Hell 地獄

Translated into English as "hell" but literally refers to a prison in the bowels of the earth where it prisoners are subject to all kinds of torture as a result of their extensive evil activities in their prior life (such as violating the precepts 破戒). The original Indic terms of naraka and niraya (Sanskrit and Pali) are transliterated into Chinese as 奈落 (那落) and 泥黎 respectively. It is considered as one of the three evil destinies 三惡道 (三惡趣) five destinies 五趣, six destinies 六道, and ten realms 十界. The scriptures have extensive categories and lists of the hells, among the most well-known are the eight hot hells 八熱地獄 (八大地獄) and eight cold hells 八寒地獄 that extend between the sam!ji^va 等活 and avi^ci 阿鼻 hells, which are all part of the primary hells 根本地獄. These also have secondary, or adjacent hells attached to them. A third class of hells are the "isolated" hells 孤地獄 in the mountains, deserts, below and above the earth.

地獄，（界名）梵語曰那落迦Naraka，泥犁Niraya等。六道中最苦的地方，因其位置在地下，故名地獄，是譯義。凡所處的地方，只有苦受而沒有喜樂的環境，皆可比喻為地獄。

地獄有三類：

(一)    、根本地獄，有八熱地獄(八大地獄)及八寒地獄，是為十六大地獄。

(二)    、近邊地獄，即八熱四門的十六遊增地獄。（此依俱舍論若依智度論則以八寒水八炎火為近邊地獄）。

(三)    、孤獨地獄，在山間、曠野、樹下、水濱、空中等，場所無定，為各人別業所惑，因此苦報及壽命，亦各不同。

若論受苦，根本地獄最甚，近邊地獄次之，孤獨地獄又次之。