If that’s your conclusion based on what I shared, it seems we are speaking right past each other.

I think it’s safe to say that many people take literally the Buddha’s teachings about hell realms. Further reading: www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/s...

No advantage at all, as they are states of deprivation as a result of seeds of greed, hate & delusion we plant here & now, & our own habitual reactivity. There’s no forcing, though any states of mind may be cultivated, including beautiful states of mind. That’s why it is said, incline the mind.

I tend to think it’s useful to consider the planes of existence essentially as types of consciousness, so that, for example, one might experience the so-called hell realms here and now, if the consciousness is so defiled.

“Ordinary functioning is an altered state.”
An apt observation.

He goes to hell,
the one who asserts
what didn't take place,
as does the one
who, having done,
says, 'I didn't.'
Both — low-acting people —
there become equal:
after death, in the world beyond.

"Nirayavagga: Hell" (Dhp XXII), www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/...

When I list all the things I am not,
the entire universe is unveiled.
There is fathomless freedom
in knowing what I am not.

How many more tears must we cry?

The truest comfort is reached in wisdom, yet in this world of deception, we choose chronic discomfort interrupted by short-lived distractions.

What we do now is like packing for a trip. We don’t want to get there & only then discover, oh, I forgot compassion, I forgot forgiveness, I forgot love.
Remember them.

Discontent is the chronic human condition.

Breaking habits is the path of liberation.

When unexpected difficulties arise, best to make an effort to be easy going if possible.

In that challenging moment, best to make time to remember the fundamentals.

In breath there can be bliss.

Easter Buddha
by James Cox

1-james-cox.pixels.com/featured/eas...

"Sirimanda" (Thag 6.13), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 4 August 2010, www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/...

Make the day not-in-vain,
a little or a lot.
However much
the day passes,
that's how much less
is life.
Your last day approaches.
This isn't your time
to be heedless.

Roiling in regret plants seeds of misery, so best to forgive oneself and strive to do better. #SelfCare

Putting blind faith in beliefs is like a drunkard dancing — not pretty and bound to result in injury.

Incline the mind, then see what happens.

"Maha-viyuha Sutta: The Great Array" (Sn 4.13), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/...

“One who knows
doesn't get involved
in whatever are
commonplace
conventional
views.”

Rare is one who recognizes one’s prayers as self-talk, then prays all the more earnestly.

Truth is not esoteric.

All talk is self-talk.

Buddhist monk Phommasan takes first steps with MOM prosthetic leg - Buddhist monk Bhante Dam Phommasan took his first steps in four months on Mercer’s campus after receiving a prosthetic leg through Mercer on Mission on Wednesday, March 18. He told the story of how he...

#WalkForPeace

www.mercercluster.com/article/2026...

These mental venues we visit in dream
remind us in mundane waking
how near is the divine.

So much papañca these days.