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151-538: A being is born into naraka as a direct result of its accumulated actions ( karma ) and resides there for a finite period of time until that karma has achieved its full result. After its karma is used up, it will be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of karma that had not yet ripened. The eight hot naraka appear in Jātaka texts and form the basis of the hell system in Mahayana Buddhism , according to them

302-464: A nucleus that has a vowel (which can be a monophthong , diphthong , or even a triphthong in certain varieties), preceded by an onset (a single consonant , or consonant + glide ; a zero onset is also possible), and followed (optionally) by a coda consonant; a syllable also carries a tone . There are some instances where a vowel is not used as a nucleus. An example of this is in Cantonese, where

453-457: A subject–verb–object word order , and like many other languages of East Asia, makes frequent use of the topic–comment construction to form sentences. Chinese also has an extensive system of classifiers and measure words , another trait shared with neighboring languages such as Japanese and Korean. Other notable grammatical features common to all the spoken varieties of Chinese include the use of serial verb construction , pronoun dropping , and

604-731: A "Chapter on Hell" (dìyù pǐn 地獄品 ) within the Scripture of the Account of the World (shìjì jīng 世記經 ). In this text, the Buddha describes to the sangha each of the hells in great detail, beginning with their physical location and names: 佛告比丘: 「此四天下有八千天下圍遶其外.復有大海水周匝圍遶八千天下.復有大金剛山遶大海水.金剛山外復有第二大金剛山.二山中間窈窈冥冥.日月神天有大威力.不能以光照及於彼.彼有八大地獄.其一地獄有十六小地獄.第一大地獄名想.第二名黑繩.第三名堆壓.第四名叫喚.第五名大叫喚.第六名燒炙.第七名大燒炙.第八名無間.其想地獄有十六小獄.小獄縱廣五百由旬.第一小獄名曰黑沙.二名沸屎.三名五百丁.四名飢.五名渴.六名一銅釜.七名多銅釜.八名石磨.九名膿血.十名量火.十一名灰河.十二名鐵丸.十三名釿斧.十四名犲狼.十五名劍樹.十六名寒氷. The Buddha told

755-505: A Chinese character is the morpheme, as characters represent the smallest grammatical units with individual meanings in the Chinese language. Estimates of the total number of Chinese words and lexicalized phrases vary greatly. The Hanyu Da Zidian , a compendium of Chinese characters, includes 54,678 head entries for characters, including oracle bone versions. The Zhonghua Zihai (1994) contains 85,568 head entries for character definitions and

906-595: A Shanghai resident may speak both Standard Chinese and Shanghainese ; if they grew up elsewhere, they are also likely fluent in the dialect of their home region. In addition to Standard Chinese, a majority of Taiwanese people also speak Taiwanese Hokkien (also called 台語 ; 'Taiwanese' ), Hakka , or an Austronesian language . A speaker in Taiwan may mix pronunciations and vocabulary from Standard Chinese and other languages of Taiwan in everyday speech. In part due to traditional cultural ties with Guangdong , Cantonese

1057-647: A blazing floor on which iron hooks are attached. As they cry out in agony the demons put bow-string shaped worms inside the sinners body. This worm burns the inside of their body and devours the innards while it excretes poison that causes excruciating pain. After this procedure it cracks open a hole in the body and slithers out. Another hell that can be found here is the Place of Painful Hair. Women who have attempted to beguile monks into sexual temptation. Such women are made to suffer by having their skin pared off by demons until only her bones remain. The skin recovers again and this

1208-462: A central variety (i.e. prestige variety, such as Standard Mandarin), as the issue requires some careful handling when mutual intelligibility is inconsistent with language identity. The Chinese government's official Chinese designation for the major branches of Chinese is 方言 ; fāngyán ; 'regional speech', whereas the more closely related varieties within these are called 地点方言 ; 地點方言 ; dìdiǎn fāngyán ; 'local speech'. Because of

1359-419: A cliff, ending up being consumed by birds with flaming beaks and foxes. Raurava ( Sanskrit : रौरव ; Chinese : 叫喚地獄 ; pinyin : Jiàohuàn Dìyù ; Japanese : 叫 （ きょう ） 喚 （ かん ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Kyōkan Jigoku ), the "Screaming" Naraka , is where beings screaming run wildly about, looking for refuge from

1510-597: A compromise between the pronunciations of different regions. The royal courts of the Ming and early Qing dynasties operated using a koiné language known as Guanhua , based on the Nanjing dialect of Mandarin. Standard Chinese is an official language of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan), one of the four official languages of Singapore , and one of

1661-700: A corresponding increase in the number of homophones . As an example, the small Langenscheidt Pocket Chinese Dictionary lists six words that are commonly pronounced as shí in Standard Chinese: In modern spoken Mandarin, however, tremendous ambiguity would result if all of these words could be used as-is. The 20th century Yuen Ren Chao poem Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den exploits this, consisting of 92 characters all pronounced shi . As such, most of these words have been replaced in speech, if not in writing, with less ambiguous disyllabic compounds. Only

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1812-425: A dharma of "possession" ( prapti ), which functions with all karmic acts, so that each act or thought, though immediately passing away, creates the "possession" of that act in the continuum of instants we experience as a person. This possession itself is momentary, but continually reproduces a similar possession in the succeeding instant, even though the original act lies in the past. Through such continual regeneration,

1963-517: A dharma or existent factor itself, leaves a residual impression in the succeeding series of mental instants, causing it to undergo a process of subtle evolution eventually leading to the act’s result. Good and bad deeds performed are thus said to leave "seeds" or traces of disposition that will come to fruition. In the Theravāda Abhidhamma and commentarial traditions, karma is taken up at length. The Abhidhamma Sangaha of Anuruddhācariya offers

2114-486: A human on earth, while bad actions cause a rebirth as an animal, a hungry ghost, or in hell. In the Kathāvatthu , one of the earliest Buddhist writings written around 250—100 BCE, a version of hell is fully developed, described, and discussed. It is probably one of the earliest religious works offering a presentation of hell imagery. It discusses related topics such as whether hell is the result of particular bad actions or

2265-416: A hundred thousand thunders that attract iron balls from the sky. Other animals that reside here are worms that spew fire. Another description of this hell is that there are flames everywhere that pierce, burn, sever the tendons and crack the bodies of those residing there. There is nothing but flames and the only signal that there are beings existing within it are the screams. All beings are forced to climb up

2416-564: A millennium. The Four Commanderies of Han were established in northern Korea in the 1st century BCE but disintegrated in the following centuries. Chinese Buddhism spread over East Asia between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, and with it the study of scriptures and literature in Literary Chinese. Later, strong central governments modeled on Chinese institutions were established in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, with Literary Chinese serving as

2567-458: A role in the theory of rebirth of earliest Buddhism, noting that "the karma doctrine may have been incidental to early Buddhist soteriology." Langer notes that originally karma may have been only one of several concepts connected with rebirth. Tillman Vetter notes that in early Buddhism rebirth is ascribed to craving or ignorance. Buswell too notes that "Early Buddhism does not identify bodily and mental motion, but desire (or thirst, trsna ), as

2718-506: A scorching hot iron mountain. Additional sufferings consist of pulling out the tongues and letting them swallow an iron ball and molten bronze while forcing the mouth open with pincers. This results in their throat and viscera being burned. In his Ōjōyōshū Genshin describes a couple of subsidiary hells to this one, starting with the depiction of the Region where Iron Foxes are Fed. All beings here are on fire. On top of that, iron tiles rain from

