Buddha attained supreme enlightenment through meditation and then spent His whole life converting sentient beings. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra teaches a method of meditation to gain no-self, and to enter Nirvana.
Life After Death
What happens to us and where do we go after our death? Often we don’t know how to answer to these questions. However, we believe we will still exist after our death but in a certain form. Vietnamese’s’ tradition of worshipping the ancestors, or any dead people, is a clear proof. No one thinks death is the end. So when we think death is not the end and there is life after death, do we just believe or do we sense it? Through intuitive sense humans believe that their body will be destroyed but their inner feelings still continue on after death. We will lose our bodies after our death but not our mind, our feelings or our karma. And we call this life after death.
After one’s death, he or she will exist in a form what people call “the soul”. Different people have different places to go after their death. The places they will come depend on what they have been done when they were living. Evil people will go to a place which is called Hell in Buddhism. Hell is a prison where evil spirits are being punished. These are the sins that they committed when they were alive but were not punished enough. Then, after their death, they would continue to be punished more, which is very fair and precise. Or there are people who often do so many evil things, but because of their high positions and their power, they can buy off some officials and they won’t be punished by the law. But what happens when they die? They cannot escape punishment because there is no one in Hell they can buy off. Everyone must obey the Law of Karma. They cannot take their money, gold, houses, occupations… to hell with them.
So, hell is a place for people who inflict cruelty and are not punished enough in current life. There were people who inflicted extreme cruelty, and after being punished in hell, they came back to life but were placed into animals’ bellies and were reborn into animal forms. This is why we should show sorrow for animals.
Those who show compassion to others, do so many good deeds… These good things accumulate so many blessings which cannot run out in this life. Especially government officials these who dedicate their life to the people, i.e. from the bottom of their heart, they just want to serve the people, work in accordance with state policy, and live a simple life without enjoyment and they will increase their blessings day by day. They create so many blessings but just spend a few, so when they die, the large balance of their blessings will help them come to a place which is called heaven in Buddhism. In heaven, the climate is always cool. Celestial beings can create magnificent castles by using their minds. They dress very beautiful. They can fly to wherever they want which is very different from us because we have to use other means of transportation, which costs us a lot of time, money, and we can easily have problems. Only those who have so many blessing can stay in heaven.
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