There
are eight hot hells and eight cold hells. According to
Shakyamuni, and various Buddhist masters who explained them, these eight hells
have their own adjacent or neighboring hells (utsadas[1]):
“There are eight hells
there that I have revealed, difficult to get out of, full of cruel beings, each
having sixteen utsadas; they have four walls and four gates; they are as high
as they are wide; they are encircled by walls of fire; their ceiling is fire;
their sun is burning, sparkling fire; and they are filled with flames hundreds
of yojanas high.”[2]
Another type of hell are also
the temporary hells (pradesikanakara in Skt), which were created
through the actions of one being, two beings, or many beings. As Vasubandhu
explained, their variety is great and their place is not fixed, so they can be
found in rivers, mountains, deserts, and elsewhere[3].
Before entering into any explanation of these hells I think
it is very important to mention that all the tormentors, “hell wardens” or
terrifying beasts who are sometimes described as applying punishment, are not
living beings, but manifestations of the evil karma of those born there. Thus,
even if they are real for the the inhabitants of hell, they do not have an
existence of their own. Vasubandhu clearly explained this in the
4th stanza of his Vijnaptimatravimsaka[4] and
he stated the same in his Abhidharmakosabhasyam.
In my description of these hells I guide myself especially after Yogacarabhumisastra (Yugaron) of
Asangha, Abhidharmakosabhasyam (Kusharon)
of Vasubandhu and Ojoyoshu[5] by Master Genshin,
who himself quoted the above mentioned Masters and works, as well as various
sutras and treatises.
The Eight Hot Hells
 |
| Hell of Repetition or the Reviving Hell |
1. Hell of Repetition or the Reviving Hell
The inhabitants of that hell see each other as mortal
enemies and furiously fight with one another with huge and inconceivable
weapons created by their karma, until everyone is cut into pieces. As Master
Genshin said in the Ojoyoshu:
“Whetting their iron
claws they proceed to scratch each other’s eyes out and lacerate the flesh on
each other’s thighs until the blood runs out and the bones are exposed. […]
they cut their flesh into slices with sharp swords as fish is sliced in the
kitchen.”
When they all lie dead, a voice from the sky of that hell
says: “Revive!” and they immediately come back to life and restart their fight.
The time they spend in that hell is described by Genshin as follows:
“One day and night in
the realm of the four Deva Kings[6] is as long as
fifty years of human life, and life in the realm of the Deva Kings lasts five
hundred years. But one night and one day in this hell is equal in length to the
length of life in the realm of the Deva Kings, and the victims have to remain
in this hell five hundred years.”
 |
| Hell of Black Rope |
2. Hell of the Black Rope
The beings born in this hell, due to their evil karma, are
seized by the hell wardens, laid down on the ground made of burning metal and
marked with “hot iron cords in
both directions as a carpenter makes marks with his line”. Then they are
cut into pieces with burning saws and iron axes or disemboweled with swords
along these lines. As soon as their bodies are thus cut into pieces, they
immediately become whole once more and the process repeats itself over and over
again.
Master Genshin also described another torment for those
reborn in this hell:
“Sometimes they [the
hell wardens] spread nets made of innumerable hot iron ropes and drive the
sinners into these, and then an evil wind begins to blow which wraps the fiery
nets around the sinners roasting the flesh and charring the bones. On the right
hand and the left are high iron mountains. On the top of these mountains are
fastened flagstaffs made of iron and an iron rope is fastened at either end to
these staffs and thus stretches from one mountain top to the other. Beneath
this rope are placed in a row a number of large caldrons filled with a boiling,
steaming substance. The sinners, with heavy burdens fastened on their backs,
are forced to walk across on this rope, and naturally they cannot help from
falling into the boiling caldrons below. In these they are boiled for a long
time till bones and flesh are reduced to an indistinguishable mass.”
The time they spend in that hell is described by Genshin as
follows:
“A hundred years of
human life are equal in length to one day and night in the Toriten[7], and in this heaven
life lasts a thousand years, but the length of life in the Heaven of the
Thirty-Three gods is equivalent to only one day and night in this hell and here
life lasts one thousand years. Those who have destroyed life or who have stolen
anything fall into this hell.”
 |
| Hell of Assembly or the Rounding-Up and Crushing Hell |
3. Hell of Assembly or the Rounding-Up and Crushing Hell
Master Genshin described this hell as follows:
“In this hell are
numerous iron mountains arranged in pairs so as to face each other. There are
in this place various ox-headed and horse-headed hell wardens who are armed
with all sorts of pronged iron sticks and clubs which serve as instruments of
torture. With these they drive the sinners before them and make them pass
between the pairs of mountains, whereupon these mountains come together
crushing the victims till the blood oozes out and covers the ground.