2869-538: A secure reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan, the higher-level structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, but has not been convincingly demonstrated. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty . As the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have repeatedly sought to promulgate

3020-503: A similar way to the use of Latin and Ancient Greek roots in European languages. Many new compounds, or new meanings for old phrases, were created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to name Western concepts and artifacts. These coinages, written in shared Chinese characters, have then been borrowed freely between languages. They have even been accepted into Chinese, a language usually resistant to loanwords, because their foreign origin

3171-678: A single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered to be separate languages in a family . Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese , of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin with 66%, or around 800 million speakers, followed by Min (75 million, e.g. Southern Min ), Wu (74 million, e.g. Shanghainese ), and Yue (68 million, e.g. Cantonese ). These branches are unintelligible to each other, and many of their subgroups are unintelligible with

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3322-502: A treatment of the topic, with an exhaustive treatment in book five (5.3.7). The Kathāvatthu , which discusses a number of controverted points related either directly or indirectly to the notion of kamma." This involved debate with the Pudgalavādin school, which postulated the provisional existence of the person (S. pudgala , P. puggala ) to account for the ripening of karmic effects over time. The Kathāvatthu also records debate by

3473-610: A unified standard. The earliest examples of Old Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones dated to c.  1250 BCE , during the Late Shang . The next attested stage came from inscriptions on bronze artifacts dating to the Western Zhou period (1046–771 BCE), the Classic of Poetry and portions of the Book of Documents and I Ching . Scholars have attempted to reconstruct

3624-563: A variety of Yue from a small coastal area around Taishan, Guangdong . In parts of South China, the dialect of a major city may be only marginally intelligible to its neighbors. For example, Wuzhou and Taishan are located approximately 260 km (160 mi) and 190 km (120 mi) away from Guangzhou respectively, but the Yue variety spoken in Wuzhou is more similar to the Guangzhou dialect than

3775-618: Is karmavipaka , the "maturation" or "cooking" of karma : The remote effects of karmic choices are referred to as the 'maturation' (vipāka) or 'fruit' (phala) of the karmic act." The metaphor is derived from agriculture: One sows a seed, there is a time lag during which some mysterious invisible process takes place, and then the plant pops up and can be harvested. Karma and karmaphala are fundamental concepts in Buddhism. The concepts of karma and karmaphala explain how intentional actions keep one tied to rebirth in samsara , whereas

3926-596: Is Taishanese. Wuzhou is located directly upstream from Guangzhou on the Pearl River , whereas Taishan is to Guangzhou's southwest, with the two cities separated by several river valleys. In parts of Fujian , the speech of some neighbouring counties or villages is mutually unintelligible. Local varieties of Chinese are conventionally classified into seven dialect groups, largely based on the different evolution of Middle Chinese voiced initials: Proportions of first-language speakers The classification of Li Rong , which

4077-689: Is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China , as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora . Approximately 1.35 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language . Chinese languages form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of

4228-531: Is also not an act of bad karma in the circumstances that the individual did not see, hear the killing of the animal or let the animal be killed specifically for them. This hell should make the practitioners aware of their dependence with the sentient beings around them. The purpose is to discourage unnecessary suffering of animals but not totally prohibit the consumption of meat. It is said to be 1,000 yojanas beneath Jambudvīpa and 10,000 yojanas in each direction. The saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra ("Sutra of

4379-426: Is called Black Sand . The second hell is called Boiling Excrement . The third is called Five Hundred Nails . The fourth is called Hunger . The fifth is called Thirst . The sixth is called Single Copper Cauldron . The seventh is called Many Copper Cauldrons . The eighth is called Stone Pestle . The ninth is called Pus and Blood . The tenth is called Measuring Fire . The eleventh is called Ash River. The twelfth

4530-457: Is called Iron Pellets . The thirteenth is called Axes and Hatchets . The fourteenth is called Jackals and Wolves . The fifteenth is called Sword Cuts . The sixteenth is called Cold and Ice . Further evidence supporting the importance of these texts discussing hells lies in Buddhists' further investigation of the nature of hell and its denizens. Buddhavarman's fifth century Chinese translation of

4681-485: Is called either 华语 ; 華語 ; Huáyǔ or 汉语 ; 漢語 ; Hànyǔ ). Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. The governments of both China and Taiwan intend for speakers of all Chinese speech varieties to use it as a common language of communication. Therefore, it is used in government agencies, in the media, and as a language of instruction in schools. Diglossia is common among Chinese speakers. For example,

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4832-408: Is caused by the improper attitude towards love and sexual indulgence combined with acts of murder. The residents of this hell are firstly brought to a beautiful woman who reminds them of the woman they once loved sitting upon a tree and who beckons them to climb up. While climbing, hot sword-leaves slice into the body, but the inmate is filled with so much desire that they reach the top, discovering that

4983-548: Is concerned with the here and now. Only after this realization did he become acquainted with the doctrine of rebirth." Bronkhorst disagrees, and concludes that the Buddha "introduced a concept of karma that differed considerably from the commonly held views of his time." According to Bronkhorst, not physical and mental activities as such were seen as responsible for rebirth, but intentions and desire. The doctrine of karma may have been especially important for common people, for whom it

5134-627: Is concerned with whether hell wardens are sentient beings, as well as how they go on to receive karmic retribution, whether they create bad karma at all, and why are they not physically affected and burned by the fires of hell. Karma in Buddhism Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म, Pāli: kamma ) is a Sanskrit term that literally means "action" or "doing". In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers to action driven by intention ( cetanā ) which leads to future consequences. Those intentions are considered to be

5285-465: Is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect. According to Peter Harvey, It is the psychological impulse behind an action that is 'karma', that which sets going a chain of causes culminating in karmic fruit. Actions, then, must be intentional if they are to generate karmic fruits. And according to Gombrich, The Buddha defined karma as intention; whether the intention manifested itself in physical, vocal or mental form, it

5436-415: Is no set linear relationship between a particular action and its results. The karmic effect of a deed is not determined solely by the deed itself, but also by the nature of the person who commits the deed, and by the circumstances in which it is committed. Karma is also not the same as "fate" or "predestination". Karmic results are not a "judgement" imposed by a God or other all-powerful being, but rather

5587-626: Is not observable. The Samyutta Nikaya makes a basic distinction between past karma (P. purānakamma ) which has already been incurred, and karma being created in the present (P. navakamma ). Therefore, in the present one both creates new karma (P. navakamma ) and encounters the result of past karma (P. kammavipāka ). Karma in the early canon is also threefold: Mental action (S. manaḥkarman ), bodily action (S. kāyakarman ) and vocal action (S. vākkarman ). Various Buddhist philosophical schools developed within Buddhism, giving various interpretations regarding more refined points of karma. A major problem

5738-595: Is often described as a 'monosyllabic' language. However, this is only partially correct. It is largely accurate when describing Old and Middle Chinese; in Classical Chinese, around 90% of words consist of a single character that corresponds one-to-one with a morpheme , the smallest unit of meaning in a language. In modern varieties, it usually remains the case that morphemes are monosyllabic—in contrast, English has many multi-syllable morphemes, both bound and free , such as 'seven', 'elephant', 'para-' and '-able'. Some of

