The Names of Buddhist Hells in East Asian Buddhism
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The Names of Buddhist Hells in East Asian Buddhism
Ineke Van PutCatholic University of Leuven Belgium
ThE OLdEST gama STORiES speak of just one hell, (Mah)niraya. Es-pecially important in this context are the Devadta-stra (The heav-enly Messengers) and the Blapaita-stra (The Fool and the Wise). They provide the basis for all later hell descriptions. The image of hell as a blazing iron cube with four gates each leading to a set of penance courts goes back to the Devadta-stra, whereas the Blapaita-stra, besides giving evidence of further developed retribution theories, in-spired many of the later utsadas, or supplementary hells.
Around the beginning of the Common Era, a new system of mul-tiple hells, based on the early Mahniraya structure, enters into the picture. It consists of eight hot hells, each surrounded by four times four supplementary hells, now called utsadas. Representative texts that describe this newly developed system are the cosmologies of the Chinese Drghgama (T. 1.30) and related scriptures. They also mention a second series of hells, which may be called the Arbuda series. The Arbuda series goes back to the Koklika-stra, another gama text of which many versions exist. They are well known as the cold hells of the Northern tradition.
The final stage in the development of the cosmological image of hell is reached at the moment when the Eight Great Hells, which developed from the Mahniraya concept, are combined with the Arbuda series. This does not mean, however, that from this point onwards no varia-tions are possible. Quite the contrary: how the various elements are combined varies greatly from text to text. Representative examples of this stage may be found in such texts as the abhidharmakoabhya (T.
1558) and the mahprajpramitopadea (T. 1509). Sources such as the mahvibh (T. 1545) from Kamra or Buddhaghosas Visuddhimagga (Path of Purity) of the Theravda tradition may be equally important, but their influence in East Asia is minor in comparison to the texts of the western Sarvastivda, Dharmaguptaka, and Mahsghika tradi-tions mentioned above. They will not be discussed here.
Early gama Sutras
The Devadta-stra and Blapaita-stra, which according to Przy-luski go back to a common source,1 were produced by the Sthaviras of Kaumb and the Sarvstivdins of Mathur, respectively. Later, the ideas contained in both sutras were exchanged, leading to a Kaumb version of the Blapaita-stra and a Mathur version of the Devadta-stra. Still according to Przyluski, the Sarvstivda texts were preserved as the Tianshijing (Jpn. Tenshiky , T. 26.64) and Chihuijing (Jpn. Chieky , T. 26.199) of the Chinese madhyamgama. The Kaumb texts correspond to majjhima no. 129 (Blapaita-sutta) and no. 130 (Devadta-sutta).2 He also places the compilation of both sutras in the Mauryan era (324187 BCE). The translation of the madhyamgama into Chinese was made between 397 and 398 by Gautama Saghadeva (fl. end of the fourth century CE).
There are also other versions of both texts available, such as the Scriptural Texts about Niraya (Ch. Nilijing; Jpn. Nairiky ; T. 86). The first part of the text (907a13909b01) is related to the Blapaita-stra, whereas the second part (909b02910c22) is related to the Devadta-stra. Another, almost equal version of the second part also exists as a separate sutra, called the Scripture about the Niraya of the Iron Citadel (Ch. Tiechengnilijing; Jpn. Tetsujnairiky ; T. 42). The alleged translator of both the Scripture about the Niraya of the Iron Citadel and the Scripture about Niraya is Zhu Tanwulan (Jpn. Jiku Donmuran ; Skt. Dharmarjan?).3 He translated both texts during the second half of the Eastern Jin (317419). Most probably his affinity was with the Dharmaguptakas.4
Other texts related to the Devadta-stra are the aguttara -nikya (III, 35),5 T. 125.32.4 of the Chinese Ekottargama, and the Scripture about King Yamarja and the Five Heavenly messengers (Ch. Yanluowangwutian-shizhejing; Jpn. Enragotenshishaky ; T. 43); a text re-lated to the Blapaita-stra is aguttara -nikya (II, III).6 The Chinese
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Ekottargama was translated by Gautama Saghadeva between 397 and 398, the Scripture about King Yamarja and the Five Heavenly messengers by Huijian (Jpn. Ekan ; fl. 457 CE).
