description: Between the seventh and ninth centuries, the Chinese mind became preoccupied with a concept of the afterlife that persists into modern times. To be reborn, the deceased must successfully negotiate passage through ten courts of law, each ruled by a magistrate or king. The pains of transition from death to rebirth can be alleviated by the intercession of the living with contributions to the Buddhist church and bribes of spirit money. The cosmology, morality, and rituals of the ten kings are described for the first time in surviving sources in an illustrated text, The Scripture on the Ten Kings, which is here translated for the first time.
language: Chinese
title: The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism
titlecomplete: The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism
genres: China, Buddhism, Scripture
ratings_count: 15
series: Kuroda Studies in East Asian Buddhism
awards: awardedAt: 820483200000
name: Joseph Levenson Book Prize
category: Pre-1900
publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr