Vajra hell is a profound concept. It’s not necessarily a place where you burn in molten iron surrounded by hell guardians with hideous faces. Vajra hell can be a place where you become so attached to the logic of karma that you get entangled, so caught up by rationality that you cannot get beyond it.

In vajra hell you will never understand the profound meaning when we say shit and food have one taste because you have stubbornly and absolutely become rational. Having broken an extreme samaya vow, you may end up being reborn with a habit of not trusting the grand view. You will end up a person who needs to have the omelet assembled before you see it as an omelet.

And that, in the Vajrayana view, is even worse than burning in hell. This strong habit of no confidence in the method is a heavy loss for you.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book The Guru Drinks Bourbon?

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Further quotes from the book The Guru Drinks Bourbon?:

• Skillful Guru
• Modern Buddhadharma
• Guru
• Look beyond titles and hats
• Cultivating trust in simplicity
• Outer display of guru devotion
• Dharma without devotion
• Abundance and variety in the teachings is so important
• Check how the guru handles criticism
• Peeling of our patches of samsara
• Guru devotion and pure perception
• Hearing the Dharma
• Teachings don’t just rain down
• The authentic guru lineage is indispensable
• A proper guru-student communication
• A different interpretation of austerity
• Going beyond Rational and Irrational Devotion
• Pure perception
• Devotion
• Never opt for the easy way out