5889-408: Is one a brahmin or an outcaste, but by deeds ( kamma ). How this emphasis on intention was to be interpreted became a matter of debate in and between the various Buddhist schools. Karma leads to future consequences, karma-phala , "fruit of action". Any given action may cause all sorts of results, but the karmic results are only those results which are a consequence of both the moral quality of

6040-445: Is only about an eighth as many as English. All varieties of spoken Chinese use tones to distinguish words. A few dialects of north China may have as few as three tones, while some dialects in south China have up to 6 or 12 tones, depending on how one counts. One exception from this is Shanghainese which has reduced the set of tones to a two-toned pitch accent system much like modern Japanese. A very common example used to illustrate

6191-528: Is prior to the ones in Mediterrenean cultures, however, both communicated with one another over the sea and land. There are several schemes for counting these narakas and enumerating their torments. Some sources describe five hundred or even hundreds of thousands of different narakas. One of the most common scheme is that of the Eight Great Hot Narakas and Eight Great Cold Narakas. Physically, Naraka

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6342-663: Is repeated. In this hell the belief that things can be classified into permanent and impermanent. These hells showcase that while Buddhism had tolerance for other religions some sutra clearly condemn beliefs and practises that are different from what the historical Buddha taught. Pratāpana ( Sanskrit : प्रतापन ; Chinese : 大焦熱／大炎熱地獄 ; pinyin : Dàjiāorè/Dàyánrè Dìyù ; Japanese : 大 （ だい ） 焦 （ しょう ） 熱 （ ねつ ） ／ 大 （ だい ） 炎 （ えん ） 熱 （ ねつ ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Daishōnetsu/Daiennetsu Jigoku ),

6493-726: Is repeated. Sometimes the demons peel only peel off small parts and then roast them. Fleeing from this torture they run into the hands of the monk who they seduced and their vision transforms into a searing flame. It is almost impossible that such a woman can be reborn as a human again, however, if she is reborn as a human she will end up ugly and disabled, forced to clean excrement and beaten by even her own children. Avīci ( Sanskrit : अवीचि ; Chinese : 無間／阿鼻地獄 ; pinyin : Wújiàn/Ābí Dìyù ; Japanese : 無 （ む ） 間 （ げん ） ／ 阿 （ あ ） 鼻 （ び ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Mugen/Abi Jigoku ),

6644-668: Is specifically meant. However, when one of the above words forms part of a compound, the disambiguating syllable is generally dropped and the resulting word is still disyllabic. For example, 石 ; shí alone, and not 石头 ; 石頭 ; shítou , appears in compounds as meaning 'stone' such as 石膏 ; shígāo ; 'plaster', 石灰 ; shíhuī ; 'lime', 石窟 ; shíkū ; 'grotto', 石英 ; 'quartz', and 石油 ; shíyóu ; 'petroleum'. Although many single-syllable morphemes ( 字 ; zì ) can stand alone as individual words, they more often than not form multi-syllable compounds known as 词 ; 詞 ; cí , which more closely resembles

6795-485: Is surrounded by seven iron walls and seven iron nets and in each corner a huge bronze dog with eyes like lightning, fangs like swords and teeth like mountain knives is positioned. Below there are eighteen forests with sharp leaves. There are seven walls and banners from which flames are shot out within the hell. Moreover, placed here are eighteen cauldrons out of which molten bronze flows and there are snakes that spit venom and fire everywhere. The sounds that they make are like

6946-631: Is the destined place for those who have committed one of the Five sins of Buddhism ( Ānantarya Karma ) that include the murder of one's biological mother or father, evil intention of causing harm to the Buddha or the Buddhist community and the murder of Arhats . To be worthy of the Avici hell, these sins need to be carried out with deliberate intentions as they have consciously ignored the good within themselves and are fully aware of their sin. This sin also consists of taking

7097-417: Is the improper intake and use of intoxicants in combination with acts of killing, stealing and sexual indulgence. The sixteen subsidiary hells to this raurava naraka enumerate a number of cases which involve the giving of alcohol to monks with the purpose of irritating them, the use of intoxicants as a means of seduction, the addition of water to alcohol by merchants with the intention of gaining extra money,

7248-484: Is the largest reference work based purely on character and its literary variants. The CC-CEDICT project (2010) contains 97,404 contemporary entries including idioms, technology terms, and names of political figures, businesses, and products. The 2009 version of the Webster's Digital Chinese Dictionary (WDCD), based on CC-CEDICT, contains over 84,000 entries. The most comprehensive pure linguistic Chinese-language dictionary,

7399-563: Is the relation between the doctrine of no-self, and the "storage" of the traces of one's deeds, for which various solutions have been offered. The concept of karma originated in the Vedic religion , where it was related to the performance of rituals or the investment in good deeds to ensure the entrance to heaven after death, while other persons go to the underworld. The concept of karma may have been of minor importance in early Buddhism. Schmithausen has questioned whether karma already played

7550-465: Is thought of as a series of layers extending below Jambudvīpa. There are also series of isolated and boundary hells called Pratyeka naraka ( Pali : Pacceka-niraya) and Lokantarikas The sufferings of the dwellers in naraka often resemble those of the pretas , and the two types of being are easily confused. The simplest distinction is that beings in Naraka are confined to their subterranean world, while

7701-496: Is used as an everyday language in Hong Kong and Macau . The designation of various Chinese branches remains controversial. Some linguists and most ordinary Chinese people consider all the spoken varieties as one single language, as speakers share a common national identity and a common written form. Others instead argue that it is inappropriate to refer to major branches of Chinese such as Mandarin, Wu, and so on as "dialects" because

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7852-497: Is used in education, media, formal speech, and everyday life—though Mandarin is increasingly taught in schools due to the mainland's growing influence. Historically, the Chinese language has spread to its neighbors through a variety of means. Northern Vietnam was incorporated into the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) in 111 BCE, marking the beginning of a period of Chinese control that ran almost continuously for

8003-540: Is used in the Language Atlas of China (1987), distinguishes three further groups: Some varieties remain unclassified, including the Danzhou dialect on Hainan , Waxianghua spoken in western Hunan , and Shaozhou Tuhua spoken in northern Guangdong . Standard Chinese is the standard language of China (where it is called 普通话 ; pǔtōnghuà ) and Taiwan, and one of the four official languages of Singapore (where it

8154-428: Is very complex, with a large number of consonants and vowels, but they are probably not all distinguished in any single dialect. Most linguists now believe it represents a diasystem encompassing 6th-century northern and southern standards for reading the classics. The complex relationship between spoken and written Chinese is an example of diglossia : as spoken, Chinese varieties have evolved at different rates, while

8305-652: The Abhidharma-kośa , an extensive compendium which elaborated the positions of the Vaibhāṣika - Sarvāstivādin school on a wide range of issues raised by the early sutras. Chapter four of the Kośa is devoted to a study of karma, and chapters two and five contain formulations as to the mechanism of fruition and retribution. This became the main source of understanding of the perspective of early Buddhism for later Mahāyāna philosophers. The Dārṣṭāntika- Sautrāntika school pioneered

8456-735: The Qieyun rime dictionary (601 CE), and a late period in the 10th century, reflected by rhyme tables such as the Yunjing constructed by ancient Chinese philologists as a guide to the Qieyun system. These works define phonological categories but with little hint of what sounds they represent. Linguists have identified these sounds by comparing the categories with pronunciations in modern varieties of Chinese , borrowed Chinese words in Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean, and transcription evidence. The resulting system

