under world

Journeys to the Under-World

Journeys to The Under-World ( Chinese:地獄遊記 Pinyin: dì yù yóu jì), so called Voyages to Hell , is a Chinese novel, describing what Yangsheng(楊生) who was a planchette handler saw and heard when he follow his master Ji Gong (濟公 Pinyin: jì gōng) to visit Hell on instructions of the Jade Emperor. The story is about the consequences resulting from actions during the life of a person. It contains journeys made by Ji Gong and Yangsheng to each level in hell to warn those in the living world with an evil heart. Each chapter contains detailed descriptions of their observations and interviews with punishable souls in hell. The purpose of this Book is to enable people to understand what happens to one's soul after death, to let readers realise that it pays to do more good deeds, when still alive. Through the story, the writer wants to bring out a message about not doing evil.

Production

According the authors, the production of these accounts were painstakingly achieved, very tiring, and time consuming using planchette board (Fuji in Chinese Culture) with Ji Gong as the guide and Yangsheng as the medium. The details and conversations of each Journey were written in Chinese characters on the planchette board during each Fuji session held in Sheng Xian Tang - the words were read aloud and recorded on paper for compilation &mdash ; a very tedious and time-consuming process. The visits were generally made at night time.

The original version was published in Chinese . Collection of information to write this book started in 1976 at the Temple of the Sages in Tai Chu (Taiwan), as in the book it stated that the Jade Emperor was issued on the 15th day, 8th month in Chinese calendar (8th Sep, 1976) with the express intention of helping and saving human beings. The project was completed and published in 1978.