Haw Par Villa and the 10 Courts of Hell
A few months ago I had the opportunity to visit Singapore when my ship pulled in for a couple days. It was one place I had never been before and one that I wanted to get out and see different places in. I searched up things to see while in Singapore and one place that I found sounded right up my alley and I wanted to go. It is also a place you can go to for free!
Haw Par Villa is a theme park in Singapore that was designed to be fun place for children to learn about Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist mythology. It ended up being a place for parents to take their kids to scare them into being good. Entry to the park is free. It's not a normal thing park if you are thinking there are rides, it's one that you just walk around and view the dioramas and read about them. It is really neat and interesting, and I couldn't believe it was a place to take kids. Today, I'm just mainly going to focus on showing you some pictures from their exhibit on the 10 Courts of Hell.
Entering the park we walked up a hill and there are all these neat displays. Everything is happy and colorful.
We saw the sign for the Ten Courts of Hell and decided to go see that place first.
We walked into a little building that had pictures and displays all around it talking about the different believes of where we go after we die from around the world. It was really neat to read about different cultures and what they believe.
I laughed when I saw this sign. I was thinking how bad could it be, this is gonna be awesome.
Outside the building for the 10 Courts, this was the display around the entrance. Bloody heads adorn the mountainside of this diorama.
Entrance to the 10 Courts of Hell. In Chinese folklore after you die you arrive in the first court of hell were King Qingquan will look at your life and judge you accordingly. You will then either move on to paradise or travel through into the different Courts of Hell to let the punishments begin.
In the Third Court of Hell, King Songdi will carry out your punishment. If you lived your life as ungrateful, disrespected elders, or escaped from prison you would have your heart cut out.
The Fourth Court of Hell King Wuguan oversaw your punishments. One punishment there you would be pounded by a stone mallet if you did things like were a tax dodger, refusal to pay rent, and a business fraud.
In the Fifth Court of Hell, King Yanluo upheld the punishment for people that plotted another's death for their land or money and money lenders with exorbitant interest rates. Those people would be thrown onto a hill of knives. There was also a viewing tower for evildoers to watch how much their family was suffering due to their choices as well.
The Eighth Court of Hell King Dushi watched as those people who harmed others to benefit oneself had their body dismembered.
King Pingdeng oversaw the Ninth Court of Hell. Rapists, murderers, robbers, and any other unlawful conduct would constitute having your heads and arms chopped off.
So after all the suffering, pain, drowning, and dismemberment, I assume that those who died were brought back after each punishment because after enduring everything you came to the Tenth Court of Hell. Here King Zhuanglun passed your final judgement. The prisoners would be taken before the old lady Men Po gave them a magic cup of tea to make them forget their past life. Then they go through the Wheel of Reincarnation and are reborn as a human or animal and depending on their judgement they would have a life of ease or sorrow and suffering.
I took so many other pictures here at this park. It was crazy. These pictures were just mainly in the courts of hell, but the park is huge and there are a ton of other weird displays, (like half crab half people things.) I loved walking around and viewing everything. And remember kids, BE GOOD! Haha, I couldn't believe that parents would take their kids here to scare them.
Hope you enjoyed this adventure. (All the pictures were taken with my cell phone since that's what I had at the time)
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