8607-572: The Abhidharma-vibhāṣā-śāstra (Ch. āpídámó pípóshā lùn 阿毘曇毘婆沙論 ) questions whether hell wardens who torture hell beings are themselves sentient beings, what form they take, and what language they speak. The Abhidharma-kosa ( Treasure House of Higher Knowledge ) is the root text that describes the most common scheme, as the Eight Cold Narakas and Eight Hot Narakas. The translation of it by Xuanzang's 玄奘 seventh century Chinese too

8758-470: The Avici hell, they will fall for two thousand years in an upside-down posture as it symbolises their own reversed views ( viparyāsa ). The sufferings in these hells are a thousand times more severe than the ones encountered in the former hells, making the inhabitants of the former hells seem as happy as the most blessed deva . Every sinner's odor smells like foul stench and the sounds of this naraka would make those who hear it die of terror. The Avici Hell

8909-553: The Buddhist Path . This path leads to vidyā (knowledge), and the stilling of trsnā and dvesa . Hereby the ongoing process of rebirth is stopped. The cycle of rebirth is determined by karma , literally "action". In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers to actions driven by intention ( cetanā ), a deed done deliberately through body, speech or mind, which leads to future consequences. The Nibbedhika Sutta , Anguttara Nikaya 6.63: Intention ( cetana ) I tell you,

9060-525: The Korean , Japanese and Vietnamese languages, and today comprise over half of their vocabularies. This massive influx led to changes in the phonological structure of the languages, contributing to the development of moraic structure in Japanese and the disruption of vowel harmony in Korean. Borrowed Chinese morphemes have been used extensively in all these languages to coin compound words for new concepts, in

9211-680: The May Fourth Movement beginning in 1919. After the fall of the Northern Song dynasty and subsequent reign of the Jurchen Jin and Mongol Yuan dynasties in northern China, a common speech (now called Old Mandarin ) developed based on the dialects of the North China Plain around the capital. The 1324 Zhongyuan Yinyun was a dictionary that codified the rhyming conventions of new sanqu verse form in this language. Together with

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9362-579: The National Language Unification Commission finally settled on the Beijing dialect in 1932. The People's Republic founded in 1949 retained this standard but renamed it 普通话 ; 普通話 ; pǔtōnghuà ; 'common speech'. The national language is now used in education, the media, and formal situations in both mainland China and Taiwan. In Hong Kong and Macau , Cantonese is the dominant spoken language due to cultural influence from Guangdong immigrants and colonial-era policies, and

9513-503: The bhikṣus , there are 8,000 continents surrounding the four continents [on earth]. There is, moreover, a great sea surrounding those 8,000 continents. There is, moreover, a great diamond mountain range encircling that great sea. Beyond this great diamond mountain range is yet another great diamond mountain range. And between the two mountain ranges lies darkness. The sun and moon in the divine sky with their great power are unable to reach that [darkness] with their light. In [that space between

9664-473: The oracle bone inscriptions created during the Shang dynasty c.  1250 BCE . The phonetic categories of Old Chinese can be reconstructed from the rhymes of ancient poetry. During the Northern and Southern period , Middle Chinese went through several sound changes and split into several varieties following prolonged geographic and political separation. The Qieyun , a rime dictionary , recorded

9815-591: The phonology of Old Chinese by comparing later varieties of Chinese with the rhyming practice of the Classic of Poetry and the phonetic elements found in the majority of Chinese characters. Although many of the finer details remain unclear, most scholars agree that Old Chinese differs from Middle Chinese in lacking retroflex and palatal obstruents but having initial consonant clusters of some sort, and in having voiceless nasals and liquids. Most recent reconstructions also describe an atonal language with consonant clusters at

9966-480: The pratāpana naraka. The hell is totally engulfed by fire and wailing of other beings. The flames of this naraka are the individuals own bad karma which makes them suffer. This hell destinies those who have sexually defiled religion to torture. This defilement includes seducing monks, nuns and virtuous laywomen. Those who seduce laywomen are made to suffer within the Hell of String-like Worms by being tied and lied down on

10117-519: The "Black Thread" Naraka , includes the torments of Sañjīva . The pains experienced in this hell are ten times more severe than those suffered in Sañjīva . In addition, black lines are drawn upon the body, which hell guards use as guides to cut the beings with fiery saws and sharp axes. A second version of this hell describes it as a place where black ropes are stretched across the mountains and hot cauldrons are placed underneath. The wardens of this hell force

10268-491: The "Crushing" Naraka , is surrounded by huge masses of rock that smash together and crush beings into a bloody jelly. When the rocks move apart again, life is restored to the being, and the process starts again. Within this naraka corpses are eaten by demons, bears, and birds of hell, and Eagles with flaming beaks tear out their organs. The saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra provides another depiction of this hell. The wardens then continue hand them on hooks. The rebirth into this hell

10419-417: The "Great Heating" Naraka , is where demons with black bellies, flaming eyes, and hooked teeth haunt the ones reborn, grabbing the residents by the throat and dragging them through mountains, cities and across oceans. Genshin describes when reaching the entrance to this hell they are insulted by Yama for the sins they committed in their former existence. Being prisoned in the ropes of their bad karma, they enter

10570-536: The "Great Screaming" Naraka , is similar to Raurava . The primary causes of this hell are lying and the deployment of inappropriate words in conjunction with the transgressions outlined in the former naraka . This is the initial hell in which the psychological state is of greater consequence than the physical condition in regard to the misdeed. In the minor Hell of Unbearable Pain those who committed perjury or bribery are tormented by having snakes be born inside of their bodies. Each lie creates more snakes as they represent

10721-430: The "Heating" Naraka , is where hell guards impale the residents on a fiery spear until flames issue from their noses and mouths. Furthermore, they are thrown onto a burning iron surface and are beaten by the wardens until they have been reduced to a mound of flesh or are fried in a skillet. They are impaled from the buttock to the head on a spit and roasted, burning until the flames pierce their bones and marrow. Compared to

10872-483: The "Reviving" Naraka , has ground made of hot iron heated by an immense fire. This is the designated realm for those who commit acts of violence and murder with the intent of killing living beings out of a desire to destroy their source of life. Beings in this naraka appear fully grown, already in a state of fear and misery. As soon as the being begins to fear being harmed by others, their fellows appear and attack each other with iron claws and hell guards appear and attack

11023-505: The "Uninterrupted" Naraka , is deepest of the Eight Hot Hells. Beings are roasted in an immense blazing oven with terrible suffering. The Avici naraka is located at the bottom of the Realm of Desire and as the ones are in states between rebirths and destinied to go into this hell, they cry out: There is nothing but flames. They fill the sky and there is no space (between the flames). In

11174-499: The Buddha's day until now", to understand the doctrine of karma "backwards", to explain unfavorable conditions in this life when no other explanations are available. Gaining a better rebirth may have been, and still is, the central goal for many people. The adoption, by laity, of Buddhist beliefs and practices is seen as a good thing, which brings merit and good rebirth, but does not result in Nirvana , and liberation from samsāra ,

11325-528: The Buddhist path, as exemplified in the Noble Eightfold Path , shows us the way out of samsara . Rebirth , , is a common belief in all Buddhist traditions. It says that birth and death in the six realms occur in successive cycles driven by ignorance ( avidyā ), desire ( trsnā ), and hatred ( dvesa ). The cycle of rebirth is called samsāra . It is a beginningless and ever-ongoing process. Liberation from samsāra can be attained by following

