Religion: Buddhist Images of Hell

The last of the symbolic six worlds of the wheel of life contains the cold and hot hells. These hells are not seen as places where people go for eternity as in the Christian image of hell. According to Buddhist belief, after one atones for one's sins, rebirth into a better world is always possible.

One of those hells, the Reviving Hell, is described below by Patrul Rinpoche.
    "Here, amidst the burning embers that cover the incandescent metal ground, beings
    as numerous as the snowflakes of a blizzard are gathered together by the force of
    their actions.  As the actions which drove them there were motivated by hatred,
    the effect similar to the cause makes them see each other as mortal enemies, and
    furiously they fight. Brandishing inconceivable weapons - a phantom armoury created
    by their Karma -- they strike at each other until everyone is slain. At that time, a voice
    from the sky says, "Revive!" and they immediately come back to life and start fighting
    all over again. And so they suffer, continually dying and being revived.

    How long do they live there? Fifty human years equal one day in the god realm of
    the Four Great Kings. Thirty of those days make a month, and twelve months make
    a year; five hundred such years equal one day in the Reviving Hell, where again,
    twelve months, each of thirty days make up a year. They suffer there for five hundreds
    of those years."
   
                                     

                        "If Hell is not empty, I will not attain Buddhahood."