78. Hell Breaks Loose

By Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī

September 17, 1982

Today, I will give a sermon on the topic of "Hell Breaking Loose" for you to listen to. When we speak of "hell," everyone is afraid. Yet, no one has ever even seen hell. It burns and torments beings throughout the day and night. Hell does not call us to it; rather, we fall into it ourselves. The means to avoid falling into hell exist, but we fail to protect ourselves.

Anger arises in our own minds. It is hot, burning constantly, whether standing, walking, sitting, or lying down—in all postures. It is a fire that burns continuously. People who are very angry therefore have short lives and die quickly. Even if they do not die, they are still being burned by that fire. This anger arises from dissatisfaction, which is called patigha (aversion).

"Hell breaking loose" means that anger and dissatisfaction have become so intensely hot that they burst forth and spread out. One becomes dissatisfied with everything seen. All objects and things surrounding us are seen as poisonous and dangerous. All the people around us, even relatives, friends, companions, and siblings, including our own father and mother, are seen as threats. That, right there, is the "hell pot" breaking apart.

It breaks out from the mind and then spreads everywhere, burning everything. This is called "hell breaking loose." It breaks into smaller and smaller pots. For those who do not know hell, observe this and understand it.

Hell is anger. When this anger is within us, if we do not restrain it but let it spread outward, it burns and ravages the entire village, the entire city. A forest fire can still be extinguished, but this internal fire, this hellfire, never gets extinguished. Even if ten fire engines came and sprayed water on it, the more they sprayed, the more it would fan the flames into something enormous.

The word "Naraka" (hell) is a Pali term. It means "Nara-jana" or "human being." Every person already has this; we don't need to look for it elsewhere. Just look at yourself. When anger arises, everything becomes pitch dark. This is called "Naraka Lokanta" – total darkness, where no light or sun is seen.

I once heard an ancient account from the scriptures about Venerable Moggallāna. His parents were of wrong view. No matter how Venerable Moggallāna tried to teach and train them, it was ineffective. When his mother passed away, it was unknown whether she fell into hell or elsewhere. Venerable Moggallāna was a monk with great psychic powers. Traveling in the heavens, he encountered people who had performed meritorious deeds—relatives, acquaintances who had lived in certain villages. Traveling in hell, he saw the hell beings. They requested Venerable Moggallāna, saying, "Our relatives with such and such names, living in such and such towns, please inform them about us." So he brought messages back to their relatives who were still human beings.

But he could not find his own mother. "Eh! Where could she be?" He felt compelled to search through hell to find his mother. With his great powers, he searched every nook and cranny. Wherever he went, the hellfire in that place was completely extinguished. Yet no matter how much he searched, he could not find her. A small amount of hellfire remained, as small as the light of a firefly. He wrapped that remaining hellfire in the end of his robe and brought it back up to the human realm. In the morning, he went for alms, and people placed food into his bowl. They were all struck down by that hellfire of his, but he himself was unaffected.

Now, listen to this. If this account in the scripture is true, it is indeed peculiar. The accomplished masters composed this as something very significant, something worth contemplating. Venerable Moggallāna had great psychic powers. Wherever he went, hellfire was extinguished there. But it wasn't completely extinguished; a small amount remained, like the light of a firefly. He brought it into the human realm. People could not withstand that hellfire and all fell down dead. So he had to take it back and return it to its original hell. The hellfire then flared up again. It never extinguishes completely. No matter what you do, it just won't go out.

Since this is the case, what should we do? Once it breaks out, what can we do to extinguish it? When it breaks out, it spreads even more widely, everywhere. Relatives, siblings, and all kinds of things in the vicinity become disturbed. It spreads out, burning and destroying everything, both sentient and insentient beings, leaving nothing.

We see this when some people get angry. They throw and smash cups and plates, shattering them. What did those cups and plates do to them? What consciousness do they have? Why grab them and throw them? That is the hellfire burning them. It burns even things without consciousness.

The teaching is to extinguish this hellfire. It must be dealt with at its true origin, its true root. The real root of hell is the mind. If we see the mind, then there is nothing left. The hellfire is extinguished, and anger disappears. For example, if we are angry and then establish mindfulness, seeing the mind, that very moment, the anger vanishes. Lust, delusion, pride, and wrong views are the same. If we see the mind itself, those things all vanish.

The mind is the neutral one, not leaning towards the past or future, not thinking or conceiving, remaining still and equanimous. That itself is the mind. We extinguish the fire right there, without needing any spraying device. We go straight to that point, straight to the mind that is neutral.

However, it doesn't extinguish completely all at once. As the ancient teachers compared it: Venerable Moggallāna couldn't extinguish it completely and brought a tiny bit back. That tiny bit caused humans to fall and die in droves, to disintegrate. The poison of that fire is extremely potent. This refers to anger itself. Even a very small amount, when it arises, can cause everything to collapse and fall.

Anger has no substance. It is unknown where it resides, who its father or mother is, who its siblings are. Yet, it arises on its own. Once arisen, it expands widely, proliferating its "children and grandchildren" extensively. These include pride and wrong views, self-importance. All sorts of things can arise from anger and dissatisfaction.

I used to wander in the forests, dwelling at the roots of trees in the past, so I'll share a little story. A senior monk once asked me a question. At that time, he was resting under a shade tree, and I was walking by.

He called out, "Come here, Tet."

He was alone, so I went and paid respects to him. He was lying on a long chair.

He said, "Do Arahants still have defilements?"

"Yes," I replied. I didn't know why I answered like that; I wasn't even aware of it. He then fell silent.

"Eh! Why did I say such a thing?"

After a moment, he asked again, "If you have a sword in your hand, if you have a weapon in your hand, can you kill someone?"

"Yes," I answered. I had made the same mistake twice. I answered without thinking. Then I reflected on myself: "Eh! That's not appropriate." Engaging in a dialogue with a senior monk like that was not suitable. It was fortunate that no one else was there; there were only the two of us. So I then explained to him.

"Having a spear or a sword in hand, I am capable of striking or killing someone. But I would not kill, because I see the danger in killing. Because it is a harmful act, I am not able to kill."

I explained just that, and then another senior monk came wandering over to see him. I paid my respects and then got up and left. To this day, I have never forgotten those words.

Our limbs, hands, feet, etc., everyone has them. We are capable of killing and harming others. But because we are careful, restrained, and control our body, speech, and mind, we are therefore unable to harm them, unable to kill or hurt them. Those defilements, if we were to use them, they could be used. They are still there as before. But those who are truly excellent do not use them. The defilements remain as they were. The ears, eyes, nose, tongue, body remain as they were. They experience and see various things as they are. It's not that they lack ears, eyes, arms, or organs. They have them just like us. But they are restrained; they are constantly on guard.

Therefore, all of us who are training and practicing are doing so to become skilled in restraint and vigilance. When something contacts us, we aim not to let distress arise, not to let turmoil arise, not to let the mind become clouded. We aim to keep it clear and bright at all times. Only then can we be free from suffering, free from hell.

If whenever something contacts us, the mind becomes clouded, leading to persecution, fighting, killing in various ways, or to cursing and arguing, this causes distress for oneself and for others. Therefore, every person should be vigilant. Living as humans among a multitude, there are bound to be contacts. Whether living at home or anywhere else, we must be constantly vigilant. Regarding this restraint and vigilance, the Buddha taught us to practice it diligently and to maintain it diligently.

There is a story: A disciple went to study the Disāpāmokkha (the direction of teaching) for three full years. He couldn't learn anything. This disciple had great difficulty learning; he was extremely dull. So the teacher finally said,

"Alright. If you can't learn much, that's fine. Just learn one word. Learn the word 'forbear.' That single word is enough." So he was able to succeed and return.

The Buddha also taught this. Forbearance is the supreme austerity; it is the ability to restrain defilements.

The ancient teachings say: Before you do anything, count to ten first. But sometimes there isn't time to count to ten; the action comes out first. Speech is the fastest, but the mind is even faster than that. It wants to say things overlapping, two or three words. At the moment when it comes out without a chance to check, after harsh words are spoken, that becomes a cause for heat. And we ourselves become hotter than anyone else.

Therefore, I tell you: This is hell. It's not anything far away. If you can restrain and extinguish hell right here, you will dwell in comfort. You don't need to go extinguish it elsewhere. When they say hell is underground, in truth, it's not. It's the baseness, the lowness of the mind. That is what is "low," so they call it underground. When speaking of hell, they point down to the ground.

As for a mind that is good and virtuous, it is light and high. So they call it "going to heaven." Because it is high, they place it above. When speaking of heaven, they point upwards.

In truth, heaven and hell are right here in our own selves. As I explained at the beginning, "Naraka" means "human being." Wherever human beings exist, there hell exists. You don't need to look for it elsewhere. If you look elsewhere, you won't see it. No matter where you look, you won't see it. It's all within people. Once we ourselves are not hell, then the matter is finished. Hell underground also ceases to exist.

I will explain only this much for today. Evam...