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?:

• Never opt for the easy way out
• Guru devotion and pure perception
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• Teachings don’t just rain down
• Examining the Guru
• Controlled by circumstances
• The guru is like the horizon
• Celebrity Gurus
• Famous unintentionally
• Dharma without devotion
• Guru
• Look beyond titles and hats
• Samsara
• The path is practical
• You and only you will decide
• Pure perception
• The whole purpose of the outer guru
• Merging with the guru’s mind
• A different interpretation of austerity