Buddhist Hell, Sri Lanka – Gruesome Photos Banned By Facebook, Revealed (WARNING: LOL’s)

Buddhist Hell - Dikwella Temple, Sri Lanka
Buddhist Hell, Sri Lanka.

Like me, you may have assumed Buddhism was such a happy religion. Until I discovered Buddhist Hell, deep in the South of Sri Lanka, I figured that Buddhist temples were full of kind, enlightened, robe-wearing folks, living out their days on this world performing good deeds and racking up good karma. From a Western perspective brand-Buddhism is pacifism, tranquillity, and paying a hundred bucks to see the Shaolin Monks world tour.Unfortunately, visiting Sri Lanka (one of the most stunning island nations on the entire planet) taught me everything I never wanted to know about Buddhism.

Like all religions, Buddhism has a special dark place where people really don’t want to end up, after their life is over. Buddhists refer to it as “Naraka” or “Niraya”. You may know it as “hell”. In the town named Dikwella, one artists vision of this tormented and gruesome place is on display, inside the Buddhist temple named Wewurukannala Vihara. Note: the Buddhist version of hell probably makes your version of hell seem not so bad.

Buddhists have developed a complex, and rather specific, number of hell’s and punishments. There’s sixteen hells. A small sample includes “Nirarbuda”, a place where miscreant beings roam around a dark, frozen plain surrounded by icy mountains, where bodies blister from the icy cold, and are covered in blood and pus. “Samghata”,is where the residents are continually crushed by huge rocks until they are nothing but bloody jelly. This continues for precisely 10.0368 trillion years, the rocks then move apart, the being is restored, but the brutal process is then repeated for another 10.0368 trillion years.

Lesser-known Buddhist hells are a mixed bag of flesh eating animals, blood, guts, fire, and weaponry of various ingenuity.No matter which one is your favourite Buddhist Hell, down in Dikwella they’re all gruesome, and the wifi sucks. Personally, I liked the stabbing hell, where red-hot-spears are inserted into the body until fire comes out of the nose. Of course, more hells are actively being discussed, by those Buddhists for whom sixteen hells is simply not enough.

 

Buddhist Hell, Wewurukannala Vihara Temple, Dikwella
As always, the ticket to Wewurukannala Vihara Temple proudly proclaimed “largest Buddha in Asia”. I would suggest “proud home of Buddhist Hell” would be more accurate.
Man being stabbed in Buddhist Hell
Over on Facebook, I titled this photo “man being stabbed inside Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka”. I was then banned from Facebook due to Buddhist fundamentalists. Buddhist Hell, Wewurukannala Vihara temple, Dikwella, Sri Lanka.
hell for buddhists in Sri Lanka
There are no “tour guides” at Buddhist Hell in Sri Lanka. This man is a “donation collector”. When not collecting money, the onsite Buddhists are sleeping. Buddhist Hell, Wewurukannala Vihara temple,Diwkella, Sri Lanka.
"Naked lady being ripped apart by wild animals inside Buddhist Temple, Sri Lanka".
“Naked lady being ripped apart by wild animals inside Buddhist temple, Sri Lanka”.
Wewurukannala Vihara Temple, Dikwella, Sri Lanka.
This is a painting of a man, walking nude through another man’s house whilst a pretty lady serves a cool drink. These are images from the “don’t do this” row of paintings. Doesn’t seem like something punishable by Buddhist hell to me, and yet, here we are. Wewurukannala Vihara temple, Dikwella, Sri Lanka.
buddhist diwkella temple hell
“Man being stabbed in the mouth and head, inside Buddhist temple, Sri Lanka”.
hell temple of Buddhists, Sri Lanka
“Man killing another man with a pretty big sword, inside Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka”

 

Giant Buddha temples in Asia, they’re a dime a dozen. And all of them have a sign that proudly states “this is the largest Buddha in Asia”. But how many temples have kitschy mid-century models of demon like creatures and hundreds of paintings interpreting Buddhist hell? Which is why Wewurukannala Vihara temple is just so god-damn good. However, here in Sri Lanka, a land dominated by Buddhism, writing about the somewhat unknown Wewurukannala Vihara temple comes with a hellish bag of problems.

