The idea of hell I grew up with — sort of combination of folkloric Chinese beliefs and Buddhism — was that there are eighteen levels. Depending on your sins you get sent to the appropriate level upon death. You have to spend anywhere from 10,000 to 180,000 years to pass from a lower level (more sins) to the higher level (fewer sins), except that, additionally, one day in the first, lightest level is 3,750 earth years, second level 3,750 times 2 years, third level 3,750 times four years, etc … So it’s gonna be hellishly long to get out you get sent to the lowest level (longest than the history of the entire universe, I guess), but there IS an end! And once you get out to reincarnate or something.
Plus, in a hillariously stereotypical fashion, each level is administered by a bureaucrat, as if in the real world, whose primary job is to keep the records of names, both past, current, and future.
Hah yin yangs are in fact very cool. There are different types and sometimes they contradict each other, which create ample opportunities for people to argue with each other, thus it was always an evolving body of ideas, never just a static thing
Yeah! the twelve months, for example. Which ones are yin, which ones are yang? if you follow the odd and even numbers, you'd say odd numbers are yang and even numbers are yin; hence month 1 is yang, month 2 is yin, etc. yet if you follow the weather patterns, month 11 is where Winter Solstice always is and month 5 where Summer Solstice always is (in the Chinese calendar, that is). So you'd say months 11-4 are yang, because after winter solstice things gets brighter and brighter (yang is related to brightness and warmth), and months 5-10 are yin, because after summer solstice things get darker and darker (yin is related to darkness and cold). Figuring out how to map the yin and yang was important because of the various political and ritual ceremonies tied to the calendar.
There's a plot in a very famous 16th cent drama, where the protagonist goes into hell and the hell bureaucratic is like: nah, your name isn't here. Please go to the next window — I mean, please leave and find your lover and finish your romance business
The idea of hell I grew up with — sort of combination of folkloric Chinese beliefs and Buddhism — was that there are eighteen levels. Depending on your sins you get sent to the appropriate level upon death. You have to spend anywhere from 10,000 to 180,000 years to pass from a lower level (more sins) to the higher level (fewer sins), except that, additionally, one day in the first, lightest level is 3,750 earth years, second level 3,750 times 2 years, third level 3,750 times four years, etc … So it’s gonna be hellishly long to get out you get sent to the lowest level (longest than the history of the entire universe, I guess), but there IS an end! And once you get out to reincarnate or something.
Plus, in a hillariously stereotypical fashion, each level is administered by a bureaucrat, as if in the real world, whose primary job is to keep the records of names, both past, current, and future.
I love Chinese mythology I'm so mad we literally never covered any of it or even acknowledged it exits when learning mythology in school in the us
deleted by creator
Hah yin yangs are in fact very cool. There are different types and sometimes they contradict each other, which create ample opportunities for people to argue with each other, thus it was always an evolving body of ideas, never just a static thing
deleted by creator
Yeah! the twelve months, for example. Which ones are yin, which ones are yang? if you follow the odd and even numbers, you'd say odd numbers are yang and even numbers are yin; hence month 1 is yang, month 2 is yin, etc. yet if you follow the weather patterns, month 11 is where Winter Solstice always is and month 5 where Summer Solstice always is (in the Chinese calendar, that is). So you'd say months 11-4 are yang, because after winter solstice things gets brighter and brighter (yang is related to brightness and warmth), and months 5-10 are yin, because after summer solstice things get darker and darker (yin is related to darkness and cold). Figuring out how to map the yin and yang was important because of the various political and ritual ceremonies tied to the calendar.
I'm glad that even hell keeps proper paperwork
There's a plot in a very famous 16th cent drama, where the protagonist goes into hell and the hell bureaucratic is like: nah, your name isn't here. Please go to the next window — I mean, please leave and find your lover and finish your romance business