Yanluo Wang
Chinese god of death and judge of the underworld.
Yanluo Wang is the Chinese god of death and ruler of Diyu, the underworld, overseeing the Ten Kings of Hell from its capital Youdu. The name derives from the Sanskrit for King Yama, and he serves as the fifth judge in the underworld court. He is typically depicted as a large man with a scowling red face, bulging eyes, a long beard, and a crown bearing the character for king.
Quick Facts
- Also known as
- Yanluo
- Domain
- God of death, ruler of Diyu
- Role
- Fifth judge in the underworld court
- Origin
- Transcription of Sanskrit 'Yama Raja'
Facts from the source article.
Journey to the West
In the classic novel Journey to the West, Yanluo Wang appears after Sun Wukong, having fallen asleep drunk, dreams that Ox-Head and Horse-Face arrive with a warrant to take his soul to Hell. Sun Wukong beats them with his golden staff, tears off his bindings, and enters the Court of Hell, causing the two guardians to flee to Yanluo Wang. When Sun Wukong meets Yanluo Wang, he speaks to him, and afterward wipes his own name and the names of every monkey he knows from the Book of Life and Death, which controls mortal lifespans. The Jade Emperor, after receiving reports from Yanluo Wang and the Four Seas Dragon Kings, orders the Ten Yama Kings and the heavenly army to capture Sun Wukong, who is sentenced to death for extorting the Dragon Kings.
Variety of interpretations
Interpretations of Yanluo Wang vary widely within Chinese religious views. Some regard him as a Buddhist deity, while others see him as a Daoist counterpart of Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha. He is generally considered a stern but righteous and fair Supreme Judge in the underworld, as well as a skillful advocate of Dharma. Yanluo Wang judges all the dead, with a judge holding a brush and a book listing every soul and its death date. Ox-Head and Horse-Face bring the newly dead before him. Those with merit receive good future lives or revival; those who committed misdeeds are sentenced to suffering. In some versions, Diyu is divided into eight, ten, or eighteen courts, each ruled by a different Yanluo Wang, such as King Chujiang for thieves and murderers. The spirits of the dead either enjoy a period in a region between earth and heaven or undergo punishment in the nether world, neither permanent, before returning to Earth. Yanluo Wang was sometimes considered a position in the celestial hierarchy rather than an individual, with cases of honest mortals like Bao Zheng being rewarded the post after death or at night.
Relationship with Indian religion
Chinese tradition, drawing from Indian texts and local culture, presents several versions of the number of hells and their deities. Originally there were two competing versions: 136 hells (eight big ones each divided into sixteen smaller ones) or 18 hells, each led by a subordinate king of Yanluo Wang. From the Tang dynasty, a Daoist-influenced version adopted Yanluo Wang as the fifth of ten kings, each named by the Jade Emperor, including Qinguangwang, Chujiangwang, Songdiwang, Wuguanwang, Bianchengwang, Taishanwang, Pingdengwang, Dushiwang, and Zhuanlunwang. Yanluo Wang later disappeared from the list, replaced by a historical figure, most often the Song dynasty magistrate Bao Zheng, sometimes accompanied by three assistants named Old Age, Illness, and Death. Yanluo Wang is also regarded as one of the Twenty Devas or the Twenty-Four Devas in Chinese Buddhism.
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