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InEast Asian andBuddhist mythology,Yama (Chinese:閻魔/閻摩;pinyin:Yánmó;Wade–Giles:Yen-mo) is theKing of Hell and adharmapala (wrathful god) said to judge the dead, presiding over thehellish realms and over thecycle of life and rebirth. He goes by other names as well, includingYanluo Wang (Chinese:閻羅王;pinyin:Yánluó Wáng;Wade–Giles:Yen-lo Wang),Yan Wang (Chinese:閻王;pinyin:Yánwáng;Wade–Giles:Yen-wang),Master Yan Wang (Chinese:閻王爺;pinyin:Yánwángyé;Wade–Giles:Yen-wang-yeh),Lord Yan (Chinese:閻君;pinyin:Yánjūn;Wade–Giles:Yen-chün), andYanluo, Son of Heaven (Chinese:閻羅天子;pinyin:Yánluó Tiānzǐ;Wade–Giles:Yen-lo T'ien-tzu).
Although based on the godYama of theHinduVedas, the Buddhist Yama has developed differentmyths and different functions from the Hindu deity. He has also spread far more widely and is known in most countries whereBuddhism is practiced, includingChina,Nepal,Korea,Japan,Taiwan,Vietnam,Bhutan,Mongolia,Thailand,Sri Lanka,Cambodia,Myanmar andLaos.
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In thePali canon, theBuddha states that a person who has ill-treated their parents, ascetics, holy persons, or elders is taken upon his death to Yama.[a] Yama then asks the ignoble person if he ever considered his own ill conduct in light of birth, deterioration, sickness, worldly retribution and death. In response to Yama's questions, such an ignoble person repeatedly answers that he failed to consider thekarmic consequences of his reprehensible actions and as a result is sent to a brutal hell "so long as that evil action has not exhausted its result."[1]
In thePali commentarial tradition, the scholarBuddhaghosa's commentary to theMajjhima Nikaya describes Yama as avimānapeta (विमानपेत), a "being in a mixed state", sometimes enjoying celestial comforts and at other times punished for thefruits of hiskarma. However, Buddhaghosa considered his rule as a king to be just.[2]
ModernTheravādin countries portray Yama sending old age, disease, punishments, and other calamities among humans as warnings to behave well. At death, they are summoned before Yama, who examines their character and dispatches them to their appropriaterebirth, whether to earth or to one of the heavens or hells. Sometimes there are thought to be two or four Yamas, each presiding over a distinct Hell.[2][b]
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"Yanluo Wang" was sometimes considered to be a position in the celestialhierarchy, rather than anindividual. There were said to be cases in which an honest mortal was rewarded the post of Yanluo Wang and served as the judge and ruler of the underworld.[citation needed] Some said common people likeBao Zheng,Fan Zhongyan,Zhang Binglin became the Yanluo Wang at night or after death.[3][4][better source needed]
They were strongly challenged from theTang dynasty by a new version influenced byDaoism, which adopted Yanluo Wang to make it the fifth of a set of ten kings (shidian Yánluó wáng十殿阎罗王, Guardian king-sorter of the ten chambers) each named at the head of a hell by theJade Emperor. The other nine kings are: Qinguangwang (秦广王), Chujiangwang (楚江王), Songdiwang (宋帝王), Wuguanwang (五官王), Bianchengwang (卞城王), Taishanwang (泰山王), Pingdengwang (平等王) Dushiwang (都市王) Zhuanlunwang (转轮王), typically Taoist names. They compete withHeidi, another Taoist god of the world of the dead. Yanluo Wang remains nevertheless the most famous, and by far the most present in the iconography.[5]
However, then it disappears completely from the list, giving way to a historical figure, a magistrate appointed during his lifetime as judge of the dead by a superior deity. This magistrate is most oftenBao Zheng, a famous judge who lived during theSong dynasty. Sometimes he is accompanied by three assistants named "Old Age", "Illness" and "Death".[6]
Yanluo Wang is also regarded as one of theTwenty Devas (二十諸天Èrshí Zhūtiān) or theTwenty-Four Devas (二十四諸天Èrshísì zhūtiān), a group of protectiveDharmapalas, in Chinese Buddhism.[7]
Some of these Chinese beliefs subsequently spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam. In Japan, he is called Enma (閻魔, prev. "Yenma"), King Enma (閻魔王,Enma-ō), and Great King Enma (閻魔大王,Enma Dai-Ō). InKorea, Yan is known as Yeom-ra (염라, 閻魔) and Great King Yeom-ra (염라대왕, 閻羅大王,Yŏm-ra Daewang). InVietnam, these Buddhist deities are known asDiêm La Vương(閻羅王) orDiêm Vương(閻王),Minh Vương(冥王) and are venerated as a council of all ten kings who oversee underworld realm ofâm phủ, and according to the Vietnamese concept, the ten kings of hell are all governed byPhong Đô Đại Đế(酆都大帝).[8]
In thesyncretic and non-dogmatic world ofChinese religious views, Yanluo Wang's interpretation can vary greatly from person to person. While some recognize him as aBuddhist deity, others regard him as aTaoist counterpart of BodhisattvaKṣitigarbha. Generally seen as a stern deity, Yanluo Wang is also a righteous and fair Supreme Judge in underworld or skillful advocate ofDharma.
InTibetan Buddhism Yama occurs in the form ofYama Dharmaraja, also known asKalarupa,[9][10]Shinje orShin Je Cho Gyal (Tibetan: གཤིན་རྗེ་,Gshin.rje).[9][11] He is both regarded with horror as the prime mover of thecycle of death and rebirth and revered as a guardian of spiritual practice. In the popularmandala of theBhavachakra, all of the realms of life are depicted between the jaws or in the arms of a monstrous Shinje. Shinje is sometimes shown with a consort,Chamundi, or a sister,Yami,[12] and sometimes pursued byYamantaka (conqueror of death).
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He is often depicted with the head of a buffalo, three round eyes, sharp horns entwined with flame, fierce and angry. In his right hand he often has a stick with a skull and in his left a lasso. On his head he has a crown of skulls. In many depictions he is standing on a recumbent bull crushing a man lying on his back. He is also portrayed with an erect penis.[13]
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