Then again there are
iron mountains tumbling from the sky which crush the sinners into fragments
like grains of sand. Sometimes the victims are placed upon a rock and crushed
with another rock.”
Other texts say that sometimes the mountains facing each
other turn into the flaming heads of various animals which the hell-beings have
killed in their past lives and who now throw themselves into one another,
catching the poor people in the middle and crushing them to death. Again, like
in the other hells, when the dwellers die, they are revived and the torture
starts again as described above.
The time they spend in that hell is described by Genshin as
follows:
“Two hundred years of
human life are equal in length to one day and night in Yamaten[8] where life lasts two
thousand years, but one day and night in this hell is as long as life in
Yamaten and in this hell the victims must remain two thousand years. Murderers,
thieves, and adulterers fall into this hell.”
 |
| Hell of Lamentations |
4. Hell of Lamentations
Here the beings are roasted in buildings of hot metal with no
exit, or they are boiled and poured molten copper into their mouths which burns
up their internal organs.
The time they spend in that hell is described by Genshin as
follows:
“Four hundred years of
human life are equal in length to one day and night in Tosotsuten[9], and in this heaven life continues for
four thousand years; but the length of life in Tosotsuten is equivalent to only
one night and day in this hell and here life lasts four thousand years.
Murderers, thieves, adulterers and drunkards fall into this hell.”
5. Hell of Great Lamentations
In this hell, the wardens put a multitude of victims into metal
sheds with double walls blazing with fire and beat them with various weapons.
The doors are all sealed and the beings there howl in pain thinking that even
if they succeed in getting past the first door, they cannot get through the
second. According to Genshin, “murderers,
thieves, adulterers, drunkards and those who use evil language fall into this
hell.”
The time beings spend there is described as follows:
“Eight hundred years
of human life are equal in length to one day and night in Kerakuten[10] where life lasts
eight thousand years, but one day and night in this hell is as long as life in
Kerakuten and here life continues for eight thousand years.”
6. Hell of Scorching Heat
In this hell beings suffer by being cooked in huge iron
cauldrons filled with molten bronze. Whenever they surface, they are grabbed by
the hell wardens with metal hooks and beaten in the head with hammers until
they lose consciousness. This lose of consciousness are their only moments of
respite when they do not feel pain, but as it does not last long, the suffering
is felt again and again.
Master Genshin described other terrifying scenes from the
Hell of Scorching Heat:
“The hell wardens
seize the sinners and make them lie on the ground, which is made of hot iron.
Sometimes they make them lie facing upward and sometimes downward, all the time
beating and punching them from head to foot until their flesh is beaten into a
pulp. Sometimes they place them on a large roasting shelf made of iron and
heated to an intense heat. Thus they roast them in a raging flame. Turning them
over first on one side and then on the other, they roast them until they are
burned thin. Sometimes they fasten them on a large iron skewer, sticking these
through them from the bottom to the head, and scorch them thoroughly till the
flames enter the vital organs, their joints and bones, eyes, noses and mouths.
Then again they place them in a large cauldron and boil them like beans. And
sometimes they place them on the upper floor of an iron house and cause raging
flames of hot iron to envelop them from all directions, thus consuming even
their bones and marrow".
To make us aware of the destructive power of the fire
manifested in this hell, Master Genshin provided us with a comparison:
“If one should put a
portion of this fire as small as the light of a firefly into this world of ours
it would consume this world in a short moment. What must, then, be the
suffering of these sinners whose bodies, tender like budding grass, are being
burned in this hell! The victims in this place look longingly up at the fires
in the preceding five hells, for these seem by comparison cool like snow or
frost”.
The time beings spend there is described as follows:
"Sixteen hundred
years of human life are equal in length to one day and night in Takejizaiten[11] in which heaven
life lasts sixteen thousand years, but the length of life in Takejizaiten is
equivalent to only one day and night in this hell and here life continues for
sixteen thousand years. Murderers, thieves, adulterers, drunkards, those who
use vile language and heretics fall into this hell.”
 |
| Hell of the Great Scorching Heat |
7. Hell of the Great Scorching Heat
In this hell the beings are blocked inside blazing metal
houses where hell wardens impale them through their heels and the anus with
tridents of hot iron until the prongs push out through the shoulders and the
top of the head. In the same time their bodies are wrapped in sheets of blazing
metal.
