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So naturally I decided that I should revise death and the netherworlds for one of the exam questions. I'm finding this revision thing a bit annoying. How much preparation should you do? I'm going back through the notes from class, notes from revision class, and today shall be going over the readings and hopefully making up an outline of points for a potential essay. I think that should work. But I did get one extra book Chinese Hells from the library yesterday. It's a strange little book, published in the early 80's but the author refers to living in Peking in 1932. So I'm not sure quite how long ago it was written. The first part is a description, with lots of pictures, of a temple of 18 Buddhist hells in Beijing. The temple is quite small, but really neat. I have no idea if it's still standing but would love to visit it someday.
One of the interesting things about this book is that it lists the temple as a Taoist temple, with Buddhist hells. She also points out that all the Buddhist temples have Taoist hells. Now what is interesting from a revision point of view is that the view of hell she describes as Taoist, the ten hells, with the ten judges is also a Buddhist hell. Sutra's were found in Dunhuang and studied by Stephen Teiser, and others, about the ten kings of hell, or more accurately purgatory. But they were clearly Buddhist in nature. They also predate the Taoist scripture which mentions the ten kings and the ten hells. It's interesting as I've not seen mention to the Taoist use of this scripture. Now I am wanting to know was the belief in the ten kings of hell incorporated in to Taoism, and ignored in Buddhism? Was this an accurate portrayal of how they were viewed in modern China? Or was it just the opinion of a mistakenly informed writer?
It seems to be fairly clear that the Taoists did incorporate some of the Buddhist ideas, though Chinese descriptions of hell judges and a bureaucratic underworld go back further than the arrival of Buddhism. It is almost impossible to say who influence who here. Rather perhaps it was a popular religious idea that made it into both of the more "mainstream" religions. One thing that is important to note is that the Chinese Buddhist idea of the ten kings originated in Sichuan, as did Celestial Master Taoism. It is also interesting to note that Feng-tu the gate to the underworld is located in Sichuan. Feng tu is also the ruler of hell, the one to whom all the judges send their requests.
One of the key differences between Chinese hells, be they Buddhist or Taoist, and Christian hell, particularly protestant hell, is that they are only temporary abodes. Once a person has paid for their wrong doings, they are able to escape, either to rebirth or heaven. For this reason it's probably better to translate "earth prisons" as purgatory rather than hell. I also like the fact that there are ways for both the poor and the rich to escape their punishments. To escape knife mountain hell, (Bill's favourite as it contains the two Chinese characters he knows), a rich person wraps the corpse in sutras, the poor person wraps the corpse in matting, the straw turns to gold in the underworld and protects the body from the knives. The rulers of hell are also far from the Christian image of Satan, rather than trying to encourage or trick people into their domain, they desire to relieve the suffering of those who come to hell, and try to free as many souls as they can.
One thing that struck me while I was revising was that I had little idea of the Taoist concept of what happens when you die when you're an ordinary Taoist. If you are very good you become an immortal or a transcendent, if you are bad you go to hell, but what if you're a normal person? Chinese Hells provided an interesting way around not having to answer this question by quoting from a Taoist canonical work which stated that the good had long lives and were happy, the bad died early and went to hell, and that there were many more bad people than good. Implying that most people just went to hell. But that that was okay, as that's why a Taoist priest will practise ceremonies to release them from hell. Where the souls go on release is not stated.
While not terribly scholarly the book read for an interesting hands on account of how the beliefs in the different hells had come to be viewed in modern times. Like all foreign accounts though it is important to question how much what was written represented what was thought, and how much was a misunderstanding on behalf of the author. It's also interesting to see how important the Dunhuang manuscripts have been at revolutionising the area of pre-modern religion. And the book had some really great pictures. It's terribly out of print at the moment, so I think I shall have to photocopy the pictures before returning it to the library.
One of the interesting things about this book is that it lists the temple as a Taoist temple, with Buddhist hells. She also points out that all the Buddhist temples have Taoist hells. Now what is interesting from a revision point of view is that the view of hell she describes as Taoist, the ten hells, with the ten judges is also a Buddhist hell. Sutra's were found in Dunhuang and studied by Stephen Teiser, and others, about the ten kings of hell, or more accurately purgatory. But they were clearly Buddhist in nature. They also predate the Taoist scripture which mentions the ten kings and the ten hells. It's interesting as I've not seen mention to the Taoist use of this scripture. Now I am wanting to know was the belief in the ten kings of hell incorporated in to Taoism, and ignored in Buddhism? Was this an accurate portrayal of how they were viewed in modern China? Or was it just the opinion of a mistakenly informed writer?
It seems to be fairly clear that the Taoists did incorporate some of the Buddhist ideas, though Chinese descriptions of hell judges and a bureaucratic underworld go back further than the arrival of Buddhism. It is almost impossible to say who influence who here. Rather perhaps it was a popular religious idea that made it into both of the more "mainstream" religions. One thing that is important to note is that the Chinese Buddhist idea of the ten kings originated in Sichuan, as did Celestial Master Taoism. It is also interesting to note that Feng-tu the gate to the underworld is located in Sichuan. Feng tu is also the ruler of hell, the one to whom all the judges send their requests.
One of the key differences between Chinese hells, be they Buddhist or Taoist, and Christian hell, particularly protestant hell, is that they are only temporary abodes. Once a person has paid for their wrong doings, they are able to escape, either to rebirth or heaven. For this reason it's probably better to translate "earth prisons" as purgatory rather than hell. I also like the fact that there are ways for both the poor and the rich to escape their punishments. To escape knife mountain hell, (Bill's favourite as it contains the two Chinese characters he knows), a rich person wraps the corpse in sutras, the poor person wraps the corpse in matting, the straw turns to gold in the underworld and protects the body from the knives. The rulers of hell are also far from the Christian image of Satan, rather than trying to encourage or trick people into their domain, they desire to relieve the suffering of those who come to hell, and try to free as many souls as they can.
One thing that struck me while I was revising was that I had little idea of the Taoist concept of what happens when you die when you're an ordinary Taoist. If you are very good you become an immortal or a transcendent, if you are bad you go to hell, but what if you're a normal person? Chinese Hells provided an interesting way around not having to answer this question by quoting from a Taoist canonical work which stated that the good had long lives and were happy, the bad died early and went to hell, and that there were many more bad people than good. Implying that most people just went to hell. But that that was okay, as that's why a Taoist priest will practise ceremonies to release them from hell. Where the souls go on release is not stated.
While not terribly scholarly the book read for an interesting hands on account of how the beliefs in the different hells had come to be viewed in modern times. Like all foreign accounts though it is important to question how much what was written represented what was thought, and how much was a misunderstanding on behalf of the author. It's also interesting to see how important the Dunhuang manuscripts have been at revolutionising the area of pre-modern religion. And the book had some really great pictures. It's terribly out of print at the moment, so I think I shall have to photocopy the pictures before returning it to the library.