Diyu

Diyu
Illustration from the Jade Record: Sinners are being tortured in the sixth court of hell by hammering metal spikes into the body; skinning alive; sawing body in half; and having to kneel on metal filings.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	地獄
Simplified Chinese	地狱
Literal meaning	earth prison
Transcriptions Gan - Romanization thì ngo̍k Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Dìyù - Wade–Giles Ti-yü Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping dei6 juk6
Vietnamese name
Quốc ngữ	địa ngục
Korean name
Hangul	지옥
Literal meaning	hell, underworld
Transcriptions - Revised Romanization jiok
Japanese name
Kanji	地獄
Transcriptions - Romanization Jigoku

Diyu (Sanskrit: नरक "Naraka") 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 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 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 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 and the torture repeated.

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, whose names and purposes are the subject of conflicting accounts, are associated with Diyu.

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, incorporating artistic depictions of hell and the afterlife. Some controversial folk religion planchette writings, such as Journeys to the Under-World, say that new hells with new punishments are created as the world changes and there is also a city of Innocent Deaths (枉死城). Some claimed there are other facilities.

Ten Courts of Hell

16th century Ming Dynasty glazed earthenware figurines representing three of the ten Yama Kings

The concept of the "Ten Courts of Hell" began after Chinese folk religions were influenced by Buddhism. In Chinese mythology, the Jade Emperor put King Yama in charge of overseeing the affairs of Diyu. In fact some were cold hells, other were dark and yet others were miscellaneous hells. There were 12,800 hells located under the earth, eight dark hells, eight cold ones and 84,000 miscellaneous ones located at the edge of the universe. All people will go to hell but the length of stay will vary depending on the severity of the crime and all will eventually be reborn. In the meantime souls will pass from stage to stage all at the decision of King Yama. King Yama also reduced the number hells down to ten. King Yama later divided Diyu into ten courts, each overseen by a "Yama King", while King Yama remained the sovereign ruler of hell. The Ten Yama Kings are:

• The Qinguang King Jiang (秦廣王蔣), believed to be Jiang Ziwen (蔣子文) of the Eastern Han Dynasty
• The Chujiang King Li (楚江王歷)
• The Songdi King Yu (宋帝王余)
• The Wuguan King Lü (五官王呂)
• The Yanluo King Bao (閻羅王包), believed to be Bao Zheng of the Northern Song Dynasty
• The Biancheng King Bi (卞城王畢)
• The Taishan King Dong (泰山王董), believed to be Dong Ji (董極) of the Later Han Dynasty
• The Dushi King Huang (都市王黃), believed to be Huang Sile (黃思樂) of the Five Dynasties period
• The Pingdeng King Lu (平等王陸)
• The Zhuanglun King Xue (轉輪王薛)

Eighteen levels of hell

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 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:

• 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

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 who were not punished when they were alive are punished in the hells after death.

Alternate names for hell

Among the more common Chinese names for the Underworld are:

• 地獄 – Dìyù, "The Earth Prison"
• 地府 – Dìfǔ, "The Earth Mansion"
• 黃泉 – Huángquán, "The Yellow Spring" (possibly a reference to the Yellow River or yomi)
• 陰間 – Yīnjiān, "The Land of Shade" (lit. "Place of Yin")
• 陰府 – Yīnfǔ, "The Shady Mansion"
• 陰司 – Yīnsī, "The Shady Office"
• 森羅殿 – Sēnluódiàn, "The Court of Sinluo"
• 閻羅殿 – Yánluódiàn, "The Court of Yanluo"
• 九泉 – Jiǔquán, "The Nine Springs"
• 重泉 – Chóngquán, "The Repeating Spring"
• 泉路 – Quánlù, "The Spring Road"
• 幽冥 – Yōumíng, "The Serene Darkness"
• 幽壤 – Yōurǎng, "The Serene Land"
• 火炕 – Huǒkàng, "The Fire Pit"
• 九幽 – Jiǔyōu, "The Nine Serenities"
• 九原 – Jiǔyuán, "The Nine Origins"
• 冥府 – Míngfǔ, "The Dark Mansion"
• 阿鼻 – Ābí, "Avīci", the hell of uninterrupted torture, last and deepest of the eight hot hells
• 足跟 – Zúgēn, "Heel"
• 酆都城 – Fēngdū Chéng, the name of a city imagined to contain an entrance to Diyu

Other terminology related to hell includes:

• 奈何橋 – The Bridge of Helplessness, the entrance
• 望鄉臺 – The Home-Viewing Pavilion, a site which allows the souls of the dead to observe their families from the underworld
• 油鍋 – The Deep-Frying Wok, one of the tortures
• 三塗 – The Three Tortures: burning by fire (火塗), chopping by knife (刀塗), rending by beasts (血塗, lit. "spilling of blood")

See also

• Bon Festival
• Ghost Festival
• Hell Bank Notes
• Journeys to the Under-World
• Ksitigarbha
• Maudgalyayana
• Meng Po
• Ox-Head and Horse-Face
• Naraka (Buddhism)
• Yama (Buddhism and Chinese mythology)

External links

• (Chinese) Xinhuanet 18 levels of hell article
• (Chinese) CBETA Chinese Electronic Tripitaka Buddhist version of 18 levels of hell (佛說十八泥犁經)
• (Chinese) History of Buddhist hell: (part 1, part 2)
• (Chinese) http://www.18hell.com