Vrány rozsévající děs a červi s železnou tlamičkou : pekla v tibetském textu abhidharmy

This paper presents a translation of the description of hells from the Tibetan classical compilation on Abhidharma, known as the Exposition of Abhidharma Arranged Into the Chapters And Called Ornament of the Evident (chos mngon pa mdzod kyi tshig le 'ur byas pa'i 'grel pa mngon pa'i rgyan zhes bya ba bzhugs). The author is a 13th century Tibetan scholar known as Mchims 'jam pa'i dbyangs who resided in the Narthang monastery. His compilation is used to this day by various schools of Tibetan Buddhism. This treatise of the hells is not substantially different from the "root text" on Abhidharma by Indian scholar Vasubandhu which has been already translated into French, English and Russian, but still adds some interesting details. The text is introduced by a brief presentation of the descriptions of hells in India in general, Indian Buddhism and the genres of literature which later appeared in Tibet. The elaborated pictures of hells served various purposes for Buddhists in Tibet. It is firstly part of a cosmological discourse, where "number-codes" of the measurements of hells are related to the idea of the Buddhist Dharma present in the space of the world. Secondly it served as an important means of motivation for Buddhist studies and practice. In Tibet and Mongolia descriptions of hells were often fixed part of the genre of the so called 'das log literature which was also used for missionary purposes. Vivid descriptions of the hells by those who returned back to the life supposed to motivate people with indifferent attitude towards the Buddhist Teaching. In Mongolia, such function of hells is confirmed by the number of editions of the picture-book of large number of hells compiled in 19th century and supplemented by short descriptions of the particular hells in Mongolian and Tibetan.