According to Master Genshin, who himself quoted various
sacred texts, the hell wardens, taking each sinner separately, torments him
saying: “Are you frightened as you
hear the cries and see with your eyes? How much more then will you be
terror-stricken when your body is burning like dry grass and tinder! However,
the burning by fire here is not that of a literal fire but rather the hot
passion of your evil karma. The burning of fire may be extinguished, but the
burning of evil karma cannot be put out.”
This passage is extremely important because, as I repeatedly
said, it shows that the fire of hell, the various places of terror which were
described above and will be described in the following lines, as well as the
hell wardens themselves, are manifestations of the sinners own karma. This is
the reaping result of the suffering they inflicted on other beings. The various
hells exist because of the evil karma of beings - it is the evil energy of
their actions manifested in terrifying forms to torment them.
As Master Genshin said, “the power of evil karma which the sinners have created for themselves
suddenly hurls them into this raging flame” of that hell. “Among all winds the wind of karma is
the strongest, and it is in this way that the wind of karma of men’s evil deeds
drags them to their doom.”
According to him, “Murderers,
thieves, adulterers, those who use vile language, heretics and those who
degrade nuns who keep the precepts of purity” fall into this Hell of
Great Scorching Heat.
The time beings spend there is half of an intermediate
kalpa, which is a period of time very hard to measure in human years.
 |
| Avici Hell |
8. Hell of Suffering without Interruption (Avici)
This hell is at the very bottom of the World of Desire and
is the worst among all the hells. Nowhere in the world of desire or in any
world can be found more suffering like here.
The fire in this place fills everything and there is no
space left untouched. It is so violent that the bodies of the victims and the
fire become indistinguishable. There is also not the slightest interval when
the suffering of beings ceases. Their number is impossible to calculate, but
although they hear the cries of pain made by other people, they cannot see
them. All the torments of the previous hells are experienced here in more
horrific ways.
After describing the various sufferings in this hell, Master
Genshin said:
“The suffering in this
hell is a thousand times greater than the combined sufferings of the preceding
seven great hells and their separate places. The suffering in this hell is so
severe that the victims envy the victims in the Hell of Great Scorching Heat,
for the suffering in the latter seems to them like the pleasures in
Takejizaiten. If the beings under the four heavens and the beings in the six
Devalokas[12] of
Kamadhatu[13] should
smell the stench of this hell they would perish utterly. The reason is because
all the victims of this hell are filled with putrefaction. […] If a
person should hear all about the sufferings in this hell he could not endure it
and it would kill him. How terrible, then, it must be! Not one-thousandth of
the horrors of this Avici hell has been told, for it cannot be described. No
one could listen to the description, nor can it be compared with anything else.
If anyone should describe it thoroughly or listen to a full description of it,
he would vomit blood and die”.
Bodhisattva Nagarjuna said:
"Just as among
all kinds of happiness
The cessation of
craving is the king of happinesses,
So among all kinds of
suffering
The suffering of the
Avici Hell is most fierce.
The suffering of being
viciously pierced
With three hundred
lances for a full day
Cannot compare, cannot
even be mentioned,
With the least
sufferings of hell."[14]
People who committed the five gravest offenses, who
slandered the right Dharma, denied the law of karma, made light of the Mahayana
doctrine and made other grave karmic sins, are born in this hell. Life there is
a whole intermediate kalpa.
Neighboring hells
(ustada)
Yogacarabhumisastra (Yugaron)
of Asangha and Abhidharmakosabhasyam (Kusharon)[15] of Vasubandhu,
also describe the neighboring hells (“ustadas”) which are attached to the
previous eight great hells, at each of their four exits. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu
said:
"What is the
meaning of the word utsada? They are called utsadas because they are places of
supplementary torment: in the hells the damned are tormented, but they are
additionally so in the utsadas. [...] After having been shut up in the hells,
the damned then fall into the utsadas."[16]
The trench of fire (Kukula):
When beings emerge from one of the eight hot hells, they see
something which looks like a shady trench, but when they enter it, thinking
that they finally found a place for hide, they discover that it contains a fire
that reaches to their knees. This consumes their skin, flesh and blood when
they put their feet in there, but reappears when they take it out.
The mire of excrements and putrescent corpses (Kunapa):
When they emerge from that trench, they see a river and
urged by thirst they rush toward it, only to realize it is in fact, a mire of
excrements and putrescent corpses of humans and animals, filled with all kinds
of water beasts and worms with iron beaks which devour them.
