The Underworlds

wisely_xu SG

The Underworlds

Taoism divides the world into nine levels, which are called the Nine Realms. Each Realm can further de divided into four Realms, for a total of Thirty-Six Realms. Each Realm is governed by an Emperor of the Soil. The names of the Nine Realms are as follows:

Realm of Colourful Brilliance;
Realm of Diamond Brilliance;
Realm of Paraffin Brilliance;
Realm of Humid Brilliance; Realm of Golden Millet Brilliance;
Realm of Diamond and Iron Brilliance;
Realm of Water Brilliance;
Realm of Great Wind Brilliance;
Colourless Diamond-Link Realm of the Pervasive Abyss.

The underworld is dark and obscure. The netherworld cannot be entered by common people, but the soul of the dead must inevitably go there, unless it has become an Immortal. The Chinese call the place wher the sould of the dead go 'Supreme Yin'. The underworld is governed by the Five Lords of Yue, especially by the Lord of the Eastern Yue of Mt. Tai.

The Five Lords of Yue report to their superior - The Great Emperor of Fengdu. The netherworld is the location of hell, where the souls of sinners are locked up, as well as ghosts and goblins
In Hell, the 10 kings of the 10 courts of Hell are in charge of rewarding and punishing the souls. the 10 courts are under the rule of the Five Lords of Yue and the Great Emperor of Fengdu.

Cepat SG

Thought there is 18 levels of underworld?
Where is Zhong Kuei? Niu Tou Ma Mian? Nai He Qiao?

wisely_xu SG

zhong kuei, is a Taoist divine in hell, in charge of exorcist kind of issue.

niu tou ma mian, aka the horse face guard and bull's head guard are two hell guards in hell. sometimes, they are also the ones who escort souls to the underworld.

hell is only part of the whole underworld. hell is the suffering, torturing part of the underworld, aka netherworld, is a place for the dead(soul) to go after death. we still have the administrative part, the 10 courts, which is also in the underworld.

we also have the black and white guards or impermenences. whose job is something like the bull and horse guards.

nai he qiao, the bridge of river nai, is the begining stage of the underworld. what i posted is seeing the underworld in a bigger picture. we can go into details, but it can be complicated.

wei^yi SG

There are 3 main bridges leading to the neitherworld ...

The "nai he" bridge in the centre, and the "jin yin" (golden and silver) bridges on the sides ... Wink

water_rat SG

Netherworld is indeed quite scary...why got monster wan le??

also got nuns....hmmmm i mean ancient western people..!!!

Wonderin in netherworld...wisely XU.... HELp my questionS..Can???

water_rat SG

Wisely....... Rolling Eyes

Mr Xu....awaiting here Confused

wisely_xu SG

sorry for the late reply. i was in camp, so cant access the internet.

i dun really understand what 'monster' are you refering too.

in the netherworld, it is for the soul. and hell is within the netherworld, a place in it for souls who deserved to be punished.

the netherworld, similar to the celestial court and the mortal world, is well administrated with just, impartial and powerful divines. There are also compassion deities, who constantly try to bring salvation to the souls.

As for nuns, western ppl, hell or netherworld has no boundaries. It is just that due to cultural background, description of this place by diff culture, religion is slightly different.

There is yin and yang in the whole cosmic, there are righteous divines, from the vital breath of Tao, and we also have spirits who stray away from the way of Tao. Thus we have demons.

-mist- SG

hmmm seems beri nice can go into details? i will be a willing ear Laughing

wisely_xu SG

Well, generally in Taoism, we believe that there are spiritual forces(ling) everywhere and spirits, both good and bad is all around.

Taoism believes that it is the Tao, which is the source of the universe, give rises to all things. First, we have the ultimate one, the Tao, and only the superme Patriarch Tai shang laojun exists in the universe. Then the Tao splits into 2, yin and yang,and with this 2 powerful forces, many things are formed. Tai shang lao jun forms himself into 2 divines - heavenly lord of the primival and heavenly lord of the numinous treasure. Finally, the last stage, where all is done and the universe is formed, tai shang lao jun reappear as the 3rd divine.

After this, the 3 divines(three pure ones) using their vital breath forms many other heavenly and earthly divines, such as Jade Emperor, Three Divine Officials etc.. In the begining there is neither good nor bad, because of the forming of the cosmic, and the spliting of yin and yang, comparision, we have the dark side being formed. I mentioned earlier that there are spiritual forces in the whole cosmic, thus spirits can be form in the nature and some lean towards the opposite way of the Tao or the Yin side, then there are demons etc. Humans who practiced evil arts, magic will fall to the dark side too.

However, the Yin energy is NOT bad, neither Yang is good. both are merely energies that pushes the comsic moving.

water_rat SG

hmmm Rolling Eyes I see..so those are demons in' netherworld' yet is so huge,neither western or eastern!!! sound very interesting..anyone here,free must go visit hor..will terrified you for weeks..heehee

thanks wisely...and

Speaking of netherworld..

Buddhism's reincarnation beliefs in 'Beings after death..their next birth will be governed by last thought..karma etc

Taoism beliefs in 'beings after death must go thru netherworld for their judgement which governed for their next birth...

Years ago, heard tai uncle from netherworld said so all beings and unbeings ,Enligthen one or not,such progression is remain the same as in taoism's beliefs

Rolling Eyes Idea Idea Idea

lanman SG

intersting know where can i read up on english version ??

wisely_xu SG

hi. unfortunately, these information are gathered here and there by me from various sources, many which are in chinese and with limited vocab(blame on my lousy english haha Laughing ), i translate them in english and posted them here.

there are many versions. many which are folk tales. if you want orthodox taoism versions, you really need to search high and low for it.

but never mind, whatever i have, i will update in this forum to share.

cheers.
wisely

wisely_xu SG

The Great Emperor of Fengdu

Origin of the Great Lord of Fengdu:

The Great Lord of Fengdu is the divinity controlling hell and the dead. Feng refers to the Spirit state located at Guidi in the North, where the mountains are 2600 miles high and 30,000 miles in circumference. There are palaces for divinities and spirits respectively in both upper and lower sections of Fengdu. The six palaces of the upper section are used for the King of Spirits of northern Feng to deal with the guilty. All people come under the king's control after their death.
During the Southern and Northern dynasties, the King of northern Feng was known as the Northern Imperial Sovereign, or Northern Emperor, in short. In the Chart of the Ranks of the Perfect Souls, a Taoist scripture written by Tao Hongjing, a famous Daoist scholar during the Qi and Liang dynasties, the Great Lord of the Northern Fengdu Netherworld ranked in the middle of the lowest class, the seventh class.

The Ruler of Hell:

The Great Lord of Fengdu ranked in the highest class of divines in hell. In charge of all affairs of hell, he was known as the king of spirits. After people died, they went to hell. Their souls would be judged by the King of Spirits.

Normally, he discriminated between the souls according to evils done before they died. In the temples dedicated to the Great Lord of Fengdu, there used to be 75 offices which controlled affairs such as capturing and chasing spirits. If the living family members atoned for the soul's sins through ritual offerings, the Great Emperor of Fengdu might decide to pardon the sinners and send them to endure hardships. After that, the sinners went to heaven.

water_rat SG

Rolling Eyes
Idea Idea Idea

Troy437 SG

CNY talk about others topics leh...
Talk about sex is better than about afterlife during this few days...