For ordinary folk who have no prospect of escaping from the sea of suffering which is birth-and-death, "Heaven is a reward which organized religions promise their adherents in return for doing good." So says Associate Professor Hsiao Teng-fu of National Taichung Institute of Commerce, who researches Buddhist and Daoist concepts of heaven and hell.
針對無法超離生死大海的凡人，「天堂是宗教組織對其信徒行善的一種獎賞」，研究佛道兩教天堂、地獄觀的台中商專副教授蕭登福認為。