11476-543: The Eight Cold Hells as: According to the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra , the eight hells are: In the first hell, the intense cold produces chilblains all over one's body. In the second hell, one's chilblains worsen and finally burst. The following three hells are named for the shrieks of sufferers who inhabit them. In the sixth hell, one's flesh turns blue from the intense cold. In the last two hells,

11627-555: The Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet . English words of Chinese origin include tea from Hokkien 茶 ( tê ), dim sum from Cantonese 點心 ( dim2 sam1 ), and kumquat from Cantonese 金橘 ( gam1 gwat1 ). The sinologist Jerry Norman has estimated that there are hundreds of mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese. These varieties form a dialect continuum , in which differences in speech generally become more pronounced as distances increase, though

11778-406: The Region of Evil Views, is described by Genshin as a place for those who have molested children. Those who end up in this hell are forced to watch their children being stabbed by the hell wardens. While this happens they experience unspeakable suffering as they are hung down and molten copper is poured into their bodies through the anus. Another hell is the Region of Suffering Enduring. Men who kidnap

11929-627: The Right Mindfulness") names sixteen subsidiary hells to this one and discusses seven of them in detail. The subsidiary hells are the Region of the Mud Excrement which is full of boiling excrements and insects, the Region of the Wheel of Swords where iron falls from the sky like rain and is covered in a forest of swords, the Region of the Roasting Skillet where people who roasted animals will be done

12080-515: The Theravādins with the Andhakas (who may have been Mahāsāṃghikas ) regarding whether or not old age and death are the result ( vipāka ) of karma. The Theravāda maintained that they are not—not, apparently because there is no causal relation between the two, but because they wished to reserve the term vipāka strictly for mental results--"subjective phenomena arising through the effects of kamma." In

12231-507: The act is "possessed" until the actualization of the result. The Abhidharmahṛdaya by Dharmaśrī was the first systematic exposition of Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda doctrine, and the third chapter, the Karma-varga , deals with the concept of karma systematically. Another important exposition, the Mahāvibhāṣa , gives three definitions of karma: The 4th century philosopher Vasubandhu compiled

12382-434: The action, and of the intention behind the action. According to Reichenbach, [T]he consequences envisioned by the law of karma encompass more (as well as less) than the observed natural or physical results which follow upon the performance of an action. The "law of karma" applies ...specifically to the moral sphere[.] [It is] not concerned with the general relation between actions and their consequences, but rather with

12533-406: The basic idea is that intentional actions, driven by kleshas ("disturbing emotions"), cetanā ("volition"), or taṇhā ("thirst", "craving") create impressions , tendencies or "seeds" in the mind. These impressions, or "seeds", will ripen into a future result or fruition . If we can overcome our kleshas , then we break the chain of causal effects that leads to rebirth in

12684-410: The being with fiery weapons. As soon as the being experiences an unconsciousness like death, they are suddenly restored to full health as a cold wind revives them and the attacks begin again. This circle of torture continues until their bad karma is exhausted. Other tortures experienced in this Naraka include: having molten metal dropped upon them, being sliced into pieces, and suffering from the heat of

12835-490: The burning ground as they are scorched by the blazing fires. Other descriptions of this hell include that the prisoners beg the demons, that are gold and have long legs that enable them to run as quickly as the wind, for mercy hearing the voices of the dreadful demons. This increases the anger of these demons and they pry open the mouths of the prisoners with pincers to pour molten copper into it that destroys their organs. The primary reason for being reborn into this realm of hell

12986-532: The canonical Theravāda view of kamma, "the belief that deeds done or ideas seized at the moment of death are particularly significant." The Milindapañha , a paracanonical Theravāda text , offers some interpretations of karma theory at variance with the orthodox position. In particular, Nāgasena allows for the possibility of the transfer of merit to humans and one of the four classes of petas , perhaps in deference to folk belief. Nāgasena makes it clear that demerit cannot be transferred. One scholar asserts that

13137-446: The cause of karmic consequences." Matthews notes that "there is no single major systematic exposition" on the subject of karma and "an account has to be put together from the dozens of places where karma is mentioned in the texts," which may mean that the doctrine was incidental to the main perspective of early Buddhist soteriology. According to Vetter, "the Buddha at first sought, and realized, "the deathless" ( amata/amrta ), which

13288-690: The chance of others to reach enlightenment and destroying part of oneself under the working of the Dependent Origination ( Pratītyasamutpāda ). The Śītanaraka ( Sanskrit : शीतनरक , lit.   'Cold Hells'), also called Eight Cold Hells ( Chinese : 八寒地獄 ; pinyin : Bāhán Dìyù ; Japanese : 八 （ はっ ） 寒 （ かん ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Hakkan Jigoku ), said to be located on one Cakkavāla in Buddhist sutras, are where resident sinners are tormented with unbearable cold. The first four names reflect

13439-422: The cold makes one's flesh crack open, resembling a crimson lotus . The Dīrghāgama or Longer Āgama-sūtra (Ch. cháng āhán jīng 長阿含經 ), was translated to Chinese in 22 fascicles from an Indic original by Buddhayaśas (Fotuoyeshe 佛陀耶舍 ) and Zhu Fonian 竺佛念 in 412–13 CE. This literature contains 30 discrete scriptures in four groups ( vargas ). The fourth varga , which pertains to Buddhist cosmology, contains

13590-434: The committed bad actions themselves. It further is argues that hell is a state experienced in another life as the result of a bad action, connecting hell to the concept of the retribution for bad actions and compensation for good actions. The historical Buddha rejected the reliance upon deities in order to encourage individuals to take responsibility for their own morality. He and other buddhists encouraged this, especially in

13741-407: The cries uttered by sufferers in these hells because of the intolerable cold. The latter four hells are named for the changes one's flesh is said to undergo when exposed to the intense cold there. For instance, in the hell of the "Crimson Lotus" the cold is said to be so severe, one's back breaks open and bloody flesh emerges, resembling a crimson lotus flower. The Dharma Analysis Treasury describes

13892-415: The determining factor in the kind of rebirth in samsara , the cycle of rebirth. Karma (Sanskrit, also karman , Pāli: kamma , Tib. las ) is a Sanskrit term that literally means "action" or "doing". The word karma derives from the verbal root kṛ , which means "do, make, perform, accomplish." Karmaphala (Tib. rgyu 'bras ) is the "fruit" , "effect" or "result" of karma . A similar term

14043-399: The different spoken dialects varies, but in general, there has been a tendency to a reduction in sounds from Middle Chinese. The Mandarin dialects in particular have experienced a dramatic decrease in sounds and so have far more polysyllabic words than most other spoken varieties. The total number of syllables in some varieties is therefore only about a thousand, including tonal variation, which

14194-484: The difficulties involved in determining the difference between language and dialect, other terms have been proposed. These include topolect , lect , vernacular , regional , and variety . Syllables in the Chinese languages have some unique characteristics. They are tightly related to the morphology and also to the characters of the writing system, and phonologically they are structured according to fixed rules. The structure of each syllable consists of

14345-421: The doctrine of karma and its fruits lies in the recognition of the urgency to put a stop to the whole process. The Acintita Sutta warns that "the results of kamma" is one of the four incomprehensible subjects , subjects that are beyond all conceptualization and cannot be understood with logical thought or reason. According to Gombrich, this sutra may have been a warning against the tendency, "probably from

