49 Buddhas: Lama Rinzen in the Hell Realm
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What to see? A darkened apartment. Paper window shades. An altar with a Buddha statue in the center.
Pool balls break beneath the floorboards.
And a telephone rings.
What to see, what to hear? That once again I am reborn into the Hell Realm.
Can I never escape?
The air feels pinched and cold. I see a baby crib in the corner. Beneath the baby crib, a telephone rings.
My only hope, that this is the lifetime I find the dorje. If only I touch it, immediately I will achieve enlightenment. Not just my enlightenment. Enlightenment for all.
A telephone rings. I lift its cradle between ear and shoulder.
“I’m looking for Rinzen Naraka. You him?” the phone asks.
“I am.”
“Police headquarters here, detective. Thank goodness you answered. A crime down in the warehouse on 33rd and Josephine, and your number’s up.”
“Number? I am not a detective,” I confess. At least I cannot recall being a detective. Not this lifetime. Not any other. “Why call me? I do not know why Americans kill one another.”
“Look, work with me here. A big shot insurance guy goes and gets himself sliced. Insured some trinket shipment from Asia, and then gets killed.”
I shift the phone from one ear to the other. “Trinket shipment? From where exactly in Asia?”
He harumphs slightly. “I don’t know. Asia. How big can it be?”
“Let me ask. Does the shipment include a dorje?”
“Dorje? Detective, I don’t want to tell you your business. Find who killed the insurance man first. Start at the beginning. Work your way through it, like a detective might. Yeah. Sure, there’s a dorje. I don’t know. Why not?”
Start at the beginning. Find the killer. Because a shipment came in from Asia, and the killer probably did what he did to get his hands on the dorje.
Of the ten negative actions, killing is the worse. Worse than Wrong View. Worse than spreading gossip or having bad sex.
“Look. Go down and talk to Inspector Fernandez,” the telephone says. “33rd and Josephine.”
I do not know this place, 33rd and Josephine. I do not know anyone named Fernandez.
All I know is my mission in life. In all lifetimes. To be a bodhisattva. To bring all beings to enlightenment.
That is how I get out of Hell.
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Jim is a Buddhist practitioner who writes and explores Buddhism in his every day life. His previous works include the novel Wolf, a "sales-werewolf" noir set in a world where vanquished dogs return seeking revenge, and where salesmen sell products they cannot understand.
Jim writes the Writing Like a Buddha blog (www.WritingLikeaBuddha.com), and lives in Colorado with his Tibetan Terrier, Rascal, who is both inspiration and teacher.
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In Christian teachings as I understand them, Hell is an afterlife where a soul is condemned as punishment for sins committed while alive. It is an eternal and inescapable damnation.
Buddhists believe in a different afterlife. 49 days after dying, beings are either reborn onto Earth to learn the lessons they failed to learn in previous lives, or they are reborn into enlightenment because they have learned the lessons. Therefore, Hell is not an eternal condemnation, but a temporary lifetime in which a person learns the lessons of Hell. Specifically, these Hell lessons are about how to cope with confusion and anger without becoming confused and angry.
In Buddhism there are six realms, or six lessons to learn, called the Six Paramitas. The Hell Realm, the Hungry Ghost Realm, the Animal Realm, the Human Realm, the Warring Titans Realm, and the God Realm are the settings in which these lessons are learned. Each realm teaches a lesson that is necessary to move toward enlightenment.
49 Buddhas is the first of the Lama Rinzen Mysteries, and it takes place in the Hell Realm on Denver’s Colfax Avenue. Each of the following books takes place in another of the six realms someplace else in Colorado, where Rinzen must learn that realm’s mystery while solving a murder. Only after accomplishing both—learning the lesson and solving the murder—will Rinzen be killed so that he may be reborn into the next book, and into the next realm.
In many ways, the differences between the Western and Buddhist concepts of Hell are the differences between the two philosophies. The Western philosophy emphasizes the need to better yourself, by aspiring to be more like a God who essentially exists outside you. The Buddhist concept is more about adapting to the world as it is—not by aspiring to be more like some mysterious Supreme Being, but by integrating the self into life as it exists around us.
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kickoff at Silver Dagger Book Tours
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2 Girls & A Book
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Sarah's Reading Addiction – REVIEW (DUE BY END OF TOUR)
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The Book Town
Congrats on the tour and I appreciate the excerpt and the great giveaway as well. Great cover also! Love the tours, I get to find books and share with my sisters and now my twin daughters who all love to read. We have found some amazing books for everyone. So, thank you!
Thank you, James, for checking out 49 Buddhas. Glad you find the tour is enjoyable.
Thanks so much for stopping by the tour. See more about the book and series at my website, and send me a note with any questions from the website's contact page.
A mystery among the buddhas, now that is an interesting topic.
Thanks, Calvin. I appreciate your checking it out. If you'd like to know more, check out my website at www.jimringel.com
Have a happy reading life,
jim
This book sounds like an awesome read.
Thanks, Debbie. And thanks for visiting my site. It's truly appreciated.
Jim
Sounds great.
Thanks, Dale. I hope you enjoy the read. Check my website if you'd like more info. www.jimringel.com
I enjoyed getting to know your book and thanks for the chance to win :)
Congratulations on the book and the tour. The cover is great and the synopsis and excerpt intriguing. This sounds like an awesome book and series. Thanks so much for offering a giveaway.
Truly appreciate the kind comments, Bea. I hope you enjoy 49 Buddhas.
This sounds really good.
I enjoy Reading the excerpt and love the cover. Congrats on the tour!
I would like to give thanks for all your really great writings, including 49 Buddhas. I wish the best in keeping up the good work in the future.
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