Narakas

Naraka (Sanskrit: नरक) or Niraya (Pāli: निरय) is a term usually called 'hell' or purgatory in English

A being is born into a Naraka as a result of his or her accumulated actions (karma) and stays there for a period of time until that karma has achieved its full result.

After his or her karma is used up, he or she will be reborn in one of the higher worlds.

Physically, Narakas are thought of as a series of cavernous layers which extend below Jambudvīpa (the ordinary human world) into the earth.

A Naraka differs from the hell of Christianity in two ways:
1. beings are not sent to Naraka as the result of a divine judgment and punishment
2. the length of a being's stay in a Naraka is not eternal, though it is usually very long.

In the Devaduta Sutta, the 130th discourse of Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha teaches about hell in vivid detail

The Abhidharma-kosa (Treasure House of Higher Knowledge) is the root text that describes the most common scheme, the Eight Cold Narakas and Eight Hot Narakas

COLD NARAKAS

Arbuda, the "blister" Naraka, is a dark, frozen plain surrounded by icy mountains and continually swept by blizzards. Inhabitants of this world arise fully grown and abide lifelong naked and alone, while the cold raises blisters upon their bodies.

Nirarbuda, the "burst blister" Naraka, is even colder than Arbuda. There, the blisters burst open, leaving the beings' bodies covered with frozen blood and pus

Aṭaṭa is the "shivering" Naraka. There, beings shiver in the cold, making an aṭ-aṭ-aṭ sound with their mouths.

Hahava is the "lamentation" Naraka. There, the beings lament in the cold, going haa, haa in pain

Huhuva, the "chattering teeth" Naraka, is where beings shiver as their teeth chatter, making the sound hu, hu

Utpala is the "blue lotus" Naraka. The intense cold there makes the skin turn blue like the colour of an utpala waterlily

Padma , the "lotus" Naraka, has blizzards that cracks open frozen skin, leaving one raw and bloody.

HOT NARAKAS

• Some sources describe five hundred or even hundreds of thousands of different Narakas.
• The sufferings of the dwellers in Naraka often look like the Pretas, and the two types of being are easily confused. Beings in Naraka are confined to their subterranean world, while the Pretas are free to move about.

Sañjīva, the "reviving" Naraka, has ground made of hot iron heated by an immense fire. Beings in this Naraka appear fully grown, already in a state of fear and misery. As soon as the being begins to fear being harmed by others, their fellows appear and attack each other with iron claws and hell guards appear and attack the being with fiery weapons..

Kālasūtra, the "black thread" Naraka, includes the torments of Sañjīva. In addition, black lines are drawn upon the body, which hell guards use as guides to cut the beings with fiery saws and sharp axes

Saṃghāta, the "crushing" Naraka, is surrounded by huge masses of rock that smash together and crush the beings to a bloody jelly. When the rocks move apart again, life is restored to the being and the process starts again

Raurava, the "screaming" Naraka, is where beings run wildly about, looking for refuge from the burning ground. When they find an apparent shelter, they are locked inside it as it blazes around them, while they scream inside.

Mahāraurava, the "great screaming" Naraka, is similar to Raurava.Punishment here is for people who maintain their own body by hurting others. In this hell, ruru animals known as kravyāda torment them and eat their flesh.

Tapana is the "heating" Naraka, where hell guards impale beings on a fiery spear until flames issue from their noses and mouths

Pratāpana, the "great heating" Naraka. The tortures here are similar to the Tapana Naraka, but the beings are pierced more bloodily with a trident.

Avīci is the "uninterrupted" Naraka. Beings are roasted in an immense blazing oven with terrible suffering

Untitled Slide