Canonical Classics ← 第十一回
第十一回
yóutàizōnghuánhún
jìnguāguǒliúquánpèi

Touring the Underworld, Taizong Returns to Life · Presenting Melons and Fruit, Liu Quan Renews the Marriage Bond

十八獄
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional 含詞賦 With rhapsody

十八獄 The Roll of the Eighteen Hells

diàojīnyōuwǎnghuǒkēngliáoliáofánfánnǎonǎojìnjiēshìshēngqiánzuòxiàqiānbānhòutōngláishòuzuìmíngdiàojīnyōuwǎnghuǒkēngliáoliáofánfánnǎonǎojìnjiēshìshēngqiánzuòxiàqiānbānhòutōngláishòuzuìmíng
fēngshécǎncǎnzhǐyīnzhōngxiàoshāngtiānkǒushéxīnduòménfēngshécǎncǎnzhǐyīnzhōngxiàoshāngtiānkǒushéxīnduòmén
áiduìdǎochēbēngkāiròuzhànzuǐnǎishìmánxīnmèigōngdàoqiǎohuāyánànsǔnrénáiduìdǎochēbēngkāiròuzhànzuǐnǎishìmánxīnmèigōngdàoqiǎohuāyánànsǔnrén
hánbīngtuōchōuchánggòumiànpéngtóuchóuméizhòuyǎndōushìdòuxiǎochèngchīchǔnzhì使shǐzāitúnlèishēnhánbīngtuōchōuchánggòumiànpéngtóuchóuméizhòuyǎndōushìdòuxiǎochèngchīchǔnzhì使shǐzāitúnlèishēn
yóuguōhēiàndāoshānzhànzhànjīngjīngbēibēiqièqièjiēyīnqiángbàoliángshàncángtóusuōjǐnglíngdīngyóuguōhēiàndāoshānzhànzhànjīngjīngbēibēiqièqièjiēyīnqiángbàoliángshàncángtóusuōjǐnglíngdīng
xuèchíāchènggāntuōzhéduànjīnzhǐwèimóucáihàimìngzǎichùshēngduòluòqiānniánnánjiěshìchénlúnyǒngshìfānshēnxuèchíāchènggāntuōzhéduànjīnzhǐwèimóucáihàimìngzǎichùshēngduòluòqiānniánnánjiěshìchénlúnyǒngshìfānshēn
jǐnláoshuānshéngchánsuǒbǎngjǐnláoshuānshéngchánsuǒbǎng
chāixiēchìguǐhēiliǎnguǐchángqiāngduǎnjiànchāixiēchìguǐhēiliǎnguǐchángqiāngduǎnjiàn
niútóuguǐmiànguǐtiějiǎntóngchuízhǐdezhòuméimiànxuèlínlínjiàojiàotiānjiùyìngniútóuguǐmiànguǐtiějiǎntóngchuízhǐdezhòuméimiànxuèlínlínjiàojiàotiānjiùyìng

逐句解 Line by line

diàojīnyōuwǎnghuǒkēngliáoliáofánfánnǎonǎojìnjiēshìshēngqiánzuòxiàqiānbānhòutōngláishòuzuìmíng diàojīnyōuwǎnghuǒkēngliáoliáofánfánnǎonǎojìnjiēshìshēngqiánzuòxiàqiānbānhòutōngláishòuzuìmíng

The Hell of Hung Sinews, the Hell of Dark Injustice, the Hell of the Fire-Pit — silent and forlorn, fretful and anguished: all who are here wrought a thousand evils in life, and after death come hither to bear the name of the guilty.

吊筋 'hung by the sinews'; 幽枉 'dark wrong,' for the unjustly condemned. 業 (yè) karmic deeds. jìn.

fēngshécǎncǎnzhǐyīnzhōngxiàoshāngtiānkǒushéxīnduòmén fēngshécǎncǎnzhǐyīnzhōngxiàoshāngtiānkǒushéxīnduòmén

The Hell of Fengdu, the Hell of Tongue-Pulling, the Hell of Flaying — sobbing and wailing, wretched and grievous: only for the unfaithful and unfilial, who wounded the bonds of Heaven, and the Buddha-mouthed but serpent-hearted, who fall through this gate.

酆都 . 拔舌 tongue-extraction, the punishment for the slanderer. 佛口蛇心 'a Buddha's mouth and a serpent's heart,' hypocrisy; .