The plane of razor blades (Ksuramarga):
When they emerge from that swamp they see green plain but
when they arrive there, they realize that the grass is composed of sharp razor
blades which pierce their feet to the bone. This also heals itself when they
raise their feet, and is cut again when they step on the grass.
The forest of swords (Asipattravana):
When they escape from that place, they rush toward a
beautiful forest, which when they get there it is revealed that the leaves of the
trees are swords which grow on their metal branches. When the wind blows, those
swords fall on those’ beings and cut them into little pieces, which are then
devoured by the infernal Syamasabala dogs. When nothing remains of their
bodies, they reappear and are cut again and again.
 |
| The hill with Śalmali trees |
Then the beings arrive at the foot of a hill with Śalmali
trees. At the top of this hill they see their former lovers, with whom they
performed sexual misconduct, calling on them. Filled with the desire to be
reunited with them, they start climbing, but the leaves of the trees point
downwards and are piercing their flesh. When they reach the top, instead of
their loved ones they are met by birds with iron beaks which tear out and eat
their eyes. Then they see again their loved ones calling on them from the foot
of the hill. Down they go and now the leaves turn upward, stabbing them in all
places of the body. When finally they reach the object of their desire, it
turns into a hideous metallic women or men who embrace them and start eating
them alive.
As Vasubandhu points in his Abhidharmakosabhasyam, the plane of razor blades, the forest of
swords and the hill with Śalmali trees constitute a single utsada or
neighboring hell because they have in common punishment through injury.
The river of boiling water and burning ashes:
When the beings finally emerge from the hill with Salmali
trees, they reach the river Vaitarani, of boiling water and burning ashes,
which encircles the great hell.
Master Vasubandhu describes their sufferings there:
“On both sides of the
river there are persons armed with swords, lances and javelins, who push back
the damned who would get out. Whether they plunge into the water or emerge,
whether they go up or down the current, whether they traverse in the two
directions or are tossed about, the damned are boiled and cooked, as the grains
of sesame or corn poured into a cauldron placed over the fire”.[17]
In the Mindfulness of the Right
Dharma Sutra[18], which was much used by
Master Genshin, there is a somewhat different description of the neighboring
hells. I will present them too, as they are quoted by Genshin in his Ojoyoshu. I mention that these are only
a fragment of the hells described in that sutra.
Thus, among the neighboring hells of the Hell of
Repetition or the Reviving Hell there are:
- The Place of Filth which is “filled with hot dung and filth which is
very bitter in taste and full of worms with hard bills. The sinners are put
into this hell and forced to eat this hot dung while the worms crawl all over
them, chewing and piercing their skin, gnawing their flesh and even sucking the
marrow from their bones. Those who have killed deer or birds fall into this
hell.”
- The Place of the Revolving Sword which is “enclosed with black iron walls ten yodjanas
in height. It is filled with burning fire, in comparison with which an ordinary
fire seems like snow. When the body comes into contact with this in the
slightest way it shrivels up as small as a mustard seed. In this fire hot iron
sticks rain down in heavy showers. There is in this place also a forest of
swords which are so sharp that a hair or even the sign of a hair coming in
contact with them is cut into fine bits. How much more then is this the case
with the bodies of sinners! Sometimes the swords fall down like a large
waterfall from the sky. So great is the confusion of agonies here that no one
can endure it. Those who have destroyed life with a covetous spirit fall into
this hell.”
- The Place of the Fiery Caldron where “the sinners are put into an iron caldron
and boiled like one boils beans. Those who have killed, cooked and eaten
animals fall into this hell”
- The Place of Much Suffering where there
are “innumerable trillions of pains.
We cannot describe these in detail. Those who have bound people with fetters,
beaten them with rods, compelled them to make long journeys, cast them down
steep places, suffocated them with smoke, frightened children and, in short,
all those who in any such ways have caused others to suffer, fall into this
hell.”
- The Place of the Black
Calm where “the sinners are in
pitch darkness and they are constantly being wasted with a dark fire. Then a
raging storm begins to blow which forces Diamond Mountain to
clash with the surrounding mountains so that the bodies of the sinners are
crushed between them and the fragments are scattered like grains of sand. After
this a hot wind blows which cuts like a sharp sword. Those who have killed
sheep by suffocating them with fire and those who have killed turtles by
crushing them between tiles fall into this hell.”
- The Place of No-Joy where there is “a big fire which burns the bodies of
sinners day and night. There are in it birds with red hot beaks, dogs and foxes
whose cries are so blood-curdling that the hairs of the victims stand on end.
