Buddhist hell, victim mindset, and choosing clarity over peace

this, and also (see next tweet in thread) (keywords: buddhist hell, naraka)

Emily @the_aiju · Jan 2, 2024

buddhist hell is a much more striking concept to me than christian hell. while the damned are simply trapped in christian hell, those comdemned to buddhist hell can leave at any moment — all they have to do is simply stop being angry about being in there. they just won’t.

Jan 2, 2024

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Jan 2, 2024

@the_aiju and it makes sense that they won't! there is wisdom they don't know how to keep if they leave wisdom that includes full empathy for those who are in there and full respect for those choosing not to leave and all this makes this in-some-sense-simple choice not so simple

and clarity is valuable. I don't resent those who choose it over peace, when I have enough of my own clarity to allow them their path. I have learned much from listening to the wisdom in fixated entitled rants about injustice

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Jan 2, 2024

@smolderingwurm @the_aiju more precisely, it is POSSIBLE, although difficult, to get out while staying in touch with the clarity of all you can see while in there so there often seems to be a choice between peace & clarity and for some people, they'd rather suffer with the clarity than be free and forget

here's an earlier thread exploring some stuff around this (which partly results in questioning whether "victim mindset" is a good frame. but whatever is being referred to is in any case closely related to buddhist hell / naraka)

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean · Sep 24, 2023

one of the sad things about the world is that attempts to point the way out of victim mindset often appear to people stuck in victim mindset to be victim-blaming this legit sucks. I'm not sure what to do about it, but I'm working on it. seems it involves patience & scaffolds?

oh also the way that "original spin" shows up in relation to buddhist hell is essentially victim blaming the idea that because (in some sense) the person COULD just walk out, that they therefore SHOULD do so and are to blame for their suffering and others' 2nd-hand suffering

put a different way, the confusion shows up as the idea that someone should leave hell for any reason other than "I don't want to be here and I don't have to stay"

(one of the brilliant fools that this thread's wisdom came from 👇)

RomeoStevens @RomeoStevens76 · May 21, 2023

@Malcolm_Ocean The wisdom and clarity of righteous anger resides in the hell realm along with the first noble truth that suffering is real and matters