Mentioning Buddhists and gruesome torture in the same sentence in Sri Lanka can be a dangerous past-time. When I first posted photos of “Buddhist hell” on the Yomadic Facebook page, I was inundated with threats, insults, judgements, rudeness, and incredulity that this temple even existed within Sri Lanka. The photo was reported to Facebook for “violating guidelines”. My account was suspended. Facebook administrators suggested it would just be easier to remove my entire Facebook presence, permanently. This was at the request of Sri Lankan Buddhists, which seems strange, but perhaps a dive into the dark history of the island nation formerly known as Ceylon may help.

Recently, Sri Lanka has suffered through a bloody civil war. Lasting 26 years, taking 100,000 lives, and ending less than five years ago, the war was won by the well equipped Buddhist soldiers. I know that sounds inflammatory, but it’s as true as saying that the American armed forces are Christian soldiers, or the Iraqi soldiers are Muslim soldiers. And nobody would really find that particularly inflammatory. The sad fact is, as with Christians and Muslims, many of the never-harm-an-insect Buddhists are very willing to kill humans of a different religion.

Of course, Buddhists are capable of war, torture, terrorism, and killing. Buddhists hang at malls, and shop for designer labels. They scan the internet looking for information on the newest iPhone. In high-finance business dealings, they will rip you off. They’re violent, judgemental, materialistic, racist, and rotten to the core. Behind your back, they’ll laugh at you. To your face, they will lie.

They’re also beautiful, friendly, warm, welcoming, generous, and honest. They lead live simple lives, respecting and helping others, expecting nothing in return. They’ve got an old Nokia that they use, preferring to give the money they save on the purchase of a new phone to a local orphanage. They never judge, and never engage in violent activity. They have hearts of gold – not because they fear hell, purely because they are naturally good people.

 

Wewurukannala Vihara Temple, Dikwella, Sri Lanka - Buddist Hell
This man is doing something to a chicken, I’m just not sure exactly what. It seems quite illegal though. Buddhist hell temple, Dikwella, Sri Lanka.
buddhist chicken hell, Sri Lanka
“He who has relations with his pet chicken, shall have his eyes gouged out and flesh ripped from his bloody bones by giant chickens in Buddhist hell”. Translation may not be absolutely accurate, but I believe I’m close.
buddha hell
Don’t kill cows, or else…
...stabby stabby in Buddhist hell.
…stabby stabby in Buddhist hell.
paintings of buddhist hell
This corridor has hundreds of paintings. The guy on duty woke up when I entered, turned on a dim bulb to help light my descent into Buddhist hell, asked me for a donation, and then went back to sleep.
Burning in Buddhist Hell, Sri Lanka.
Burning in Buddhist Hell, Sri Lanka.
hell buddhist temple
Note to self: update this caption when I figure out what the hell is going on. Wewurukannala Vihara temple, Dikwella, Sri Lanka.
Ouch. Fire. Etc.
Ouch. Fire. Buddhist Hell. Etc.
the crime of buddhist hell
YOUR CRIME WAS WRITING ABOUT BUDDHIST HELL ON FACEBOOK. AND YOUR PUNISHMENT SHALL BE…
Wewurukannala Vihara Temple AKA BUDDHIST HELL
…BEING SET ON FIRE AND HAVING YOUR SKULL CUT OPEN AND YOUR LIMBS CUT OFF WITH A RUSTY TWO-MAN SAW! WELCOME TO BUDDHIST HELL, HAVE A NICE DAY.

click to see an interactive map showing the location of this article

 

Buddhist Hell – Closing Thoughts on the Wewurukannala Vihara Temple in Dikwella, Sri Lanka

Buddhist Hell itself may not be a real place, however it is a real tourist attraction. However, it’s kitschy, tacky, decaying, covered with imagery of torture and gore, and this just isn’t what most tourists are into these days. Wewurukannala Vihara was empty, and the town of Dikwella was tourist-free. Perhaps, one day, gruesome artistic visions of Buddhist Hell will be the hot new attraction on the Sri Lankan tourist-circuit. Probably not, but I loved it.

