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The Floor Plan of Eighteen layers in Hell

15 August 2006

According to the Buddhist believes, when someones karmic debt is too heavy, upon death he or she wont be able to go anywhere else but plunge straight down to Hell. So ultimately, it is not Ghost Kings verdict but ones 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 Hells 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

2 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

3 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

4 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 wont burst into Nothingness because you do not believe in it, just as the moon wont 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.