PURGATORY

Hell is a realm or state of eternal punishment. Buddhism denies the existence of hell but does teach that there is a purgatorial state (niraya). Purgatory differs from hell in four important ways: (1) According to Buddhism, no one judges the dead and casts them into purgatory; rather, each individual creates a negative destiny for themselves by their negative thoughts and actions in this life, i.e. their kamma. (2) Purgatory is not eternal but limited and impermanent like every state. After one's life-span in purgatory is finished one will be reborn into another state. To the Buddhist, the idea of an endless hell raises yet more doubts about the existence of a God who is supposedly just and loving. (3) The suffering of purgatory is not a 'punishment' as in the theistic conception of hell but, as said before, the result of one's own negatives actions. (4) It is not primarily one's religious beliefs but one's actions that conditions whether or not one will be reborn in purgatory. Thus a good Sikh, Jew or Taoist may well have a good rebirth, while immoral or evil people who call themselves Buddhist may be reborn in purgatory. Purgatory is one of the six realms of existence one may be reborn into; the others being the human realm, the heaven realm, the realm of animals, of hungry spirits and the realm of jealous spirits. In some of his statements the Buddha indicated that purgatory is an actual location, while in others he seemed to suggest that it is more a state of mind. For example, he said: 'Fools say that purgatory is under the sea. But I say that purgatory is really a name for painful experience' (S.IV,206).