Hell of Breaking the Knees

Hell Punishments, right side
Scene 21, Baodingshan, Dazu (map)

The evils of drunkenness are illustrated, in a rather Confucian way, by their awful effects on the family. In the scene above, a drunken son seduces his own mother, and in turn is speared by his mother's lover. The punishment of everyone involved is illustrated below. The seated figure at bottom is wearing a cangue¹ around his neck, while awaiting his turn to have his knees broken by the hell warden at left.

¹ The cangue, a kind of yoke around the neck upon which a person's transgression was inscribed, was a common punishment in China.