14496-593: The dwellers to carry heavy iron bundles and walk across the rope until they fall into the cauldrons below. This is the place for those who have committed murder, robbery, or lied and those who were bad sons or two-faced women. This naraka includes places such as the Chandala hell for those who steal from the sick or take objects that they are not worthy of using. They are tormented by giant evil birds that disembowel them. Other punishments include being forced to eat molten copper and being pierced by spears. Genshin describes

14647-566: The end of the syllable, developing into tone distinctions in Middle Chinese. Several derivational affixes have also been identified, but the language lacks inflection , and indicated grammatical relationships using word order and grammatical particles . Middle Chinese was the language used during Northern and Southern dynasties and the Sui , Tang , and Song dynasties (6th–10th centuries CE). It can be divided into an early period, reflected by

14798-413: The first one, 十 , normally appears in monosyllabic form in spoken Mandarin; the rest are normally used in the polysyllabic forms of respectively. In each, the homophone was disambiguated by the addition of another morpheme, typically either a near-synonym or some sort of generic word (e.g. 'head', 'thing'), the purpose of which is to indicate which of the possible meanings of the other, homophonic syllable

14949-422: The flames of this hell, the flames of the former naraka feel like snow to the inmates. As the first hell, purely related to mental actions, it addresses the major obstacles to enlightenment. These obstacles include the rejection of the laws of karma and the existence of good and evil, which the historical Buddha considered to be bad for people to take personal responsibility. The key to enlightenment lies within

15100-487: The food of pratyekabuddha are destined to go here. The next subsidiary hell is the Region of the Bird, which is inhabited by a bird as big as an elephant that has a sharp fire-spewing beak. It grabs the ones in this region and drops them from the sky, leaving them shattered on the ground. The roads have knives that stick out and pierce the ones walking on them. Additionally, they are attacked by dogs with fangs on fire. This hell

15251-491: The form of a word), to indicate a word's function within a sentence. In other words, Chinese has very few grammatical inflections —it possesses no tenses , no voices , no grammatical number , and only a few articles . They make heavy use of grammatical particles to indicate aspect and mood . In Mandarin, this involves the use of particles such as 了 ; le ; ' PFV ', 还 ; 還 ; hái ; 'still', and 已经 ; 已經 ; yǐjīng ; 'already'. Chinese has

15402-415: The four directions, in the four intermediate directions And on the ground, there is no place which is free (of flames). Every place on the ground is filled with evil people. I can't rely on anything. I am alone, with no companion. I am within the darkness of this evil realm And will (soon) enter the mass of flames. In the sky, I can See neither the sun, the moon nor the stars. Until they reach

15553-599: The government of the People's Republic of China, with Singapore officially adopting them in 1976. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and among Chinese-speaking communities overseas . Linguists classify all varieties of Chinese as part of the Sino-Tibetan language family , together with Burmese , Tibetan and many other languages spoken in the Himalayas and the Southeast Asian Massif . Although

15704-444: The hells are located deep under the southern continent of Jambudvīpa denoting India. They are built one upon the other like storeys, the principle is that the more severe kind of damnation is located under the previous one. There are differences in the conception of the naraka's height, breadth, length and depth and distance, meaning that there is not a clear canonic system of naraka at this point of time besides their size. Dating

15855-497: The human mind and in case that mind deceives itself, the possibility of enlightenment vanishes. One of the places in this hell is the pundarika Region in which everyone is engulfed in flames. A voice beckons them to come closer and drink from a lake of lotus blossoms ( pundarika ). They follow the voice and fall into hole engulfed in flames that incinerate their bodies. The bodies are revived but burn soon again as this circle continues. Nevertheless, they repeat their attempt of finding

16006-522: The idea of hell within Buddhist tradition proves to be difficult, since ideas were orally transmitted until about 100 BCE when the Pali canon was written down in Ceylon . However, the concept of hell played a significant role since the early stage of Buddhism, since it is closely connected to the concept of karma. Karma determines into which realm a soul is born. Good actions cause someone to be reborn in heaven or, as

16157-399: The idea of karmic seeds (S. Bīja ) and "the special modification of the psycho-physical series" (S. saṃtatipaṇāmaviśeṣa ) to explain the workings of karma. According to Dennis Hirota, [T]he Sautrantikas [...] insisted that each act exists only in the present instant and perishes immediately. To explain causation, they taught that with each karmic act a "perfuming" occurs which, though not

16308-453: The idea of rebirth is to be reconciled with the doctrines of impermanence and no-self , is a matter of philosophical inquiry in the Buddhist traditions, for which several solutions have been proposed. In early Buddhism no explicit theory of rebirth and karma is worked out, and "the karma doctrine may have been incidental to early Buddhist soteriology ." In early Buddhism, rebirth is ascribed to craving or ignorance. In later Buddhism,

16459-516: The inmates. In the Region Where One Receives Limitless Suffering wardens pull out tongues with hot iron pincers. Tapana ( Sanskrit : तपन ; Chinese : 焦熱／炎熱地獄 ; pinyin : Jiāorè/Yánrè Dìyù ; Japanese : 焦 （ しょう ） 熱 （ ねつ ） ／ 炎 （ えん ） 熱 （ ねつ ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Shōnetsu/Ennetsu Jigoku ),

16610-469: The inner fears like inadequacy, loss of possessions and so on that are perpetuated by further lies. While there is no clear differentiation between truth and falsehood in Buddhism that does not mean that an individual should deliberately deceive others. Subsidiary hells include the Region for Receiving the Suffering of Being Stabbed by a Spearhead where hot iron needles are thrust into the mouths and tongues of

16761-447: The iron ground. Killing that is purely accidental does not lead to this hell. Examples of killing that does not lead to this hell include: accidental crushing of an insect, killing while driving a stake to the ground, a doctor attempting to treat the sick but involuntarily kills his patient, a parent who tries to correct their child's behavior and accidentally kills them and when a flame attracts an insect to its destruction. Consuming meat

16912-414: The laity that demanded a tangible goal, with the comprehensible symbolism of hell. Just as hell served as a symbol, heaven did as well and acted as a temporary imagining that one could progress beyond and achieve enlightenment. In contrast hell was utilised as a deterrent to actions that would create an opposition to enlightenment. If the understanding of these dates is correct then the idea of Buddhist hell

17063-581: The language of administration and scholarship, a position it would retain until the late 19th century in Korea and (to a lesser extent) Japan, and the early 20th century in Vietnam. Scholars from different lands could communicate, albeit only in writing, using Literary Chinese. Although they used Chinese solely for written communication, each country had its own tradition of reading texts aloud using what are known as Sino-Xenic pronunciations . Chinese words with these pronunciations were also extensively imported into

17214-516: The late 19th century. Today Japanese is written with a composite script using both Chinese characters called kanji , and kana. Korean is written exclusively with hangul in North Korea, although knowledge of the supplementary Chinese characters called hanja is still required, and hanja are increasingly rarely used in South Korea. As a result of its historical colonization by France, Vietnamese now uses

17365-468: The lotus lake to quench their thirst. People who starved themselves in hope of reaching heaven and people who led others to believe in heterodox views will be found in this hell. A second place is the Region of Dark Fire Wind. The people here are prisoned in a whirlwind which causes them to tumble around in circles. They are tossed around by a wind that strikes their body as sharply as a sword and cuts it into little pieces. Afterwards they are revived and this

