Naraka- Buddhist LocationLocation · Realm"Lowest Realm of Existence"
Also known as: Niraya, नरक, Diyu, 地獄, and Jigoku
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Symbols
Description
Beneath the earth lie realms where suffering defies imagination: iron houses that ignite around the trapped, mountains that crush bodies only for them to reform, cold so fierce it splits flesh like a cracking lotus. Yet Buddhist hells are not eternal. Every torment ends when the karma that caused it is spent.
Mythology & Lore
Beneath Jambudvipa
The hell realms lie stacked vertically beneath the continent of Jambudvipa. Eight hot hells and eight cold hells form the principal structure, with Sanjiva just below the earth's surface and Avici at the very bottom. Surrounding each hot hell lie neighboring hells, and scattered throughout the cosmos are ephemeral hells that appear wherever the force of karma draws them into being.
No god assigns these punishments. Beings are born in naraka through accumulated negative karma and remain until that karma is exhausted. The torments are finite. When the debt is spent, the being is reborn elsewhere.
Fire and Ice
In Sanjiva, the Reviving Hell, guards cut beings apart with weapons. Cold winds revive them and the killing begins again, for a lifespan measured in millions of human years. At the very bottom lies Avici, where suffering admits no pause, and the lifespan stretches beyond reckoning.
The cold hells are named for the sounds the suffering make: Atata and Hahava are cries forced from frozen throats. In Padma, the cold cracks flesh open like a red lotus blooming in ruin.
Ksitigarbha's Descent
It is into these realms that Ksitigarbha descends, carrying his six-ringed staff and wish-fulfilling jewel. He advocates for the condemned and has vowed not to attain final buddhahood until every hell is empty. Karma continually produces new inhabitants. The hells will never be empty. He descends anyway.
Relationships
- Guarded by
- Serves
- Equivalent to
- Associated with