Hell vision

Rochester Institute of Technology

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9-1-1996

Hell vision

Willie Li-Wei Yang

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ROCHESTER INSTITUTE

OF TECHNOLOGY

HELL VISION

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF

THE

COLLEGE OF IMAGING ARTS AND SCIENCE

IN

CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER

OF FINE ARTS

DEPARTMENT

OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS DESIGN

BY

WILLIE LI-WEIYANG

ROCHESTER,

NEW YORK

Chief Advisor:

Date:

Prof. Robert Keough

01--,0-'1.6

Associate Advisor:

Date:

Associate Advisor:

Date:

Department

Chairperson:

Date:

Prof. James Ver Hague

9./o.CJro

Prof. Nancy Ciolek

9/~·;;&

Prof. Mary Ann Begland

tf'-/I

·it,

I,

Willie Li-Wei Yang,

hereby grant permission to the Wallace

Memorial library of RIT to reproduce my thesis in whole or in part.

Any reproduction will not be for commercial use or profit.

Signature:

_

Prologue 1

Introduction 2

Research 3

Concept 6

Navigation 8

Process 9

Story

& Dialogue 15

level Description 21

Hell Buttons 22

TechnicalIssues 24

Hell

Gallery

26

Conclusion 29

Bibligraphy 30

AppendixA 31

prologue

Eversincethe_showingofthe

movie"SilenceoftheLambs,"

"Pulp

Fiction," and"Seven", Iaminawe ofhowmuch_my

feelingswere affected_bythose

movies. So,insteadofjust

creatinganinteractivepiece

that theusersjustclick and clickeverywhere, Iwanttocre ate a piecethatcan affect

theusers emotions as much asthemovies.

introduction

Thisthesisisa guidedtour

of_myversion ofHELL. HELLconsist of ninelevels

and eachlevel has itsown storyline. Thereasonfor

choosingthissubjectis becausethereare no

real concreteideasofHELLand

therefore,itisan areathat I

can_trulyexplore and use

myimagination tocreate an environmentthatwill appeal

to theemotions oftheusers.

Theoverall goal ofthis thesisis to_tryto_bringout the

emotions of_{fear, frustration,}

madness, andhumor from

theusers.The_secondarygoal istoexplorethelimitof user interface design. Thetarget

audiences willbe foranyone abovetheage of14andthe

finalproduct willbeon aCD.

research

In startingwiththe_research, Itried togather alltheavailable

informationonHELL.Still,

therewere_onlyafewsources available._First, Isurfedtheweb

toseeif_{anybody had}thelatest informationonHELL. Icame acrossfourarticles (whichI haveincluded inappendix_A),

"Buddhist_Wisdom", "The

ShockingTruth About_HELL!", "The Terrorsof_HELL", and

"HELL."

Next, Ichecked out a

bookwhich was_veryusefulin mythesis, "Dante'sInferno."

Thisbook helpedmeto start visualize whatHELLmightlook likeandthe specifics of each of

itslevels. In Dante's_Hell, it

consists of ninelevels (figure1). Leveloneisforpeople wholed blameless_lives,butwere not

baptized. In thislevel,thereis onlysilencebecausethosewho are confinedto Limboare not beingpunished, andthesilence

isasilence ofdignity. Level two isreservedforpeople whowere

lustful. Throughout thislevel,

Dantecanhearthesoundof

shrieking,moaning, and lamentingand also _seeingsin ners_beingtossed, whirledand swept_byan_unceasingstorm.

:~:y?*7.A'^'-<*'-'~

CIRCLE I(Umbo!;VirtuOuJunbaptlzm

CiBCLE II: Lunttul

CIRCLE III; Gluttonous

CIRCLE IV:Prodigal,Avaricious

vx.-v.c-crcr~4.-z;~., CIRCLEV(Stjx):

C^.^^l.'^sxP&^^V-WallsoHhcCHyolDIb

<\-,

CfftCLE Vl; He*ellc

CIRCLEV(l

;-,\.__

--yvw... ViolentagainstNeighbors _{^efCar9i^sXye....yj} <V\ Vtate^tagainstagam&lThrnMlv /llv

VfofmagainstGod, Nature,Art

Abyss

;... U.JSi..'

-dRCL VKf(Malebotg*): Bolgts 1.Panderera, Seducers

2. Flatterers 3.Simon laca

4.Fortuneteller*

i>.Gratters (Barrators) 6. Hypocrite* "-. Thievoi

ft-vM Counselors

9.SowersofDiscord

10- Former*

Giants Well j.

MM

CIRCLEEX(Cocytuai

TRAITORS To Kindred ToCountry

To Guests To Wasters

PLAN OFDANTE'S INFERNO

Figure. 1

research

Thethirdlevel is forthe gluttonous. "Thegluttonis one of uncontrolled_appetite, one who_{deliberately,}inhis own_solitaryway,converted naturalfoods intoa sort of god,or atleastan object of worship.Sonowhispunish mentisa_reversal, andinstead of_eatingthefine delicate foods and wines of_{the world,} heisforcedtoeatfilth and mud. Insteadof_sittinginhis comfortable_{house relishing}all ofthesensual aspects of good foodand good wine and good

surroundings, he liesin the foulrain (Vergani, 1969)." Levelfourisforthespend thriftsandthemisers._Theyare pitted against each otherin HELLbecause_theyare so opposite each other.Amiser could not understand someone who spends_{money wildly}and viceversa. Levelfiveisforpeo ple who were wrathful. In Dante's_Inferno, thewrathful people aredivided intotwo categories. "Firstis theopen and violent_hatred,andthe punishmentisthat_theystrike out at each otherinalmost anyfashion;thesecondtype

ofhatred isthe slow, sullen hatred. Thepunishmentfor this typeisthat_theyare chok ingontheirownrage, unable to expressthemselvesas_they becomechoked ontheirown malevolenthatred_(Vergani,

1969)."

Levelsixis forthe heretics._Theyare people who

choosetheirown opinion ratherthan _followingthe_judg ment ofthechurch.In_HELL, their tombsareforevertorched

bytheredhot flames. In Dante's_Inferno, levelseven containsthreemajor categories of crimes: violence against neighbors,violence against themselves, and violence against_God,nature, art._First, violent against neighbors. Theseare_{the murderers,} assailants, and robbers._They areimmersedtodifferent depthin theriver of

boiling

blood accordingtotheircrime. Second,violence againstthem selves.Thesearethepeople who committed suicide._They areturnedintotreesinHELL and will_{eventually be}calledto thelast judgment._Theywill reclaimthemortal_bodies,but theywill never regainthe

immortalsouls which_theytook fromthemselvesand will remaininthewoods forever. Third, violence against_God,

nature, art. Thesearethepeople who_defyGod._Theyare_being put on adesertand while_lying down,crouching, or_wandering restlessly,flakesoffireswould falluponthem,makingitburn andincreasethepains ofthese torturedsouls.Intheeighth level,people who are confined herecommittedfraudulenceof one sort or another._Theyare panderers,flatterers, simoni-cacs, fortunetellers,grafters,

hypocrites,thieves, evil coun

selors,sowers of_discord, and falsifiers. Eachofthosepeople issubjectedtoadifferenttype of punishment.Some haveto wear athickcloak of_lead, some havetheirheadsturnedaround sothat_theyareforcedtowalk backward,some arebitten_by thedeviland scorched_bythe fireand somehavetheirhands cut off.Thelast_level,level nine, isreservedforthe traitors. Therearefourroundsin this circle:treacherous to_kin, treacherous to_country,

betray

ingof guests and

betraying

of

research

masters. Inthispart of_HELL, manbecomes beast. This isthe place where manhas lostall of thequalities which everdistin

guishedhimas_beinga man.