17516-508: The moral quality of actions and their consequences, such as the pain and pleasure and good or bad experiences for the doer of the act. Good moral actions lead to wholesome rebirths, and bad moral actions lead to unwholesome rebirths. The main factor is how they contribute to the well-being of others in a positive or negative sense. Especially dāna , giving to the Buddhist order, became an increasingly important source of positive karma . How these intentional actions lead to rebirth, and how

17667-455: The more conservative modern varieties, usually found in the south, have largely monosyllabic words , especially with basic vocabulary. However, most nouns, adjectives, and verbs in modern Mandarin are disyllabic. A significant cause of this is phonetic erosion : sound changes over time have steadily reduced the number of possible syllables in the language's inventory. In modern Mandarin, there are only around 1,200 possible syllables, including

17818-425: The mutual unintelligibility between them is too great. However, calling major Chinese branches "languages" would also be wrong under the same criterion, since a branch such as Wu, itself contains many mutually unintelligible varieties, and could not be properly called a single language. There are also viewpoints pointing out that linguists often ignore mutual intelligibility when varieties share intelligibility with

17969-583: The nasal sonorant consonants /m/ and /ŋ/ can stand alone as their own syllable. In Mandarin much more than in other spoken varieties, most syllables tend to be open syllables, meaning they have no coda (assuming that a final glide is not analyzed as a coda), but syllables that do have codas are restricted to nasals /m/ , /n/ , /ŋ/ , the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ , and voiceless stops /p/ , /t/ , /k/ , or /ʔ/ . Some varieties allow most of these codas, whereas others, such as Standard Chinese, are limited to only /n/ , /ŋ/ , and /ɻ/ . The number of sounds in

18120-433: The negative effects of alcohol, such as its detrimental impact on the body and irritating effects on the mind, advising abstinence from liquor. Mahāraurava ( Sanskrit : महारौरव ; Chinese : 大叫喚地獄 ; pinyin : Dàjiàohuàn Dìyù ; Japanese : 大 （ だい ） 叫 （ きょう ） 喚 （ かん ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Daikyōkan Jigoku ),

18271-538: The other varieties within the same branch (e.g. Southern Min). There are, however, transitional areas where varieties from different branches share enough features for some limited intelligibility, including New Xiang with Southwestern Mandarin , Xuanzhou Wu Chinese with Lower Yangtze Mandarin , Jin with Central Plains Mandarin and certain divergent dialects of Hakka with Gan . All varieties of Chinese are tonal at least to some degree, and are largely analytic . The earliest attested written Chinese consists of

18422-1252: The pretas are free to move about. As for how beings come into hell, they are not born in these naraka but appear by means of manifestation (Upapāta उपपात) as adults under the influence of the karmic force. The bodies they are manifested in are made out of resilient matter that can withstand even the most extreme pain. In some texts it is reported that the bodies are large to extent the suffering. The Uṣṇanaraka ( Sanskrit : उष्णनरक , lit.   'Hot Hells'), also called Eight Hot Hells ( Chinese : 八熱地獄 ; pinyin : Bārè Dìyù ; Japanese : 八 （ はち ） 熱 （ ねつ ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Hachinetsu Jigoku ) or Eight Great/Major Hells ( Chinese : 八大地獄 ; pinyin : Bādà Dìyù ; Japanese : 八 （ はち ） 大 （ だい ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Hachidai Jigoku ), are described below. Sañjīva ( Sanskrit : नरक ; Chinese : 等活地獄 ; pinyin : Děnghuó Dìyù ; Japanese : 等 （ とう ） 活 （ かつ ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Tōkatsu Jigoku ),

18573-429: The provision of animals with liquor or the utilisation of alcohol in order to kill or rob others. Nevertheless, the consumption of alcohol is only prohibited to the extent that it impedes the proper practice of morality. This hell may be associated with the consumption of alcohol, yet it never condemns the individual who drinks alone or with the company of friends. However, the descriptions of this hell include references to

18724-404: The rate of change varies immensely. Generally, mountainous South China exhibits more linguistic diversity than the North China Plain . Until the late 20th century, Chinese emigrants to Southeast Asia and North America came from southeast coastal areas, where Min, Hakka, and Yue dialects were spoken. Specifically, most Chinese immigrants to North America until the mid-20th century spoke Taishanese ,

18875-552: The related subject dropping . Although the grammars of the spoken varieties share many traits, they do possess differences. The entire Chinese character corpus since antiquity comprises well over 50,000 characters, of which only roughly 10,000 are in use and only about 3,000 are frequently used in Chinese media and newspapers. However, Chinese characters should not be confused with Chinese words. Because most Chinese words are made up of two or more characters, there are many more Chinese words than characters. A more accurate equivalent for

19026-509: The relationship was first proposed in the early 19th century and is now broadly accepted, reconstruction of Sino-Tibetan is much less developed than that of families such as Indo-European or Austroasiatic . Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, and the effects of language contact. In addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach and are often also sensitive border zones. Without

19177-510: The result of a karmic deed once it has been committed. In the Anguttara Nikaya , it is stated that karmic results are experienced either in this life (P. diṭṭadhammika ) or in future lives (P. samparāyika ). The former may involve a readily observable connection between action and karmic consequence, such as when a thief is captured and tortured by the authorities, but the connection need not necessarily be that obvious and in fact usually

19328-418: The results of a natural process. Certain experiences in life are the results of previous actions, but our responses to those experiences are not predetermined, although they bear their own fruit in the future. Unjust behaviour may lead to unfavorable circumstances which make it easier to commit more unjust behavior, but nevertheless the freedom not to commit unjust behavior remains. The real importance of

19479-637: The same to them, the Region of Numerous Sufferings, the Region of Darkness which is a dark space and the people there are burned by opaque fire while a fiery wind blows that tears their skin, the Region of Unhappiness where great fires burn and while the residents are devoured by animals and finally the Region of Extreme Suffering where lazy people who committed murder burn. Kālasūtra ( Sanskrit : कालसूत्र ; Chinese : 黑繩地獄 ; pinyin : Hēishéng Dìyù ; Japanese : 黒 （ こく ） 縄 （ じょう ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Kokujō Jigoku ),

19630-710: The same, the seeds were the effect of the perfuming, or whether the perfuming simply affected the seeds. The seemingly external world is merely a "by-product" ( adhipati-phala ) of karma. The conditioning of the mind resulting from karma is called saṃskāra . The Treatise on Action ( Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa ), also by Vasubandhu, treats the subject of karma in detail from the Yogācāra perspective. According to scholar Dan Lusthaus, Chinese language Chinese ( simplified Chinese : 汉语 ; traditional Chinese : 漢語 ; pinyin : Hànyǔ ; lit. ' Han language' or 中文 ; Zhōngwén ; 'Chinese writing')

19781-498: The sharing of merit "can be linked to the Vedic śrāddha , for it was Buddhist practice not to upset existing traditions when well-established custom was not antithetic to Buddhist teaching." The Petavatthu , which is fully canonical, endorses the transfer of merit even more widely, including the possibility of sharing merit with all petas. In the Yogācāra philosophical tradition, one of

19932-505: The six official languages of the United Nations . Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin and was first officially adopted in the 1930s. The language is written primarily using a logography of Chinese characters , largely shared by readers who may otherwise speak mutually unintelligible varieties. Since the 1950s, the use of simplified characters has been promoted by

