https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html"I tell you this, monks, not from having heard it from another contemplative or brahman. On the contrary, I tell you this just as I have known for myself, seen for myself, understood for myself."
Hell is something we should work extremely hard to avoid. This is no garden-variety lake of fire, but an extremely terrifying place to go to. It is for this reason we are extremely lucky to have been born in a time in which we can imbibe the teachings of the Buddha.
There is no one to save us from Hell and we can blame no one for our own actions: not our parents, our friends or least of all; "society."
If we do something horrible, like murder a living human being, not only will we probably get caught, and be subject to imprisonment, possible torture, and death from the state, but we may have to deal with something even worth after death.
One of the first experiences that exist in hell is to have red-hot iron stakes driven through all different parts of the body and you will not die until your bad kamma is exhausted.
After that you will be held upside down and sliced with blades; harnessed to a chariot and driven over burning embers. After that you will be help upside down and dipped into a cauldron of fire, there you will be dipped in and out and will not die for as long as the bad kamma is not yet exhausted.
After a long time the eastern gate will open and finally you may think there will be relief. From this point there will be no relief. From here your outer skin, inner skin, tendons and even bones turn to smoke. But there will be no death until the bad kamma is exhausted.
When the eastern gate opens again, and you may think that this great fire is finally going to end and that there will be respite. There will be no respite. From here you will fall into the excrement hell where giant needle-mouthed beings bore into your flesh and tendons.
Will this be the end of the suffering? Not until your bad kamma is exhausted.
From there you will fall into the hot ashes hell in the Simbali Forest with burning thorns, climbing up and down them looking for an escape, but you will not be able to escape until your bad kamma is exhausted. From there you will enter the sword-leaf forest, where the leaves are like razor-blades and stirred by the wind will cut off hands, feet, ears and nose, but there will be no relief from this until your bad kamma is exhausted.
But don't worry, there is a river nearby. But the river is filled with lye, and swimming upstream and downstream you will have no relief from the excruciating pain until the bad kamma is exhausted.
What happens when you experience hunger and thirst? When you are hungry the hell-wardens will pry open your mouth with red-hot tongs and give you a nice, delicious red-hot copper ball to swallow; when thirsty you can wash it down with liquid, molten burning copper.
Does this short summary sound like something that an armchair 18th Century European Philosophe would find amenable?
In that case, you can delve into hermeneutics and try to change the literal meaning of this story, or at least, claim that the Buddha didn't actually say this.
Or you can accept this story as a cautionary tale that this life is extremely unique and your time here is very limited to cultivate the Dhamma.