The description of heaven in different religions

[Someone here]

christianity ✝️ :

The concept of heaven in the afterlife in Christianity and the bible is so boring and disappointing. You will simply be in the companion of Jesus christ and glorifying the Lord for all eternity. We will be like the angels that hold the throne of God. We will be made of pure light just like angels. And we will praise and glorify God for the rest of eternity. Until the end of time .which of course has no end . If you ask me i would rather go to hell than exist in this boring place forever..that is the heaven as described in the bible .

islam ?:

When it comes to Islam though..things get a little bit interesting. Heaven in Islam is simply a place for hedonism. Its described as an infinite garden full of all kinds of tasty fruits and other kinds of food (rivers of honey and milk and wine ) all mentioned in the quran ..and the most important part of course is the 72 virgins lol.  Muslims believe that in heaven you will engage in eternal sex with heavenly gorgeous women forever without getting tired or bored.and without your dick going numb .you will be in a constant state of sexual excitement until the end of time .which of course has no end . If you ask me ..Mohammed was a genius in his description of heaven to motivate people to follow his religion. 

Buddhism ☸:

finally let's talk about Buddhism .Buddhists have a term for heaven which is  called "Nirvana ". Nirvana is the ultimate aim of every serious Buddhist. Nirvana Is simply a complete lack of existence. Pure nothingness. According to Buddhism we live and reincarnate over and over again in this cycle of life and death called "Samsara " and life in Buddhism =suffering.  And the root of suffering is our endless desire that can never be satisfied. So we should pursue killing our desire to break out of the cycle of life and Death to enter the sweet nothingness of Nirvana and never ever reincarnate again . If you ask me..Buddhism is a bit of nihilistic religion. When the heaven to them equals ceasing to exist. Then its a pretty depressing view .

 

So what's YOUR view and definition of heaven?  Do you even believe in an afterlife ? Can heaven be actualized in this world?  And how would you describe your perfect paradise?.

 

[Someone here]

Forgot one ..the neo-advaitan's heaven:

Heaven is what is .

[Salvijus]

Buddhism have like 33lokhas or realms after death. Places of heaven and hell. Nirvana is not heaven. Nirvana is beyond heaven. Beyond all 33lokhas or planes of existence. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Salvijus

[Someone here]

4 minutes ago, Salvijus said:

Buddhism have like 33lokhas or realms after death. Places of heaven and hell. Nirvana is not heaven. Nirvana is beyond heaven. Beyond all 33lokhas or planes of existence. 

Would you elaborate on that ?

[Salvijus]

7 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Would you elaborate on that ?

A can't remember the details but basicly there are like 12realms with a body and gross existence that u can reincarnate to. Then like 10realms where we exist just as pure mind without a body. And some even subtler levels there are.

We humans are living in 5th layer of existence. Which is pretty close to hell actually. That would explain why there is so much suffering on the planet bc we are in a very low dense plane right now. 

If u move high enough u can't fall down anymore. Some planes of heaven are not eternal, u can still fall down back to bodily planes.  Buddha says that even heaven is suffering and one should go beyond all heaven into total freedom/nirvana.

I learnt all this info from Goenka vipassana retreat guy.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Salvijus

[Someone here]

3 minutes ago, Salvijus said:

A can't remember the details but basicly there are like 12realms with a body and gross existence that u can reincarnate to. Then like 10realms where we exist just as pure mind without a body. And some even subtler level there is. 

We humans are living in 5th layer of existence. Which is pretty close to hell actually. That would explain why there is so much suffering on the planet bc we are in a very low dense plane right now. 

If u move high enough u can't fall down anymore. Some planes of heaven are not eternal, u can still fall down back to bodily planes.  Buddha says that even heaven is suffering and one should go beyond all heaven into total freedom. 

I learnt all this info from Goenka vipassana retreat guy.

Yeah .The Buddhist concept of heaven and hell is entirely different from that in other religions. Buddhists do not accept that these places are eternal. It is unreasonable to condemn a man to eternal hell for his human weakness but quite reasonable to give him every chance to develop himself. From the Buddhist point of view, those who go to hell can work themselves upward by making use of the merit that they had acquired previously. There are no locks on the gates of hell. Hell is a temporary place and there is no reason for those beings to suffer there forever.

The Buddha's Teaching shows us that there are heavens and hells not only beyond this world, but in this very world itself. In fact he called life suffering. Pure suffering .even the pleasures of this world are misery for him.  To me Buddha went to understand reality and leaned towards ending It in all possible ways (because he saw only the evil aspect of life ). While Jesus and Mohammed went to understand reality and leaned towards the maximisation of happiness and pleasure. Because they saw that existence is inherently good .

