本研究主探討印度教. 佛教與道教三宗教經典對地獄環境描述，藉文獻探討的方式加以整理，以了解這個不存在現實世界的地獄. 針對印度教. 佛教與道教對地獄之敘述，作為地獄環境描述之參考依據，最後整理出三宗教各自獨特之屬性及二十六種共同之地獄環境屬性，並配合地獄十殿圖中相關圖片，讓這些屬性更易於了解. 在文獻的整理分析後，得知地獄環境是寬廣. 黑暗. 高大，並充斥著炎熱. 鋒利. 尖銳. 惡水. 惡臭及惡毒之險境，地獄中有著各種刑罰，包括了令人痛苦. 噁心之食物. 擠壓的懲處. 劇烈的衝擊. 殘酷之極刑，並且對罪者施以奴役折磨. 毆打，或在密閉空間內懲處，四周充滿著悽慘. 緊張及詭異的氣氛，不時有兇猛的怪獸出沒，隨時地攻擊業者. 然而三宗教因地理位置的不同，各自文化有所差異，造成此三宗教在描述地獄上有所不同. 在地獄環境描述部份外，在宗教間的差異上，本研究發現道教與佛教文獻均記載了寒地獄而印度教並未提出此觀念，同樣的，印度教對地獄的描述中多次提及昆蟲，是佛道兩教未有的描述，此情形即是因不同地理區域不同氣候所產生的結果. 另一例子即是罪者罪業上的不同，在印度教描述下地獄的罪業中，對種姓制度和精液部分多有強調，此即反應了婆羅門教的特色，此為佛道兩教未曾提出之觀點; 同樣的，佛道兩教中，反應了儒家的思想與陰陽思想，這些均是印度教的記載中所未提及的，由此可知各自獨特的文化所產生的不同觀念即反應在地獄的記述上. The purpose of this study is to understand what hells in different religions look like. Visual descriptions of hells are analyzed through a literature review of Hinduism，Buddhism and Daoism，indicating common and unique attributes of those non-existing worlds. Hells seem to be places vast and dark，full of hot，sharp，terrible，rancid and poisonous dangers. People in hells suffer from punishments such as being squeezed and hit and feel pain and disgust. Prisoners of hells are enslaved，beaten，as well as constrained in places filled with horrible and weird atmospheres. Monsters emerge from nowhere，and torture the sinners to their hearts’content. Cultures and religions differ between geographical locations, as do hells. The Hell of Coldness, for example，exists only in Buddhism and Daoism which are predominantly found in Northern Asia. Since India is tropical，feeling cold can hardly be conceptualized as punishment. Insects, on the other hand，play an important role in Hindu hell，but can rarely be found in Buddhism and Daoism. Cultural differences also lead to different punishments. Violation of the Varnashrama-Dharma system is emphasized in Hinduism，while Confucianism and Yin-Yang to a certain extent determine the hellish doctrines of Chinese hells.