They continually come and gnaw away at the bones and flesh of the victims which
lie around in a confused mass. Worms with hard snouts pierce the bones and suck
out the marrow. Those who have blown shells, beaten drums and made dreadful
noises, or those who have killed birds and beasts fall into this
hell.”
- The Place of the Most Severe
Suffering which “is located on
the edge of a steep cliff where sinners are continually burning in a fire of
iron. Those who have ruthlessly killed anything fall into this hell.”
Among the neighboring hells of the Hell of the Black
Rope, there are:
- The Place of Crying-Receiving
Pain where “the sinners are
placed on a precipice immeasurable yodjanas in height. They are tied together
with black ropes of hot fire and when they have been thus lashed together they
are pushed over the brink. As they fall they strike on the fiery ground below,
which is studded with sharp swords as numerous as the blades of grass.
Thereupon dogs with jaws of flaming iron chew them into fine bits, and though
they cry out for help none are saved. Those who have been teachers of the Law
but who have explained it with evil prejudices, thus failing to give the truth
and indifferent to the consequences […] fall into this hell”.
-. The Place of the Dreaded Eagle where “the hell wardens, wielding their iron clubs
with great wrath, strike the sinners suddenly and do violence to them day and
night. Sometimes they brandish their flaming iron swords and slash the victims,
or drawing iron fiery bows with arrows affixed they cruelly shoot them, all the
time driving them forward. Those who with a covetous spirit, have bound or
killed others in order to rob them of their possessions, fall into this hell.”
Among the neighboring hells of the Hell of Assembly or
the Rounding-Up and Crushing Hell, there are
- The Evil-Seeing Place where “those who with violence have committed
fornication with other men’s children fall into this hell and receive its
tortures. The sinners think they see their own children in hell tortured by the
hell wardens who take iron sticks and iron gimlets and thrust these into their
privates, or using iron hooks they thrust them in and pull them out of the
vagina. The sinners seeing this suffering of their children are filled with
longing and pity for them so great that they cannot endure the sight. But if
one compares the suffering caused by seeing this with the suffering caused by
being burned in the fire, it is not one-sixteenth as great. After being thus
tortured by seeing their own children ill treated they receive the suffering in
their own bodies. First the hell wardens stand the victims on their heads and
boil them in a fluid of molten copper which runs in at the anus and through the
internals, thus burning the vital organs and finally running out from the mouth
and the nose. The above mentioned kinds of suffering, namely, the suffering in
heart and the suffering in body, continue for immeasurable hundreds of
thousands of years.”
- The Place of Much Suffering where “are doomed to suffer such men as are guilty
of sodomy. Here the victim, seeing the man he lusted with, embraces him with a
passion like a hot flame which completely consumes his body. After he has died
he comes to life again and runs away in great terror but only to fall over a
terrible precipice where he is devoured by crows with flaming beaks and by foxes
with mouths of flames”.
- The Place of Enduring Suffering where “must suffer those who have stolen and
violated other men’s wives. The hell wardens seize the sinners and hang them
with heads downward from the branches of trees. Beneath them is a raging flame
which completely consumes their bodies. They come to life again and then are
burned as before. When they cry out in agony the flames enter their bodies and
consume the vital organs. This suffering continues for immeasurable hundreds of
thousands of years. Further description of this is found in the scriptures”.
Among the neighboring hells of the Hell of
Lamentation there are:
- The Hell of Fire and Worms where those who
have sold alcohol diluted with water fall into this place and “their bodies are afflicted with the four
hundred and four diseases. The power of one of these diseases is such that
in a single day and night it would destroy all the inhabitants of
the Four Islands[19]. From the bodies of
the victims come out worms which eat up the skin, flesh and marrow.”
- The Place called Cloud-Fire-Mist where “those who have forced women to drink
alcohol and then violated them bringing them to shame fall into this hell, and
they are tortured with a flame which is twelve hundred feet deep. The hell
wardens lay hold on them and force them to walk through this fire until they
are consumed from head to foot. When they seem utterly destroyed the hell
wardens call out: “Revive! Revive!” and they come to life again. Then they
drive them through the fire again just as before, and thus without any
intermission in their suffering this is kept up for immeasurable hundreds of
thousands of years.”
Among the neighboring hells of the Hell of Great
Lamentations there are:
- The Place called Receiving-Baring-Suffering where
“the sinners’ mouths and tongues are
nailed together with hot iron nails so that they cannot cry out”.
