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| Preta realms from the Wheel of Life |
“The
king of the pretas is called Yama; his residence, which is the principal
dwelling of the pretas, is located under Jambudvipa. The pretas that are found elsewhere are the
surplus of the pretas. The pretas differ much one from another; certain of them possess supernatural powers and enjoy a glory similar to that of the gods”.
There
are two kinds of pretas: 1. pretas who live collectively, and 2. pretas who
travel through space. Among the pretas who live collectively there are three
types: the pretas who suffer from external obscurations, pretas who suffer from
internal obscurations and pretas who suffer from specific obscurations.
Pretas who suffer from external obscurations
These
are the pretas who suffer from intense hunger and thirst or from unbearable
heat and cold.
Thus, whatever food or water they see in
the distance, it proves to be nothing but a mirage, because when they come closer,
they realize it vanished, dried up or that it is guarded by armed demons who
beat them and chase them away.
As Master Genshin described:
“At
times they succeed in finding a stream of pure water but when they rush to it
and try to scoop up the water in their hands, demons of great strength come
along and beat them with iron clubs, or the water suddenly turns into flames
and burns them or it ceases to flow and is dried up”. […]
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Section of the Hungry Ghosts
Scroll depicting one of
the thirty-six types of hungry ghosts
who constantly seeks water to
drink. Kyoto Museum
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“There
are hungry spirits called Eating-Water
whose bodies are parched with thirst. They rush about in search for water but
cannot find even a drop. Their long hair covers their faces so that they cannot
see. They run along the river banks and if there are people crossing they lap
up the water which may be left in their foot prints, and thus moistening their
parched throats they manage to exist. Or when people make an offering of water
to the spirits of their departed parents they give a little to these spirits
and so they prolong their lives. If the spirits try to take some of this water
themselves then the various demons whose function it is to guard the water beat
them with sticks. Those who in this life mixed water with the sake they sold,
or those who put in earth worms and leeches and so did not fulfill the good Law,
receive this reward”.
Also, as Genshin said, “there are still other hungry spirit called Fear-Hope who live on the offerings
which people make to their departed parents. Beside this they have nothing on
which to live. Those who in this life rob the poor of even the little they have
acquired through great efforts, receive this reward. Then, again, there are
hungry spirits who are born on the seashore where there is neither cool shade
nor river water and where it is so hot that even their winter days are more than
a thousand times hotter than summer days on earth. They subsist on obtaining
only the morning dew. Though they live on the sea shore, the sea looks to their
eyes like a dry place. Those who in this life have taken advantage of merchants
who have been overtaken with illness on their journey and have beaten down
their prices and so robbed them receive this reward”.
Pretas who suffer from internal
obscurations
This
kind of pretas have very small mouths, some no bigger than the eye of a needle,
and a large sized stomach of hundreds of meters or even more. When they try to
drink water, the heat of their breath evaporates it as soon as it goes down
their throats. In the same way, no matter how much they eat, they cannot be
satisfied due to the contradiction between their mouths and stomachs, but even
if they somehow manage to eat a little, it will burst into flames during the
night and burn their inside organs. Also movement is extremely hard and painful
to them because of their grass-like limbs.
Bodhisattva
Nagarjuna said in his Letter to a Friend[1]:
(92) Some, with bellies as
(huge) in size as a mountain,
(Connected) to mouths, the
mere eye of a needle,
Are tortured by hunger,
not having the capacity
To eat even the tiniest
lump of filth thrown away.
(93) Some, with bodies
(just) skin and bones, and naked,
Are like the withered
trunk-tops of palmyra palm trees;
While some blaze (flames)
from their mouths in the sphere of the night,
Having to eat blazing sand
as their food, poured into their mouths.
Master Genshin also described such type of
pretas who suffer from internal obscurations:
“Then
there are hungry spirits called Eating-and-Vomiting whose bodies are very broad
and a half yodjana in height. Their
stomach and chest feel heavy, and so they continually try to vomit, but as they
cannot succeed in this they suffer in various ways. Those husbands who in this
life ate the good food themselves and gave nothing to their wives and children,
and such wives as ate all the good food themselves and gave nothing to their
husbands, receive this reward.
Then,
again, there are hungry spirits called Eating-Odour who have to live on the
smell of the food which sick people offer along the rivers or in forests. Those
who in this life allowed wife and children only to smell the good food which
they themselves ate, receive this reward”.
Pretas
who suffer from specific obscurations
The experiences of this
kind of pretas vary from one another, according to the specific causes that
brought them into that state. For example, some have many creatures living on
their bodies and devouring them, or may have their own food transformed into
various uneatable and foul matters, while some other cut their own flesh and
eat it.
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| Pretas who feed on human dung |
As
Master Genshin said, quoting Nagarjuna’s Prajnaparamita-sastra:
“Then
there are hungry spirits who have nothing at all to eat, and so they break open
their own skulls and eat their brains. Again, there are hungry spirits who emit
flames from their mouths and live upon the moths which happen to fly into these
flames. There are hungry spirits who feed on pus, phlegm and the remains of the
washings of human dung.”
Or
as he described in his Ojoyoshu:
“ There are other hungry
spirits who for lack of food go to cemeteries and eat the cremated bodies, but
this does not stay their hunger. Those who in this life were prison wardens and
who ate the food intended for the prisoners receive this reward.” […]
A
specific obscuration is that which manifests upon those false teachers of the
Dharma:
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| Pretas who go to cemeteries and feed on corpses |
“There
are hungry spirits called Eating-Law (Dharma) who run about on steep places
where it is difficult to walk, seeking food but finding none. If they enter a
temple and hear an exposition of the Law (Dharma) they obtain strength and
manage to live. Those who in this life sought to obtain fame by a false
interpretation of the Law receive this reward”.
Pretas who travel through space
This category
includes various types of pretas which are generaly tormented by constant fear
and hallucination. Generaly speaking, they want to offload their pain on
others, so wherever they go they do harm to others, thus many of them fall into
hells when their life as a preta comes to an end. Even when they visit their dear
ones from previous life, they bring only sickness, insanity and various other
sufferings, which causes magicians and exorcists to harm and destroy them.
They also suffer from the distorted perceptions of other
kind of pretas, like perceiving the sun of winter to be too cold, or the moon
too hot in summer night. Their bodily form may be of various hideous animals,
like ugly dogs, birds and others.
As we have seen,
the causes of being born among pretas are various kinds of actions motivated by
greed, avarice, jealousy, etc. The lifespan is also described by Master Genshin
as follows:
“One
day in this realm is as long as one month of human life and existence here
lasts for 500 years. The Shobonenjogyo[2] says
that those who are cruel, covetous, jealous and envious fall into this Realm of
Hungry Ghosts (Spirits). By the cruel and the covetous are meant those who
think only of their own things, who do not love others or give alms, and those
who are never satisfied no matter how much they rob others”.
“Hungry
ghosts are called pretas in Sanskrit. Their places of habitation are found in
various realms. Hungry ghosts with much merit become spirits of mountains and
forests or of graveyards. Those without merit dwell in filthy places, receive
no food or drink, and are constantly whipped. Forced to dam up rivers and
oceans, they suffer immeasurable pain. Those who harbor flattery and deception
in their hearts and have committed the five grave offenses and the ten evil
acts that belong to the lowest degree of karmic evil receive the recompense of
this state of existence”.
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