Avīci

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avīci (T. mnar med མནར་མེད་; C. abi diyu/wujian diyu) is the lowest and most severe of the eight hot hells in the hell realm. The beings reborn in this hell experience being ceaselessly consumed by flames.[1]

Avīci is translated as "interminable," "relentless," "incessant," etc.[2] This term is also translated as the "Hell of Unrelenting Pain," or the "Hell of Ultimate Torment."

The Princeton Dictionary states that avīci:

... is the destination of beings whose "wholesome faculties are eradicated"...or who have committed the most heinous of acts..."[2] (i.e. one of the five heinous actions).

Further Reading

  • Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher (Boston: Shambhala, 1998), page 66.

Notes

  1. Internet-icon.svg mnar med, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
  2. 2.0 2.1 Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: 2014), s.v. avīci