R Chandrasoma Dehiwala, Sri Lanka.

In the Abrahamic Faiths the notion of an Alt-Mighty God inflicting fearful punishment on those who defy his writ is well-known and widely accepted. Thus we have in Revelation 21:8, KJV “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” .

For Buddhists, a most important question is whether this fire and brimstone punishment of wrongdoers by a vengeful and hot-headed ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”authorityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is the canonized truth.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In their popular sermons, the monks of our country promise ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”torture in the four hellsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ for periods of horrendous duration for those miscreants who violate the five holy precepts.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Some of these precepts ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” those involving, for example, the foreswearing of slander and deceit in ordinary conduct and the disciplining of the natural sexual drives of mankind – are routinely violated in all working societies.

That these weak mortals will burn in hell for vast periods of time for seemingly unavoidable and natural weaknesses is in itself a violation of the principle of Natural Justice – that the punishment must be proportioned to the magnitude of the defalcation. To burn in hell for eons (Kalpa) for lying or illicit sex seems to be a punitive overkill of a most extraordinary kind

The more important issue is whether this ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”fire and brimstoneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ religion of the monks is genuine Buddhism. The Buddha is the Compassionate Teacher of the Truth ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” his doctrine is about Emancipation and the quest for selflessness through moral discipline and the cultivation of meditative insight.

The machinations of Karma are a foisting on Buddhism of entrenched Hindu beliefs about retributive justice of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”draconianƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ kind popular in the days of Barbarian Tyrants.

The terrors of hell are a bequeathal of ancient barbarisms and it is sad to find this deplorable folly in the practice of a religion that gives the highest place to compassionate love for all sentient beings.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The highest duty of the enlightrned spiritual pilgrim is to help and to console those led astray by temptations of the flesh. To exult in the fact that they will be tortured in hell for their all-too-human failings is a lamentable betrayal of Buddhist ideals.