Lessons of the Hungry Ghost

 

08.28.2020 LESSONS OF THE HUNGRY GHOST Next week, certain Buddhist communities around the world will observe the annual Hungry Ghost festival. During the seventh month of the lunar calendar, known as Ghost Month, descendants honor their dead ancestors by burning papier-mâché forms of clothes, gold coins, and other goods of the earthly realm. Symbolic meals are often served to empty seats at the table, one for each of the family’s late relatives. The burnt offering of joss paper, known as ghost money, is also a common tribute. All of this is done to relieve the suffering of the deceased in an attempt to make the afterlife comfortable as possible for family members who have passed. One shop in Hong Kong is even selling joss paper masks this year!   The concept of the “hungry ghost” is an old one. In Buddhism, a hungry ghost is known as a preta, a spiritual being damned to suffer great pangs of intense need in the afterlife for displays of greed, theft, or violence while living. In a famous example leading to the origin of the festival, a man named Mulian gave his mother money to feed monks and beggars while he was off traveling. Instead, she squirreled away the money for herself. Years later, Mulian discovers such actions have landed his mother in hungry ghost territory — she has become a hungry ghost who can never eat her fill, and her neck has grown too thin because of her stinginess. Mulian first attempts to provide her food by placing it on the ancestral altar, but it explodes into flame as it touches her lips. Seeking the Buddha’s advice, Mulian is instructed to provide a feast on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, now known as Ghost Day. Following this tradition can be seen as an acknowledgment that however much we venerate our forebears, they too suffered from the same great twinges of desire that we do.     Whether or not you believe spirits leave their ghostly realm during the time of the festival, the hungry ghost can be a great reminder of how desire causes suffering, not in the afterlife but in the present moment. We are all haunted by our own hungry ghosts, possessed by our own particular desires that provoke suffering. In the following three articles, we take a deeper look at the hungry ghost, and what these beings teach us about ourselves.    —Ross Nervig, audience engagement editor, LionsRoar.com

What are Hungry Ghosts? Pretas, or “hungry ghosts,” are beings who are tormented by desire that can never be sated. Pretas are described in many different Asian mythologies. In Buddhism, they are considered one of the six realms of cyclic existence (samsara), along with devas (gods), asuras (warring gods), humans, animals, and hell beings. Enlightenment can be defined as freeing oneself from these realms entirely. Although the beings in them believe these realms are real, they are only subjective experiences created by mind. Each of the realms is characterized by a particular mental obscuration or klesha (see Buddhism by the Numbers). The preta realm is defined by attachment, and the truth that we can never end the suffering of unquenched desire, no matter how much we consume.

“Hungry Ghost, Let Go of This Woman!” Zen priest Renshin Bunce tells the dramatic story of the time she performed a successful exorcism. The key was respect and compassion — for the haunted woman and the spirits. She clutched my upper arms. I leaned forward and grabbed her above the waist to keep her from falling. I kept chanting. She kept shaking her head. Her short black hair, inches from my face, smelled clean and fresh. I somehow held her body with one arm so I could use the other to put more incense on the charcoal. The smoke billowed in the room and I spoke to the spirit, loudly, firmly, invoking all of the authority I had in me: “You hungry ghost, haunting ladies on this plane, it’s time for you to be released. Follow the smoke to heaven! With this ceremony you can let go and your wish will come true! The time is now!” She continued to shake her head. She cried out that he couldn’t let go. I was still bent forward, holding her. “Don’t be afraid!” I called. “You have courage! You know courage! Use that courage now to let go of this woman. Let go and go to heaven at last!”

A Hungry Ghost’s Sugar Fix Gesshin Greenwood on what happens when chocolate, peanut butter, and Buddhism collide. I put the Peanut Butter Cup between my teeth, closed my eyes, and slowly bit down. As soon as the candy hit my tongue I had to will my jaws to slow down. Everything in my mouth was alive with taste, and I felt a surge of pleasure. A voice inside of me screamed “Eat! Eat!” Finally, I could resist no longer and swallowed. But I was barely aware of the taste by then. Instead, a rush of sensation—joy and excitement—coursed through me with such intensity that tears sprang to my eyes. Actual tears! I unwrapped a second piece. When it went into my mouth, I was aware of how soft it was, how palatable. Something in me urged my mouth not to slow down, not to take heed of what was happening.

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