“I had a dream that an old dragon came to ask me to save him,” replied Taizong, “and I did in fact promise that he would come to no harm; but as it turned out his crime was a capital one, for which he was due to be beheaded by the minister in the personnel department, Wei Zheng. We summoned Wei Zheng to come and play chess in the palace, and I never knew that he had beheaded the dragon in a dream. This happened because that officer can come and go miraculously, and also because the dragon king had committed a crime for which he deserved to die. We were in no way to blame for his death.”
When the Ten Kings heard his statement they bowed and replied, “Even before that dragon was born it was written in the registers of the Southern Pole Star that he was destined to die at the hands of a personnel minister, as we have long been aware. But because he has been arguing about the matter we had to send for Your Majesty. When the case has been argued between the three orders we shall send him to the Revolving Prayer-wheel for reincarnation. We hope that Your Majesty will forgive us for forcing you to attend.” Then they ordered the judge in charge of the Registers of Birth and Death to fetch them at once to see how long His Majesty was due to live. Judge Cui hurried to his office and took down the general register of the lengths of the reigns Heaven had allowed to the kings of all the countries of the earth. As he was looking through it he saw to his horror that Emperor Taizong of the Great Tang in the Southern Jambu Continent was due to die in year 13 of his reign. He hurriedly seized a large brush soaked in ink, changed 13 into 33, then he handed the register up. The Ten Kings started at the beginning and read it through until they saw that Taizong was due to reign for thirty-three years.
“How long has Your Majesty been on the throne?” asked the shocked kings of hell.
“It is now thirteen years since my accession,” Taizong replied.
“Then there is no need for Your Majesty to worry,” said King Yama. “You have twenty years of life ahead of you. Now that you have answered these charges satisfactorily, will you please return to the World of Light.” On hearing this Taizong bowed and thanked the Ten Kings, who then ordered judge Cui and marshal Zhu to return Taizong his soul. As he was leaving the Senluo Palace Taizong raised his hand in salutation and asked the Ten Kings about the prospects for all the members of his family in his palace.
“Good,” they replied, “except that Your Majesty's younger sister does not seem to be going to live much longer.” Taizong bowed once more to express his thanks.
“When we return to the daylight we shall have nothing with which to show our gratitude except for fruit and melons.”
“We have gourds, Eastern melons and Western melons, or water-melons, here, but no pumpkins, no Southern melons,” said the Ten Kings.
“When we return to the world of the living we shall send some,” replied Taizong, and with that they raised their clasped hands to each other, bowed, and parted.
The marshal, with a soul-guiding flag in his hand, led the way, and Judge Cui followed with Taizong as they left the office of darkness. Taizong looked up and saw that they were not going the same way as they had come.
“Have we taken the wrong road?” he asked the judge, who replied, “No. In the underworld you can only go; you can never come back. We are now taking Your Majesty out through the Revolving Prayer-wheel; thus you will be able to tour the underworld on your way back to life.” Taizong had no choice but to follow them as they led the way.
After a mile or two he saw a high mountain wrapped in dark clouds down to its foot, while a black mist blotted out the sky.
“What's that mountain over there, Mr. Cui?” he asked; and the judge replied, “That is the Dark Mountain of the underworld.”
“However shall we cross it?” Taizong asked in terror.
“Have no fears, Your Majesty; your subjects will lead the way,” answered the judge. Taizong followed them shivering and trembling, and when they had climbed the mountain he looked around him. He saw that it was
Jagged,
Precipitous,
High as the Sichuan ranges,
Lofty as Lushan.
It is not a famous peak of the world of light,
But a crag of the underworld.
Ogres hidden in the clumps of thorns,
Evil monsters lurk behind the cliffs.
Your ears hear no calls of animals or birds,
The eyes can only see fiends.
A dark wind howls,
As black fog spreads.
The dark wind that howls
Is the smoke breathed from the mouths of magic soldiers;
The spreading black fog
Is the vapour belched out by hidden trolls.
Wherever you look the prospect is appalling;
All you can see to left or right is unbridled evil.
To be sure, there are hills,
Peaks,
Ranges,
Caves,
And gullies.
But no grass grows on the hills,
There is no sky for the peaks to touch.
No travelers cross the ranges,
The caves hold no clouds,
No water runs in the gullies.
Before the cliffs there are only goblins,
Below the ranges are trolls.
Savage ghosts shelter in the caves,
Evil spirits hide in the gullies.
All around the mountain
Ox-headed and horse-faced demons howl and roar;
Half hidden from view,
Hungry ghosts and desperate spirits sob to each other.
The judge who claims men's lives
Cannot wait to deliver the letter;
The marshal who chases souls,
Shouts and roars as he hastens along with his documents.
The swift-footed ones
Swirl along like a tornado;
The catchers of souls
Stand as thick as clouds.
Thanks entirely to the protection of the judge, Taizong crossed the Dark Mountain.
As they continued on their way they went past very many courts, and from each of them piteous sounds assailed his ear, while the evil ghouls there struck terror into his heart.
“What place is this?” asked Taizong.
“It is the eighteen layers of hell that lie behind the Dark Mountain,” the judge replied.
“What are the eighteen layers?” asked Taizong.
“Listen and I will tell you,” the judge replied.
“The Hanging-by-the-Sinews Hell, the Hell of Injustice, and the Hell of the Pit of Fire.
Loneliness and desolation,
Misery and suffering.
All those here committed the thousand lower sins,
And were sent here for punishment after death.
The Fengdu Hell, the Tongue-extraction Hell, the Flaying Helclass="underline"
Howling and wailing,
Terrible anguish.
They offended against Heaven by not being loyal or filial;
They have Buddha-mouths but snake hearts, so fell down here.
The Grinding Hell, the Pounding Hell, the Hell of Drawing and Quartering.
Skin and flesh ripped and torn,
Lips rubbed away till the teeth show.
In the blindness of their hearts they did evil things;
For all their fine words they harmed others in secret.
The Ice Hell, the Skin-shedding Hell, the Disemboweling Hell.
Filthy faces and matted hair,
Frowning foreheads and sad eyes.
They all used false measures to cheat the foolish,
Thus piling up disasters for themselves.
The Oil-cauldron Hell, the Hell of Blackness, the Hell of the Mountain of Knives.
Shivering and trembling,
In terrible agony;
Because they used violence against the good
They cower and hunch their shoulders in their suffering.
The Hell of the Pool of Blood, the Avichi Hell, the Hell of the Steelyard Beam,
Where skin is pulled away from the bone,
Arms are broken and tendons cut.