The Buddha in Hell: Distressing Near-Death Experiences
What Researchers Found
The Story
A Burmese man born in 1958 became a Buddhist monk at 19 after a crocodile attack ended his fishing career. Around 2000, he suffered from malaria and yellow fever, was sent home to die, and had a near-death experience. During the NDE, a storm flattened the landscape, and he crossed a river to a lake of fire where Yama, the Buddhist king of hell, showed him his teacher, Gotama Buddha, Aung San, and Goliath suffering because they did not believe in Jesus Christ. He saw a demon stoking fires and people eating. At a road fork, he chose the narrow path of gold with music and met Peter, who revealed the creation of man and instructed him to tell Buddhists to believe in Jesus or face hell. Angels checked a book but found no record of his name, so Peter sent him back. He awoke in his decaying body in a coffin just before cremation, hearing his mother's cries. After the NDE, he left the monkhood, proclaimed Christianity, and urged others to follow Jesus despite opposition. He sells tapes of his story and shows no prior knowledge of Christianity.
“talked about trying to get back to home back to his experience but once we have”
This NDE account features no veridical perceptions of real-world events or details inaccessible via normal senses; it consists entirely of an internal visionary journey through hell and heaven with religious figures and messages. Lacking any specific, verified, or corroborated external perceptions, the evidential strength is minimal despite a severe medical crisis.
Score reflects verifiable perceptions reported. A low score indicates the experience was primarily spiritual or subjective, not that it didn't occur.
Score reflects transformation as described. Domains scored 0 indicate the topic was not discussed, not that no change occurred.
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These accounts were gathered because death may not be the end. Thousands of people have experienced something beyond — and come back to tell us about it.
What Researchers Found
This NDE account features no veridical perceptions of real-world events or details inaccessible via normal senses; it consists entirely of an internal visionary journey through hell and heaven with religious figures and messages. Lacking any specific, verified, or corroborated external perceptions, the evidential strength is minimal despite a severe medical crisis.
Score reflects verifiable perceptions reported. A low score indicates the experience was primarily spiritual or subjective, not that it didn't occur.
Score reflects transformation as described. Domains scored 0 indicate the topic was not discussed, not that no change occurred.