Take a trip through the realms of hell with a man whose temporary visitor's pass gave him a horrifying--and enlightening--preview of its torments.

This true account of Sam Bercholz's near-death experience has more in common with Dante's Inferno than it does with any of the popular feel-good stories of what happens when we die. In the aftermath of heart surgery, Sam, a longtime Buddhist practitioner and teacher, is surprised to find himself in the lowest realms of karmic rebirth, where he is sent to gain insight into human suffering. Under the guidance of a luminous being, Sam's encounters with a series of hell-beings trapped in repetitious rounds of misery and delusion reveal to him how an individual's own habits of fiery hatred and icy disdain, of grasping desire and nihilistic ennui, are the source of horrific agonies that pound consciousness for seemingly endless cycles of time. Comforted by the compassion of a winged goddess and sustained by the kindness of his Buddhist teachers, Sam eventually emerges from his ordeal with renewed faith that even the worst hell contains the seed of wakefulness. His story is offered, along with the modernist illustrations of a master of Tibetan sacred arts, in order to share what can be learned about awakening from our own self-created hells and helping others to find relief and liberation from theirs.

Author: Samuel Bercholz
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 12/06/2016
Pages: 160
Weight: 1.7lbs
Size: 10.90h x 8.20w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781611801422


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2016
Foreword 02/21/2017

About the Author
SAMUEL BERCHOLZ is the founder of Shambhala Publications. He has taught Buddhist philosophy and meditation practice throughout North America, Europe, and Australasia for more than forty years.

PEMA NAMDOL THAYE, commonly known as Pema Namdol, is a master Tibetan artist who has garnered international acclaim as a painter, sculptor, 3D mandala specialist, traditional Tibetan architect, author, and art educator.