- The Place called
Receiving-Limitless-Suffering where “the
hell wardens cut out the victims’ tongues with hot iron shears. After they have
been cut out they grow on again but only to be cut out again. They also pull
out their eyes just as they do their tongues, and without any intermission they
slash their bodies with knives. These knives are so sharp that they can cut
even iron and stone. How easily, then, do they cut human flesh! Such various
and innumerable sufferings are the lot of all those who have used evil
language. There are many such teachings in the scriptures.”
Among the neighboring hells of the Hell of Scorching
Heat there are:
- The Place called Fundarikiya where “the bodies of the sinners are roasted in a
flame until there is not a spot as large as a mustard seed which is not burned.
All the people in this
hell keep saying to one another: “All ye, come quickly, come quickly! Here is
the Lake Fundarikiya. Here is water to drink. Here is the cool shade
of a wood.” Lured on by these words, the sinners rush forward, but on either
side of the road are pits filled with fire into which they all fall and where
they are consumed skin and bone. After a little while they come to life again
and the terrible heat makes them long for the water and so they press on until
they enter the place of Fundarikiya. Now the flames of Fundarikiya are five
hundred yodjanas in height. When the victims have been burned to death in this
flame they come to life again after a little while, and then this process is
repeated as before. Into this hell fall all those who have starved themselves
to death in the hope of thus earning their way into heaven, also those who have
taught this heresy to others”.
- The Place called
Dark-Fire-Wind where “the
sinners are carried up into the sky by an evil wind, and as they have nothing
to which they can cling they are twirled around and around like the wheel of a
cart so that they become invisible to the eye. And while they are being thus
twirled around and around another wind arises which is sharp like a sword and
which cuts them into pieces as small as grains of sand and then scatters the
fragments in all directions. By and by the fragments come together again and
the victims come to life once more but only to be cut up and scattered as
before. This process goes on endlessly. In this way are punished all heretics
who hold the view that all existence is divided into Things Permanent and
Things Impermanent and the view that the Impermanent is the body and the
Permanent, the Four Great Elements”.
Among the neighboring hells of the Hell of Great
Scorching Heat there are:
- A place which is filled so completely with
flames that “there is not a
spot as large as the eye of a needle where there is no flame. Those who have
violated pure laywomen fall into this hell”.
- The place called
Fully-Receiving-All-Suffering where “the hell wardens, taking out their swords of flames, skin the victims
from head to foot and then, without cutting the flesh, they place the raw
skinned bodies on the hot iron ground and roast them. Then they pour over them
molten iron. In this way they are tortured through immeasurable ten million
thousand years. Those who have deceived nuns by giving them strong drink and
destroyed their souls so that they have become immoral fall into this hell;
also those who have corrupted women with riches”.
Among the neighboring hells of the Hell of Suffering
without Interruption there are:
- The place called Iron-Plane-Fox-Eating-Place.
Here, “over the bodies of the
sinners in this place the flames of fire rage for a distance of ten yodjanas.
Among all the hells the torments in this hell are the most severe. Iron tiles
rain down upon the victims, crushing their bodies and pulverizing their bones.
Foxes with flaming jaws continually come and devour them. In this way the
victims are tormented without ceasing. Those who have set fire to pagodas and
temple buildings, burned images of Buddha, burned the homes of priests and
burned the bed-room furniture of priests, fall into this hell."
- The place called Black-Vomit-Place where “the victims are so hungry and thirsty as a
result of the heat which burns their bodies that they devour their own flesh.
When, however, they have apparently consumed themselves they come to life again
and begin once more to devour themselves. There is in this place a
black-bellied serpent which coils itself around the bodies of the sinners and
then gradually devours them from the feet up. Then again the victims are placed
in a hot flame and roasted, or they are thrown into a large cauldron and
boiled. Their bones and flesh are melted like ice in the spring, and this mass,
mingling with the fire, unites to make one huge, raging flame. In this way the
victims must endure inconceivable tortures of one kind and another for millions
of years. Those who have stolen anything offered to a Buddha and eaten it, fall
into this hell”.
- The place called Rain-Mountain-Gathering- Place. This
is “an iron mountain one yodjana in
height which falls on the victims pulverizing them like fine dust. After
this they come to life again but only to be crushed a second time. There are
here also eleven flames which completely enfold the victims and burn them.
Sometimes the hell
wardens take their swords and slash the bodies of the sinners all over and then
pour molten lead into the wounds. Then again the sinners are afflicted with the
four hundred and four ills, and in various ways they are tortured for
immeasurable millions of years. Those who have stolen and eaten offerings made
to a Pratyeka Buddha fall into this hell”.