[Salvijus]

@Someone here i don't think buddha was a pessimist. My theory is that it takes enourmous wisdom to understand why nirvana is biggest liberation. And it's very hard to understand why. He sayed even heaven is suffering. Even realms of heaven of eternal ecstacy is suffering. What kind of crazy dude would say that? What kind of wisdom does it take to give up bliss and extacy for nothingness? Crazy much wisdom it takes i believe.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Salvijus

[Salvijus]

In buddhism it is also sayed that only those who enter deep states of attainment of nothingness can only start understand why buddha was right. And doubts about the path dissipate. A normal person has no chance or brain close enough to grasp such crazy ways.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Salvijus

[Someone here]

3 minutes ago, Salvijus said:

@Someone here i don't think buddha was a pessimist. My theory is that it takes enourmous wisdom to understand why nirvana is biggest liberation. And it's very very hard to really understand and see that the way buddha saw it. He sayed even heaven is suffering. Even realms of heaven of eternal ecstacy is suffering. What kind of crazy dude would say that? What kind of wisdom does it take to give up bliss and extacy for nothingness? Crazy much wisdom it takes i believe.

 

Buddha was not a nihilist in the western sense of the word. However in terms of spirituality, his philosophy comes under nihilism. Let me explain:

The western nihilism says that life is meaningless because ultimately everyone has to die and no matter how much we try we won’t get anything superior out of our lives.

It also rejects all religious principles as well as moral principles. 

Buddhism believes that the whole problem of suffering is due to our desires and thus in order to eliminate sufferings we have to take care of desires. This, in fact, is also what vedas say or what koran and bible says. what differs is the solution provided by different philosophies. Buddhism says that in order to end the sufferings (and thus become blissful) one has to end the desires. It says that when one stops all the material desires then one becomes free and can experience sunyata(void) . the all pervading bliss .

[Salvijus]

Shonyata is not bliss. It's nothingness. Beyond all qualities. There're no qualities in shoonya. Bliss is heaven. Shoonya is beyond heaven. Primordial space. The core of existence. No taste, no smell, no touch, no feeling, no bliss, no nothing.

Also i didn't understand your argument why eliminating desires is considered nihilism.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Salvijus

[Salvijus]

Bliss is just a passing stage in buddhism. Buddha says don't cling even to that. Even that is suffering. Go beyond everything. Even heaven ? 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Salvijus

[Raptorsin7]

@Salvijus How come Jesus didnt preach this stuff?

He came after the Budhha and so must have been aware of his teachings 

[Salvijus]

1 minute ago, Raptorsin7 said:

@Salvijus How come Jesus didnt preach this stuff?

He came after the Budhha and so must have been aware of his teachings 

True, idk.

I think his path is of bodisatva. There are a group of buddhist who don't go into full nirvana and stay a stage lower. They practice love and compassion very similar to Jesus. And they stay around to help people evolve. Just like jesus. 

I think Jesus is just creating an army of bodisatvas. That's his way, his path and there's a certain wisdom behind that. It's just a theory tho, idk.

[Raptorsin7]

@Salvijus I am skeptical about Buddhism now compared to the teaching of Jesus.

Like when I read acim the words have healing energy, but with Buddhism I haven't found anything like that.

But still my vipassana teacher was full of love and compassion but idk how he got like that.

[Salvijus]

@Raptorsin7 U don't get to be sceptical about such matters now ? It's like a kindergardener trying to be sceptical about quantum physicst theories ? 

 

[Someone here]

2 minutes ago, Salvijus said:

Shonyata is not bliss. It's nothingness. Beyond all qualities. There're no qualities in shoonya. Bliss is heaven. Shoonya is beyond heaven. Primordial space. The core of existence. No taste, no smell, no touch, no feeling, no bliss, no nothing.

Also i didn't understand your argument why eliminating desires is considered  nihilism 

 It translates into "Emptiness". It's different than cessation or complete lack of experience or phenomenon.

It's a mode of perception, a way of looking at experience. It adds nothing to, and takes nothing away from, the raw data of physical and mental events. You look at events in the mind and the senses with no thought of whether there’s anything lying behind them.

This mode is called emptiness because it is empty of the presuppositions we usually add to experience in order to make sense of it: the stories and worldviews we fashion to explain who we are and the world we live in. Although these stories and views have their uses, the Buddha found that the questions they raise..of our true identity and the reality of the world outside..pull attention away from a direct experience of how events influence one another in the immediate present. Thus they get in the way when we try to understand and solve the problem of suffering.

 

[Salvijus]

14 minutes ago, Someone here said:

It translates into "Emptiness". It's different than cessation or complete lack of experience or phenomenon.

It's a mode of perception, a way of looking at experience. It adds nothing to, and takes nothing away from, the raw data of physical and mental events. You look at events in the mind and the senses with no thought of whether there’s anything lying behind them.

This mode is called emptiness because it is empty of the presuppositions we usually add to experience in order to make sense of it

? this is well put. 

The simplest translation for shoonya is probably primordial awareness. A quality of zen. All things arise and pass away inside this void. This void is dimensionless and beyond time. That is shoonya. It's not just a mode of perception really. It's a phenomena of its own. All modes of perceptions are inside this primordial space.

Not sure if i followed the second half of what u sayed ? 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Salvijus

[Salvijus]

at least in christianity i can drink grape juice ? 

[Someone here]

2 minutes ago, Salvijus said:

at least in christianity i can drink grape juice ? 

Nice view  .

tbh though. .the Islamic paradise beats em all 

[Salvijus]

3 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Nice view  .

tbh though. .the Islamic paradise beats em all 

? 

Daoists preach immortallity. A strange religion aswell.