D Max Moerman News Today

In an age when few dread eternal damnation and the torments of hell no longer function as a deterrent to bad behavior, a stunning exhibition at the Asia Society Museum expands our knowledge of this infernal nether region.

This first of its kind U.S. exhibition explores portrayals of hell across the Asian religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Islam.

NEW YORK -- In 1983, at Japan Society in Manhattan, I saw a show of early Buddhist sculpture so beautiful that I maxed out my Visa card to fly to Japan to find more. It was my first time there. I spoke no Japanese. I'd prepared no itinerary. So I started where most art-tourists do, at the Tokyo National Museum. It's a roomy, clean-lined, modern-feeling place. I felt right at home.

Courtesy of Asterisk Animation Twenty-five-hundred years ago in northern  India, Prince Siddhartha left his palace where he had spent 29 years indulging in pleasures. He was determined to comprehend the nature of human suffering. After a grueling spiritual quest that lasted six years, he at last attained enlightenment meditating under a fig tree. He became the Buddha, the "awakened one," and devoted the rest of his life to teaching the way to enlightenment that he himself had found, giving bir...