Yen-lo, King of the Dead

King Yen-lo, it is said, maintains the Records of Life and Death, in which are set out each person's allotted life-span. When it comes time for a person to die, a little ghost is sent to drag back his spirit, in chains, across the Nai-ho Bridge into Yen-lo's palace for judgment. If the spirit accumulated virtue in his past life, Yen-lo will send him to the Western Paradise or have him reincarnated as a high official, with lots of filial offspring. If his life was evil, he will be punished according to his sins--slanderers having their tongues cut out, thieves and cheaters being boiled in oil--or reincarnated as a dog or pig to work out his karma.

Despite his importance in the Chinese cosmology, Yen-lo's origins are evidently not Chinese, but Indian. His name is a transliteration of the Sanskrit "Yama." According to the Wen ti-yu ching, or The Sutra Asking About the Nether World, before he became the Lord of Hades Yama was the King of Vaisali. When he was defeated by another king in battle he swore to become the ruler of the underworld instead.

Another tradition holds that Yama has a wife, or sister some say, named Yami, who rules the underworld with him. Yet another says there are actually four Yama's, or five, counting Yami.

While the records are scattered and incomplete, it is clear that the tradition of Lord Yama came to China with the introduction of Buddhism during the third to sixth centuries A.D. At the same time, the kings of the underworld multiplied to ten, and hell was divided into 18 levels.

Why 18? Buddhism holds that the roots of desire lie in the six organs of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, while each desire can be perverted in three ways, by greed, anger, or folly. There are thus 18 ways of creating bad karma, with a level in hell assigned to each.

One of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the Ten Kings of Hades and the Eighteen Levels appears in the early chapters of the 15th-century novel Journey to the West, by Wu Ch'eng-en. The stories of Wei Cheng killing the dragon in his dream, the descent of the Emperor T'ai Tsung of the T'ang dynasty to Hades, Judge Ts'ui altering the Records of Life and Death, and T'ai Tsung's return to the living world had a widespread and lasting influence on the popular conception of the underworld.

Broadly speaking, the Ten Kings are all commonly called King Yen-lo, but Yen-lo actually is king only of the fifth of the ten courts of hell--the others each have their own names. Their titles and duties are as follows:

The first king is Ch'in-kuang. He takes care of the spirits of the virtuous, and appoints guardians to escort them across the Golden Bridge to the Western Paradise.

The second king is Ch'u-chiang. In his court are three levels. In one are cut out the tongues of slanderers and litigators. In another the fingers are chopped off of those who incited wives to remarry. In the third is an iron tree, from which those who sowed dissension are hanged.

The third court belongs to King Sung-ti and contains two levels. In one is a mirror that reflects at a glance the sins of those who harmed others and were unwilling to confess. In the other, gossips and slanderers are steamed in wicker steamers.

The three levels of the fourth court are presided over by King Wu-kuan. In the first, murderers and brigands are tied to a bronze pole filled with fire. The second contains Blade Mountain. Here those who blasphemed the Buddha or wantonly killed living creatures are forced to climb naked up a mountain of innumerable sharp swords. Punished in the last level, the hell of freezing cold, are husband-killers, adulterers, the unfilial, and those who urged others to gamble.

King Yen-lo oversees the fifth court and its cauldron of boiling oil, in which are steeped thieves, robbers, cheaters, false accusers, seducers, and their accomplices in evil.

The sixth court, that of King Pien ch'eng, has two levels. In one, those who strangled people or murdered children are pressed to death under a giant boulder. In the other, those who wasted grain or complained about their food are pestled in a huge mortar.

King T'ai-shan supervises the three levels of the seventh court. Thrust into the Pool of Blood are nuns who broke their vows, young ladies who were unfilial toward their mother-in-laws or unchaste, and those who forced good women into prostitution or mistreated foster children. Suicides are punished in the second level, the City of Wrongful Death.

The eighth court, King P'ing-teng's, has two levels. Fire Mountain consumes Buddhist and Taoist priests who drank liquor, embezzlers of public funds, and those who set fire to mountainsides. In the other level, priests who became thieves or brigands and those who killed animals are ground into meat sauce.

King Tu-shih rules the ninth court, the Hell of Knives and Saws. Kidnappers and dishonest merchants are here hacked and sawed to bits, while hunters are eaten by tigers.

The last court belongs to King Chuanlun, or King of the Wheel of Transmigration. Here those who harmed animals are reincarnated as animals themselves, while murderers are deprived of the right to be reborn at all.

Some of the punishments may seem rather excessive in proportion to the sins, such as those for wasters of grain, inciters to gambling, or grumblers at mealtime, but according to the records, King Yen-lo himself is not all that hard-hearted a fellow. He even tries to console the spirits in Hell by occasionally chanting to them a fortifying gatha:

You were given a human body but failed to cultivate the Way;

It's as if you entered Treasure Mountain and came back empty-handed.

Now you're getting paid back in your own coin,

So what's the use in crying out your woes?

And a story in one of the Indian epics has him going personally to fetch the dying Prince Satyavan. He explained to the prince's widow that he had heard what a good man the prince was, so he wanted to come himself instead of sending a subordinate.

How touched the widow was by this mark of respect is not recorded.

[Picture Caption]

Niu-t'ou, or Oxhead, keeps order in Yen-lo's court, along with Ma-mien, or Horseface.

Black Wu-ch'ang, shown here, and his counterpart White Wu-ch'ang escort souls before Yen-lo for judgment.

(Above) The imperial envoys of Hades prepare the way for Taipei's city god.

An infernal scene.

Some of the fearful instruments of torture used in the underworld.

The fantastic painter Wu Chih-ch'iang used crayons to draw his 1980 picture "The Great Judgment." (photo courtesy of Wu Chih-ch'iang)

（Above） The imperial envoys of Hades prepare the way for Taipei's city god.

Niu-t'ou, or Oxhead, keeps order in Yen-lo's court, along with Ma-mien, or Horseface.

Black Wu-ch'ang, shown here, and his counterpart White Wu-ch'ang escort souls before Yen-lo for judgment.

An infernal scene.

Some of the fearful instruments of torture used in the underworld.

The fantastic painter Wu Chih-ch'iang used crayons to draw his 1980 picture "The Great Judgment." （photo courtesy of Wu Chih-ch'iang）