Nate

PS, personal update – it’s been almost 600 days on the road, and I’ve finally managed to pull myself away from Europe – just for a couple of months. In the last few weeks I have covered three continents. More soon….

PPS, next week – the mean streets of Colombo – street photography from Sri Lanka’s capital, and largest city. Apart from hellish Buddhist visions, there is a LOT to see in Sri Lanka. Street scenes, beaches, and sunsets…

BTW, I would love to send you the next dispatch, posted from some-where random around this planet (and you'll soon find out why YOMADIC email followers are my favourite followers):

48 thoughts on “Buddhist Hell, Sri Lanka – Gruesome Photos Banned By Facebook, Revealed (WARNING: LOL’s)

  1. I’m sure it says more about me than anything else that when your first picture loaded, I actually burst out laughing. Now these are the kind of religious complexes that I’m interested in seeing! Controversial or not, these are the kind of places that are pretty unforgettable, aren’t they?

    Excited to hear more about your time in Sri Lanka—Tony & I will be heading there at the end of April and are planning to spend about a month there. It sounds like an awesome & not very touristed country, so will be curious to hear which parts sans Buddhist eviscerations stand out to you.

    1. Hey Steph.. I will write one, or maybe two more articles about Sri Lanka, hopefully you’ll get something out of them. I managed to only see the West/South West coast – some really nice beaches, great food, and for the most part – great people. There is a definite and overwhelming sensation that exists – where I was simply seen as a walking wallet by more than 90% of the people that approached me. But I absolutely must say that I met some incredibly friendly people as well, who were warm and generous. It’s a land of extremes, that’s for sure! I think a month is good – I spent 12 days, and that was only enough to see a small part of the country.

    2. Very unsafe country (sri lanka) and sinhala peoples are extremely violence nation. I strongly recommend if you are truly love to your life don’t travel there don’t even think about it.

  2. My mind is racing, just thinking about how many strange versions of hell there might be tucked away in little temples around the world. Clearly this is another reason to explore the whole world.

    Once again, a wonderful piece — thanks for sharing!

  3. I saw similar art at a Buddhist Temple in Xian, China. I had always thought of Buddhism as a philosophy, and not a religion, but now I have a different view. I am trying hard not to judge, and have spent many years reconciling differences and finding similarities amongst the world’s religions. I didn’t take one photograph of the scenes of Hell from the basement of the temple. I was disturbed that any religion or philosophy could display with such glee and such detail the sufferings of Hell.

    1. To be fair, the most gruesome descriptions and imagery that I’ve ever come across in this world have been those that are found in religious texts. Violent and explicit films are inherently accepted to be fiction but religion actually pushes this stuff as being real.

    2. I agree, it is disturbing that these are the images that religion needs to “convince” people to behave correctly, Mary. I’ve also been to Xian, probably the same temple – the one with a relic of the “actual” Buddha. Maybe it was a fingernail or something like that…

      Thanks for commenting!

    3. Buddihism is indeed a Philosophy. However to make the people understand this deep philosophy it was mixed with the cultures and the folklore of each country which adopted it. The gory pictures mentioned here are artist’s visualizations of what hell is and has nothing to do with the teachings of Buddha which is based on compassion and understanding of one-self. It should not be misconstrued that the people perpetrating such violence in the pictures are Buddhists. They are depictions of creatures of hell meting out punishments to those who have done bad things and gone to hell. It is all peoples imaginations only. Not Buddhism !

      1. https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.130.than.html

        Some suttas are warnings like this one, it’s just this one that freak someone out sadly. But it’s not the main purpose “causing fear”. Although, It was Buddha has seen and isn’t a joke or a “cultural belief”. Just a warning for grusome deeds which have consequences depending on the kamma of the person, kamma means the mood the tendency actions the person impulse tendencies, person whose heart it’s accustomed to do bad or good behavior. Sometimes persons have bad destinations but not the hell.