- The place called Embado where “there is an evil bird called Emba. The size
of this bird is that of an elephant. It has a bill like a sword and this sends
forth a flame. Seizing the sinners it carries them with flapping wings high up
into the sky and, after soaring about for a while, drops them so that they
plunge down like huge boulders and with such violence that their bodies are
broken into hundreds of thousands of bits. But the fragments assemble again and
the victims come to life, only, however, to be seized a second time and carried
up and dropped. Their feet are lacerated by sharp swords with which the road is
studded as thickly as growing grass. Dogs with teeth of flames come and gnaw
and then devour them. In such ways they are tortured without ceasing. Those who
plotted against others and starved them to death fall into this hell. Further
accounts may be found in the scriptures”.
The Eight Cold Hells
These hells are located on the same level as the Eight Hot Hells, but in
comparison with them, where fire is dominant, here the karmic environment is
composed of snow mountains and glaciers, and the winds are ravaging blizzards.
All the beings born there are naked and experience the following torments[20].
1. Hell of Blisters (Arbuda)
In this hell various ice blisters erupt on the body of the
beings while they are submerged in extremely cold water or blasted by the wind.
2. Hell of Burst Blisters (Nirarbuda)
Here the blisters become open sores.
3. Hell of Clenched Teeth (Atata)
Here the teeth of the beings are tightly clenched due to
extreme cold. Master Vasubandhu explains that “atata” indicate the noise that the
damned make under the bite of the cold, thus the name of this hell[21].
4. Hell of Lamentation (Hahava)
In this hell the beings greatly lament while their tongues
are paralyzed and find it difficult to breathe or scream. This hell too, has
its name after the specific noise made by the tormented beings.
5. Hell of Groans (Huhuva)
Here the voices of beings are cracked and long groans escape
from their lips. It is again a hell named after the sound of pain specific to
those born there.
6. Hell of Utpala-like Cracks (Utpala) or the Blue
Flower Hell
The skin of beings born there is blue and splits into four
petals-like pieces.
7. Hell of Lotus-like Cracks (Padma) or the Lotus
Flower Hell
Here the red raw flesh of beings becomes visible, and the
cold makes it split into eight pieces, which makes it look like a lotus flower.
8. Hell of Great Lotus-like Cracks (Mahapadma) or the
Great Lotus Hell
Here their flesh turns dark red and splits into sixteen,
thirty-two and then into innumerable pieces, thus looking like a large lotus
flower. Worms penetrate the cracked flesh and devour it with their metal beaks.
According to the sacred texts the lifespan in the first cold
hell lasts as long as it would take to empty an extremely large container
filled with sesame seeds by removing a single grain every one hundred year. The
lifetime and suffering in the following seven cold hells is progressively
twenty time more.
The Jatakamala[22] describes that
the beings in the cold hells dwell in darkness:
"In the future
life of a nihilist
A cold wind will rise
in that place of absolute darkness.
Since it will make you
so ill that even your bones will be destroyed,
Who will want to enter
there to help you?"
In his Letter to a
Disciple, Master Chandragomin[23]
said:
"An incomparable
wind pierces your bones;
Your body shakes and
freezes; you bend over and shrivel.
Hundreds of blisters
rise and pop.
Creatures born from
them eat and claw you; fat, lymph, and
marrow ooze out.
Exhausted, teeth
clenched, all hair standing on end,
You are tormented by
wounds in your eyes, ears, and gullet.
Mind and body
stupefied by pain,
You dwell in the cold
hell and emit a pitiful wail."[24]
The Ephemeral Hells
The
ephemeral hells adjoin the hot hells and cold hells, but they also exist in other
regions, too. Master Vasubandhu said:
“There are the
pradesika (ephemeral) hells, created through the force of individual actions,
the actions of one being, of two beings, of many beings. Their variety is
great; their place is not determined: river, mountain, desert, and elsewhere”[25].
The suffering experienced in these ephemeral hells varies
considerably in both time and place. Thus, beings condemned by their own evil
karma to rebirth in them may be trapped inside a stone, encased in boulders,
held on the bottom of various lakes, boiled in hot springs, frozen in ice and
glaciers, burnt in fire, eaten alive by various worms and insects, etc. Some
also suffer by identifying their bodies with objects that are constantly put to
use, such as mortars, brooms, doors, mats, hearthstones, pillars, ropes, etc.
There are many sacred texts in which the causes for birth in
these ephemeral hells are presented, like appropriating or exploiting the
property of the sangha, requiring large amounts of money for teaching the
Dharma or for blessings, sacrificing animals, stealing from the public funds,
adultery, and so on.
