Open Collections

UBC Community, Partners, and Alumni Publications

The Hell Tableau (地獄變), Niche 20, Baodingshan Dafowan Rock Carvings (寶頂山大佛灣摩崖造像) – Hell scenes (upper layer 2) Anderl, Christoph; Yu, Sau Ling Wendy

Description

Baodingshan Dafowan Rock Carvings (寶頂山大佛灣摩崖造像) is situated in Baoding Town (寶頂鎮), Dazu District (大足區), Chongqing (重慶). The site contains 32 rock carving niches dated to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279 CE). This niche depicts a complex Hell Tableau (地獄變) illustration in four layers. The upper layer contains a line of ten Buddha images representing the Buddhas of the Ten Directions. The middle layer has Kṣitigarbha (Dizang Bodhisattva, 地藏菩薩) flanked by the Ten Kings (shi wang, 十王), who are in charge of the Hells and their attendants. The bottom two layers depict the punishment scenes of the eighteen hells. The third layer of the tableau consists of ten groups of punishment scenes representing ten hells, based on the texts in the Verses of the Transformation Tableau of the Hell (Diyu bian jingwen ji song, 地獄變經文偈頌). The ten hells, from left to right, are as follows: (1) Sword Mountain Hell 刀山地獄, (2) Boiling Cauldron Hell 鑊湯地獄, (3) Freezing Ice Hell 寒冰地獄, (4) Sword Tree Hell 劍樹地獄, (5) Tongue Extraction Hell 拔舌地獄, (6) Poisonous Snake Hell 毒蛇地獄, (7) Hell of Cutting and Grinding 剉碓地獄, (8) Hell of Being Sawn into Pieces 鋸解地獄, (9) Iron Bed Hell 鐵床地獄, and (10) Hell of Darkness 黑暗地獄. Each scene is engraved with verses containing the name of a specific Buddha or bodhisattva that one must recite to avoid being sent to that particular hell. Descriptions of the photos: Key to the scenes [Image 01, Image 02]. Overview of the first four hell scenes [Image 03]. Overview of the last six hell scenes [Image 04]. Inscriptions of the Tongue Extraction Hell and Poisonous Snake Hell [Image 05, Image 06]. Inscriptions of the Hell of Being Sawn into Pieces and Iron Bed Hell with an image of a karma mirror [Image 07]. Inscriptions of the Hell of Cutting and Grinding [Image 08]. Hell of Cutting and Grinding [Image 09]. Hell of Being Sawn into Pieces [Image 10]. Hell of Cutting and Grinding and Hell of Being Sawn into Pieces [Image 11]. Iron Bed Hell [Image 12, Image 13]. Hell of Darkness [Image 14 to Image 16]. Metadata created by: Sau Ling Wendy Yu.

Item Metadata

Title
The Hell Tableau (地獄變), Niche 20, Baodingshan Dafowan Rock Carvings (寶頂山大佛灣摩崖造像) – Hell scenes (upper layer 2)
Creator
Anderl, Christoph; Yu, Sau Ling Wendy
Contributor
From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)
Date Issued
2016-11-01
Description
Baodingshan Dafowan Rock Carvings (寶頂山大佛灣摩崖造像) is situated in Baoding Town (寶頂鎮), Dazu District (大足區), Chongqing (重慶). The site contains 32 rock carving niches dated to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279 CE). This niche depicts a complex Hell Tableau (地獄變) illustration in four layers. The upper layer contains a line of ten Buddha images representing the Buddhas of the Ten Directions. The middle layer has Kṣitigarbha (Dizang Bodhisattva, 地藏菩薩) flanked by the Ten Kings (shi wang, 十王), who are in charge of the Hells and their attendants. The bottom two layers depict the punishment scenes of the eighteen hells. The third layer of the tableau consists of ten groups of punishment scenes representing ten hells, based on the texts in the Verses of the Transformation Tableau of the Hell (Diyu bian jingwen ji song, 地獄變經文偈頌). The ten hells, from left to right, are as follows: (1) Sword Mountain Hell 刀山地獄, (2) Boiling Cauldron Hell 鑊湯地獄, (3) Freezing Ice Hell 寒冰地獄, (4) Sword Tree Hell 劍樹地獄, (5) Tongue Extraction Hell 拔舌地獄, (6) Poisonous Snake Hell 毒蛇地獄, (7) Hell of Cutting and Grinding 剉碓地獄, (8) Hell of Being Sawn into Pieces 鋸解地獄, (9) Iron Bed Hell 鐵床地獄, and (10) Hell of Darkness 黑暗地獄. Each scene is engraved with verses containing the name of a specific Buddha or bodhisattva that one must recite to avoid being sent to that particular hell. Descriptions of the photos: Key to the scenes [Image 01, Image 02]. Overview of the first four hell scenes [Image 03]. Overview of the last six hell scenes [Image 04]. Inscriptions of the Tongue Extraction Hell and Poisonous Snake Hell [Image 05, Image 06]. Inscriptions of the Hell of Being Sawn into Pieces and Iron Bed Hell with an image of a karma mirror [Image 07]. Inscriptions of the Hell of Cutting and Grinding [Image 08]. Hell of Cutting and Grinding [Image 09]. Hell of Being Sawn into Pieces [Image 10]. Hell of Cutting and Grinding and Hell of Being Sawn into Pieces [Image 11]. Iron Bed Hell [Image 12, Image 13]. Hell of Darkness [Image 14 to Image 16]. Metadata created by: Sau Ling Wendy Yu.
Subject
Dazu; Baodingshan; Buddhist art; Rock carving; Buddha; Ksitigarbha; Dizang; Ten Kings; Hell
Geographic Location
Chongqing (China); Dazu Qu (Chongqing, China); 29.75437; 105.794066
Type
Still Image
Language
chi
Notes
Author Affiliation: Ghent University, University of Hong Kong
Series
Cluster 3.4: Typologies of Text-Image Relations
Date Available
2024-04-23
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0441482
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87943
Affiliation
Non UBC
Peer Review Status
Unreviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

Item Media

Item Citations and Data

Rights

Attribution 4.0 International