Hell or di yu

On the last day of school a couple of weeks ago, a conversation with my colleagues drifted to 地狱 (di yu) or hell. My friends joked that hell would be a fun place since Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson will be there and it'd be interesting with all these colourful characters around to entertain everyone. We can drink and booze and merriment will be the key word. Then one of them said that when we 'conk' out, I'd be asking to borrow their hell notes since they label as 'the fear God type'. I took it in good humour their pokes at me but also told them that that is not my destination....

Anyway, I started asking them to educate me on what they perceived as hell... as usual, no answer. These days, I no longer am surprised that people actually understand very little of what they believe in... so I did the next best thing. I Googled it. LOL!

There are different levels (courts) of hell in Taoist belief. No exact figure is known though since different recounts gave different numbers. Each court (or level of hell) punishes different wrongs. The really harsh punishments are meted by the different fierce looking deities. This is like purgatory. You get punished or renewed till finally you get reincarnated.... either as an animal or a poor or sick person where you will continue to be punished. I get the impression that things don't get any better. So nothingness probably means release from the vicious cycle.

The punishment cycle doesn't seem to end until you reach tao... akin to the dharma decides the karma concept. And nothingness.... although it is said that the goal is to be an Ancestor (remember the Ancestors in Mulan?). Ancestors are supposed to do good for their descendents.... you'll understand better if you watch Mulan.

Anyway, the more I read the more confused I got cos it seems to imply that all the poor people around are bad (evil) incarnate. And if you are sick person, it means that you are being punished for your bad deeds in the life before. Does that mean that if you are rich, you were better in your previous life? Or are all rich people good? Gosh! The world then must be full of bad people cos out of the 6 billion people that means 1.4 billion people are reincarnate of bad selves. Poverty level is set at $1.25 (about RM4) a day. But of course if you in inflation and rise of energy costs, etc, etc... more than 1.4 billion would fall into this hardcore poor. That's more than 1 in 6 bad people. And if you use the same statistics to gauge the better people.... there are very few good people in this world which are reincarnate of their old good self. Confusing???

Anyway, if the reincarnation principle works, then the world should be rid of all the bad people by now since all the bad guys would either be too sick, poor or are somewhere waiting to be slaughtered or killed as food. And theoretically, the world as we know it now should be better than before.

Now, from a historical perspective, these terms - medium, shaman, oracle, emperor.... these are important people in the hierarchy of Taoism. Very often we hear of mediums being called to make divination between the dead and living. The shaman would travel into the after life to seek answers. The oracle speaks the words from the spirits. In Form 4, our kids learn about the oracle bones in the history... Through these oracles, stability is actually perpetuated cos all the edicts are supposed to be divine. Only the Emperor can communicate with the Tao. There, you have it. Legitimacy of the throne via heavenly endorsement. This is better than legitimizing your power via force. I suspect the thinkers of the day, came up with Taoism in part to create stability and legitimacy to their rule. But today, Taoism, Confuciusnism and Buddhism are so intertwined that I have problems trying to understand them individually.

Used to be just the oral traditions and books we depended on. The internet has opened up possibilities of knowledge... But beliefs are like harta pusaka. We seem to inherit it. We follow because it's our way of life, maybe the only life that we've known. Sometimes because it's more convenient. Could be to satisfy a conscience too. Sometimes we turn our back on it when its system of beliefs become too cumbersome. So, if it's into the streets of paved gold in heaven we are led, then well and good. But if it's the courts of punishments in di yu, then it'll be the beginning to no a long end... cos the punishment cycle ends when you reach tao and only then you cease to exist... the effort to be good is so that you will cease to exist. Doomed either way?

And to get out, one way is through your descendants' prayers.... salvation is dependent on your children and their children... This enforces filial piety. The thinkers of days of old were wise enough to realise that filial piety is something that must be demanded. I've come to realization that children very easily turn their backs on their parents these days... nothing new actually. It's easier these days because life is better and we seem more inclined towards ourselves.

But then too what about those ancestors that we left behind in China. There have no hope? By the second generation, ties become loose.... Or maybe, like one of my friends believe... we end (as in full stop, period) the day we kick the bucket. Anyway, hell bent... is that why we burn hell notes for our dead? Subconsciously many of us feel that hell is where we are heading..... ????

Me? I think I'll continue to leave my harta pusaka and hinge my hope in my faith. Heaven is a more comforting thought!