Some Chinese legends say that hell, or diyu, is an unground maze with 18 levels and various chambers in which one must pay for the sins of their life. Wouldn't that make a great video game? They are quite frightening- there's the chamber of tongue ripping (shown), the chamber of steamer, the mountain of knives, the cauldron of boiling oil, and more. See each level illustrated at China Underground. Link -Thanks, CinaOggi!
Some Chinese legends say that hell, or diyu, is an unground maze with 18 levels and various chambers in which one must pay for the sins of their life. Wouldn't that make a great video game? They are quite frightening- there's the chamber of tongue ripping (shown), the chamber of steamer, the mountain of knives, the cauldron of boiling oil, and more. See each level illustrated at China Underground. Link -Thanks, CinaOggi!
To say, liars will have their tongues ripped out is an allegorical way of saying that if you become a liar, nobody will trust you or listen to you. Your speaking will be ignored and it will be as-if your tongue had been ripped out.
Anagogical refers to a procession from a state of ignorance to a state of clarity and understanding. It refers to this "spiritual" procession. Which is really just a change in personal psychology bringing the mind closer to reality.
"Look at the sun that shines upon your brow; look at the grasses, flowers, and the shrubs born here, spontaneously, of the earth. Among them, you can rest or walk until the coming of the glad and lovely eyes--those eyes that, weeping, sent me to your side. Await no further word or sign from me: your will is free, erect, and whole--to act against that will would be to err: therefore I crown and miter you over yourself."
--Canto XXVII, Purgatorio
The concept of the eighteen hells started in the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD). Which happens to be 500 years before Dante wrote his Inferno around the 14th-century.