Dear Jason,jason c wrote:hey hanzze,
the heaven i am referring to is what i have come to understand as the christian heaven, very different from the buddhist heavenly realms. this misunderstanding is what i believe to be the cause of all the confusions amongst people of different religions(buddhists included). buddhist heavenly realms are within samsara there are 27 realms of existance that one could be reborn into, the fine material world(rupa-loka). there are four other realms, the immaterial world(arupa-loka). these four realms exist only as mind (this is the bardo of death, christian heaven)this is where an arahant or non-returner would go after death. the existance of this realm, but inability for all to experience it, is the cause of alot of the fighting between religions today.
but this is another topic.
metta ,
jason
maybe you like to check out the The Thirty-one Planes of Existence and yes, also the Christan ideas fits very well to this Planes of Existence (even there is some amount of creativity needed (Great Brahmas (Maha brahma) - One of this realm's most famous inhabitants is the Great Brahma, a deity whose delusion leads him to regard himself as the all-powerful, all-seeing creator of the universe).
Regarding the Arahant of a Buddha, he is not to be found (reborn) anywhere in this realms and that might be a little different to some believes of other school who teach about a nirvana-realm. Look at it, I guess it would clarify many things.
One more thing is, that one can reach Arahanthood even as a human and does not need to finish his last live in the highest realm.
This might be also useful:
from ariya-puggala - 'Noble Ones', 'noble persons'
(I) Through the path of Stream-winning (sotāpatti-magga) one 'becomes' free (whereas in realizing the fruition, one 'is' free) from the first 3 fetters (samyojana) which bind beings to existence in the sensuous sphere, to wit:
(1) personality-belief (sakkāya-ditthi; s. ditthi),
(2) skeptical doubt (vicikicchā),
(3) attachment to mere rules and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa; s. upādāna).
(II) Through the path of Once-return (sakadāgāmi-magga) one becomes nearly free from the 4th and 5th fetters, to wit:
(4) sensuous craving (kāma-cchanda = kāma-rāga; s. rāga),
(5) ill-will (vyāpāda = dosa, s. mūla).
(III) Through the path of Non-return (anāgāmi-magga) one becomes fully free from the above-mentioned 5 lower fetters.
(IV) Through the path of Holiness (arahatta-magga) one further becomes free from the 5 higher fetters, to wit:
(6) craving for fine material existence (rūpa-rāga),
(7) craving for immaterial existence. (arūpa-rāga),
(8) conceit (māna),
(9) restlessness (uddhacca),
(10) ignorance (avijjā).
The stereotype Sutta text runs as follows:
(I) "After the disappearance of the three fetters, the monk has won the stream (to Nibbāna) and is no more subject to rebirth in lower worlds, is firmly established, destined for full enlightenment.
(II) "After the disappearance of the three fetters and reduction of greed, hatred and delusion, he will return only once more; and having once more returned to this world, he will put an end to suffering.
(III) "After the disappearance of the five fetters he appears in a higher world, and there he reaches Nibbāna without ever returning from that world (to the sensuous sphere).
(IV) "Through the extinction of all cankers (āsava-kkhaya) he reaches already in this very life the deliverance of mind, the deliverance through wisdom, which is free from cankers, and which he himself has understood and realized."
For the various classes of Stream-winners and Non-Returners, s. Sotāpanna, Anāgāmī.