Diyu (地獄)
Diyu (simplified Chinese: 地狱; traditional Chinese: 地獄; pinyin: Dìyù; Wade-Giles: Ti-yü; literally "earth prison"; Japanese: 地獄 Jigoku; Korean: 지옥 Jiok, literally: "hell" or "underworld"; Sanskrit: नरक "Naraka") is the realm of the dead or "hell" in Chinese mythology. It is very loosely based on a combination of the Buddhist concept of Naraka (Sanskrit: नरक, Ch: 那落迦), traditional Chinese beliefs about the afterlife and a variety of popular expansions and re-interpretations of these two traditions.
Diyu is typically depicted as an underground maze with various levels and chambers, to which souls are taken after death to atone for their sins committed when they were alive. The exact number of levels in Diyu and their associated deities differ according to the Buddhist or Taoist perception. Some speak of three to four "courts", while others mention "Ten Courts of Hell", each ruled by a judge (collectively known as the Ten Yama (Sanskrit: यम) Kings), with each court dealing with a different aspect of atonement. Some Chinese legends mention that there are a total of eighteen levels of Hell. The types of punishments meted out also vary according to belief, but most legends speak of sinners being subjected to gruesome tortures until "death", after which they will be restored to their original state and the torture will be repeated again.
Conceptions of Diyu
According to ideas from Taoism, Buddhism and traditional Chinese folk religion, Diyu is a purgatory that serves to punish and renew spirits in preparation for reincarnation into their next life. Many deities are associated with Diyu, whose names and purposes are the subject of much conflicting information.
Some early Chinese cultures speak of people going to Mount Tai, Jiuyuan, Jiuquan or Fengdu after death. In the present-day, Fengdu and the temples on Mount Tai have been rebuilt into tourist attractions, with artistic depictions of hell and the afterlife. Some controversial folk religion planchette writings such as Journeys to the Under-World said there are hells with new punishments, that follow the trend as the world changes.
Ten Courts of Hell
Chinese folk religions were influenced by Buddhism and the concept of the "Ten Courts of Hell" began. In Chinese mythology, the Jade Emperor put King Yama in charge of overseeing the affairs in Diyu. King Yama divided Diyu into ten courts later, each overseen by a "Yama King", while King Yama remained as the sovereign ruler of hell. The following is a list of the Ten Yama Kings:
Jiang, King of Qinguang (秦廣王蔣) – believed to be Jiang Ziwen of the Han Dynasty
Li, King of Chujiang (楚江王歷)
Yu, King of Songdi (宋帝王余)
Lü, King of Wuguan (五官王呂)
Bao, King of Yama (閻羅王包) – believed to be Bao Zheng of the Song Dynasty
Bi, King of Biancheng (卞城王畢)
Dong, King of Taishan (泰山王董)
Huang, King of Dushi (都市王黃)
Lu, King of Pingdeng (平等王陸)
Xue, King of Zhuanlun (轉輪王薛)
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 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.
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
Burning – sinners are set aflame/cast into fiery infernos
Paolao torture – sinners are stripped naked and made to climb a large metal cylinder, with a fire lit at its base.
Boiling liquid torture – sinners have a boiling liquid forced down their throats
Tortures involving removal of body parts/organs
Tongue-ripping
Eye-gouging
Heart-digging
Disembowelment – sinners have their internal organs dug out
Skinning
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
Alternate names for hell in Chinese language
Among the more common names for the Underworld are (the most common ones near the top):
地獄 – dìyù the underworld prison
地府 – dìfŭ the underworld mansion
黃泉 – huángquán the yellow spring (meaning the origin/source of life and death, possibly a reference to the Yellow River)
陰間 – yīnjiān the shady space (cf. Yin and yang)
陰府 – yīnfŭ the shady mansion
陰司 – yīnsī the shady office
森羅殿 – shēnluó diàn the court of Sinluo
閻羅殿 – yánluó diàn the court of Yanluo
九泉 – jiŭquán the nine springs (origin/source)
重泉 – chóngquán the repeating spring (origin/source)
泉路 – quánlù the spring road
幽冥 – yōumíng the serene darkness
幽壤 – yōurăng the serene land
火炕 – huŏkàng the fire pit
九幽 – jiŭyōu the nine serenities
九原 – jiŭyuán the nine origins
冥府 – míngfŭ the dark mansion
阿鼻 – ābí (pinyin), a Buddhist term, from Sanskrit Avīci, the hell of uninterrupted torture, last and deepest of eight hot hells
足跟 – zúgēn the heel of the foot, also means hells
酆都城 – Fēngdū Chéng, name of a city imagined to contain an entrance to Diyu
And terminologies related to hell:
奈何橋 – the bridge of helplessness
望鄉臺 – the home viewing pavilion
油鍋 – the deep frying wok, one of the tortures in hell.
三塗 – the three tortures, burning by fire (Budd. 火塗), chopping by knife (Budd. 刀塗), tearing apart by beasts (Budd. 血塗, spilling of blood).
Buddhist mythology | Chinese mythology | Afterlife | Hell | Taoist cosmology