        Buddha main teaching is, do good avoid the bad actions and not what is kamma and consequences all the time. He taught to men become arahants “destroy the fetters of the existence” by following the 8 fold path (morality) and the realities of the existence in order to understand what’s the nature of the life, understanding the 4 noble truths.

        It’s complex and really deep try to understand all this. The best way to understand Buddhism is dispose all cultural beliefs and find someone who explain what Buddha teaches, find Banthe Punnaji Mahatera videos and Bikku Bodhi they are the best.

    4. Buddhism is indeed a philosophy. There are no gods that can help you. The Buddha preached non-violence. There is no ‘hell’ or ‘heaven’ in his teachings, only ‘bad karma’ and ‘good karma’. Bad karma causes endless reincarnations in nasty places and the attendant sufferings. Good karma and other practices like mediations which enlighten you, helps you to escape the endless cycle of birth and death and reincarnation, and thus attain Nirvana. In Sri Lanka, Buddhism is corrupt. It is a cocktail of pretend Buddhism and caste ridden Hinduism with its 330m gods, who are said to be overlooking Sri Lanka. Militant Buddhism is rampant and the government uses thugs in saffron robes to create havoc and attack minorities (Tamils, Muslims etc) and that gets the votes of the people. At the 2019 election, 6.9 million (69 lakhs) voted for bigotry and hate, and the politicians they put in a position of absolute power have made an unholy (sic) mess of the economy and the country is expected to face a famine by January 2022. That’s going to be really really bad karma hitting in this life itself, and hitting all the citizens. If there was justice meted out by the 330m gods, then only the 6.9 million will suffer famine. But no, the entire population will starve.

      Getting back you your specific of “Torture in the Theravada Temple” such tortures do occur regularly, not at the temple per se, but carried out by the devotees – police and army – who visit these temples and get educated on more gory methods of torture. School kids go there and see and get ‘educated’. Torture becomes blasé. Torture is endemic.
      May be the police and army personnel are merely mimicking the temple drawings, and the police, seeing these religiously “just punishments” of perceived sinners every time they go to temple, feel they are being Buddhistic when they torture and kill

  4. Interesting read! This is a place that would appeal to me too. Only because it shows a different side to this religion. I think any religion has practitioners who practice it for the love and goodwill it can bring not only themselves but to others, while there are those who see it as only an identification/label and use it for their own means, usually not in a positive way (Crusades anyone?). Buddhists can’t be different! Fantastic photos, btw.

  5. Wow, some pretty great photos there. Hey, that guy is literally choking the chicken. Now I know where the term comes from :)
    Frank (bbqboy)

  6. This is different than the common “Hell” define by other religions unlike dantes this has 16 rings, and each ring is based on the breaking main vows of Buddhism (stealing,lying etc) and that will effect you back (ie: karma) as Buddhist believe in eternity the suffering would only last for a certain period .

  7. I kept expecting to see a ‘log flume to hell’ or some such thing. Bizarre..

    Incidentally, it occurs to me that this might be the only way of getting one’s Facebook account well and truly deleted. I must remember that!!

  8. I am SO glad I now, 30 something of age, know a different side of something always presented as… well, we all know what. The fact is: everything has two sides. Everything! The other fact is: faith it one of the greatest things humans have. And one of the most terrible. Put it in wrong hands and next you`ll know there are 16 circles of hell :D

  9. Reply to Graham, We know so called human rights thieves and some Americans like to refer “President Mahinda Rajapaska and his murderous crew” But they saved lives of real people and a civilized country. Nobody talks about when American killers kill innocent people in other countries.

    You all became what you are by robbing, murdering and stealing from countries those who have a civilization of 1000s of years.

    You people are pathetic!

  10. It’s hard to do anything shocking today. I think telling people that I fully believe that Hell is real is may shock some people. I have many reasons I will not go into right now. My faith is not out of fear but I am motivated to never end up in Hell. I also see hell as much worse then the images above show because it goes on for eternity and there is never an end.

