May 21 2010, 04:52 PM, updated 16y ago
Eighteen Levels of Hell
In some literatures, there are references to eighteen types or subtypes of hells, or eighteen hells for each type of punishment, rather than just eighteen levels of hell. There are folk variants of the eighteen hells in full chart of the sea and land[11] and Fengdu. Some religious or literature books said that wrongdoers who were not punished when they were alive are punished in the hells after death.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
The concept of the eighteen hells started in the Tang Dynasty. The Buddhist text Wen Diyu Jing (問地獄經) mentioned 134 worlds of hell, but was simplified to eighteen levels of hell for convenience. The following is a list of common punishments and tortures in the eighteen levels of hell. In most tortures, the sinner's body is mutilated or dismembered and will be restored to its original form after the punishment for the torture to repeat again.
* Mountain of knives - sinners are made to shed blood by climbing a mountain with sharp blades sticking out. Some depictions show offenders climbing trees with knives instead of mountains.
* Cauldron torture - sinners are fried in oil cauldrons. Some depictions show offenders being steamed instead of being fried.
* Dismemberment - sinners' bodies are dismembered by various means, including: sawing, carving, slicing into half, mashing/pounding into pulp, crushed by heavy rocks/boulders, being run over by vehicles
* Grinding torture - sinners are put into a grinding machine and ground into a bloody pulp
* Tortures involving fire
o Burning - sinners are set aflame/cast into fiery infernos
o Paolao torture - sinners are stripped naked and made to climb a large metal cylinder, with a fire lit at its base.
o Boiling liquid torture - sinners have a boiling liquid forced down their throats
* Tortures involving removal of body parts/organs
o Tongue-ripping
o Eye-gouging
o Heart-digging
o Disembowelment - sinners have their internal organs dug out
o Skinning
o Slicing off fingers/toes
* World of ice - sinners are frozen in ice. Some depictions show unclothed sinners suffering from frostbite in an icy world. The bodies might fall apart or break into pieces.
* Scales and hooks torture - sinners have hooks pierced into their bodies and hung upside down. Some depictions show sinners having nails hammered into their bodies.
* Pool of blood - sinners are cast into a pool of blood and suffer bloody deaths, such as blood spilling from all body orifices
* Tortures involving animals - sinners are trampled by cattle, gored by animals with horns/tusks, mauled/dismembered/eaten by predators, stung/bitten by poisonous species etc
* Chamber of Avici - the period of suffering in this chamber is the longest and it is reserved for sinners who have committed heinous crimes, including the Five Grave Offences
First Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
Violating the code of filial piety Put under heavy slabs and boulders or squeezed in the middle of the grinder
Second Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
Gossiping Having your tongue pierced
Stealing Made to kneel on steel granules
Wickedness Boiled in a cauldron, disemboweled, and put in a volcanic chamber
Third Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
Corruption and greed Handcuffed and beaten
Disobedience and disrespect to elders Have your ribs pierced, body grilled, your lungs, heart, liver, intestines and eyes torn out
Violating and state a Confucian principles or being an unjust official Have your heart removed, knees crushed and face scraped by a mental instrument
Fourth Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
General Sins Hurled into a torrential river, made to kneel on bamboo spikes, boiled in oil, head struck open
Cheating or evading income taxes Drowned under a heavy stone
Stealing Have your hands sawn off
Breaking promises have your lips split
Fifth Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
Cruelty to animals and friends Have your heart torn out with hooks or thrown onto protruding swords
In this Sixth Court of Hell, those who have already been punished but are still unrepentant, are punished further. This includes all crimes against any deity or Buddha or breaking any Buddhist or Confucian laws.
Sixth Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
Stealing from temples committing blasphemy Made to kneel on iron nails, sawn in two, gnawed by rats
Killing animals Have your body chopped in half
Seventh Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
Rebelling against authorities Torn apart by dogs
Spreading false rumours Have your tongue pulled out
Using drugs, causing quarrels Thrown into a pot of boiling water
Eighth Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
Committing crimes against Confucianism and operating houses for immoral purposes Crushed under carriage wheels, sliced, disemboweled, struck by lighting, and having tongues, arms and legs cut off
Ninth Court of Hell
Crime Punishment
Smuggling, committing arson Attacked by snakes, stung by bees, tortured or trafficking drugs in boiling oil
Writing or painting erotic literature or scenes Flattened between two planks, have your head crushed in an iron ring, skull steamed, bones scraped and tendons pulled out
In the Tenth Court of Hell, the President passes his final judgment and the sinner goes through one of the seven-ways in the Wheel of Reincarnation. Shaped like a wheel, wind and clouds billow out from the circle in the centre and the six other circles surrounding it. Depending on the sinner's past life, he will enter a particular way which will determine how he will be reborn.
Tenth Court of Hell
The sinner will be reincarnated as:
First Way Wealthy and powerful human
Second Way Birds
Third Way Farmers and labourers
Fourth Way Working class folk
Fifth Way Dragons, fish, crabs, insects or sea creatures
Sixth Way Lions, tigers, horses, deer, elephant or other four-legged animals
Seventh Way Poor, lonely and the destitue
This post has been edited by MoonRider: May 21 2010, 05:07 PM
Eighteen Levels of Hell- Chinese Hell, Which level you belong? Chat
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