Someone asked: on the great holy days, the torment in the realm of Yama is said to stop immediately — but since time passes so differently between hell and the human world, does that mean it pauses for only a few seconds of human time?

Every full-moon holy day (the 15th of the lunar month) is a wonder in which torment in the realm of Yama halts at once. Those who send merit to their departed relatives during this window can have it received in full — if the merit is great enough, it may even free a relative from that place entirely. But this "halting" doesn't mean the boiling copper water literally stops boiling, or that everyone gets to rest. Rather, it means that in a split fraction of a second, when the torment eases, the wholesome side can send refined, pure energy in to help. Without this window, the torment would have no gap at all — not even a fraction of a second.

Nibbana's Power Opens a Window for the Wholesome to Help

On every holy day, a technique is performed to create a window during which people of the world, or those with inner power, can send merit in to help — so that those suffering can be freed from that place sooner. Compare it to the human world: like a prisoner sentenced to 20 or 50 years, the wholesome side finds ways to help by possessing the mind and keeping it from being led by the unwholesome into rebellion that would only worsen the sentence. When the wholesome side can gain control, it draws in pure energy to refine and correct things, helping the person leave confinement sooner. It works the same way with hell, though it relies on the wholesome side, with nibbana behind it, assisted by people in the human world with related karma, or by those with inner power — help delivered through the window that holy days provide, when torment eases enough for refined merit to enter.

A Lifetime in Hell Is Millions of Times Longer Than in the Human World

Time in hell, compared to the human world, spans millions of years. Even a small misdeed — such as drinking alcohol, which seems to harm no one — leads to torment there for an extremely long time, because it was done unknowingly, led by the unwholesome, whose very purpose is to harm and destroy living beings. The wholesome side must therefore always seek ways to help.

Buddhism Is What Teaches Us to Dedicate Merit to Relatives

Without Buddhism, we wouldn't know how to help our departed relatives at all — we wouldn't understand merit or the dedication of merit. With Buddhism, we can make merit and dedicate it to them. It is therefore necessary that we take responsibility for caring for our relatives, because when they are reborn back into the human world, the wholesome side guides them to care for those who once helped them — even if they themselves are unaware of it, the background remembers who helped free them from the realm of Yama. Mutual support across the cycle of rebirth is never wasted; whenever paths cross again, that help and support will manifest. Conversely, causing distress to others is remembered by the unwholesome background as well, and when paths cross again, conflict may follow. For this reason, we should avoid creating grudges with anyone, and instead devote ourselves to doing good, accumulating merit and perfections, and reaching the Triple Gem within.

Reaching the Triple Gem Within: Resolve That You Are the Buddha Image

Reaching the Triple Gem within can be called hard, or it can be called easy — hard because of not knowing or understanding, easy once we understand that the mind is an accomplished element: whatever we resolve it to be, it becomes. If we resolve that right now we are the Buddha image, we become it instantly. All that's needed is to resolve that we are the Buddha image, the Buddha image is us — this appears at once. What remains is simply to build confidence, gradually, from 1%, 2%, up to 5%, 10%. As we hold that resolve, the stream of merit pours through continuously, and the dhamma body appears, merging with us into one unity — the more we merge with it, the more easily it can work to purify our elements. It's like a blind person who cannot see the refrigerator or television yet still uses them perfectly well without needing to see them — simply keep resolving, and success will come on its own.