Diyu

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Diyu (Template:Zh) is the realm of the dead or "hell" in Chinese mythology. It is loosely based on a combination of the Buddhist concept of Naraka, traditional Chinese beliefs about the afterlife, and a variety of popular expansions and reinterpretations of these two traditions. The concept parallels purgatory in certain Christian denominations.

Diyu is typically depicted as a subterranean maze with various levels and chambers, to which souls are taken after death to atone for the sins they committed when they were alive. The exact number of levels in Diyu and their associated deities differ between Buddhist and Taoist interpretations. Some speak of three to four "courts"; others mention "Ten Courts of Hell", each of which is ruled by a judge (collectively known as the Ten Yama Kings); other Chinese legends speak of the "Eighteen Levels of Hell". Each court deals with a different aspect of atonement and different punishments; most legends claim that sinners are subjected to gruesome tortures until their "deaths", after which they are restored to their original state for the torture to be repeated.

Alternative namesEdit

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ConceptionsEdit

File:Ghostly Realm from the Water-Land Ritual.jpg

Dead of the underworld depicted in a Qing dynasty Shuilu ritual painting.

File:Ten Courts of Hell Display at Bao Gong Temple, Singapore..jpg

Depiction of the punishments of Diyu at the Hell Museum, Bao Gong Temple, Singapore.

According to ideas from Taoism,Template:Citation needed Buddhism<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and traditional Chinese folk religion, Diyu is a purgatory that serves to punish and renew spirits in preparation for reincarnation. Many deities, whose names and purposes are the subject of conflicting accounts, are associated with Diyu.

Some early Chinese societies speak of people going to Mount Tai, Jiuyuan, Jiuquan or Fengdu after death.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At present, Fengdu and the temples on Mount Tai have been rebuilt into tourist attractions, incorporating artistic depictions of hell and the afterlife.Template:Citation needed Some Chinese folk religion planchette writings, such as the Taiwanese novel Journeys to the Under-World, say that new hells with new punishments (for instance, punishments for sins involving reckless driving) or existing hells with modernized punishments (such as the "Hand-searing Hell" (烙手指小地獄) initially used clothes irons to sear the hands of sinners, but now modernized their punishment by searing the sinners' hands on iron rails tied with springs) are created as the world changes, the presence of Centre for Making-up of Recitations (補經所) to house priests, monks and taoists who recite scriptures in exchange for material returns but reciting the wrong punctuation or skipped certain scriptures, and that there is a City of Innocent Deaths (Template:Zh) designed to house those who died with grievances that have yet to be redressed, such as suicidal, accidental and abortion deaths. Sinners were also sentenced to Diyu regardless of their religion, including Christians.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other terminology related to Diyu includes:

Naihe Bridge (Template:Zh), "Bridge of Helplessness", a bridge every soul has to cross before being reincarnated, they are said to drink the Mengpo soup (孟婆汤) at Naihe Qiao so they will forget everything in their current lives and prepare for reincarnation.
Wang Xiang Tai (Template:Zh), "Home-Viewing Pavilion", a pavilion every soul passes by on his/her journey to the Underworld. From there, they can see their families and loved ones in the world of the living.
Youdu (Template:Zh), the capital city of Diyu, generally conceived as being similar to a typical Chinese capital city, such as Chang'an, but surrounded by and pervaded with darkness.
Youguo (Template:Zh), "Oil Cauldron", one of the tortures in hell, generally purposed to punish black magic practitioners, murder, corruption, and robbery.
Santu (Template:Zh), the "Three Tortures": Fire Torture (Template:Zh), Blade Torture (Template:Zh), Blood Torture (Template:Zh).

Ten Courts of YanluoEdit

The concept of the "Ten Courts of Yanluo" (Template:Zh) began after Chinese folk religion was influenced by Buddhism. In this variation of Chinese mythology, there are 12,800 hells located under the earth – eight dark hells, eight cold hells and 84,000 miscellaneous hells located at the edge of the universe. All will go to Diyu after death but the period of time one spends in Diyu is not forever – it depends on the severity of the sins one committed (grave sins such as unfilial acts, rape, and debauchery will be sentenced to Avīci forever instead, while sinners involved in pornographic materials production will be sent to various hells and finally to Avīci until all such materials ceased to exist). Prior to be sent to various courts, all will be faced in front of the Mirror Platform (孽鏡臺) to see all their sins reflected during their lifetime. After receiving due punishment, one will eventually be sent for reincarnation. Diyu is divided into ten courts, each overseen by a Yanwang. Souls pass from stage to stage at the decision of a different judge. The "Ten Courts of Yanluo" is also known as the Ten Courts of Yanwang (Template:Zh), Ten Lords of Minggong (Template:Zh), Ten Courts of Yan-jun (Template:Zh), Ten-Lords of Difu (Template:Zh), and Ten-Lords of Mingfu (Template:Zh).

