Some forms of Buddhism have traditions about many hells. An educated Buddhist may say these descriptions are only poetic metaphors and not literally true, but popular beliefs portray hell very graphically. One such description portrays hell as a place of excrement, of bitter-tasting dung mixed with molten copper in which there are worms with diamond-sharp beaks. The sinner who dies awakens in hell being eaten by the worms. They start with his lips, tongue, and throat, until finally the sinner is eaten from inside out, only to find himself alive again and due for more punishment. (This particular hell is for anyone who kills a bird or animal for supper without feeling regret.)

Zoroastrian, Hindu, and Buddhist thought, each in its own way, offer some assurance that hell will not be everlasting. Terrible as it is, someday it will come to an end. All evil, even the evil of being in hell, can pass away.  A Zoroastrian believes that the purifying flames of hell will burn away all evil, so that after 3,000 years even the worst sinner can be admitted to paradise.