Buddhist Hell: Visions, Tours and Descriptions of the Infernal Otherworld

There is a long tradition of Buddhist descriptions of hell, from the second century BCE until the twentieth century, stretching from Iran and India to China and Japan. These descriptions initially relied heavily on Hindu texts but developed their own distinctive features as elements from various cultural traditions were incorporated and as individuals sought to avoid hell by making additions to the text and then distributing copies freely as pious acts. This anthology includes twenty-two texts that range from “The Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha” and “The Sutra Spoken by the Buddha on the Retribution of Sinful Karma,” to Chinese tales like “Governor Kwoh Visits Hell” and “The Voyage to the Western Sea of the Chief Eunuch San-Pao,” to the “Tibetan Book of the Dead” and a twentieth-century “Thai Near-Death Experience.” This anthology also includes a preface, introduction, glossary, notes and bibliography to provide a comprehensive overview of the nature of Buddhist hell. Buddhist Hell is published in conjunction with www.Hell-on-Line.org, a website that presents a comprehensive collection of materials on the more than 100 visions, tours and descriptions of the infernal otherworld from the cultures around the world dating from 2000 BCE to the present. Twenty-two texts, 216 pages. Web resources. Illustrated.