Lastly, after_talkingwith _my

colleagues, theygave me quite

afewideason artiststhathave paintedordrawnimages of HELL. Thetwoartiststhat

weremost usefulincomposing my background forHELL were PieterBruegeland Hieronymous Bosch. Some

were notimages of_HELL,but thestyle andtheatmosphere

ofitgaveita eerie effect which ws appropriatetothesubject matter(figure2and3).

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concept

After readingallthearticles

and Dante's_Inferno,Icame_up with_myown ninelevelsof

HELL. InDante's_Inferno,some

levels dealtwithChristian

beliefandtheresult of not

believinginGodor_disobeying

God. I tried toavoid_getting

too indepthwith religion and

therefore, I tookoutthelevels

thatdealtwith not_believingor

disobeyingGod. Theninelev

elsthat Icame_upwith are: ₁₎ lust, 2)gluttony &sloth, 3) prodigal&avarice,4) wrath,5) backbiters, 6)suicide,7) rob bery& thieves,8)murder,and 9)traitors.ThepunishmentI came_{up for}eachlevelafter

readingthearticlesand_looking

atthepaintings are: _{1) solitary} confinement,2) force fed filth andmud, 3)pitted against each other,4)beingstruckat,chok ingonitsownrage, 5)tongue chopped off andfed backinto

them, 6)deprivedof_body form, 7) handchopped off and

heartpunchedout, 8)getting killedover andover,and₉₎

turnedinto hideousbeast.

Next, Ihadtodecidewhat occursineachlevel. Iwanted

eachstorytobe differentyet all

relate_bya singleobject,idea, or event.After_thinkingitover

carefully, Ichosetorelatethem

all_byan event.Theeventthat

linkedthemalltogetheristhat

allthecharactersdiedatthe

same place. OnceIreached

that conclusion, Icame_up

withthestory. _{The story}

occurred at adinerinaless

upscaled part of a city.Outside

ofthe_diner,therestood a per son, Brian, smoking.Allof a sudden,gunshotsfiredwithin

thedinerand aguy,Jon,hold

inga gun came_runningout. Soon,cops came_byandBrian andJonstarted running.While

running, Jon turnedaround

andtriedtoshootthecops,

butwas_quicklytakendown_by

thepolice.Briangot away.

After_hidingoutforthree_days, Briandecidedto gohome.

Whileintheelevator_going

backtohisapartment onthe

sixth_floor, theelevator stopped andthelightwent

out.Because the_killingin the

dinerstayed onhisconscience,

in thistotal_darkness,he begin

toseeimagesofHELL.This

couldbeimaginationorit

couldbereal,whoknows. In

each_level, thereare sinners thatare_beingpunished.Each

sinnerhastheir_storyto tell

and each_storyends_upin the

diner.Slowly,theusersare able tosee what occurredin the

dinerandhoweach sinner gets

toHELL_byvisitingeachlevel.

After_visitingallthelevels, Brian issentbacktoreality.

Heisnowallflusteredand

confused anddoesn't knowif

whathejustsaw was real or

imaginary. The elevator came

backtoorder and reachedhis

floor. Assoon asthedoor

opens, thecops werethere to

apprehendhim.Brian tries to

get_{away but he}issurrounded.

Finally, he kills himselfin the elevator. _Now,thewhole scene switchesto HELLonce

again. Itgoes_directlytolevel

six, suicide andthiswillbethe

end.Foreach_level,theback

groundisa collage ofimages

fromtheBruegelandBosch

paintings.The background

usesa_scrollingmovementthat

isundertheuser's control.The

scrollingiscontinuous. Besides

the_{scrollingbackground,} Ialso usedlightand_darkness, flat

ness and_3D,andtexture to

concept

Figure 4

create an environmentthat

givethe illusion ofdepth. Thecolorfor HELL is basicallyred andblackto_try

andgive adarkandeeriefeel

ing.Thecolorforthe

above-groundismore colorful and

lightto give a more cheerful

mood.Mostofthepiece will

beillustration(figure₄₎mixed withphotographs of an envi ronment or people(figure5)to

giveita more realisticfeelthat

willaffecttheusers emotions more.The_{story for}each sinner uses eitheranimation, illustra tion, or videoto_conveytheir life. ThesinnersinHELLare of

an ambiguous sexbecausein HELLeveryoneisthesame on

theoutside(figure 6). Itdoes

not make adifferenceifyou are a man or a woman. Lastly, I tried tocreate an envi ronmentthatisnot so stereo

typical, for example,thedevil

withtheforkandthetail,the

navigation

Eachsquare represents adiffer

ent section ofthe_storyandthe

arrows representif_theymove

forwardorboth forwardand

backward.So,it isa partiallin

ear and partial non-linearinter

active story.

story intro

hell intro

chooselevel

goback< out of;

story

conclusion

level 1

Lust

level 2

Sloth/Gluttony

level 3 Prodigal/Avarice

level4 Wrath

level 5 Backbiters

level 6

Suicide

level7

Plunder

level 8 Murders

level 9 Traitors

level1 _story

level2_story

level 3 story

level4_story

level5 _story

level 6 story

level 7_story

level 8 story

level 9 story

galleryor credit

gallery

credits

process

Sincethe_storywilltakeplace

ina_diner, Iwent and got all thepicturesthatIcouldfind

ondiners. Ifoundonethat

wouldbesuitableto_mystory,

butthecolor wastoo cheerful

(figure 7).So, Iproceededto

Photoshopand manipulated

thecolortosuit_myneeds

(figure 8).

?-.- >--.>:!:--. ; -:.:>-:

Figure 7

::-%-.;.%;..:.>:

IJllllllll

OnceIhadthe_diner, Ipro

ceededtocreate characters.

First, therobber. Iwanted a_guy that_{is rough,} mean and alittle

bitunstable.Aftersome sketch

es, Isettled ontheone shown

attheright(figure 9).

Next,thelookout.Thelookout

willbemore shrewd and not as

bigand_strongastherobber

(figure 10).

Next, thesinners ofthefirst

level, adultery.Thewoman will beayoung,bodacious,naive lady(figure ₁₁₎andtheman

willbemature, strongjawed,

handsome playboy (figure 12).

Next,GluttonyandSloth. I

wantedto create a_guythatis

ratherhugeand would con

stantlyeat and eat(figure13).

I thought thehaironthepre

liminarysketch madethechar

acter_{younglooking,} soI took the hairoutin thefinalversion

(figure 14).

Next, Ihadtocreate characters

forprodigal and avarice.I

wanted someonethatmight

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure8 _{Figure 14}

process

have justwonthe

lottery

or

wasborn intoa richfamily.

Shewouldn't havea carein

theworld and all shehastodo

istospend_moneythroughout

theirlives (figure 15). Ialso

wanted a_guyinabouthis six-tys'

orseventys'

whohas been

throughsometough_times, so

hewon't give_anybodya single

pennyor_{charity (figure 16).}

Next,thebackbiters.Idecided

togo with some stereotypical

ideasofthepersonthatisa

backbiter.Ichose a woman.

Thiswomanisnot_verywell

educated, has low self-esteem,is

not_verypretty, anddoesnot

havea_{very strong}personality.

Basically, shehastotalkdown

about other peopletomake

herself feel better (figure17).

ThenIcreatedthe threepeople

forwrath.I tried togive an

angry feeltoeach ofthesepeo

ple(figure 18).