    What I don’t get is that people will endlessly watch horror movies (not me) and other painful and scary things in the name of entertainment but then you tell them you know it is real they can’t handle it. Places like this will and should never become mainstream but they do open up interesting conversations about life after death and faith.

  11. This is really interesting to know – a temple depicting Hell!

    I always thought when it comes to organized religion then not one stands true to what their holy books say.

    1. just like politics… not even “organized democracy” stands true to its holy book (the constitution).

  12. Please Learn Sinhala or ask someone to translate those words under the photos, then you will get clear idea behind these paintings.. Buddhism is one of the most clam region in the planet .so don’t come to assumptions without knowing. i was ROFL After read your article ..

  13. This place really and truly exists and we have photographs very similar to these from our trip to Sri Lanka last week. We too were quite surprised to find out there was a “Buddhist hell” of sorts and quite shocked at how graphic the paintings and dioramas were! There is another temple (I believe near Kandy) that had a few paintings like this, although they were much more artistic. Lonely Planet guide was our source, so if you are up for it…

  14. Well Nate Robert, as a Sri Lankan I would like to thank you for all the compliments you provided above, also I would like to apologize on behalf of my nation for the troubles you faced in Sri Lanka as you mentioned above.
    Also good to see that some open discussion has derived from your comment in here.

    I would like to add some comments here for some of the things I pointed out above. Hope this may make some green light for some of those confusions you had while seeing those images.

    First thing I would like to say is, ‘Buddhist Hell’ is not sounds the correct wording as I believe. I would rather think its better “hell as defined in Buddhism”. Otherwise the first impression I got here is Buddhism is a hell kind of an idea. Which should not be the case, because in Buddhism it explains about hell, heaven, Brahma worlds and ultimately it says about the path to follow to attain the enlightenment. Here enlightenment is something far beyond than living in a heaven. This is my view and I would like to say I respect all the religions and I practice Buddhism as a philosophy but not as a religion.

    About your comment on the war situation in Sri Lanka, first thing I would rather say we can’t say it’s a war. It was actually a fight against one of the most dangerous terrorist group on earth by the Sri Lankan army. Here your comment is not so good. Agree that rest of the world saw it as a fight against to one ethnic group because of the wrong messages passed by the media with lots of favoritism. But we who the people live in Sri Lanka were the one suffered from terrorism. At that time I was a school kid and a terrorist suicide bomber blasted a huge bomb close to my school. Lots of innocent civilians have been killed by those terrorist group. They were the first group to throw bombs to civilized areas via aeroplanes. Hence any army of a country, their prime duty is to protect the country from threats. Therefore a comment like “Buddhists are very willing to kill humans of a different religion” is not correct at all. It was Sri Lankan braved forces with lowest facilities were able to defeat a terrorist group perhaps 1st time in the world. You said it was well equipped buddhist soldiers, agreed majority of them were sinhalese and buddhists, but quite a number of Catholics, Muslims and Tamils are serving for Sri Lankan forces. Also at the time the fight was going on, we’ve seen those terrorists were having so many high tech weapons which we as a government army couldn’t even afford to purchase those weapons. Its all that I can say about it. Up to you to check about that terrorist group who were the first people to use child soldiers on front lines.

    Also regarding your capturings posted here, I believe you put those with a surprise in mind why inside a buddhist temple they put some paintings on murders, and some other things as you think it’s weird to see in a place like there. My dear, I’ve read all of your posts and yes in contemporary era we watch all the horror movies and yes it seems nothing for us these days. But let me share y experience at my 1st visit there. Perhaps it’s only a small memory yet very strong. Because I went this place first time when I was a little kid. I’ve heard about those teachings about 4 hells, 6 heavens etc. But when I saw those things I really got scared those days (early 90s and it was not a very developed era for this part of the world means of technology). My parents gave a strong message, if you do wrong thing you will be ended up in hell like this.

