|
According to the Buddhist believes, when someone’s karmic
debt is too heavy, upon death he or she won’t be able to
go anywhere else but plunge straight down to Hell. So ultimately,
it is not Ghost
King’s verdict but one’s own karmic weight that gets
one fall into Hell and stuck there.
Hell is said to be a world at the bottom of the universe,
or more precisely, at the inner most layer of the cosmos.
And Hell itself is again divided into many layers (or say,
many levels), each characterised with a particular kind
of terror. Following is one of many versions of the Hell’s
floor plan:
The First Floor:
Name: Chamber of Tongue Ripping
Function: Those who stir up troubles by gossiping will
find their tongues being ripped out.
The Second Floor:
Name: Chamber of Scissors
Function: Those who break the marriage of others will have
their fingers cut off.
The Third Floor:
Name: Chamber of Iron Trees
Function: Those who cause discords among family members
of other people will find their body being pierced by hooks
and hung upside down on iron trees.
The Fourth Floor:
Names: Chamber of Mirror
Functions: Those who escape the earthly punishment will
find their true shape being displayed in the mirror, and
the old karmic debt will have to be paid with high interest.
The Fifth Floor:
Name: Chamber of Steamer
Function: Instigators and hypocrites will find themselves
being steamed in a steamer.
The Sixth Floor:
Name: Forest of Copper Column
Function: Arsonists will get themselves stuck to a scotching
hot copper column.
The Seventh Floor:
Name: Mountain of Knifes
Function: Those who kill sentient beings with knife will
find themselves climbing a hill of knifes.
The Eighth Floor:
Name: Hill of Ice
Function: Cold-blooded schemers and ungrateful suckers,
including those who ill-treat their partners and elders,
will find themselves naked in this freezing cold environment.
The Ninth Floor:
Name: Cauldron of Boiling Oil
Function: Sex offenders such as rapists, lechers and adulterers
will find themselves being fried in boiling oil.
The above are the upper nine floors belonging to the East
Hell. Further down is the West Hell with another nine floors.
The Tenth Floor:
Name: Chamber of Ox
Function: Those who abuse animals will find themselves
being bullied by animals.
The Eleventh Floor:
Name: Chamber of Rock
Function: Those who abandon or kill newborns will find
themselves being crushed under a rock and soaked in filthy
water.
The Twelfth Floor:
Name: Chamber of Pounding
Function: Those who wilfully waste food will find themselves
being pounded like crops.
The Thirteenth Floor:
Name: Pool of Blood
Function: Those who do not respect others will find themselves
soaked in blood. It is said that those who died of bleeding
are actually given a preview of their afterlife.
The Fourteenth Level:
Name: Town of Quitters
Function: Those who commit suicide will find themselves
wandering in this town of misery where the wind of sorrow
and rain of grief blasting day and night. They are the
ones slipping off the normal incarnation paths and will
live in the gaps of the worlds for a long, long time.
The Fifteenth Level:
Name: Chamber of Dismemberment
Function: Those who disturb the deceased by digging tombs
will find their body being torn into pieces.
The Sixteen Floor:
Name: Mountain of Flames
Function: Those who steal, briber and rob will find themselves
surrounded by the lasting inferno.
The Seventeenth Floor:
Name: Yard of Stone Mill
Function: Those who abuse their power and oppress the people
will find themselves being ground into powder.
The Eighteenth Floor:
Name: Chamber of Saw
Function: Those who exploit the loopholes in the law to
cheat and engage in malpractice in business will find themselves
being sawed into half.
From the Buddhist point of view, being a sufferer in Hell
is just one of six
ways of living, and once a hell mate paid off its karmic
debt, it will become light enough to rise up and be reincarnated
into other forms of existence.
Hell, though terrifying, is as solid and as illusive as
this human world. Since it is a universally shared perception,
like the sun the moon and indeed the universe itself, it
won’t burst into Nothingness because
you do not believe in it, just as the moon won’t disappear
because you do not see it - unless, of course, it is a
moon or a hell in your dreamland and being sustained by
your solo consciousness.
|