Figure 15 Figure 16

Figure 17

Figure18

Next,Ialsodecided to go with

threeroledynamicsforthe

robberandthieves(figure 19).

Onewillbethebossandbelev

elheaded, theother willbe less

patient andthelastwillbea

process

Figure 20

Figure 21

middle persontosettledis putesbetweenthosetwo.

Now,thelast butnotthe_least, theDevil. Ididn'twanttogo withthe typicalimagemost people_{recognize, I}wanted somethingthatismysterious and with a gentleman's quality. Icame_upwith some prelimi

nary devils (figure 20and21).

Iwasn't satisfied withthedev ils Icame_upwith, so after moresketches, Isettled on theone atthebottom left (figure 22).

Whenallthecharacters were drawnand colored_in, Iwent ahead and sketched outthe position of each sinnerthat is_beingpunished(figure_23, 24and25).

Figure 23

Figure 22

Figure 24

process

Figure25

r

^

\

*JLA

iy w;fa.?Don^ViJ

process

Isketched outthe_storyand

layoutforeach level (figure

26). Ialso wrotedownsome

roughdialogues,whichIwill

go into detailalittle later.

ThenI took thevideo camera

and shot myself_doingthepos

sible movement oftherobber

andthelookout. Afterthe

video was_shot, Isnapshot a

couple ofkeyframesandtook

it toPhotoshop. Oncein

Photoshop, Irotoscoped over

thevideoto_tryand get a

smooth animationfor

myillustration.

Tocreate_Hell, Iwent and

looked forpictures of under

ground caverns.Iusedthose

pictures as a referencetocreate

thestone andthestalagmite of

theforeground. Ialso went

into _Photoshoptodarkenthe

edges and used afilterthat

gaveitmorrtexture toseparate

itfromthebackground.

Forthe_sinners,andthe

devil's helperin_HELL,

IusedthesoftwarePoser

togiveita more_realistic,

3Drenderedbody.

Figure26

process

Last,Iscannedthepaintings of BruegelandBoesch tocompose thebackground foreach of_my levels (figure 27,28 and29).

Figure27

storyand

dialogue

Figure 30

Each level hasitsown unique

story.The_followingis

the_storyanddialogueof

eachlevel.

Level 1 Thisis thelevelofthe

adulterers. Itwillbeginwith

showing a man and a woman

gettingmarried(figure30)on one side ofthestage and a

woman_workingtilllatenight

ontheother side ofthestage.

Fiveyears afterthe marriage,

themanhadan affair withthe

lonelywoman.Firstitwas

onlya mental_{affair, then}one

day,ithappened. Themental

affairbecamea physical affair.

Afterthewild_passion,they

wentinto thedinertograb a

biteto eat andto talkabout

whathappened (figure 31).

woman:_Oh, no.What have I

done?Youare a married man.

Idon'twanttocomebetween

you and your wife(figure 32).

man:_Hey,don'tworry. Iam

divorcingmywifesoon,and

thenIwillbewith you allthe

rest of_{my life.}

woman:Really?

man: _Yeah, rea.

Beforetheman could

finish_{the sentence, the}

robber shouted.

robber:Allrighteveryone.This

isa stick up.Putall of your

moneyonthetableand no

one getshurt.

Now,everyoneis tenseand

nervous. Out_{bythe corner,}a

waitresstriedto sneakout,but

thedoormade a_creakynoise.

Therobber shouted _stop,but

thewaitressdidn'tstop.Then

thegun went off andtheplace

wentintochaos.

woman:Ahhh

woman:Ahhh.

Therobberthenstart_shooting

everywhere to_tryand quiet

things down._{In the process,}he

killedeveryonein thediner.

Level2- Thisis thelevel

reservedforpeople who com

mitted sloth or gluttony.It

beginswith a3D animation of

a_guysittinginfrontof aTV

Figure32

storyand

dialogue

done_byDominicAmatore.

Thisscene will continuefrom

daytonight and nightto_day

and so on and so on(figure

33). Thescene repeatsthree

times andthenhegets_upone

nighttogoto thedinertoget his dinner. Thewhole scene

switchesto thedinerand showshim_havingafeast_(fig

ure34). Heeats and eats until

therobber appears:

robber: Allright everyone.This isa stick up. Putall ofyour

moneyonthetableandno onegetshurt.

The storywill concludeinthe

same_wayasthefirst level. A waitresstried toescapeand

insteadof_gettingaway, sheis

gunneddown.Thisevent sets off a chainreactionof_every onescreamingand_panicking

andeventuallyallgetkilled_by

therobber.

Level3- Thislevelisforthe

prodigal and avarice.Itwill containtwostories.Onewill showthelifeofthemiserfrom childhoodto thepresent and

theotherwillshowthespend

thrift_winningthelottery. While inthe_diner,themiser

willbe_byhimself_drinking

water and_eatingthecheapest thingonthemenu and spend

thrift_gloatingwith_{her money}

infrontof everyone.Due to the time constraint, this

levelwill notbe done

and willbereplaced with

the_{devil standing}infront

of a closed gate withthe

followingdialogue:

devil:Iam sorry.Levelthree,

four,fiveand nineare closed

forrenovationtoprovide a betterand more comfortable

livingenvironmentforthesin

ners.Pleasecomeback

September1, 1996 (figure 35).

Level 4- Thislevelisforthe

people who committed wrath.

Thethreepeople who arein this_storyare related._They

grew_upinadysfunctional familyandbecauseoftheir

upbringing,theyarefullof hateand violence.Whilein

the_{diner, they}will_{be arguing} witheachother over some

silly littlethings.Also,dueto

the time constraint, thislevel

Figure33

Figure34

Figure 35

storyand

dialogue

willbesubstituted withthe

same screen aslevel 3.

Level 5- Thislevelisfor

the

backbiters. It isa _storyof a

woman who _{does nothing}

except_gossipall_daylong.

Shewilltalkabout everyone

sheknows from herrelativesto

herneighbors.Mostof_all, she

will not_{have anything}niceto

sayabout each ofthepeople.

Again, dueto thetime constraint, thislevelwill be substituted withthe

same closed gatescreen

andthedevil.

Level 6

-thisisthelevelforthe

suicide.Becausethereisreally

no_waytorelatesomeone

killinghimorherselfin the diner, thislevelwill serve asa

foreshadowingof what will

happen to thelookout.

Insteadof_goingtothe_storyof

what willhappento thelook out rightnow, itwill showthe

devilagaininfrontofthe

closed gate:

devil:thislevelistemporarily

closedfor expansion,but Iam sureIwill_definitelysee you

Figure 36

Figure37

llli

Hi

again soon.

Level7- Thislevel is forthe

thievesand robbers. Itwill beginwith video clips ofthree

thieves_burglarizingan art

museum. After_dodging

the_securityandthe alarm,

theystealthejewelsfromthe

exhibition. Acouple ofdays

passed, _theywentto thediner

todiscussif thereare_anybuy

ers who will_payalargesum of

money forthejewels:

thievesone:_So, haveyoubeen abletolocateabuyeryet_(fig ure36)?

thieves two:Yeah, butweare still_negotiatingtheprice_(fig

ure 37).

thievesone:Whenare you_going

tosettleit?

|

thieves two:I don't know. When

thepriceisright, I'llsettleit.

Stop buggingme aboutit.

thieves three: _{(woman) Hey}

H

boys, stopactinglike children, as_longas we got a

buyer Whatthe

Figure38

storyand

dialogue

'<& I ipp pi * j#!MNhraSiBr4[ SbtAfHAMolmw Figure39 Figure 40

thievesone:What..