    Each painting there describe about the ways of doing wrong things and relevant punishments you receive at hell as a return. Hence these are the ones made to force people to do the right things. In this era, yes I agree with you no impact on mind. But sometimes back paintings of temples were a strong communication method in Sri Lanka.

    This is what I have to say about your post. Once again thank you very much for your post about Sri Lanka.

  15. Hello, I know this article is old but now only I came across this. I am born in to a Buddhist family and I learnt a many things about Buddhism at the temple. These temples in the pictures do exist in Sri Lanka for the simple reason of scaring people to not doing bad things. Said that… That is not what Lord Buddha said to his followers. He explained this part of life with the concept of Karma. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here, so i’m posting this link to a decent article on another page.

    http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm (The Theory of Karma by Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw)

    By all means, please do understand Buddhism is 2500 years old and along the way, just like any other religion, it’s been subjected to misinterpretation. ;)

    BTW… Great set of pictures… :)

  16. As a 13-year-old Sri Lankan student still learning Buddhism. I’d like to point out that ‘Buddhist hell’ does not make sense. The temple contains pictures of what hell is from a Buddhists point of view but it could be welcome to people from all religions. It may be true or not, doesn’t matter. Sure the pictures are gruesome but it is said to be true. Anyone..and I mean legit anyone who does wrong will be sent to hell. And yes, Buddhist people can also commit crimes. However, we are taught to be friendly, warm, welcoming, generous, honest and helpful. I believe those pictures are there for a reason, maybe to scare people so they wouldn’t do wrong but whats the harm in that? Isn’t that helping? It’s definitely not forcing people to do the right things. Just merely showing them what happens in hell so people would be aware of the consequences. I would like to ask you not to post articles about Buddhism this way since it might portray negative images about our religion in others mind. Personally, I find the temple intriguing since it displays a painful truth. Maybe that’s what triggered you to write this article, you might have been finding fault in the Buddhist religion. If you want to learn about Buddhism, you have to be very careful since you can’t always find Buddha’s true teaching’s .

  17. How can you say this about Buddhism? Especially without even having a clear thought about this religion. I am also a buddist student, I have been learning buddhism for 8 years and to what extend we are upto now, No teaching of Buddha forces any person. People do commit crimes and it is not a matter of religion. In every religion their main perspective is to teach good to human beings, In Buddhism the main point is to look at the complete picture, So without comprehending please don’t post such biased and prejudice information. Please don’t do such things for publicity, I am kindly requesting you, don’t not post predisposed thoughts, as it can be the main reasons of cultural and religious conflicts.
    I would really appreciate if you would understand and not do this again.

  18. Wow! It is so interesting to see the defense by the adherents. They have completely proved the point instead of defending it. A religion, or philosophy, or whatever you want to term it, that needs to use threats has a problem. Why a need to threaten and scare children to behave? It’s like telling children if they don’t behave Santa won’t bring any presents. Yet, with a whole lot more teeth, pun intended.

    I lived as a heathen for many years. Meaning, no real knowledge of truth, nor any real interest in finding any. But, when i found, rather when the message of salvation through Christ found me, it was different. It wasn’t about a fear of Hell, but rather a hope of forgiveness. The one thing i do not see in any Buddhist pictures or dioramas is an opportunity for redemption. It is you mess up, there is a Hell for everyone, no escape. That my friends, is a sad future for sure.

    1. Yes, but its not a “threat” if there is any reality to it. For example, if you see a blind person about to walk off the edge of a cliff and you shout out to them “Don’t take another step or you’ll be seriously injured!” would that be a “threat”? They might think of it that way, wrongly, but only because they don’t see what you see.

      Buddhism and Christianity don’t look at hell in the same way, necessarily…You can definitely be forgiven in Buddhism. For instance, the Buddha himself would never hold a grudge, nor any other enlightened being. They are without any obstacles to love and compassion…they want the very best for all beings, without exception. But the Buddha doesn’t decide what happens to you, now or at death! It doesn’t work like that, according to Buddhism. One’s future experience will depend on one’s own intentional actions, the fruition of kamma. Furthermore, if one is reborn in hell, it is not an eternal situation (this is at least some consolation). There is no one to be upset with though…the whole point is to take responsibility and care for your own actions NOW and in the future. Do good, wholesome actions to dissolve the effects of unwholesome, evil actions made in the past under the influence of greed, hatred and delusion! Concern about consequences of our actions, at the very least, can be a powerful catalyst for turning our lives around.