The Koklika-stra has many versions in both Pli and Chinese. The oldest and most complete version is the Suttanipta (III, 10) from around 300 BCE. 7 Related texts are the Sayutta-nikya (VI, i, 10) and aguttara-nikya (X, 9 ), as well as T. 99.1278 (Ch. Jujiali; Jpn. Ku-kari ) and T. 100.276 (Ch. Jujiali; Jpn. Kukari ) of the Chi-nese Sayuktgama and T. 125.21.5 (Ch. Juboli; Jpn. Kuhari ). The Taish 99 translation of the Chinese Sayuktgama was made by Guabhadra (394468); the Taish 100 translation was made between 350 and 431. The translator is unknown. Lamotte mentions versions in the Divyvadna, avadnaataka, and mahvyutpatti (nos. 49294936) for the Sarvstivda tradition, as well as the Dharmasamuccaya (chap. 122).8
EARLY COSMOLOGIES (CA. 100 BCE200 CE)
The Lokaprajapti of the Chinese Drghgama (Jpn. Sekiky ; T. 1.30), which is considered to belong to the Dharmaguptaka tradition,9 was translated in 413, soon after Buddhayaas (384417) brought the text from the Gandhran cultural area10 to China. According to Ishi-gawa Kaizu, the original text dates from between 100 BCE and 200 CE.11 This is relatively late for an gama text. Of the related texts, the Qishijing (Jpn. Kiseky ; T. 24; trans. Jnagupta, 523600) and the Qishi-yinbenjing (Jpn. Kiseinpongy ; T. 25; trans. Dharmagupta, d. 619) are based on the same original. The Daloutanjing (Jpn. Dairtangy ; Skt. Lokasthna?; T. 23) seems to be a translation of an older text belonging to the same tradition. The last text was translated be-tween 290 and 306 by Fa Li (, 265316) and Fa Ju (, dates un-known). There is no corresponding Pli of either the Lokaprajapti or of its related texts. Denis believes that the Lokaprajapti of the Chinese Drghgama, the Lokaprajaptyabhidharma (Lishiapitanlun; Jpn. Risseabi-donron ; T. 1644) and a Burmese Lokapaatti of the elev-enth or twelfth century go back to the same, no longer extant Sanskrit cosmology.12 The Lokaprajaptyabhidharma, which was translated by Paramrtha (500569), is traditionally ascribed to Avaghoa (first to
second century CE), but may be older.13 New research by Kiyoshi Okano has pointed out the Smitiya affiliation of the text.14
LATER COSMOLOGIES (CA. 200500 CE)
The abhidharmakoabhya (Jpn. abidatsumakusharon , T. 29 no. 1558) by Vasubandhu (fifth century CE) has been translated twice, once by Paramrtha (500569) and once by Xuanzang (602664). Belonging to the Sarvstivda tradition, the text played an important role in the development of Sino-Japanese Buddhism. Its ongoing influ-ence is obvious from the fact that it was used as the main source for the es-bya rab-gsal (Skt. Jeyaprakastra), a Buddhist manual written for Qubilais son and crown prince, Zhenjin (12431285), by Phags-pa (12351280). The text was translated from the Tibetan to Chinese as the Treatise on the Elucidation of the Knowable (Ch. Zhangsuozhilun; Jpn. Shshochiron ; T. 1645).15 Hell descriptions in other influential texts such as the Yogcrabhmistra (Ch. Yuqieshidilun; Jpn. Yugashi-jiron ; T. 30 no. 1579), attributed to Asaga (ca. 400) and translated by Xuanzang (602664), offer basically the same hell system as the one presented in the Koa.
The mahprajpramitopadea (Ch. Dazhidulun; Jpn. Daichidoron ; T. 25 no. 1509) is traditionally attributed to Ngrjuna (ca. 200 CE), but new insights in the developments of Srvstivda Bud-dhism16 lead to the conclusion that its main author might have been Kumrajva (350409, 413?) himself. Lamottes suggestion that the mahprajpramitopadea (hereafter mahpraj) was written about one century after Ngrjuna supports this view. Kumrajva, who was educated in Kamra, probably compiled the work as a Mdyamika ab-hidharma, resembling the Kamra abhidharma, which he had studied. The mahpraj is one of the most important non-Sarvstivda texts that contributed to the perception of Buddhist hell in East Asia.
The development of the Single hell Structure of Mahniraya into the Eight Hot Hells
The basic hell structure as described in early gama sutras con-sists of one single hell. In the Pli majjhima-nikya this hell is called Mahniraya, whereas in the Chinese madyamgama it is called Four-Gate Hell (Ch. Simen Dadiyu; Jpn. Shimon Daijigoku ) or
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just hell (Ch. diyu; Jpn. jigoku ). majjhima no. 130 also uses the expression catudvro, but only in the stanza.17 The Devadta-stras as well as the Blapaita-stras describe Mahniraya as an enormous hot burning iron cube with a gate at each of the four sides. The main dif-ference between the texts concerns the tortures. The Devadta-stras speak of several places of torture outside the eastern gate of hell. In the Blapaita-stras the evildoers are subjected to various tortures before entering (majjhima-nikya) or after having entered hell (Chi-nese madyamgama). The names of the extramural courts of penanceKukla, Kuapa, etc.and the implements of tortureiron pellets (ayogua), copper cauldron (lohakumbhi), etc.are recycled by later cosmologies as utsadas (table 1).
The Eight hot hells
In the eightfold hell structure, Mahniraya corresponds to Avci, the inferior limit of the Kmadhatu (Dhammasagai 128118) and the most fearful of the eight hot hells. This development of the single hell structure into the complex structure of eight hells seems to be related to the development of Buddhist cosmology. As can be seen in the Sakicca Jtaka (Jtaka 530), or the Chapter about the Eight Hardships of the Chinese Ekottargama (Ch.