Thisiswheretherobberinter

ruptstheconversation(figure

38) andthe_storyconcludes

in thesame_wayaslevelone

andtwo.

Level 8- This

level is forthe

murderers. Itis the_storyofthe

robber andbeginswiththe

interiorofthediner. This level

ismixed with photographs and

theillustrationsof people of

previouslevels. Thisis the

levelthat tiesuptheevent

thatoccurredinside the

diner. Therobber stepsinside

andlooksaround and sees

allthesepeople:

womanatthecash register:

Hello,someone willberight

withyou(figure 39).

patronatthecounter:_Hey,

buddy,you oughtto_try

some ofthisstuff. It is

| great(figure40).

two teengirls: Hi(figure41).

waitress: _Hi,what canI

getforyou.

Hethenpulls outthegun and

shoutsto allthepeoplethat

this is a robbery.

waitress: _{Oh, my}god.

Hekills allthepeoplein the

dinerand_slowly, inadazed

stare,walks out._Next, a couple

of quick cuts of what occurred

in theintroductionofhim

comingout ofthe_diner,run

ningwiththelookout, and

finallygets gunneddowned_by thepolice remindstheuser

andties_upthewhole story.

Level 9- thisis thelevel for_the

traitors.Itis a_storyof an

employee whobetrayed his

companyand sold_topcompa

nysecretsto a rival_company

foralargesum of money. He

too, cameto the dinerthis

nightjustforalittlerelaxation

after work.This levelwill con

cludein thesame_wayasthe

other_{levels,but again, due}to

the time_constraint, thislevel

issubstitutedwiththeclosed

gate andthedevil.

Quitout ofhell

-The devilwill

be_standinginfrontofthe

Figure 41

storyand

dialogue

closedHELLgate withthefol

lowing

words:

devil:Iam_sorryyouhaveto leavesosoon,buttoget abet

ter_{understanding}ofthewhole

story, Isuggest you_stayand visit eachlevel.

Towardthebottomofthe

screen, theuserwillbegiven twochoices of either goto HELLorleaveHELL.

Conclusion Thelookoutwill be backin theelevator and

breathing heavily(figure42).

Theelevator_finallyreacheshis floorand as soon asthedoor

opens, thecops arethere.

headcop: Lookwhojustcame home boys (figure43).

The coppullsoutthewarrant (figure 44). _Meanwhile, the

lookout is pushingtheclose door buttonintheelevatorall

this time.Finally,thedoorclos es andhepushesthefirst floor buttonto_tryand escape. When

theelevator reachesthefirst

floor, copsare_there,too.

cops: Freeze!!! Putyourhands

upand_stepout oftheelevator.

Heclosestheelevatordoorand

pusheslevelninebuttonto_try toescapefromtheroof.As soon ashereacheslevelnine, more cops arethere to_tryto apprehendhim.

cops: Hold itrightthere. Freeze!!!

Heclosesthedoor_again,but herealizesthatheissurround

ed andthereisno_wayout. Thescenethenflashes between himandthecopsfora couple timesand_finally,a gunshot

goes offinside theelevator. When theelevator_{opens, the} lookout is_layinglifelessinside

theelevator(figure45).Now, thewhole scene switchesback intoHELL.

Level6- This level is_{now open}

andtheuser canseethecon densedversionofhissuicide or justget out ofHELL.

End Thisis the_endingto

thewhole piece.Thedevil

will_{be standing}ontheside

Figure 4

storyanddialogue

ofthescreentogivehis

finalthought:

devil:Ihopeyouenjoyedthe

tourandhadoneHELLof a

goodtime.Just_remember,

don't do anything Iwoulddo,

or Iwill see youhereeternally.

Eternally,my friend. Ha, Ha,

Ha,Ha, Ha.

Throughallthe_levels, thereis

a surprisethatwill_bringalittle laughter fromtheusers.When

theuser clicks andholds down

themousebuttononthedevil

whilehe is

facing

thesinners (figure46), hewill give a

random commentfrom

thefollowing.

devil: Shhhhhh

devil:_Payattention.

devil: Not now, Iam

enjoyingthis.

devil: Youmean you're not

enjoyingthis?

devil: Don't bother_me,

I'mbusy.

Figure 46

Level

Description

Levelone- Lust

Thislevel isreservedforsin

ners who committed_adultery orlechery.Theirpunishmentis

solitaryconfinementforeterni ty. Nobitternessisgreaterthan

this, torememberhappiness when oneis ina state of

wretchedness,sothatremem

bering

causesbittertorment. [goto theleftortherightto

seetheentireleveland when you are_ready,lookandlisten to thestories of_{the sinners]}

Level two- GluttonylSloth This levelisreservedforsin

ners who are wasteful orlazy. Insteadof_eatingthefoodsand drinksofthe world, theirpun ishment is tobe force fed

garbage and_{filth for eternity} whileboundina positionlike a stuffedturkey, [gotheleftor therighttoseetheentirelevel

and when youare_ready,look andlistentothestoriesof the sinners]

Levelsix -suicide

This levelisreservedforsin

ners who committed suicide.

Theirpunishmentis tobe deprivedof ahuman form

since_theydeprivedthemselves oftheirbodieson earth. _They are also exposedto thepain

and sorrowtheirfriendsand familyfelt, [gototheleftor therighttoseetheentirelevel

and when you are_ready, look andlistento thestories of the sinners]

Levelseven- Plunder

Thislevelisreservedforsin

ners who steal or rob.Their punishmentistofeelthe heartacheof_{losingsomething}

of a personal value while atthe

sametime_havingtheirhands chopped offforthecrime_they committed, [goto theleftor therighttoseetheentirelevel and when you areready,look andlistento thestories of the sinners]

Leveleight

-Murders Thislevelisreservedforsin

ners who committed murder.

Theirpunishmentis tofeelthe

painand sadness of one'slife slowlybeingtaken_awaywith out_{any hope}of ever_living again, [gototheleftorthe righttoseetheentirelevel and when you are_ready,

lookandlistento thestoriesof

the sinners]

Because level_{3, 4, 5,} and9was

notimplementedatthis_time, theirlevel descriptionsweren't

goingtobe developeduntila latertime.

Hell

buttons

Besides alltheimagesand sto

ries of_Hell, Iwantedtheuser toexperiencethe Helloftheir

own._{Throughout my}studies on userinterfacedesign,ithas alwaysbeentold thatadesign er should always create an

interfacesystemthatis_easyto

understand andbeuserfriend ly._{Well, for my buttons}in HELL Idecidedto experiment

withhow farIcan gotofrus

trate theusers yetnotlose

themandhavethemgive_up on_tryingtonavigatethrough

thestory. _First,Iuseda eleva tormetaphor sinceIhad 9 dif ferent levels._So, Ithought this

metaphor would_{be easy}to understandfortheusers._Next, Idrewahand (figure₄₇₎to

replacethecursor andtogive

theuser afirstperson perspec tive.ThenIplayed withthe ideasthatbuttonsmight_disap

pear whentheuser rolls over

them, buttonsthatlook like theyare_{doingsomething} whenit isnot,buttonsthat run_{away from}the users,and manyidenticalbuttonsthatfill

thesamescreen,but onlyone

works.Aftercareful considera tion, I decidedtogo withthe

buttonsthatwill run_away fromtheusers when_rolling

overthembecauseitisnot

verypredictable andthefrus

trationlevelcanbecontrolled. Istarted_bycreatingjustone button for_testingandit

worked out_prettywell. I had about5people_{testing it,rang} inginagebetween 20to 60

withcomputer_experience, and

each gave adifferent response. Some likeditandthoughtit

was ratherfun and_challenging to_tryand getthe_buttons,but

some werevery frustrated because_theyjustweren't able

toclick onit. ItseemsthatI

reached_mygoals of_frustrating theuserand_havingthem

experiencingHell inuserinter

face design._Next, Islowed downthe_runningawayrateso itwillbeeasiertoclick on

themthanpreviously.This madethefrustrateduserhappi er andIwas abletohavethem notloseinterestbecausethe

frustrationwastoomuch.