áiduìdǎochēbēngkāiròuzhànzuǐnǎishìmánxīnmèigōngdàoqiǎohuāyánànsǔnrén áiduìdǎochēbēngkāiròuzhànzuǐnǎishìmánxīnmèigōngdàoqiǎohuāyánànsǔnrén

The Hell of the Grinding-Mill, the Hell of the Pestle-Pound, the Hell of the Rending Cart — skin split and flesh burst, mouths agape and teeth bared: these are they who cheated their own hearts against all justice, and with honeyed words and flowery speech did men secret harm.

碓搗 pounding in a mortar; 車崩 dismemberment by cart. 瞞心昧己 'to deceive the heart and blind the self.'

hánbīngtuōchōuchánggòumiànpéngtóuchóuméizhòuyǎndōushìdòuxiǎochèngchīchǔnzhì使shǐzāitúnlèishēn hánbīngtuōchōuchánggòumiànpéngtóuchóuméizhòuyǎndōushìdòuxiǎochèngchīchǔnzhì使shǐzāitúnlèishēn

The Hell of Frozen Ice, the Hell of Shell-Stripping, the Hell of Gut-Drawing — grimed of face and matted of hair, brows knit and eyes drawn tight: all are those who with big measures and small scales cheated the simple, and so drew calamity down upon themselves.

大斗小秤 'a large peck and a small scale,' the fraud of the dishonest merchant. here dōu, 'all.' 屯 (tún) hardship.

yóuguōhēiàndāoshānzhànzhànjīngjīngbēibēiqièqièjiēyīnqiángbàoliángshàncángtóusuōjǐnglíngdīng yóuguōhēiàndāoshānzhànzhànjīngjīngbēibēiqièqièjiēyīnqiángbàoliángshàncángtóusuōjǐnglíngdīng

The Hell of the Oil-Cauldron, the Hell of Utter Darkness, the Hell of the Knife-Mountain — trembling and quaking, grieving and sorrowing: all because they used force and violence to crush the good and gentle, and now, heads tucked and necks drawn in, suffer alone and forlorn.

刀山 the mountain of blades. 強暴 qiáng, violent oppression. cáng; 伶仃 (líng dīng) solitary and helpless.

xuèchíāchènggāntuōzhéduànjīnzhǐwèimóucáihàimìngzǎichùshēngduòluòqiānniánnánjiěshìchénlúnyǒngshìfānshēn xuèchíāchènggāntuōzhéduànjīnzhǐwèimóucáihàimìngzǎichùshēngduòluòqiānniánnánjiěshìchénlúnyǒngshìfānshēn

The Hell of the Blood-Pool, the Avīci Hell, the Hell of the Scale-Beam — skin peeled and bone laid bare, arms broken and sinews snapped: all only for plotting after wealth and taking life, for slaughtering beasts and butchering the living — fallen a thousand years with no release, sunk for all eternity, never to rise again.

阿鼻 (ā bí) Avīci, the deepest and unremitting hell. here wèi, 'for the sake of.' 宰畜 zǎi chù, to slaughter livestock. nán.

jǐnláoshuānshéngchánsuǒbǎng jǐnláoshuānshéngchánsuǒbǎng

One and all bound fast and tightly fettered, wound with cords and lashed with ropes.

一個個 'each and every one'; before a fourth tone.

chāixiēchìguǐhēiliǎnguǐchángqiāngduǎnjiàn chāixiēchìguǐhēiliǎnguǐchángqiāngduǎnjiàn

They dispatch red-haired ghosts and black-faced ghosts, with long spears and short swords;

chāi, 'to dispatch.' 長槍 cháng qiāng, long spear.

niútóuguǐmiànguǐtiějiǎntóngchuízhǐdezhòuméimiànxuèlínlínjiàojiàotiānjiùyìng niútóuguǐmiànguǐtiějiǎntóngchuízhǐdezhòuméimiànxuèlínlínjiàojiàotiānjiùyìng

Ox-Head ghosts and Horse-Face ghosts, with iron truncheons and copper mallets: they beat until brows furrow and faces contort and blood runs streaming, while the tormented cry to earth and cry to Heaven with none to answer.

鐵簡 iron tallies wielded as bludgeons; 銅鎚 copper mallets. 打得 resultative de. 救應 jiù yìng, 'to answer a cry for help'; yìng.


總評 Commentary

The catalogue of hells is a moral inventory as much as a topography: each triad of prisons is matched to a class of sin — disloyalty and unfiliality, fraud in the marketplace, violence against the weak, the taking of life. The rhetoric is relentlessly parallel, heaping name upon name and torment upon torment, so that the passage reads as a versified penal code. Its targets are pointedly ordinary — cheating shopkeepers with their false measures, hypocrites of 'a Buddha's mouth and a serpent's heart' — bringing the terrors of the deepest Avīci to bear on the everyday betrayals of the living.