Ten Courts of Hell

The Legend of Hell

Here goes the legend about the 10 Courts of Hell.Buddhists believe that reincarnation is a form of reward a retribution on their journey to Nirvana. The Ten Courts of Hell are purgatory where a person is sent to be punished for the sins and misdeeds of their past life. A sinner must go through all Ten Courts and in the tenth, final judgment will determine his form of reincarnation.The legend of the Ten Courts of Hell tells of the punishment that await sinners after their death but before reincarnation is determined. The sinner is sent to 'hell' where he will be tormented by demonic-looking 'Yama attendants' for the misdeeds he has committed in his past life.In purgatory, the Ten Courts of Hell are a labyrinth of infernal dungeons, each presided over by a judge who is known as the 'President' and a Registrar of Life and Death. The Presidents are recognized by their long black beards and square flat hats from which hang strings of beads. Registrars record the details of the punishment and hold a brush and set of documents.The sinner will go through nine courts before judgment is finally reached. In each of the nine courts, he is punished for the particular sin that he has committed.In the First Court of Hell, the virtuous are led over a golden bridge to paradise. The silver bridge to paradise is for those whose good deeds during their life outweighed the bad. Evil doers - the ones we have really come to see - are sent to repent before the Mirror of Retribution (where all their past sins are revealed to them) and then taken to a court of hell for punishment.

These Court Of Hells represent Chinese traditional beliefs. Chinese believe that when they meet death, they have to pass through judgments based upon their previous actions. Here they are judged by their good deeds and bad deeds. Those who have done well receive rewards and one who did wrong, is treated with punishment. At the Haw Par Villa, you travel the journey of the 10 Courts of Hell, starting from the mouth of the great dragon, to see what punishments are inflicted to wrong doers.
In the First Court of Hell, the good is distinguished with the evil. Based upon this the punishment or reward is being decided in other levels. In the Second Court of Hell you will be punished for your bad deeds like slapping. The Third Court of Hell again deals with punishments related to higher level of misdeeds like drug addiction. And accordingly all the subsequent Courts deal with your misdeeds and assign punishments. Once you are through with all the 10 Courts, you will be sent to the recycling process. But before this you drink the broth of forgetfulness which clears your memory of whatever you did in your previous life and thereby reach the end of the Dragon's tail.

Let the pictures do the talking(:

So people, you are strongly advised against bad deeds.

The park, originally called "Tiger Balm Gardens", was constructed in 1937 by the brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. The Aw family eventually sold the Gardens to the Singapore Tourism Board in 1979.
The park was renamed Haw Par Villa in 1985 and re-opened in 1990, when it was converted into an amusement park and promoted with the name "Dragon World", with many of the statues and scenes replaced with fairground rides. However this new incarnation proved unpopular when attendances started to decline and Fraser and Neave, which had 75% stake in the theme park, started seeing losses. More recently many of the old features have been replaced, such as the dragon ride. Some of the statues have also been moved to the Chinese Gardens.
Entry to the park has been free since 1996, while previously a S$16 entrance fee was charged and a Chinese Heritage Centre has been constructed within its grounds.

This exciting park features one thousand statues and apart from these statues the other things to look out for are the giant size panoramas that are 150 in number. The panorams/dioramas portray scenes that are related to history, legends, folklore and philosophical theory associated with the Chinese community and a few of them are the The Goddess of Mercy, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Laughing Buddha. The chief attraction of this park is the Ten Courts of Hell that showcases the ten steps of judgment that is followed by the reincarnation.