Next,Icreated ninebuttons for

theninelevelsand gavethem thesamescript.Problems arose

when_theywould_overlapeach other and madeitimpossible

1

Figure 47

Hell

buttons

-importantpart ofbutton

script-setthelocvof sprite 15to themousev setthelochof sprite15to themouseh

set s=wordrandom(2)of"+

set x=s&word_random(5)of"2030 40 5060"

set y=s&wordrandom(5)of"2030 40 5060"

set z=s&wordrandom(3)of"50 6070" set z1=s&word_random(3)of"506070" setr=random(1₁₎

setd=r+2

ifsprite15intersects dthen

setthe locvof spritedto thelocvof sprited+ x

setthelochof spritedto thelochof sprited+_y

else check endif end on check globald,z,z1

repeat witha=₃to13

ifa=_dand spritedintersectsathen

nothing

else

ifsprited intersectsathen

setthe locvof spritedto the locvof sprited+ z

setthe lochof spritedto the lochof sprited+ z1

endif

endif

settheconstraint of sprited to 16

settheconstraint of sprite ato16

end repeat end

importantpart of volume script

globalbsound.* ifx=1 then

put(bsound-1)intobsound

else

ifx=0then

put(bsound+1)intobsound

endif

endif

if_(bsound+1)>7 then

put1 intox else

if_(bsound-1)<0 then

put0intox endif

endif

toclick ontheonesthatwere

underneaththeotherbuttons.

Then Ihadto script(figure₄₈₎

eachbuttonsothatwhen_they

overlapeach_other,theywill

bounceoff andfindan_empty

spacetostay._Bydoingso, the

buttonswenthaywire._They

would_{keepmoving nonstop}

becausetheavailable spaceto

moveissolimitedwith allthe

buttonsthat_clickingonthe

rightbuttonwouldbeimpossi

bletoaccomplish.Afterallthe

thinkingand_rethinkingand

rewritingthe script,I_finally

came_upwith afinalsolution.

Imadethebuttonsthatwillbe

running awayon rollover ran

domlychosenbuttons.

So,whenthebuttonsran_away

once, itmight or might not

runawaythesecond consecu

tivetime.Thisincreased the

oddsoftheuser_beingableto

click onthebuttonstremen

dously. After_succeedingatthe

buttons, Ihadtogivefeedback

totheusersthat_theyclicked

onthebutton. _Here, Igave

twofeedbacks._One, thebut

tonschangefromregulartoa

skullbuttonand_two,thefloor

number ontheelevator

changes and_eventuallyreaches

thefloornumbertheuser

pushed.Whenthebuttons

were_done,Ihadtocreate

anotherbuttonforthevolume

control.Atfirst, Ithought

about_makingthevolume con

trolact_{very radically like hav}

inga random volume set each

time theuser clicks on_it,mak

ingthevolume seven_beingthe

lowestand one_beingthehigh

est, and quitepossibly,no_way

toadjust volume.Becausethe

volume controlbuttonison

thesame elevator control panel

astherest ofthe_level,Idecid

edtomakeita normal volume

control sinceitishardenough

to_tryand click ontheright

buttons. Eachtimewhenthe

user clicks onthesoundbut

ton,itwill go_upordown

basedonif thevolumehas

reached7or0. If itreaches _7,

itwill godownandifitreaches

0,itwill go up._Also, eachtime

theuser clicks onthe_button,

thelevelnumber onthecon

trolpanel will changefromthe

numbertoa_screaming

facewiththevolumethatis

settoinsideoftheface.

Figure48

Technical

issues

Thewhole process of_creating

this_{interactive story}went pret

tysmoothlyoverall.Iworked

on aPower Macintosh 7100

with32mbof_Ram,which was

enoughforwhatIamdoing.

Therefore,thereweren't_any

hardwareconstraints.I

encountered some problemsin

theconstruction ofthe_thesis,

butwere abletofixthem

mostly. Thefirstproblemthat

Iencountered wasthecreation

ofHELL buttonsthatneedto

bothrun_{away from}the

rollover andfromeach other.I

tried touse a parent and child

scripttogive eachbuttonits

ownindividualbehavior, but

wasn't successful._So, Igave all

thebuttonsa set of numbers

thatisrandomlyselected and

addedto thex and_ycoordi

nates eachtime thebuttons

move.Thatworkedoutwell,

butthebuttonswould_only

stayonthepositive side. _So, I

madea random positive and

negative signthatwillbe

addedto thecoordinatesto

givebothsides ofthecoordi

nates.Now, eachbuttonwill

runtodifferentplaces all

accordingto theircurrent

posi-Script for randomlygenerated coordinates forthebuttonstoruntowhen rolled over

set s=word_random(2)of"+

set x=s&word_random(5)of"203040 5060"

set y=s&wordrandom(5)of"20 30 40 5060"

set z=s&word_random(3)of"50 6070"

set z1=s&wordrandom(3)of"506070"

setr=random(11) setd=r+2

ifsprite15intersectsd then setthelocvof spritedto thelocvof sprited+ x

setthelochof spritedto thelochot sprited+y

-Scriptforthescrollingofthe

background-on enterframe

if the lochof sprite1+320<theleftof sprite7 then

setthelochof sprite1 to 935 else

if the lochof sprite1 -₃₂₀>theright of sprite7 then

setthelochof sprite1 to-290

else

ifthemouseh>600 then CURSOR[985,987]

setthelochof sprite1 to thelochof sprite1 15

else

if themouseh <30 then CURSOR[986,988]

setthelochof sprite1 to the lochof sprite1 +15

else

if_rollover(8)then cursor[991,992]

else

if rollover(9) then cursor_[991,992] ELSE

if rollover(12)then

setthecastnum of sprite12 to 31

puppetsprite12,true updatestage

else

puppetsprite12, false CURSOR[989,990] endif endif endif endif endif endif

tioninthecoordinate(figure

49). Thesecond problemthat

Iencountered washowtoget

thebackgroundon eachlevel

toscroll seamlessly. In the

beginning, I_{only had it}

scrollingto theend ofthe

imageanditstopped orthe

userhadtogoin the opposite

direction. It didn'twork out

well.Theeffect was notthe

same with continuous scroll. I

knew howtomaketheback

ground scroll_continuously

froman exerciseIdidwhile

enrolledina computer graph

icsdesign course, butIwas

only usinga checkerboard pat

terninsteadof animage. Itis

easiertomake a patternlook

seamlessthananimage.

Basically, I hadthescript. Ijust

neededtodosome calculation

and create abackground image

thatislargeenoughtoscroll.

Iwentinto

Photoshop

and cre

ated abackgroundthatrepeats

itself twice._So, insteadofhav

inga 640x480pixelback

groundtoscrollina 640x480

stage, it isa 1600x480pixel

background. Whenthemiddle

ofthebackgroundreachesthe

leftedge ofthe_stage, thefront

Figure49

Technical issues

ofthebackgroundwill_swing

around andconnectwiththe

end ofthebackgroundand

makingitseamless.This isvice

versaif theuser scrollstowards

theright. ThethirdproblemI

encountered was _changing

Dominc Amatore'sanimation

fromthousandsof colorto256

colors. Forsome_reason,

Director doesn'timporta video

palette._So,whenthemovieis

playedtheanimationbecomes

veryposterized and was not

pleasingto theeye.Ihadtogo

into Debabelizerand open_up

thepaletteforthevideo. I took

a screen shot ofthatand

broughtitinto _Photoshopto

get a palette. ThenIwentinto

Directorandimportedthe

palette and set_myvideoto the

palette.Thiswould seemto

workonpaper,butitdidn't.

