of enlightenment, the escape from all the rungs and realms of cyclic existence, is the ultimate goal.