20083-507: The six realms. The twelve links of dependent origination provides a theoretical framework, explaining how the disturbing emotions lead to rebirth in samsara . The Buddha's teaching of karma is not strictly deterministic, but incorporated circumstantial factors, unlike that of the Jains . It is not a rigid and mechanical process, but a flexible, fluid and dynamic process, and not all present conditions can be ascribed to karma. There

20234-491: The sky in a thunderstorm, crushing everything below. Foxes with scorching teeth make their way to the crushed bodies and feast on them. All those who have damaged Buddhist properties by setting them on fire will be punished in this hell. In the Region of the Black Belly all beings are consumed by their own hunger to the extent of being forced to eat their own flesh. Black bellied snakes attack them here as well. Those who have eaten

20385-557: The slightly later Menggu Ziyun , this dictionary describes a language with many of the features characteristic of modern Mandarin dialects. Up to the early 20th century, most Chinese people only spoke their local variety. Thus, as a practical measure, officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties carried out the administration of the empire using a common language based on Mandarin varieties , known as 官话 ; 官話 ; Guānhuà ; 'language of officials'. For most of this period, this language

20536-522: The subsidiary hells within this region in more detail. One example is the Region of Equal Wailing and Reception of Suffering, where the inmates tied to black ropes that are on fire and fall into swords below. Hounds with hot fangs then proceed to take the bodies apart. Saṃghāta ( Sanskrit : संघात ; Chinese : 眾合地獄 ; pinyin : Zhònghé Dìyù ; Japanese : 衆 （ しゅ ） 合 （ ごう ） 地 （ じ ） 獄 （ ごく ） ; rōmaji : Shugō Jigoku ),

20687-489: The things offered to Buddha will suffer in this place. Another place is the Region Where Iron Mountains Fall like Rain. In this place, falling iron mountains crush the bodies of sinners into lumps of flesh. There are eleven fires in the shape of towers that burn anyone who comes close and wardens with swords that slash sinners in this region while they put molten pewter into the wounds. Those who stole and ate

20838-609: The tonal distinctions, compared with about 5,000 in Vietnamese (still a largely monosyllabic language), and over 8,000 in English. Most modern varieties tend to form new words through polysyllabic compounds . In some cases, monosyllabic words have become disyllabic formed from different characters without the use of compounding, as in 窟窿 ; kūlong from 孔 ; kǒng ; this is especially common in Jin varieties. This phonological collapse has led to

20989-547: The traditional Western notion of a word. A Chinese cí can consist of more than one character–morpheme, usually two, but there can be three or more. Examples of Chinese words of more than two syllables include 汉堡包 ; 漢堡包 ; hànbǎobāo ; 'hamburger', 守门员 ; 守門員 ; shǒuményuán ; 'goalkeeper', and 电子邮件 ; 電子郵件 ; diànzǐyóujiàn ; 'e-mail'. All varieties of modern Chinese are analytic languages : they depend on syntax (word order and sentence structure), rather than inflectional morphology (changes in

21140-532: The two diamond mountain ranges] there are eight major hells. Along with each major hell are sixteen smaller hells. The first major hell is called Thoughts . The second is called Black Rope . The third is called Crushing . The fourth is called Moaning . The fifth is called Great Moaning . The sixth is called Burning . The seventh is called Great Burning . The eighth is called Unremitting . The Hell of Thoughts contains sixteen smaller hells. The smaller hells are 500 square yojana in area. The first small hell

21291-454: The two principal Mahāyāna schools, the principle of karma was extended considerably. In the Yogācāra formulation, all experience without exception is said to result from the ripening of karma. Karmic seeds (S. bija ) are said to be stored in the "storehouse consciousness" (S. ālayavijñāna ) until such time as they ripen into experience. The term vāsāna ("perfuming") is also used, and Yogācārins debated whether vāsāna and bija were essentially

21442-403: The ultimate goal of the Buddha. According to the Buddhist tradition, the lord Buddha gained full and complete insight into the workings of karma at the time of his enlightenment. According to Bronkhorst, these knowledges are later additions to the story, just like the notion of "liberating insight" itself. In AN 5.292, the lord Buddha asserted that it is not possible to avoid experiencing

21593-512: The use of tones in Chinese is the application of the four tones of Standard Chinese, along with the neutral tone, to the syllable ma . The tones are exemplified by the following five Chinese words: In contrast, Standard Cantonese has six tones. Historically, finals that end in a stop consonant were considered to be " checked tones " and thus counted separately for a total of nine tones. However, they are considered to be duplicates in modern linguistics and are no longer counted as such: Chinese

21744-419: The woman is below the tree beckoning them down. This is repeated and the prisoner spends hundreds of thousands of years in this cycle. This represents the people who stay ignorant in life possess ego-centric love as they have no awareness of being in their own hell of self-deception. They blame their suffering upon their circumstances instead of taking a look at their own prisoned mind. The first subsidiary hell,

21895-426: The women of others are hung upside down from a tree and roasted under a fire that enters their mouths and burns their insides as they try to scream. Another hell is the Region of Many Suffering and Anguish where men who committed homosexual rape are reborn. These men are embraced by figures of the people who they molested. After being incenerates in this manner they revive and in fear they attempt to flee just to fall off

22046-452: The words in newspapers, and 60% of the words in science magazines. Vietnam, Korea, and Japan each developed writing systems for their own languages, initially based on Chinese characters , but later replaced with the hangul alphabet for Korean and supplemented with kana syllabaries for Japanese, while Vietnamese continued to be written with the complex chữ Nôm script. However, these were limited to popular literature until

22197-508: The written language used throughout China changed comparatively little, crystallizing into a prestige form known as Classical or Literary Chinese . Literature written distinctly in the Classical form began to emerge during the Spring and Autumn period . Its use in writing remained nearly universal until the late 19th century, culminating with the widespread adoption of written vernacular Chinese with

22348-453: Was a koiné based on dialects spoken in the Nanjing area, though not identical to any single dialect. By the middle of the 19th century, the Beijing dialect had become dominant and was essential for any business with the imperial court. In the 1930s, a standard national language ( 国语 ; 國語 ; Guóyǔ ), was adopted. After much dispute between proponents of northern and southern dialects and an abortive attempt at an artificial pronunciation,

22499-481: Was hidden by their written form. Often different compounds for the same concept were in circulation for some time before a winner emerged, and sometimes the final choice differed between countries. The proportion of vocabulary of Chinese origin thus tends to be greater in technical, abstract, or formal language. For example, in Japan, Sino-Japanese words account for about 35% of the words in entertainment magazines, over half

22650-583: Was more important to cope with life's immediate demands, such as the problems of pain, injustice, and death. The doctrine of karma met these exigencies, and in time it became an important soteriological aim in its own right. The Vaibhāśika-Sarvāstivāda was widely influential in India and beyond. Their understanding of karma in the Sarvāstivāda became normative for Buddhism in India and other countries. According to Dennis Hirota, Sarvastivadins argued that there exists

22801-454: Was the intention alone which had a moral character: good, bad or neutral [...] The focus of interest shifted from physical action, involving people and objects in the real world, to psychological process. According to Gombrich, this was a great innovation, which overturns brahmanical, caste-bound ethics. It is a rejection of caste-bound differences, giving the same possibility to reach liberation to all people, not just Brahmanins: Not by birth

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