Directordidn'treadthepalette

andthevideolookedpoor.

Next,Isetthevideodirectto

stageandthenitworked.

ThefourthproblemIencoun

teredwas_{synchronizing}the

soundtoaDirectorQuicktime

ofdevil's helper. Becausethe

frameswereloopedover a cou

ple of_frames, itdoesn'tread

the timeofthevideo tick

by

ticks._{In otherword, it doesn't}

read _{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,} 7 , it

jumps. Itreads_{1, 5, 7, 10, 13,}

18...,and so on. The jumps

betweenthenumbers weren't

consistentbecauseitall

dependson_{how many}things

are

happening

onthescreen. So, Ihadtoestimatethe time.

Also,becausethereare other

puppetsounds, I hadto turn

one off andturnon another all

within a range oftime.

Sometimesitwouldwork,

sometimesitwouldn't._Again,

italldependedon_{how many}

thingswere_happeningonthe

screen(figure 50). Thiswas a

problemthatwasn't_totally

solved.Thefinalproblem was

thesarcastic remark ofthe

devilwhentheuser clicks on

him. Becauseofthe

puppet-soundthatissyncedto the

Quicktime,alotoftime the

dialoguewouldbechopped off

(figure49).Thisproblem was

not_fullysolved_also,but for

thelevelwithoutthe

Quicktimeofdevil's

helper,itworksfine.

-Scriptforpuppetsound with

QT--on enterframe

putthemovietime of sprite12 setthemovierate of sprite12 to1 ifthemovietime of sprite12<20then

puppetsound"Shovel Sand.S"

on exitframe

ifthemovietime of sprite16>10then puppetsound"explosion8bits"

on enterframe

if themovietime of sprite12>10 then checkqttimel

endif

if themovietime of sprite12>50 then checkqttime

endif

on exitframe

ifthemovietime of sprite12>167 then go(the frame+1)

else

if themovietime<of sprite12>90 then checkqttime

else

gotheframe

endif endif

on checkqttime

if themovietime of sprite12<80 then puppetsound"cutterfor level7"

gotheframe

endif end

on checkqttimel

if themovietime of sprite12<30then puppetsound"purichthroughheart"

gotheframe

endif end

Script fordevil': on mousedown

puppetsound word

f"

random(6)of"a bcde

end

eachlettercorrespondto thename ofthe sound. WhentheQuicktimeofdevil's helper

played andthereare_sounds,thevoice over ofthedevilgetschoppedoff.

Figure 50

Hell

gallery

Figure 51

?

Hi

'

.::

Figure52

MM

J

Ithoughtitwouldbe verynice

tolettheuserbrowsetheorigi

nal works_byBruegeland

Bosch. Icreated a_galleryatthe

end oftheprogramtoletthem

seethe theoriginalimages that

||

were usedtocomposethe HELLbackground. Eachis

111

identified_bytheartist andthe

ll

title.Ikeptit_verysimple and

III

justlettheuserhave full

con-H

troloftheinteractionof_going

backandforth betweeneach

III

painting. _{The gallery}contains

III

19works_bythese two artists

Hell gallery

Figure54

Figure 55

Hell gallery

Figure 57 Figure 58

Conclusion

ThegoalsthatIsettoachieve

were rather successful. Iwas abletoinducetheemotions of fear, humor, andfrustrationin

theuser.Therewere approxi

mately 10testers throughout thewhole process. _Theywere

betweentheages of19to28. Theoriginal plan wastohave

an evaluation sheetforthe

user,but becauseI thought the

users wouldn'tbeabletoreach

thefullemotional understand

inguntilthewhole projectis

finished, Ididn'tmake an eval

uationsheet.Itmightbea mis

takeon_mypart not_havingit

writtendownto_{back up my}

goal,butnontheless, Itook

downnotes and oralfeedback fromeach after_talkingto the

users aboutthefinishedand

unfinished part. _Theywere

helpful. Oneusersaidthe

images ofthe_sufferingandthe

sound ofthe_screamingand

wailingmakes you scared.This definitelymadeherthinkand keepit inbackofhermind.

Anotheronethought themov

ingbuttonswere_amusingat first,butastimewent_on, it became_frustratingtoclick on

thebuttons. Onethought the

sarcastic remarkbreaksthedark

mood ofthispiece andbrings

alittle laughter. Anotherone

thought Ihadabadchildhood

orjusthatelife. One_thingI findis thatmost usersdon't

havethepatiencetowaitfor

theelevatortoreachthelevel

theyclick on._Theywant

instantreaction.Overall, each

user enjoyedit toadifferent degree. _Lastly,itwas quite a

experienceto manage,direct,

and make thewhole project

cometogether.Iam satisfied

withtheoutcome andhopeto

improveonitwithmore

advanced equipmentin

thefuture.

Bibliography

Alighieri,Dante. Dante's Inferno. Aldine Press. GreatBritain, 1964.

Baeder,John. Diners. _HarryN._Abrams, Inc. _Japan, 1978.

Benton,Mike. CrimeComics, theIllustratedHistory.

Taylor_PublishingCompany. Dallas, Texas, 1993.

Beuningen,Charlesvan. TheComplete DrawingofHieronymus Bosch.

St. Martin'sPress. New_York, 1973.

Dopagne,Jacques. Bruegel. LeonAmiel. NewYork.

Grossmann,F. PieterBruegel, Complete Editionofthe Paintings.

Phaidon PressLimited. NewYork, 1973.

Gutman, Richard J. S.and_Kaufman, Elliott. AmericanDiner.

Harper &Row. New_York, 1979.

Klein,Arthur H. GraphicWorldsofPeterBruegel, theElder.

DoverPublications,Inc. NewYork, 1963.

Macromedia. LingoDictionary. Macromedia,Inc. andApple_Computer, Inc.San Francisco. 1994.

Martin, Gregoryand_Cinotti,Mia. TheComplete PaintingsofBosch.

HarryN.Abrams, Inc. NewYork, 1966.

Muller,Joseph-Emile. Bosch. LeonAmiel. New York.

Robison,MabelOtis. Mystic Wonderlands. T. S. Denison& _Company, Inc. _Minnesota, 1959.

Seidel,M andMarijnissen, R. H. Bruegel. G. P. Putnam'sSons. New_York, 1971.

BUDDHIST WISDOM

Once

_again, as with shinjin

in the

preceding

chapter, to understand what

Buddhist

wisdom

is

can

best be

approached

by

explaining

what

it is

not.

At

this point,

it is

fruitful

to examine

in

terms of

human

experience the three

kinds

of "knowing" which the

English

word "wisdom" can represent.

The

first

of

these,

"knowledge,"

is based

on what

is usually

called

objectivity, the "knowing" of an object which stands outside of oneself and

which, upon _analyzing, we can understand.

This is

the scientific _approach,

in

which we are all trained to view objects

standing in

relation to

ourselves.

In

scientific

knowledge,

the subject-which

is

myself-

is

_{not the}

focus

of attention.

Even in

psychology

the mind

is

viewed as an object to

be

analyzed quite apart

from

the whole

mind-heart-body

of which the mind

is but

one aspect.

