Haw Par Villa Hell’s Museum 10 Courts of Hell

One of the highlights of Haw Par Villa Hell’s museum in Singapore is their infamous 10 Courts of Hell. We Chinese believe that in the afterlife, we will get judged by our sins and punishments evolved as ancient civilisations shared their cultures across time and space.

Each court has a King in charge where the sinners get tried and the punishments meted out. The 10 Kings in charge of the 10 Courts of Hell were first named in The Scripture on the Ten Kings, which dates to the 8^th or 9^th century CE. Now, let me take you through this 10 Courts of Hell journey that was executed by Haw Par Villa’s artisans sometime between 1946 and 1954. Later below, I will show you the two images of artists’ depictions of hell.

Court 1 – King Qinguang (Great King of Qin)

This visit happens 7 days after death. In the 1^st Court of Hell, King Qinguang conducts a preliminary trial, based on the person’s good and bad deeds in life. His tools of judgement are the Book of Good and Bad (Shan E Bu), the Scale of Good and Bad (Shan E Cheng) and the mirror of Sins (Nie Jing).

Shan E Bu records the good and bad deeds, Shan E Cheng measures the magnitude of the good and bad deeds, Nie Jing reflects the good and bad deeds not just in this life, but in his/her previous life too.

Virtuous souls will reap the fruits of their good deeds. They may cross the Golden or Silver Bridges to either attain the Tao, become immortals or deities, or be reborn as humans blessed with good lives. They will escape the rest of the 10 Courts. The sinners will have to go through further judgement and punishment in the rest of the 10 Courts.

Court 2 – King Chujiang (King of the First River)

This visit happens 14 days after death where the sinners are tried at the Earth Prisons (Diyu), where they are punished. After sinners cross this river, there is no turning back.

If you cause hurt, cheat or rob others, you will be thrown into a volcanic pit. If you are corrupted, steal or gamble, you will be thrown onto blocks of ice. If you work as a prostitute, you will be thrown into a pool of blood.

Court 3 – King Songdi(King of Song)

This visit happens 21 days after death. If your sins are being ungrateful, having a lack of respect towards elders or escaping from prison, you will have your chest sliced open and your heart taken out. If you have a drug addiction and are involved with trafficking, robbing tombs or instigating others to commit crimes or social unrest, you will be tied to a red-hot copper pillar and be grilled alive.

Court 4 – King Wuguan (King of the Five Offices)

This visit happens 28 days after death. The term Five Offices comes from ancient Buddhist scriptures. The Five Offices of the netherworld supervise infractions of five lay Buddhist precepts – the taking of life, theft, fornication, lying and drunkenness.

Tax evasion, avoiding paying rent or fraud will be pounded by a stone mallet. Disobedience towards siblings or lack of filial piety will be ground by a large stone.

Court 5 – King Yanluo (King Yama)

This visit happens 35 days after death. The name Yanluo is an abbreviation of Yanmo Luoshe, the Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit name Yama Raja, the name of the god of death in Hinduism.

Plotting the death of someone to steal his property or money, or charging exorbitant interest rates as a moneylender will get thrown onto a hill of knives.

Court 6 – King Biancheng (King of Transformations)

This visit happens 42 days after death. The name Biancheng could have been referring to a hell described in the 5^th century CE, in which sinners are transformed into various animals according to their sins.

Cheating, using curse words, or kidnapping will be thrown onto a tree of knives. Misusing books, possessing pornography, breaking rules and regulations or wasting food will have one’s body sawn in half.

Court 7 – King Taishan (King of Mount Tai)

This visit happens 49 days after death. By the 2^nd century BCE, hundreds of years before the 10 Courts of Hell appeared in scriptures, it was believed that Mount Tai, a peak in Shandong, China, was the seat of the bureaucratic administration of the dead in the afterlife. The dead were locked away beneath it to keep them from harming the living.

Spreading rumours or sowing discord among family members will have one’s tongue pulled out. Rape or driving someone to his/her death will be thrown into a wok of boiling oil.

Court 8 – King Pingzheng (King of Impartiality)

This visit happens 100 days after death. The name King of Impartiality most likely originates from an epithet for King Yama, who was known as The Impartial One. However, most versions of the 10 Courts of Hell, including this one, present King Pingzheng as a separate figure. In other versions of the 10 Courts, he goes by the name King Pingdeng. He may also appear in Court 9, swapping places with King Dushi.

Lack of filial piety, causing trouble for parents or other family members or cheating during examination, will have one’s intestines and organs pulled out. Harming others to benefit oneself will result in dismemberment.

Court 9 – King Dushi (King of the Market in the Capital)

This visit happens 1 year after death. The marketplace of a city was a natural location for a prison, as it was the site for public executions.

Robbery, murder, rape or any other unlawful conduct will have one’s head and arms chopped off. Neglecting the old and the young will be crushed under boulders.

Court 10 – King Zhuanlun (King of the Turning Wheel)

This visit happens 3 years after death. The Turning Wheel refers to Samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

This is the 10^th and final Court of Hell, souls will be hauled before King Zhuanlun to receive a final judgement to decide what forms they will take upon rebirth. This will depend on their karma – the good and bad deeds committed in life.

In this photo, a court clerk delivers a severe verdict to two kneeling sinners. The scroll reads:

Judgement of the 10^th King;

The man to be reborn as a black goat;

The woman to be reborn as a white rabbit.

After judgement, souls will be taken to Meng Po’s Pavilion (Meng Po Ting) all memories of their lives erased. Rebirth takes place, and the cycle of ceaseless suffering continues.

Meng Po’s Pavilion

There are various accounts of her origin, including that she was the daughter of Emperor Yao, a legendary Chinese ruler. Meng Po also means Grandmother Meng. She studied Confucian classics and chanted Buddhist scriptures, devoting herself to a life of purity. Even at age 81, though her hair was white, her complexion was clear as a child.

Because of her devotion to religion and purity, the Jade Emperor granted her the status of deity in the netherworld, to run a pavilion named after her. There, she hands to souls a ‘herbal decoction’, neither liquor nor non-liquor, made in five flavours; sweet, bitter, acrid, sour, and salty. Before souls are reborn, they must consume this elixir to make them forget everything about their former lives.

Six Realms of Rebirth (Samsara)

This diorama depicts six realms of rebirth for souls who go through the 10 Courts of Hell.

They are:

1. Wealthy people with blessed lives
2. Poor people with tough lives
3. Mammals
4. Birds and Reptiles
5. Sea creatures
6. Ghosts, represented by skeletons

However, this list of realms is more common

1. Deities
2. Asuras (Buddhists) or Spirits (Taoists)
3. Humans
4. Animals
5. Hungry ghosts
6. Hell-dwellers

The two artists depictions of the 10 Courts of Hell. The top row is Ho Scrolls, painted by Ho Hsin-Yen, a folk artist born in 1899 in Formosa, now Taiwan. There are banners along the bottom row commissioned by the Singapore Newton Hawker Centre Stallholder’s Association around 2010.

Disclosure: All the information can be found on the display of the Singapore Haw Par Villa Hell’s museum. Some of the information may contain offensive and discriminatory language or reflect outdated ideas, practices and analysis.