Ten Yanluo Lords
#	Title	Family name	Chinese calendar Birthday	In charge of (see the Cold and Hot Narakas for details)	Notes
1	lang}}	lang}}	1st day, 2nd month	Life and death and fortunes of all humans, Mirror Platform 孽鏡臺	Believed to be Jiang Ziwen
2	lang}}	lang}}	1st day, 3rd month	Sañjīva, Arbuda 等活大地獄
3	lang}}	lang}}	8th day, 2nd month	Kālasūtra, Nirarbuda 黑繩大地獄
4	lang}}	lang}}	18th, 2nd month	Saṃghāta, Aṭaṭa 眾合大地獄
5	King Yanluo {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}、森羅王	lang}}	8th, 1st month	Raurava, Hahava, and Sixteen Heart-gouging Hells 號叫大地獄、十六誅心小地獄	Believed to be Bao Zheng
6	lang}}	lang}}	8th day, 3rd month	Mahāraurava, Huhuva, and City of Innocent Deaths 大叫大地獄、枉死城
7	lang}}	lang}}	27th day, 3rd month	Tapana, Utpala 炎熱大地獄
8	lang}}	lang}}	1st day, 4th month	Pratāpana, Padma 極熱大地獄
9	lang}}	lang}}	8th day, 4th month	Avīci, Mahāpadma 阿鼻大地獄
10	lang}}	lang}}	17th day, 4th month	Sending souls for reincarnation

Eighteen levels of HellEdit

File:The ghost of Yue Fei.jpg

The headless ghost of Yue Fei confronting the recently deceased spirit of Qin Hui in the Sixth Court. The plaque held by the attendant on the left reads: "Qin Hui's ten wicked crimes." From a 19th-century Chinese Hell Scroll.

The concept of the eighteen hells started in the Tang dynasty. The Buddhist text Sutra on Questions about Hell (Template:Zh) mentioned 134 worlds of hell, but was simplified to the Eighteen Levels of Hell in the Sutra on the Eighteen Hells (Template:Zh) for convenience. Some literature refers to eighteen types of hells or to eighteen hells for each type of punishment.

Some religious or literature books say that wrongdoers, regardless of being punished or otherwise when they were alive are punished in the hells after death. Sinners feel pain and agony just like living humans when they are subjected to the tortures listed below. They cannot "die" from the torture because when the ordeal is over, their bodies will be restored to their original states for the torture to be repeated.<ref>Xue, Fucheng. Yong'an Biji (Notebook of Yong An).</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</ref>

The eighteen hells vary from narrative to narrative but some commonly mentioned tortures include: being steamed; being fried in oil cauldrons; being sawed into half; being run over by vehicles; being pounded in a mortar and pestle; being ground in a mill; being crushed by boulders; being made to shed blood by climbing trees or mountains of knives; having sharp objects driven into their bodies; having hooks pierced into their bodies and being hung upside down; drowning in a pool of filthy blood; being left naked in the freezing cold; being set aflame or cast into infernos; being tied naked to a bronze cylinder with a fire lit at its base; being forced to consume boiling liquids; tongue ripping; eye gouging; teeth extraction; heart digging; disembowelment; skinning; being trampled, gored, mauled, eaten, stung, bitten, pecked, etc., by animals such as mice, wasps, maggots, and leeches.

Eighteen Hells
#	Version 1	Version 2	As mentioned in Journey to the West
1	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
2	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
3	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
4	Hell of Mirrors of Retribution {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}	lang}}	Fengdu Hell {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}
5	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
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8	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
9	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
10	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
11	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
12	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
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14	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
15	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
16	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}
17	lang}}	lang}}	Avīci Hell {{#invoke:Lang\|lang}}
18	lang}}	lang}}	lang}}

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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