Indeed,

scientific

knowledge

so objectifies the world around _us,

including

ourselves, that

in

this

kind

of "knowing," we

become

an "it."

The

other two

kinds

of

"knowing

" are quite

different.

One is

a common-sense

"knowing"

that emerges

from

our

daily

_experience, a "knowing" that we expect

everyone to

have. It is

a wisdom

based

not on scientific analysis

but

on

human

experience.

There is

a

Japanese

proverb _{that says,}

"Those

who

lose

really

win.

Those

who

fail

are victorious. "

This kind

of wisdom

infers it's

not good to win

just

to

be

winning.

When

we

lose,

we sometimes

become

winners.

This is

a

worldly

wisdom ,

based

on "give and take. "

In

the

context of

daily

human

affairs, this

kind

of wisdom takes

into

account the

feelings.

It is

a wisdom

born

of

many

experiences in

life,

a wisdom not

immediately

graspable

by

children.

It

is

not

fully

_subjective,

for

this wisdom

born

of experience is always

in

relation to the object as well.

It is

the

third,

quite

different kind

of wisdom that

is

what we mean when we

talk about

Buddhist

wisdom, the wisdom

that,

in

Shinran's

_view,

is

the

dynamic

through which shinjin

is

established.

This is

a "knowing" that

stands

in sharp

contrast to the "knowing" of science and the "knowing" of

common-sense.

The focus is

"deeply"

rooted in the _subject, a "depth"

referring

to the dimension of our

human

potential

for

evil, a potential

unlimited

in

our

life. This

existential

depth is

expressed

in Japanese

by

bonno,

another word which

it

would

be

well to transpose as

is into

the

English

vocabulary.

In his

perception of bonno as the profound

depths

of _{the self,}

Shinran

is

not

speaking from

a scientific nor

from

a common-sense point of view.

Neither is his

a psychological perception.

Rather,

he

speaks

from

the

dimension of

Buddhist

wisdom, which

is

acutely

aware of this aspect of

-existence.

The

important difference in

the emphasis of

Buddhist

wisdom

is

that

it is

neither subjective nor objective.

The

total _self,

freed from

any

split of subject-object

differentiation,

is

involved.

in Chapter Two

of

Tannisho,

the slim volume that

is

the great religious

classic written

by

Shinran's follower

Yuienbo,

Shinran

is

quoted as

saying

"Hell

is

my only

home."

This is

a statement of the workings of

Buddhist

wisdom, the wisdom of "deep"

heart

and _mind, with

"deep"

here referring

to

existential

depth.

This

wisdom

does

not

simply look outwardly

to see things

objectively.

In "Hell is my only

home,"

Shinran looks inward

to the

limitless inner

depths

of

his bonno in

order to come to

truly

know

himself.

When

he

says

"hell is my only

home,"

he is

talking

about the

deep

mind that

undergirds the existential

reality

of the

way

we all

live.

His

shinjin,

which we too can _experience,

is based

on this

kind

of wisdom , an

awakening

in

which one comes to

know

totally

what one

is.

For

example, the world

in

which we

live is

the world

in

which we die-

This

is

reality.

Yet,

in

the

everyday

world we seldom see this essential

condition

in

which our subconscious

depths

are rooted.

In

Buddhism,

it is

not

in

spite of our

constantly

"falling

into

hell"

but because

of this

condition that we are surrounded, sustained, embraced

in

the

boundless

compassion of

Amida

Buddha.

Buddhism does

not

have

the reward or punishment

judgmentalism of the

Christian

religion.

In

Buddhism,

the end of

life does

not

necessarily

mean

going

to

hell

or to

Pure Land. In

fact,

our

"falling

into

hell"

is

crucial to 2n appreciation of the

Buddhist

world of

awakening

in

this

life,

here

and now, at this

very

moment.

This

critical _awareness,

developed

and taught

by

Shinran

at a profound existential

level,

is

succinctly

expressed

in his "Hell is my only

home."

Shinran's

twenty

years of monastic practice on

Mt. Hiei

were

mainly

at

Yogawa,

the place where

Genshin,

an eleventh

century

religious teacher and writer,

has

also once studied and practiced.

Genshin's

writings made such a

strong

impression on

Shinran

that

in

the

Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho he

named

Genshin

as one of the seven patriarchs through whom

he

traces the spiritual

lineage

of the nembutsu

teaching,

back to

Sakyamuni Buddha.

Genshin's

major work was

Ojoyoshu-Essentialsjqr^

Birth,

the

story

of a man

falling

into hejLJt has

bee^r^mj5ared~tcT that

later

_{we^telmjvork,}

Dante's

inferno.

AsT5ante

did,

GejTsjTin_gjyes a vivid

description

of the various

iev'els~of

hell. For Genshin

however,

the phrase

"bound for

hell"

expresses

symbolically

the experience of one who

has

awakened to the realization of

continuously creating

karmic evil, and who perceives the

bottomless

depths

of

his

own potential for evil. In _{the sutras,} the statement :

"hell is

at

2-the

bottom

of this great earth"

symbolizes the

hell

we create

in

the

depths

of our conscious and unconscious minds.

It is

this

reality

which

Genshin

depicts

in

his

classic work.

Genshin's

masterpiece portrays a man _who,

in his

extreme _suffering, pleads

forgiveness

of a

demon

whose recurrent answer

is,

"To

plead with me

is

no

use.

I

can't

do

a

thing

about

it

now.

Why

didn't

you state your situation

truly

while you were still a

human

being?"

This

theme of question and _reply,

"There's

no use

asking

me now,"

and

"you

created your own

hell

while you

were still alive,"

runs throughout the work.

The

first

part

is

a

detailed

description

of

hell in

_which,

according

to

Genshin,

there are eight

levels.

One

works

from

the

first level

and

descends down into

the eighth

level-which

he describes

as the

hell

of unlimited suffering.

The

first

level

is

the one

resulting from committing

the slightest evil,

such as the

killing

of

fish

or chickens.

In

this

life,

according

to

Genshin,

we

kill

animals and

then,

when we

die,

the

devils in hell

come after us and

chop

us

up

until a cool wind comes across and makes us whole again.

This

process

happens

over and over.

The depth

of this

first

stage of

hell is

described

as

being

1000

yojanas

(one

yojana

being

the

distance

of about nine

miles or as

far

as an ox can travel

between

sunrise and sunset).

From

this,

the various

levels

descend

to the eighth

hell

of unlimited

suffering, that of persons who

have killed

their mother and

father

or, as

Genshin

phrased

it,

"taken life away from father

and

mother."

Among

those who

fall into

this

hell

are those who

vainly live

on the

donations from

people.

Here,

Genshin is

talking

about

himself

and through this

he

tries to

clarify

the

direction

into

which

he

sees himself as

falling. The depth

of this eighth

level

is

described as

falling

headfirst for 2,000

years to

arrive

completely

into

this unlimited

suffering

_which, to

Genshin,

is

his

own

karmic

state.

This

use of the term "falling"

into hell does

not refer to

a physical

fall,

but

rather to an awareness of the absolute

depth

of the

hell

we are all

falling

into

the unlimited

depths

of our unconscious or

deep

mind.

Thus

what

Genshin

was

writing

about was the

awakening

to one

's

own

limitless

falling

into

hell as

being

the

very

condition essential

for

birth

in

the

Buddha Land.

This

extraordinary Buddhist view

is

likewise concisely

expressed

by

Shinran

in

Tannisho,

Chapter

Three (Taitetsu Unno

translation)

:

"Even

the good

person attains birth

in

the Buddha

Land,

how

much more so the evil person.

