The Walled Enclosure of Suicides

Translation

Gate on walled-off area: The city of wrongful death

People in walled-off area:

Poisoned himself
Suicide
Strangled himself

Appearance in a Taiwanese visit to hell

For a description of the city of wrongful death from a Taiwanese spiritual medium who had engaged in a series of hell tours between 1976 and 1979, see Voyages to hell, Chapter 8. This place serves as a waiting chamber until its residents attain their originally fated lifespans, after which they then proceed through hell.

"Wrongful" death here means a premature death brought about through one's own hands. The victims here all still bear the marks of suicide, from slit throats to protruding tongues. As Wolfram Eberhard described their predicament in hell:

They suffer here for months or years and then are brought back to the scene of their suicide. Here, they again suffer hunger and thirst, as they are not allowed to eat the sacrifices. But if they behave and do not appear to frighten people or induce other people to serve as their replacement by inducing them to commit suicide, they return to hell number one and receive only the punishments for their remaining sins.

In some interpretations, these people who did not fulfill their predestined lifespan must stay in this city until that lifespan is complete, at which point they then proceed through hell as normal.

A second example of the "City of wrongful death" from another hell scroll (C1).

The Donnelly collection (p. 79) has a scroll with a long explanatory inscription: "All those on earth who forgot that Heaven gave them birth and that their parents raised them, as well as those who failed to follow the three obediences, plus the four virtues, and those who did not observe the "call to death," but went before their life had run its course, because of all these faults they made fools of themselves and lost face, failed to obey their parents, sought prostitutes or gambled ... committed suicide by stabbing, hanging, taking medicine, poison, or drowning must enter this place and be bitterly punished.

A third example of the "City of wrongful death" from another hell scroll (I3).

The "City of wrongful death" in the late Qing wall poster Tiantang diyu tu 天堂地獄圖 (Guangxu period – 1875-1908).

Suicide by hanging as depicted at Fengdu, the City of Ghosts.

	Translation Gate on walled-off area: The city of wrongful death People in walled-off area: Poisoned himself Suicide Strangled himself Appearance in a Taiwanese visit to hell For a description of the city of wrongful death from a Taiwanese spiritual medium who had engaged in a series of hell tours between 1976 and 1979, see Voyages to hell, Chapter 8. This place serves as a waiting chamber until its residents attain their originally fated lifespans, after which they then proceed through hell.
"Wrongful" death here means a premature death brought about through one's own hands. The victims here all still bear the marks of suicide, from slit throats to protruding tongues. As Wolfram Eberhard described their predicament in hell: They suffer here for months or years and then are brought back to the scene of their suicide. Here, they again suffer hunger and thirst, as they are not allowed to eat the sacrifices. But if they behave and do not appear to frighten people or induce other people to serve as their replacement by inducing them to commit suicide, they return to hell number one and receive only the punishments for their remaining sins. In some interpretations, these people who did not fulfill their predestined lifespan must stay in this city until that lifespan is complete, at which point they then proceed through hell as normal.

	A second example of the "City of wrongful death" from another hell scroll (C1). The Donnelly collection (p. 79) has a scroll with a long explanatory inscription: "All those on earth who forgot that Heaven gave them birth and that their parents raised them, as well as those who failed to follow the three obediences, plus the four virtues, and those who did not observe the "call to death," but went before their life had run its course, because of all these faults they made fools of themselves and lost face, failed to obey their parents, sought prostitutes or gambled ... committed suicide by stabbing, hanging, taking medicine, poison, or drowning must enter this place and be bitterly punished.
	A third example of the "City of wrongful death" from another hell scroll (I3).
	The "City of wrongful death" in the late Qing wall poster Tiantang diyu tu 天堂地獄圖 (Guangxu period – 1875-1908).
	Suicide by hanging as depicted at Fengdu, the City of Ghosts.