The Buddha in Hell and Other Alarms: Distressing Near-Death Experiences in Perspective

"The Buddha in Hell! What kind of sense is that?"

Behind all the joyful personal stories of being close to death and going to heaven, there is a rarely discussed fact: that a significant minority of near-death experiences (NDEs) are unpleasant. They may be frightening, alienating, guilt-producing, and/or hellish, and they pack the same voltage of emotional and spiritual power as the beautiful ones.

The images in those experiences are as old as myths and as recent as the nearest emergency ro...