But

the people of the world

constantly

_say,

'Even

the evil person attains

birth

how much more so the good

person.'

Although

this appears to

be

sound

at

first

glance,

it

goes against the will of the

Primal Vow

of

Other

Power.

3-The

reason

is

that since the person of self-power,

being

conscious of

doing

good,

lacks

the thought of

entrusting

himself completely

to

OtherPower,

he

is

not the

focus

of the

Primal Vow

of

Amida. But

when

he

turns

self-power and entrusts

himself

to

Other

Power,

he

attains

birth

in

the

land

of true fulfillment."

Shinran then

goes on _{to say,}

"The

Primal Vow

was established out of

deep

compassion

for

us who cannot

become freed from

the

bondage

of

birth-and-death

through

any

religious _practice,

due

to the abundance of

blind

passion.

Since

its basic intention is

to effect the enlightenment of

such an evil _{one, the} evil person who entrusts

himself

to

Other Power is

truly

the one who attains

birth in

the

Buddha Land.

Therefore,

even the good person attains

birth,

how

much more the evil person

!

"

In

the

Buddhist

world of _{awakening, those} who

have

the confidence to

fall

into

hell-that

is,

to see the existential

reality

of their

bonno-are

thus

able to experience the

very

joy

that

they

are

going

to the

"Pure

Land,

"that

spiritual realm of

reality

itself from

which the workings of compassion are manifested.

Again,

translation

is

acutely

important.

"Pure

Land"

does

not

have any

connotation of geographical place or

location.

It is

a spiritual realm, the world of the

Buddha,

which manifests the great wisdom and compassion of

Amida (prajna

and

karuna).

Those

who

do

not

really

see

hell

interwoven into

their

lives do

not

really

see the

Pure Land. In

other _{words, those} who

do

not see

hell in

the

depths

of their own minds are

really

falling

into it.

Genshin had

this

full

consciousness of

his

own _evil, and

Shinran likewise. So

too

did

an old man

in my

village temple who used _{to say,}

"Do-sun!

Do-sun!"

over and _over, an exhortation

reminding

himself and all those

inside

and outside the temple of this existential reality.

Do-sun is

not translatable.

It is

one of those onomato poetic

Japanese

words

whose sounds

convey

the meaning.

I

wonder.

Is

there a

like

word

in English

whose sound and

meaning

are that of

falling

into hell?

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-The

Shocking

Truth

About HELL!

by Terry

Watkins

"And in hell he lift up his

eyes,

being

in

torments. .

Luke 16:23

What

you're about to read

is hard

to

believe.

. .

We're going

to examine the place the

Bible

calls

hell. We'll

present

documented

evidence

for

a place called

hell.

Don't

take what you're

going

to

read

lightly. If

what you're about to read

is

true -

YOU COULD BE IN SERIOUS

DANGER!

Several

years ago a

book

was _published, entitled

Beyond Death's Door

by

Dr.

Maurice

Rawlings. Dr.

Rawlings,

a specialist

in

Internal

Medicine

and

Cardiovascular

Disease,

resuscitated

many

people who

had been clinically

dead.

Dr.

Rawlings,

a

devout

atheist,

"considered

all religion

"hocus-pocus"

and

death nothing

more than a painless extinction".

But something happened

in

1977 that

brought

a

dramatic

change

in

the

life

of

Dr. Rawlings! He

was

resuscitating

a _man, terrified and

screaming

-actually

descending

down

into

the

flames

of hell:

Each

time

he

regained

heartbeat

and _respiration, the patient

screamed,

"I

am

in

hell!"

He

was terrified and pleaded with me to

help

him. I

was scared to

death.

. .

Then

I noticed a

genuinely

alarmed

look

on

his face. He had

a terrified

look

worse than the

expression seen

in death! This

patient

had

a grotesque grimace

expressing

sheer horror!

His

pupils were

dilated,

and

he

was

perspiring

and

trembling

-

he looked

as

if his hair

was

"on

end."

Then

still another strange

thing

happened.

He

said,

"Don't

you

understand?

I

am

in

hell. . .

Don't let

me go

back

to

hell!"

. .

.the man was serious, and

it

finally

occurred to me that

he

was

indeed in

trouble.

He

was

in

a panic

like

I

had

never seen

before.

(Maurice

Rawlings,

Beyond Death's

Door,

p. 3).

Dr. Rawlings

said, no _one, who could have heard

his

screams and saw the

look

of terror on

his face

could doubt

for

a single minute that

he

was

actually

in

a place called hell!

The Bible

continually warns of a place called

hell. There

are over

162

references in the

New

Testament alone which warns of

hell. And

over

70

of

these references were uttered

by

the

Lord Jesus Christ!

-THE BIBLE EVEN

GIVES

THE LOCATION

OF

HELL!

When Jesus

Christ

died

on

the cross,

He

descended into hell. In Acts

2,

Peter

is

_speaking, verse

31,

" . . .

seeing

this

before

spake of the

resurrection of

Christ,

that

his

soul was not

left

in

HELL"

And Jesus

says

in Matthew

12:40,

"For

as

Jonas

was three

days

and three

nights

in

the whale's

belly:

so shall the

Son

of man

be

three

days

and three

nights

in

the

HEART

OF THE

EARTH."

Hell

is inside

the earth!

Ephesians

4:9,

referring

to

Jesus Christ

says,

"Now that

he

ascended, what

is it but

that

he

also

descended first into

the

LOWER

PARTS OF THE

EARTH."

On

page

85

of

Beyond Death's

Door,

Dr. Rawlings

_said, patients who descended

into hell

said,

"In

most _{cases, this} place seems to

be UNDERGROUND

or

WITHIN

THE EARTH in

some way."

The Birmingham

News,

April

10,

1987

had

an article entitled

"Earth's Center

Hotter Than

Sun's

Surface,

Scientists

Say". The

article stated that

scientists

have recently

discovered,

"THE

EARTH'S

INNER

CORE HAS A

TEMPERATURE OF OVER 12,000 DEGREES

FAHRENHEIT!"

Have

you seen pictures of a

volcano _erupting,

spewing

a

lake

of

fire from inside

the earth

-consuming

everything

within miles

just from

the heat?

When Mount St. Helens

erupted

in

May

18, 1980,

it

was described

by

reporters,

"when HELL

surfaced upon the earth."

The

book, Volcanoes,

Earth's

Awakening

(p.

91)

describes

an

erupting

volcano as "descent

into

HELL".

Thousands

of years _{ago, the}

Bible

described a place called

hell in

the

heart

of the earth that matches

exactly

what science

is discovering.

YES! THERE IS A PLACE CALLED HELL!

In Numbers

16,

the

Bible

gives the account of people

falling

into hell

alive!

Numbers

16:32-33 says,

"And THE EARTH OPENED HER

MOUTH,

and swallowed

them _up, and their

houses,

and all the men that appertained unto

Korah,

and

all their goods.

They,

and all that appertained to

them,

went

down

alive

INTO

THE

PIT,

and the

EARTH CLOSED UPON

THEM:"

Inside

this earth, this

very

moment, there are millions of

lost,

tormented

souls

-burning,

weeping,

wailing

-without

any hope

whatsoever!

-2-Revelation 14:10

says,

"...

and

he

shall

be

tormented with

fire

and

BRIMSTONE

. .

And Job 18 describes

the

"... PLACE

of

him

that

knoweth

not God"

(vs

21),

in

verse

15

as,

"

. . .

BRIMSTONE

shall

be

scattered upon

his

habitation."

Do

you

know

what

brimstone is? It's

sulfur.