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| Preta realms from the Wheel of Life |
The realms of the pretas are to be found in two places: one
is bellow Jambudvipa (our realm of human beings[1]),
which is their main place of existence and is ruled by King Yama, and the other
is between the realm of humans and the realms of the gods. Master Vasubandhu
explains:
“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”.[2]
There are
two kinds of pretas: 1) pretas who live collectively, and 2) pretas who travel
through space.
1) Pretas who live collectively
Among the pretas who live collectively, there are three
types: a) pretas who suffer from external obscurations, b) pretas who suffer
from internal obscurations and c) pretas who suffer from specific obscurations.
a) 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:
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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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“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”. […]
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 (Dharma), 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”.
b) 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[3]:
"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.
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”.
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| Pretas who feed on human dung |
c) 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.
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.”
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A specific obscuration is that which manifests upon the
false teachers of the Dharma:
“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”.
2. 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. Their
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 [preta] years".
Other texts, including Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend, say that the life of pretas can be even longer,
like five thousand or ten thousand preta years.
Master Genshin said:
"The
Shobonenjogyo[4] 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”.
In chapter four of his Kyogyoshinsho, Master Shinran quotes Master Che-kwan of Koryo[5]:
“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”.[6]
*
At the end
of this presentation on pretas, I would like to add another special category of
hungry ghosts - the powerful pretas who
wish to dominate other beings through religion.
As I explained above, there are various types of pretas, and
not all of them are weak or tortured by mere hunger or thirst. Some pretas have
great powers due to previous good karma and merits, as Vasubandhu said: "the pretas differ much one from
another; certain of them possess
supernatural powers and enjoy a glory similar to that of the gods”[7], but also great
arrogance and pride.
Among the pretas, the category called gyalpos in
Tibetan are the most powerful. "Gyalpo" means "king" or
"royal" and it indicates the various leaders of the preta plane of
existence, so they are from the same category Vasubandhu reffered to in the
above passage. It is said that in their past lives they were great
practitioners who accumulated merit, but were not able to overcome pride and
arrogance, or they died with thoughts of hate, vengeance, etc.
Generally speaking, all the pretas have the tendency to
influence others. They are all eager for attention, offerings, etc, but the
gyalpos have the best power to put this wish into action. They can be masters
of deceit[8],
disguise in various ways, even take the appearance of great teachers of the
past or Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and they like to impart various so called
"teachings". There are some stories of advanced Buddhist
practitioners who were tricked by gyalpos. This category of pretas can also
perform miracles and offer visions to make people entrust and obey to them.
Into my opinion, the abrahamic/monotheist religions
(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) were caused by such powerful pretas with
imperialist tendencies. All of these religions were founded arround visions,
miracles and a central authoritarian "divine" figure who pretends
total subsmission from his believers. The jealousy of the "god" of
Old Testament is clearly expressed in the first of the ten comandments and in
other passages of the same text. This is also accepted in Christianity:
"I am the Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage.You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not
make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the
water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve
them; for I the Lord your God
am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate
me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and
keep my commandments."
Also in the Quran there are many passages like that, but I
quote here only a few:
“Follow what thou art
taught by inspiration from thy Lord: there is no god but He: and turn aside
from those who join gods with Allah.”(Qur’an 6:106)
"The worst of
beasts in the sight of Allah are those who reject Him: They will not
believe." (Qur’an 8:55)
“Muhammad is the
messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the
disbelievers and merciful among themselves" (Qur'an 48:29)
“I will cast terror
into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and
strike from them every fingertip.” (Qur’an8:12)
“Fight those who
believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath
been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of
Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book (Jews or Christians),
until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” (Qur’an
9:29)
As we can clearly see here, such a "god" is
clearly NOT an Enlightened being, but a person dominated by jealousy,
frustration and anger, who shares his so called "love" only with
those who love him or follow his instructions, and punishes the lack of
obedience of fathers to the third and fourth generations. Also, in the case of
the Quran, he encourages his worshippers to be ruthless with non-believers,
whom he himself regards as "beasts" and does his best to terrorize
them! Surely a being like that will sink even more in the lower realms, even in
the hells, after his life as a gyalpo or powerful preta is over.
We can see clearly the difference between such angry spirits
dominated by the need for attention and a Buddha who has undiscriminative
Compassion for all beings, no matter they accept His teachings or not! A Buddha
does not need the attention and worship of others[9], He
is not affected if beings love Him or despise Him. Praise or critic do not
influence Him. All He does for unenlightened beings arises from His pure Wisdom
and Compassion:
"The Buddhas of
the ten quarters think compassionately on sentient beings just as a mother
thinks of her child."[10]
Also, how do all Buddhas try to convince us to entrust to
Amida Buddha? Clearly, not by force, nor terror, and not by threatening to
destroy us and our children to the third and fourth generations:
"Shakyamuni and
all the other Buddhas
Are truly our compassionate father and mother.
With various compassionate means they
lead us to awaken
Supreme shinjin (faith in Amida Buddha) that is true and real."[11]
Surely, no good can come from entrusting to some worldly
jealous and vengeful spirits, no matter if the teachings associated with them
do contain some good elements, too. Powerful pretas (and their followers, too)
can have their own spiritual evolution, some may be better than others, but
certainly, not one of them is enlightened and none escaped from the slavery of
the three poisons: ignorance, greed/attachement and aversion. Contrary to this,
taking refuge in a Buddha will lead us, sooner or later, to Enlightenment.
Thus, one must be extremely careful to whom he is entrusting oneself to, as the
effect is simmilar to the cause. If we take refuge in samsaric spirits, no
matter how powerful they are, we will never escape samsara; if we take refuge
in the Buddhas, and especially in Amida Buddha, we will ourseles attain
Buddhahood.
The
monotheistic religions believe in the existence of a creator god. However, this
runs contrary to the teaching of the Buddha, according to which unenlightened
beings are the karmic cause for the existence of unenlightened samsaric
realms. Their individual and collective karma actually manifested the realms,
worlds and universes in which they live[12].
Contrary to this, Enlightened beings or Buddhas, naturaly and karmically
manifest Pure Lands or Enlightened realms. If a so called "supreme
being" created a world like ours that means he is not enlightened, because
if he was enlightened this world would have been perfect and inhabitted by
perfectly enlightened beings. