Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen presents the eight hot hells and eight cold hells as foundational contemplations in the Graduated Path — not abstract concepts but vivid maps of how karma ripens. He describes each hot hell in succession: the revival hell where beings fight and kill each other before being revived; the black line, crushing, crying, great crying, and increasingly severe hot, extreme hot, and Avichi hells. He then details the eight cold hells—blistering, open blisters, the “achu” freezing cold, and others—explaining the specific karma that leads to rebirth in each. Throughout, Geshe-la emphasizes why meditation on hell realms is essential for beginners: contemplating these sufferings generates the renunciation and fear that form the foundation of genuine Buddhist practice, rooted in Nāgārjuna’s instructions.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 GP 1996 02 11.mp3
UUID: 3d06919b-a907-46e7-aaac-b628ac5ca72d
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Graduated Path (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996-02-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.6 minutes
Words: ~2,933
And the hungry ghost realm and what do say? Neighboring health and so on that these different lower lower states of beings. So as a sign of getting reborn into the hot hell is that at the very time of death, that one had this appearance of getting very cold and wishing for warmth or heat and having attachment towards the heat. And that is the sign which leads one to take birth into the hot hell. And then similarly, like a sign of getting reborn into the cold hell is that at the very time of death, one one has this appearance of getting hot and hot so wishes or have attachment towards a cooler place.
And that is a sign of getting people into the cold. And and other signs of getting reborn into the lower realms is that at the very time of death, that one has this appearance of that one is falling down or falling down or sinking into the ground and then one screams or cries there saying, pull me up. Like, that kind of, I wanna say, signs that appears, and that is sign of getting being reborn into the lower realms getting reborn into the lower realms. So so the lower realms are the hot hells, the cold hell. So each one of these hels have eight eight h and total of sixteen.
So I guess you’re saying that he won’t be going or explaining detail in about the health. It might be beneficial for some but it might also, it might not benefit to others. So it might also generate a wrong view by explaining it here. So Geshe-la said, you will just briefly mention the names of those states. So the first of the hot hell is known as the revival hell.
So so the reviving hell is that in in that hell, the beings, they have lots of fight among each other. And out of their angers, go into fight and then they kill each other and then they die. And then suddenly a sound appears in the in the space saying, like, revive. And then and then they again get revived. And this getting reborn there is a general result of our our negative actions.
We get reborn there, but specifically, we get reborn there out of our negative action that is killing or taking the life here. And then second hot hell is Black Line. So this black line which, again, type of suffering that the sentient beings go through in that rooms, which they have lines of black lines over their, what is it, body and and and experience great sufferings. And then then third hot hell is, let’s say, crushing crushing. So so there and that how one is, like, what do say, beaten up one’s body is beaten up or crushed in between big hammers.
And and then So the fourth one is is crying. So, that state, what is it, one feels that there’s no way one can escape from that suffering and and then cries like more out of desperate cries. And then the next is, what do call, Great Crying. So so Great Crying too is also the same thing that no chance, thinking that there’s no way one can escape from that suffering. And crying is, what is it, greater?
So this great crime, it is one can get reborn there, generally speaking, like engaging in tendons versus action. Specifically like carelessly drinking like, enjoying alcohol that causes one to take rebirth in this. So then the sixth one, the hot help. So in this hot hell that that is like a where one one all the internal part of our body gets burned. Yeah.
And and you experience asthma. Oh, yeah. And then the seventh one is that, what’s it, extreme hot. So so in this extreme hot hell, the the the suffering of we experience the suffering of I would say, the suffering double than the the the former one. And then eighth one is Abichi Hell, known as, So so this yeah.
The eighth one has the greatest, what is the suffering that you go through of the of the of of what is it? Greater than those of the seven before. Yeah. And these are, like, eight hot hells. So this is briefly mentioning this eight hot hells and if one wish to study or want to know more detail then I’m just saying that probably they are or will explain in or written in the book that you can read.
So, then the next, I wanna say, is that of the eight cold hell. And the first one is, how do you say, blistering blistering. So so that is that hell, like, it’s it’s very cold that one have blisses in one one body. And yeah. So what do you call?
Then the second cold hell is, I wanna say, like a broken broken they call it the blisses. Broken or, like, open blisses. So so open blisses, which is that the coal on that state is double, double, and double than the first one and the blisses are open and like you can see blood and pus coming out and it’s, I would say, that’s what the second hell is. Oh, And then, what is it? The third one is the artery health.
What is it? I don’t know what you call how you express that. Achu. Achu. Yeah.
Something like bru. When you are very cold, the expression, achu hell. Yeah. It’s what do you say? When you are very cold, you express like, achieving her.
So, third cold is that the cold is much more, I would say, colder than the first two, and it’s like more like freezing cold where like it become frozen, like refrigerator, how it’s get frozen things inside. So the bean become like that, frozen. And then and then next hell cold hell is again known as kill like crime. So then this cue crying, that is like a when the when the in the freezing hell there, you can you can cry. You can cry out loud.
But then the next hell, you can only you can only speak very little. I mean, of the cold, you can only say very little or say, cute, very little. You can’t you can’t cry much. It’s much colder than this the former one here. And then next is So so this chauffeur teeth that’s also that that’s called hell.
It’s And the third one, you can cry out loud. And then the fourth one, can only cry out very little. You speak very little. You can’t cry out loud. And then this one, chattering teeth, you can’t speak, just your teeth makes this noise chattering.
And next is like opening like a a wood pile of flowers. So opening like woodpala flowers, which woodpala flower, that’s the name of flower. And it’s like when it’s very cold, it’s like ice everywhere in the morning. You, in Tibet when it’s very cold, there’s ice everywhere. In the early morning, ice breaks into all parts in all directions and makes this strange sound like cracking sound.
And then next is like, again, like opening like a lotus. Yeah, lotus. And then and that too is similar to the former one. And the next, the last eight one is, what do say, again, like opening or more like splitting like a great lotus great lotus. That is like the last one.
So so what what makes us reborn in these different health is that mainly having, let’s say, the wrong views on law of cause and effect or karma, the four noble truth and and, yeah, and and and so on. Having wrong view in that in in these different points So so these are total, like, the eight hot hells and the eight cold hell. And then they are also known as occasional hell and occasional hell and and also neighboring health. There are different health also I explained. And then next lower beings in the lower realms is the animals animals which we see.
So so then, what is it? Animals also like the wild one and the what is it? And the I don’t what’s the only call the domestic type animals. So at present, we are not born in these different states, but when one is meditating then one should imagine one getting reborn in one of these states and contemplate over the sufferings and think whether one can bear the suffering or not. So, one, in one’s meditation, if one finds unable to bear these sufferings, then one should look for the method which can free one from this state of sufferings.
So as Nāgārjuna advises that saying one should everyday contemplate or remember the sufferings of heart health and cold health. So So, for example, like during deity yoga practice, like doing meditation on generation stage and doing meditation on completion stage. These are something, I would say, something very high practice. Though they are very high practice, if one is just to, let’s say, to contemplate or meditate over the sufferings of the lower realms, the beings of the lower realms, what to say, out of one’s meditations on the suffering one generates a, say, you know, one generates a fear of the of of these sufferings. So, anyway, we we like doing meditations on emptiness, doing meditation on Deity Yoga and so on.
And we like doing meditation on this and it’s something very good. That’s that’s that’s but that’s very good, but at the beginning, at the very beginning, if one is to meditate the suffering of the hell realms, then that is more, what do say, beneficial, more helpful for one. So so so it helps one or it it it benefits one greatly in the beginning to meditate on the sufferings of the lower realms as if one is to meditate on the suffering of the hot hell, as Nāgārjuna says that if one is to meditate on the suffering of the hell, then one generates this wish to escape from that suffering, which is which is the very first step of generating this renunciation. So so so that especially at present when we have this precious human body, while we have this precious human body, if we do meditate on renunciation, The renunciations and compassions are easier, especially to generate on the basis of this precious human body. So if one, what do say, So it is easier for one to generate on the basis of this precious human body.
So because of that, one should, to make that possible, one should meditate on the sufferings sufferings, those different state of sufferings. So so so as as in the in the guide to the way of bodhisattva’s life, that explains the great, how to say, benefit of meditating on sufferings. The the great advantage of meditating on sufferings. Yeah. There are many many advantages that is explained.
So so then now what what are the causes that make one take rebirth into this, what to say, this lower states that is that the, what do say, great, big negative action leads one to take the birth into the hell And a medium negative action leads one to take rebirth into the hungry ghost realm. So then the small negative action leads one to take rebirth into the animal realms. So so the big negative action doesn’t mean that like killing elephant doesn’t mean what I say? In that respect, it doesn’t mean, I would say, big negative action. So so so the the big negative actions means that depending on like on these three, the the the intention So so and then second is of the, what to say, the basis.
Depending on what basis you perform negative action. And then the third is the object. So of these three that makes our negative actions big and the basis like if one is to accumulate negative action on the basis of one’s own parent or a huge object, then those negative actions becomes very heavy or big. So so as example, just making, I wanna say, fun or joke with one’s parent or mother that and saying some words can also becomes a cause for one to take, I would say, the bird into, what is it, a lot of rooms. So so I guess we said we will do this much for today talking about the the law lower realms.
And then now, next teachings, next Sunday, we shall explain how how one get how one can escape the state laws lower realms or how one come into how one escape the how one escape the lower realms. And that is the practice of refuge. And on refuge, Geshe-la will explain next week. So whether one is Buddhist or not, it is because whether one have refuge or not. Whether one’s practice becomes Buddhist practice or not, that too depends upon whether one have refuge or not.
So so so because of that, Geshe la said that he will give a more, like, detailed explanation on refuge. So Yes. So so then Geshe la said you he will explain the ten non virtuous actions on, you know, on Tuesday, that teaching. And the ten non virtuous action is is what causes one to take, I wanna say, rebirth into lower realms and all the lower state of existence. So knowing the ten non-virtuous actionss is, what is that?
It’s something important, knowing that is something important because out of not knowing the ten non virtuous action, one carelessly engage in these different negative actions and accumulate many negative actions. We’re still saying if you could make it on Tuesday, it’s good for you to come. So anyway, the time is over but he said the weather today is good, not so hot, not so cold. He said we could do some question and answer here. Yeah.
So like in the text, it explain great detail about how. So so if Geshe la to speak all what is in the text, it is explained in the text, then some might think, some might don’t believe what he explains. How can it, how can that be possible or some kind of doubt might generate. So so in that way, that’s what wrong view comes into. So, well, so so, like, generally speaking, the person really believes into it or not, can’t say.
But even explaining on that, the hell realms, if the person have a wrong view or feels doesn’t believe in that and that’s a wrong view. And that what is again makes that person to take your birth into the lower realms. That wrong view makes the person to get reborn into lower realms. So, the, what you say, the reasons not explaining all the details. So the reason seems more important.
So that’s why. So as a that one, let’s say, the abbot of Sarah. So so you should like the the evidence? Like, some time ago, he took made a tour to you and gave many teachings. And especially, he also talked in order to generate the thought of he talked a lot of on the sufferings of the lower And and and one of the one place where one of the student asked, like, not to not to speak on the lower realms.
Like, no. He requested not to speak on that. Yeah. So so that’s one of the reason that Geshe-la doesn’t want to speak in detail. Not to blame on you.
Geshe-la will explain some reasons for that. And because one it’s possible that one might think that because one might take different body and the sufferings is experienced on the different body, not that I suffer, that one might have that doubt. Mhmm. I’m telling you. So so as a as an example, say if there’s I wanna say a drama being played and and that one person in the very beginning, like, dressed up in a in a Tibetan dress and comes out and performs some act.
And all people will say, he’s a Tibetan So so then that same person, like, after his play, goes in and then changes his dress. He dressed up in a African dress and then, like, comes out and then performs the act. All the people would say it’s an African person performing or playing. So in this that the change it made was one of the external part, but inside it’s one person. So similar to that, when a person dies, the changes when the action that is change of body, but internal part, the consciousness is same.
So are you born from mother’s womb or not? He’s asking this question. So is asking another question which is, at present, can you can you yourself right now fit in mother’s womb or not? So so that means that you are not born from mother’s womb because you are you you can’t fit in mother’s womb. Sorry.
So so because that this small child was born out of mother’s womb, it says it applies something that you are born from mother’s womb. So, like, only the difference is the body, your body, and the child’s body is different, changed. But you you are born from mother’s womb. So so so then when we when you die, that the