*
Now, after
reading and contemplating the above descriptions and explanations of the
various hells, we should all ask ourselves individually, what if I will be born
in these hell realms? How could I endure such a horror and pain!
Bodhisattva Nagarjuna said in Letter to a Friend:
"Sinners who hear
of the boundless sufferings in the hells
Separated from them
only until the mere termination of their
breathing -
And are not completely
terrified,
Have hearts as hard as
diamonds.
If you are frightened
merely by seeing paintings of hell,
By hearing of it,
recalling it,
Reading about it, and
by representations of it,
What need to mention
experiencing the fierce actuality of it?"[26]
Please take each one of the specific sufferings in the hells
and think deeply on them. Wouldn't you better accept Amida's helping hand that
is extended to you out of His infinite Compassion and escape those places of
torment?
[1] According to Jeffrey
Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary, the term “utsada” means
“neighboring hell”. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu also uses this term in his Abhidharmakosabhasyam.
[2] Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, Abhidharmakossabhasyam, English
translation by Leo M. Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities
Press, 1991; vol 2, p 457.
[3] Abhidharmakosabhasyam, English translation by Leo M.
Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities Press, 1991; vol 2, p 459
[4] Edition translated in
Muse'on, 1912, 53-90; the Tibetan, edited and translated by S. Levi, 1926
[5] Genshin’s Ojoyoshu – Collected Essays on Birth into the Pure Land,
translated from Japanese by A.K. Reischauer and published in “The
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, second series, volume
VII, 1930” Rearranged and republished for free distribution
on http://amida-ji-retreat-temple-romania.blogspot.ro/2014/03/genshins-ojoyoshu-free-english-edition.html
[6] The realms of the various
gods will be explained in the next pages, after all other type of beings are
discussed.
[7] Toriten is the Heaven of
the Thirty-Three Gods.
[8] Yamaten is the Heaven of
Good Time (Yama in Skt)
[9] Tosotsuten is the Heaven
of Contentment (Tusita)
[10] Kerakuten is the Heaven
of Enjoyment of Pleasures Provided by Themselves (Nirmana-rati).
[11] Takejizaiten is the
Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Manifestations by Others (Paranirmita-vasa-vartin).
[12] The six Devalokas are the
six realms of the gods in the World of Desire.
[13] Kamadhatu is the World of
Desire.
[14] Letter to a Friend, by Nagarjuna as quoted in The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment,
volume I, by Tsong-kha-pa, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York, p. 169.
[15] See Abhidharmakosabhasyam, English translation by Leo M.
Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities Press, 1991; vol 2, p
457-458
[16] Abhidharmakosabhasyam, English translation by Leo M.
Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities Press, 1991; vol 2, p.458
[17] Abhidharmakosabhasyam, English translation by Leo M. Pruden; Berkeley, Calif,
Asian Humanities Press, 1991; vol 2, p.458
[18] Saddharmasm tyupasthana Sutra (Shobonenjogyo) – Mindfulness of the Right Dharma Sutra was
translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by Gautama Prajnaruci between 538 and 543.
This sutra explains the causes of rebirth in the six states of existence. It
was much used by Genshin in his Ojoyoshu.
[19] Four islands means Japan
with its four major islands.
[20] Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher (Boston:
Shambhala, Revised edition, 1998), page 68.
[21] AbhidharmakoSabhasyam, English translation by Leo M.
Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities Press, 1991; vol 2, p. 459
[22] Jatakamala -
'The Garland of Birth Stories' by master Aryasura describes
thirty four of Buddha Shakyamuni's previous lives. This passage from Jatakamala was quoted in The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, volume I, by Tsong-kha-pa, Snow Lion Publications,
Ithaca, New York, p. 167. Many Tibetan scholars identify master Aryasura with
the master Ashvaghosha.
[23] Chandragomin (Skt. Candragomin) - a famous
Indian master and scholar from the 7th century and a lay practitioner, who
famously challenged Chandrakirti to a debate
in Nalanda that lasted for many years. His writings include Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Vow and Letter to a Disciple.
[24]
This passage from Chandragomin's Letter to a Disciple, was quoted in The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path
to Enlightenment, volume I, by Tsong-kha-pa, Snow Lion Publications,
Ithaca, New York, p. 167.
[25] Abhidharmakosabhasyam, English translation by Leo M.
Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities Press, 1991; vol 2, p.
459-460.
[26] Letter to a Friend, by Nagarjuna, as quoted in The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment,
volume I, by Tsong-kha-pa, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York, p. 168.
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