Tai Shan Wang 泰山王.jpg

Tai Shan Wang, or King Tai Shan, resides in the Seventh Court of Di Yu (地狱 dì yù), where he passes judgement on the souls (魂 hún) that are brought to his domain.

The Seventh Court of Di Yu is located under the Wo Jiao Stone (沃焦石 wò jiāo shí) that marks the north, which in-turn is located at the bottom of the Great Sea. The Seventh Court is said to stretch over 8,000 leagues, and has 16 additional "sub" Di Yu

As the Yama of the Seventh Court, Tai Shan Wang passes judgement on souls that have been sent to him by Qin Guang Wang (秦广王 qín guǎng wáng). These souls will have committed crimes of the following nature in their previous life on Earth - also known as the Yang Realm (阳间 yáng jiān):

1. People who refine or consume stimulants, such as lead tetroxide, yin jujube or human placenta, that cause harm;

2. People who drink so much they become violent, act in a way contrary to their better judgement, and hurt those close to them;

3. People who squander the hard work of those that came before them by being overly wasteful (for example, wasting money that they inherited);

4. People who swindle other peoples' money through dishonest methods;

5. Tomb raiders who steal precious clothing items from the dead;

6. People who use the flesh or bones of the dead to make medicine;

Tai Shan Wang 泰山王
(tài shān wáng)
Status: God/Deity
Gender: Male
Pronunciation: (audio file coming soon)
Best known for: Presides over the 7th Court of Di Yu

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7. People who force lovers, relatives and friends to live apart from one another;

8. Parents who sell a child they do not like to become someone else's maid or wife, ridding them of any chance of happiness;

9. People who persuade others to gamble only for their friend to lose their money and home as a result. To negatively impact a family causing them to fall into poverty;

10. A person that is given the title of teacher or mentor who goes on to stunt the growth of those who follow them;

11. A person that tortures a student, maid or servant purely to vent their anger, regardless of the severity of the crime/mistake they made;

12. A person who uses their wealth and power to bully and insult others; 

13. A person who pretends to be drunk so they can disobey, disrespect and humiliate their elders, and cause them distress;

14. A person who speaks evil words, blurs the line between fact and fiction, willingly spreads the personal secrets of others, ridicules people for past mistakes, sows discord amongst others creating conflict and incidents that would otherwise not have occured;

15. A  man that allows their wife or a spoilt daughter to have an abortion without disputing the point, thus committing murder;

Depending on the severity of each individual crime they committed, the soul will go through 1, many, or all of the 16 sub Di Yu that reside within the Seventh Court. Each of the 16 Di Yu are named after the torture method that is used within. The souls are tortured in each sub Di Yu for a period of time that the Yama judges to be necessary. Should they "die" during the process, or if they lose a limb for example, the soul will be "repaired" or "resurrected" again for the next round. And so on, and so forth

Below is the name of each sub Di Yu roughly translated, in chronological order:

  1. Swallow a Hammer [by] Oneself 锤衄自吞 (chuí nǜ zì tūn)
  2. Cut Chest 割胸 (gē xiōng)
  3. Fire-Heated Kang1 火炕 (huǒ kàng)
  4. Fork [made from] Coconut Branch 椰杈发 (yē chā fā)
  5. Dog Bite Shin Bone 犬咬胫骨 (quǎn yǎo jìng gǔ)
  6. Hot Pain Cry Dog Chop2 燠痛哭狗墩 (yù tòng kū gǒu dūn)
  7. Split Forehead [with] Hammer 榔顶开额 (láng dǐng kāi é)
  8. Squat [on a] Capstone 顶石蹲身 (dǐng shí dūn shēn)
  9. Pecked by Evil Birds 恶鸟啄咬 (è niǎo zhuó yǎo)
  10. Poison Skin [then] Dragged [by a] Pig 黧皮猪拖 (lí pí zhū tuō)
  11. Spear-Pole [through] Feet 茅筒足 (máo tǒng zú)
  12. Rip Out Tongue and Pierce Cheeks 拔舌穿腮 (bá shé chuān sāi)
  13. Disembowel 抽肠 (chōu cháng)
  14. Trampled on by a Mule and Eaten by a Badger 骡踏獾嚼 (luó tà huān jué)
  15. Cook Fingers 烙手指 (lào shǒu zhǐ)
  16. Cook in Cauldren of Oil 油釜烹 (yóu fǔ pēng)

 

Kang: a masonry or earthen platform at one end of a room, heated in winter by fires underneath and spread with mats for sleeping

2 I have been unable to find any information on this sub Di Yu. From the Chinese I can only guess that the spirit is placed on a hot land mass, cooked, there's (obviously) a lot of pain involved, and then the body is chopped up and eaten by dogs. 

Some of the torture methods include being strapped to a stone slab with a fire burning underneath and being pecked to death by birds. 

 

In Addition

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties (魏晋时期 wèi jìn shí qí) (220–420 ADE) it was believed that once a person died their spirit (魂 hún) would travel to Tai Mountain (泰山 tài shān). And this is why the King of Tai Mountain (namely, Tai Shan Wang) became one of the ten king's (or Yama) in the Spirit Realm (阴间 yīn jiān), taking his place in the Seventh Court.

 

To read more on Di Yu, check out my blog: A Journey Through Di Yu - "Chinese Hell"