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Diyu () is the realm of the dead or "hell" in Chinese mythology. It is loosely based on a combination of the Buddhist concept of Naraka, traditional Chinese beliefs about the afterlife, and a variety of popular expansions and reinterpretations of these two traditions. The concept parallels purgatory in certain Christian denominations.
Diyu is typically depicted as a subterranean maze with various levels and chambers, to which souls are taken after death to atone for the sins they committed when they were alive. The exact number of levels in Diyu and their associated deities differ between Buddhist and Taoist interpretations. Some speak of three to four "courts"; others mention "Ten Courts of Hell", each of which is ruled by a judge (collectively known as the Ten Yama Kings); other Chinese legends speak of the "Eighteen Levels of Hell". Each court deals with a different aspect of atonement and different punishments; most legends claim that sinners are subjected to gruesome tortures until their "deaths", after which they are restored to their original state for the torture to be repeated.
Some early Chinese societies speak of people going to Mount Tai, Jiuyuan, Jiuquan or Fengdu after death. At present, Fengdu and the temples on Mount Tai have been rebuilt into tourist attractions, incorporating artistic depictions of hell and the afterlife. Some Chinese folk religion planchette writings, such as the Taiwanese novel Journeys to the Under-World, say that new hells with new punishments (for instance, punishments for sins involving reckless driving) or existing hells with modernized punishments (such as the "Hand-searing Hell" (烙手指小地獄) initially used Clothes iron to sear the hands of sinners, but now modernized their punishment by searing the sinners' hands on iron rails tied with springs) are created as the world changes, the presence of Centre for Making-up of Recitations (補經所) to house priests, monks and taoists who recite scriptures in exchange for material returns but reciting the wrong punctuation or skipped certain scriptures, and that there is a City of Innocent Deaths () designed to house those who died with grievances that have yet to be redressed, such as Suicide, accidental and abortion deaths. Sinners were also sentenced to Diyu regardless of their religion, including Christians.
Other terminology related to Diyu includes:
| + Ten Yanluo Lords | |
| Life and death and fortunes of all humans, Mirror Platform 孽鏡臺 | Believed to be Jiang Ziwen |
| Sañjīva, Arbuda 等活大地獄 | |
| Kālasūtra, Nirarbuda 黑繩大地獄 | |
| Saṃghāta, Aṭaṭa 眾合大地獄 | |
| Raurava, Hahava, and Sixteen Heart-gouging Hells 號叫大地獄、十六誅心小地獄 | Believed to be Bao Zheng |
| Mahāraurava, Huhuva, and City of Innocent Deaths 大叫大地獄、枉死城 | |
| Tapana, Utpala 炎熱大地獄 | |
| Pratāpana, Padma 極熱大地獄 | |
| Avīci, Mahāpadma 阿鼻大地獄 | |
Some religious or literature books say that wrongdoers, regardless of being punished or otherwise when they were alive are punished in the hells after death. Sinners feel pain and agony just like living humans when they are subjected to the tortures listed below. They cannot "die" from the torture because when the ordeal is over, their bodies will be restored to their original states for the torture to be repeated. Xue, Fucheng. Yong'an Biji ( Notebook of Yong An). 泰国上校真实因果轮回见证
The eighteen hells vary from narrative to narrative but some commonly mentioned tortures include: being steamed; being fried in oil cauldrons; being sawed into half; being run over by vehicles; being pounded in a mortar and pestle; being ground in a mill; being crushed by boulders; being made to shed blood by climbing trees or mountains of knives; having sharp objects driven into their bodies; having hooks pierced into their bodies and being hung upside down; drowning in a pool of filthy blood; being left naked in the freezing cold; being set aflame or cast into infernos; being tied naked to a bronze cylinder with a fire lit at its base; being forced to consume boiling liquids; tongue ripping; eye gouging; teeth extraction; heart digging; disembowelment; skinning; being trampled, gored, mauled, eaten, stung, bitten, pecked, etc., by animals such as mice, wasps, maggots, and leeches.
| + Eighteen Hells |
| Hell of Hanging Bars 吊筋獄 |
| Hell of the Wrongful Dead 幽枉獄 |
| Hell of the Pit of Fire 火坑獄 |
| Fengdu Hell 酆都獄 |
| Hell of Tongue Ripping 拔舌獄 |
| Hell of Skinning 剝皮獄 |
| Hell of Grinding 磨捱獄 |
| Hell of Pounding 碓搗獄 |
| Hell of Dismemberment by Vehicles 車崩獄 |
| Hell of Ice 寒冰獄 |
| Hell of Moulting 脫殼獄 |
| Hell of Disembowelment 抽腸獄 |
| Hell of Oil Cauldrons 油鍋獄 |
| Hell of Darkness 黑暗獄 |
| Hell of the Mountain of Knives 刀山獄 |
| Hell of the Pool of Blood 血池獄 |
| Avīci Hell 阿鼻獄 |
| Hell of Weighing Scales 秤桿獄 |
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