On one hand, descendants might anxiously endeavor to help out the dead with their offerings, music and incense as seen in the sixth hell; on the other hand, they might not care at all, as seen in this seventh hell. This depressing realization becomes visually manifested here in the common motif of the "Terrace for viewing one's home village" where the dead look back to learn that the living can't and often won't help them through their times of torture. For example, the Temple of the Sages in Tai Chu, Taiwan, has published one monk's series of spirit journeys to hell that took place between 1976 and 1978. In this field trips, a monk by the name of Yang Ts'ien interviewed various hell kings, officials and tortured souls whom he met along the way. At one point, he asked King Yama why one particular old man was crying while standing atop this particular terrace, and Yama replied:

This old man had sinned heavily in his life. He later endured torment in hell which is now drawing to an end. He comes to the Platform for Vision of Native Place [a.k.a. the Terrace for viewing one's home village] to look back at his children and grandchildren. Now, he realizes that his offspring have no feelings whatsoever for him. He finds that some are absorbed in watching television, the others are relaxing idly in their rooms. None of them has any recollection of his onetime existence. He recalls the pain and labour he experienced in his lifetime for the sake of his progeny, and now their indifference dumbfounds him exceedingly.

Thus the dead face the tortures of a place such as the "Hell of oil caldron" -- also pictured here -- utterly alone. Yang Ts'ien also visited this torture site in the seventh hell during his many journeys, and he describes it as follows:

We are at the door of the prison. Sentry guards stand on both sides. The entrances, without exits, have made me think that the terms of imprisonment must be indefinite. The interior of the prison is sparsely and poorly furnished. A gigantic boiler, resembling a big cauldron used in villages for cooking pigs or vegetables, is in the middle of the room. The guards are fueling a brisk fire under the boiler. The oil in it is boiling at a high temperature. It is exactly what people on earth used to say 'Cauldron of Boiling Oil.' The guards are pushing the souls to the cauldron, then they pierce their bodies with a spear before pitching them into the boiling oil. The sinners manage to utter a single scream before they sink to the bottom of the boiler. In a brief time, the sinners' skin and flesh are completely destroyed. Only a white skeleton is seen in the impassible cauldron of boiling oil.

Yet the torture does not end there. Once sifted out, the souls recover their bodily form, only to be thrown into the cauldron again. Yang Ts'ien is even told what it feels like to dissipate in boiling oil, but some descriptions are best left to the imagination.