WANG SAEN SUK HELL GARDEN
The garden is designed to bring the Buddhist concept of Naraka to life, aiming not only to scare visitors but to instruct them on the consequences of negative karma and the rewards for good deeds. Unlike eternal damnation in Abrahamic traditions, Naraka involves temporary punishments that last until the sinner's negative karma is exhausted. Punishments are tailored to the specific sins committed in life.
The garden features eight large pits, each connected to 16 smaller areas, creating a total of 136 regions. The various tortures depicted are based on specific transgressions, reminiscent of Dante's Inferno, with the crucial difference that punished souls can be reborn once their karma is spent. After death, individuals are judged by Phya Yom, who weighs their good deeds (recorded on gold) against their bad deeds (inscribed on dog skin) to determine their fate.
Gruesome scenes of torture in the garden reflect violations of the Five Precepts of Buddhism, which prohibit murder, theft, sexual misconduct, dishonesty, and drunkenness. For instance, corrupt individuals are depicted as pigs, ungrateful people as tigers, and thieves as transformed into animals like birds and fish. In contrast, there are also illustrations of rewards for good karma, showing figures receiving blessings for acts such as giving alms and building Buddha images, with promises of rebirth in a future religious era. The garden functions as a moral lesson, emphasizing the consequences of one's actions and the importance of merit-making for a favorable rebirth.General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan was a South Vietnamese military officer and the chief of the South Vietnamese National Police. He gained international notoriety for his role in a controversial incident during the Vietnam War. On February 1, 1968, during the Tet Offensive, Loan executed Nguyễn Văn Lém, a handcuffed prisoner of war, in Saigon.
Nguyễn Văn Lém was captured at the scene of a mass grave where over thirty civilians had been buried. Amid heavy fighting in Saigon, Loan shot Lém in the head with a Smith & Wesson Model 49 Bodyguard revolver shortly after the prisoner was presented to him. This execution was widely reported and photographed, drawing global attention to the brutal realities of the conflict.
Shown in the photo below, Nguyễn Ngọc Loan and his wife pose for a photo at their pizza restaurant “Los Trois Continents” at the Rolling Valley Mall in Virginia. He closed the restaurant in 1991 after his previous actions in South Vietnam became well-known.