Ebooks for the Classroom+Faculty

Buddhist Hell: Visions, Tours and Descriptions of the Infernal Otherworld
ISBN: 9781599101323
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Italica Press, Inc.
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Hell -- Buddhism;

There is a long tradition of Buddhist descriptions of hell, from the second century BCE until the twentieth century, stretching from Iran and India to China and Japan. These descriptions initially relied heavily on Hindu texts but developed their own distinctive features as elements from various cultural traditions were incorporated and as individuals sought to avoid hell by making additions to the text and then distributing copies freely as pious acts. This book includes twenty-two texts, a preface, introduction, glossary, notes and bibliography.