# Taoism has a Hell?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taoism-has-a-hell/41502>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [November 16, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taoism-has-a-hell/41502 "2000-11-16T19:42:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taoism-has-a-hell/41502/1 "2000-11-16T19:42:50Z")

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Can I get a cite on this? Last I checked, Taoism teaches there is no afterlife.

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**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taoism-has-a-hell/41502/2 "2000-11-16T23:09:38Z")

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In [Who Invented Hell?"](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhell.html), **David B** pretty much blew off the whole question of Taoist Hell(s) by saying “Taoism has a few” – not unreasonable, IMHO, since the subject was Hell, not Taoism _per se_.

It is important to note that there are two main strains of thought in China that can be called “Taoism” – the _philosophical_ Taoism of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, and the _religious_ Taoism of the Ch’in and Han masters, the two not having a lot to do with one another. In philosophical Taoism, there is indeed no afterlife as we would refer to the term; the closest equivalent is the Theravadan concept of _nirvana_ (Taoist terminology was used early on to translate Buddhist concepts, to the confusion of both Buddhists and Taoists). Religious Taoism, OTOH, picks up a lot of folk religious concepts, and gives us the Ten Hells, the Black Judge and his minions, the Ox-headed Demon and the Horse-headed Demon, and so forth (and a lot of _these_ ideas are shared by various Mahayana Buddhist cults in China).

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**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2000, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taoism-has-a-hell/41502/3 "2000-11-16T23:28:03Z")

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thanks! I’ll admit to knowing nothing about those “religious taoists” – David’s article could have been a little more clear.

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**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taoism-has-a-hell/41502/4 "2000-11-17T00:51:09Z")

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As Akatsukami noted, the question wasn’t about whether Taoists have a hell – it was about Hell in general. I just threw in those other mentions to show that it’s a common theme, not as an attempt to explain every single possible religious facet of Hell.

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**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taoism-has-a-hell/41502/5 "2000-11-17T15:44:50Z")

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A good set of links to resources by and about Taoism is [this](http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/taoism/intros.htm).