      Just a thought: Why so some people evidence such intense disdain for religions that speak about something like hell, based on the notion that they are doing so in order to breed fear and thereby control people? I don’t doubt for a moment that this can and does happen all the time…but that doesn’t invalidate the claim that hell exists. Is there similar outrage about people who make horror movies etc…? Or is the irrational, intense aversion to religious conceptions of hell in particular a kind of attempt to nullify one’s own suppressed fears about what may happen at death?

      I do not wish rebirth in hell for anyone, as I do not wish it for myself!
      I do not have current, direct knowledge of the existence of hell. Nor do I have any direct knowledge about its non-existence. I do have a certain amount of faith in the Buddha; also, if we are to assume that hell is merely fiction, then isn’t it absolutely remarkable how similar is the imagery and conceptions of it across ancient cultures (that, according to a strictly materialist evolutionary perspective were virtually without contact)!
      Whether or not hell exists, we should be doing good and abstaining from all evil and harmful actions and mind states because they bring suffering to ourselves and others in this very life!

      May we all find happiness, peace and freedom from fear. May we be totally freed from all possibility of being reborn in the lower realms! May we cultivate wholesome, meritorious, positive states and abide compassionate for the welfare of all beings, without exception!

  19. Western whitewashed Buddhism is totally phony..it is a fake that has been cleverly foisted upon a people who should have been too civilized and intelligent to fall for it. Read the history of its sale to the Western public starting in the late 19th century. Real Buddhism involves sex rituals, blood drinking, cannibalism, and general witchcraft. “Free Tibet!” Do some real research this junk from older, non-propagandized sources before falling for the whole phony peaceful enlightenment thing. Seeing all of this Buddha and yoga stuff here makes embarrassed for my country. While simpletons fold their hands, contort their bodies, and quietly meditate for an enlightened future, the reality is that they actually await and promote the return to the most barbarous and darkest ages of history. Take a look at the Aztec religion for a hint at what the end result will actually be like. Oh, but that’s right..native American religion is also “cool” and “enlightened”..barf!

    “They never judge a person, and never engage in any violent activity. They have hearts of gold – not because they fear hell, purely because they are naturally good people.”

    I mean, it is seriously time to grow up.

    1. Pete,

      Those are strong words, friend. What you are referring to is a particular strand of ritual Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. In no way does that characterization represent the majority of Buddhists worldwide, nor even Tibetan Buddhism as a whole, nor does it have anything to do with what the Buddha actually taught ( specifically as recorded in the Pali Canon). I don’t doubt for a second that Buddhism has been “sold” to a western audience having been whitewashed and readied for capitalist consumption…but you are conflating things here. There are new agers, who like to borrow from this and that tradition and are fascinated by ritual and different clothing styles and fads etc…You should let them be, to be honest; they are just human beings looking for happiness. But at the same time, I understand your “barfy” feelings, but I hope you actually take the time at some point to look into Buddhism proper, and let go of your preconceived ideas and biases. It has nothing to do with “yoga” or “Aztec” or “barbarity” at all.

    2. And your christian religion includes genocide of whole people who do not believe that your imaginary friend will be their savior, you don’t find that in Buddhism neither are you going to find blood drinking and other shit in Buddhism.

  20. You are on to something when you concede that not all Buddhists are saints, but some may be…

    As with other human beings in other religions, or of no religion at all, it is the greed, hatred and delusion in our minds that causes us to do evil, or just to be rude or phony etc…

    Realizing this, why blame religion? It doesn’t make sense!

