01 The Ten Courts of Hades -Here the human lives are weighed in the balance and if you've behaved yourself you go straight to the Tenth Court to await transmigration. The sinner looks into the huge mirror and sees the evil he/she has committed.

02 The Ten Courts of Hades - There are further hellS attached to this site - The hell of dark clouds of dust - The hell of night soil and urine - The hell of the five-pronged fork - The hell of extreme hunger- the hell of excruciating thirst - the hell of slough and blood - the hell with boiling copper cauldrons - the hell of iron corslets - the hell of the great scales - the hell where men are pecked by cocks - the hell of rushing ashes - the hell where the body is cut to pieces - the hell of knives and swords - the hell of tigers, wolves and other beasts - the hell of cold and ice - the hell of numerous copper cauldrons. You get into this mess because you -
 


have kidnapped little boys
claimed to have lost somebody's deposit (probably an estate agent)
are an incompetent physician or
are a matchmaker.

03 The Ten Courts of Hades - This comprises one large hell and many smaller dungeons - eg the hell of rib piercing - the hell of handcuffs - the hell where knees are crushed - the hell where you drink blood.
You gain entry by being
 


a wife who is a worry to her husband
a disobedient slave
a cheating clerk
somebody who unreasonably delays a funeral
a forger of deeds
 


04 The Ten Courts of Hades - Here you can be thrown into a roaring stream - kneel on spikes - get your tendons cut - get your flesh gimleted - get your arms cut off - sit on sharp rocks - where your lips are split - and where you are buried under gravel.
 
It is for


those who opened letters not addressed to them
pilfered oil from the sanctuary lamp
those who didn't give money to beggars
spread garish rumours of being struck by lightning
people who throw their rubbish into the street

05 The Ten Courts of Hades - The boss of this hell worked in 01 but proved too lenient and was condemned to work here. Here you will find unbelievers - rapists and seductive women - brigands and harlots - those who curse Buddhist monks - those who set fire to brushwood on mountains and those who don't bury a dog or cat properly.
 

06 The Ten Courts of Hades - Here you kneel on iron filings - are nipped by grasshoppers - crushed under rollers - are sawn in half - have to drink mucky water - are kicked by donkeys.
 
Here you'll find


people who curse the wind
people who wove silk images of the gods
those who didn't burn obscene books
 

07 The Ten Courts of Hades - This is the hell of remorse and the hatred of self - where your legs are burnt and your legs hacked - where your ankles are bitten by dogs - where your flayed skin is fed to the hogs - and can be pecked by eagles.

Here you'll find
 


violators of tombs
lazy and neglectful teachers
those who make drugs and nostrums from living creatures
 


08 The Ten Courts of Hades Here you get crushed inder carriage wheels - get your tongue cut out - get sliced into pieces - generally ripped into bits.
 
This is the Hell for you if


you are rude to your parents and other elderly folk. Such folk are automatically turned into animals in the Tenth Court.
 
 

09 The Ten Courts of Hades - 09 Bones scraped - tendons snapped - heads crushed in iron rings - skull steamed in a frying pan.
 
Here are


those guilty of ten great crimes
those who wrote erotoc books or drew dirty pictures
abortionists
 
Here is also the City of the Suicides
 

10 The Ten Courts of Hades -

Everybody ends up here to be re-cycled as something.

You drink the broth of forgetfulness, wiping the memory clean.

You aim for the boat across the Styx and

sometimes fierce demons knock you in the water.
 
 

THE LAST IMAGE

 

 

But here's the deal - here's what'll happen to you here's the scatterings of what's left after ten courts of hell.

Researches into Chinese Superstitions M.Kennelley SJ, T'Usewei Printing Press Shanghai 1922.
 
The Ten Courts of Hades and their Ten Presidents


EACH COURT OF HELL IS PRESIDED OVER BY ITS OWN PRESIDENT WHO SUPERVISES INDIVIDUAL AND NOT ETERNAL PUNISHMENTS.


01 Ts'in-kwang-wang; The Mirror Tower; The prison of the Bonzes; The Turnstile of Hunger and Thirst
02 Ch'u- kiang-wang; The Frozen Pool - The Dogs and Tigers - The burning Pillar.
03 Sung-ti-Wang; The Scraped Bones - Eyes torn out - Hung Up Head Downwards
04 Wu-Kwan-wang; The lake of blood - the sharp rocks - Needles thrust into the Eyes
05 Yen-lo-Wang; Sliced to pieces - The heart torn out - Wang Hsiang-tai
06 Pien-ch'eng-wang; Clubbed to Death - Sawn in twain - The mouth burned with flaming torches
07 T'a-shan-wang; The cauldron of boiling oil - Scorched over a slow fire - The viscera are torn out
08 T-ti-wang ; Cutting off the tongue, feet and hands - Nails driven into the skull
09 P'ing-teng-wang; The city of suicides - The Millstone - The snakes
10 Chwan-lun-wang; The Nai-ho-k'iao - Bridge over the Styx