r/religion • u/Diligent_Albatross81 • 2d ago

Buddhist went to hell?

A podcast I used to listen to just released an episode with a former Buddhist who says he went to hell (and is now a Christian because of it)........he shared a lot of specifics about what he saw in hell and I'm curious if it squares with what most Buddhists think of when they think of hell?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbwWCFhQ3es

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18

u/spraksea Mahayana Buddhist 2d ago

It's a long video so I just clicked through to random parts.

I'm not sure why you're asking that. He's not claiming to have visited the Buddhist version of Hell. Why would his description of the Christian Hell square with the Buddhist view?

This guy's story doesn't make sense to me, to be honest. He doesn't seem to be that knowledgeable about what Buddhism teaches.

15

u/Defiant-Prisoner 2d ago

It sounds like a Christians view of Buddhism, almost like he wasn't a Buddhist to begin with...?

20

u/spraksea Mahayana Buddhist 2d ago

Yes. That's what I suspect, though I can't prove.

He claims that the idea of being saved by another's power is unique to Christianity, but if he practiced Korean Buddhism then he would have encountered Pure Land beliefs.

He was a drug addict while he was supposedly a "radical" Buddhist, which is against the fifth precept.

I didn't hear him say anything that made me think he had more than a shallow surface level understanding of Buddhism.

9

u/Grayseal Vanatrú 2d ago

I'm willing to trust him on the drugs part.

3

u/spraksea Mahayana Buddhist 1d ago

The addict to religious extremist pipeline is real.

2

u/Calanais-guy Hedge Druid 16h ago

Yes, I think I hear of that among Christians too...! Also, a prison-to-Islam pipeline.

2

u/spraksea Mahayana Buddhist 16h ago

Well, we are talking about a Christian in this case, but yeah, I've seen it in Buddhism too.

9

u/Orcasareglorious Shinto (Onmyogaku, Ise, Minzoku) 1d ago

I've seen similar accounts wherein it was clear that the supposed former Buddhist was entirely unfamiliar with Buddhism, and they were directly refuted as false accounts

2

u/Calanais-guy Hedge Druid 1d ago

So this kind if disinfo does exist! Damn. I feared as much.

6

u/BubbaUltra 1d ago

It's griftin' time

8

u/SacredGnosis Buddhist 2d ago

Buddhists don’t actually go to hell. A cultural Buddhist probably can. But a person that has seen the Buddha Dharma doesn’t go to hell.

The man in the video was on drugs and got weak, and being in a christian culture, that’s who helped him.

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u/ryou25 Buddhist 1d ago

Drug addict while also claiming to be a real practicing actually taking the 5 precepts seriously Buddhist? And didn't even know Pure Land exists? yeah i call bullshit. More likely a cultural Buddhist who barely knew his parents religion that got taken up by Christians. And this is why i don't take Christian or Muslim converts seriously when it comes to talking about their former religion.

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u/3chiliocosm Mahayana Buddhist 2d ago

what do you think?

3

u/Calanais-guy Hedge Druid 1d ago

Although I'm an ex-something myself, I can see how and why purported ex-religionists who speak badly of their former religion can be exhausting for those who are still in the religion. Especially if it becomes clear that they didn't greatly practice or understand their former religion, or they leave it for shallow reasons. NDEs are an interesting topic but also don't always seem trustworthy.

Also, that podcast seems entirely dedicated to proselytizing Christianism.