  21. Nice… I never heard about this place, but I want to visit it. It looks like a modern temple, with obvious Christian influences. For those of you not aware about it… a lot of concepts about hell passed onto Sri Lankan Buddhists during the colonial era. During the Portuguese colonization of Sri Lanka, all indigenous religions were banned. To avoid persecution and execution (for Buddhist monks), many people became crypto-Christians.

    Due to this, many concepts, including religious terms entered local Buddhism (& Hinduism). For example, The Christian Sabbath, which is on Sunday, was adopted as a weekly religious day by local Buddhists.

    Another thing to remember is that the Buddha described ‘hell’, as a condition, not a place. According to the Buddha, you could be living in a ‘none-hellish’ place, but it would still feel ‘like hell’. The Buddha never described all this gory stuff. He described only a state of mind.

    All these would have been gory concepts that had pre-dated the Buddha, and then had mixed with Christian concepts (for example: devilish entities torturing people)

    1. Sri Lankan Buddhism was never influenced by Christianity. Buddhism pre-dates christianity itself and was brought to Sri Lanka during Lord Buddha’s time. I’ve never heard of “Christian Sabbath.” Sunday is not a a religious day. Colonization only impacted the coasts of Sri Lanka. Heritage remains the same.
      Also, it isn’t a modern temple. That apartment like building is obviously new. The temple itself isn’t.
      “”According to the Buddha, you could be living in a ‘none-hellish’ place, but it would still feel ‘like hell’”

      Suffering would thrive in hell. But suffering is present everywhere. “hell” is not a condition. Please learn from actual Sri Lankan Buddhists. You don’t really know much.
      There are no “gory concepts” in Buddhism. This is just trying to depict what hell would be like.

      Buddhism was never influenced and isn’t changing in Sri Lanka. Documentations from the time of Lord Buddha have been studied. Ancient temples (don’t tell me that they were rebuilt during colonization because that is just pathetic) with everything documented in them as well. Everything is constant. The bodhi tree still remains to this date. Colonization did not change Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

  22. It is interesting how a foreigner (probably white lol) mocking buddhism through simply the base ideas of statues (Idk your religion neither cares lol) when in America christian preachers call innocent children as phonies just because they love pokemon and speak of satan representation in pokemon (LMAO). I grew up playing pokemon (lol) and yes it is pretty misleading to see these statues but it’s far better than calling white kids hypocrites or phonies don’t you think ;) . and one more thing buddy.
    Europeans fuck up the entire cultures by stealing, destroying and changing people and their way of life. including Asia, Africa and South America and that is one of the reason for the poverty we see today. after stealing, altering and slaughtering innocent people in different cultures and later bringing up the “human rights” label to control countries under the shadow of UN. bravo! you must be happy that Sri Lankan hospitality kept you safe while your visit.

  23. Does the retard who wrote this article know that we fought against terrorism and not just started killing the tamils? because according to the retards logic what the united states did was genocide as well not fighting al-quaeda.

    1. This is exactly the attitude I experienced so frequently in Sri Lanka. it’s such a nice country, with so many nice people I met – it’s a shame there are people like this guy ruining the experience for so many visitors.

      Signed,
      Retard Who Wrote This Article

    2. Sri Lanka’s ethno-religious hatreds and killings began in 1956, just 8 years after getting Independence from Britain. In 1958 there was a major pogrom of killing and looting of Tamils, and Emergency Rule was declared by the Governor General to use the army to quell the riots and killings. In 1959, a Buddhist priest who had helped to bring the Prime Minster to power on an ethno-religious platform of hatred got mad at the PM and shot and killed him because the PM was softening his stand towards the Tamils. Throughout the 1960s, and 1970s there were regular riots, and endless Emergency Rule which became the norm. By 1983 militant Tamils had set up the terrorist LTTE and all out war broke out and lasted 30 years. Paradise was lost forever. Now (in 2021) the explosive mix of ethno-religious, hatreds have been fueled up some more by the government giving a Presidential Pardon to a thug in saffron robes – yes, a Buddhist priest – who has unleashed deadly attacks on Muslims. He has now been given an official government position and lots of power. So wait for the next explosions.

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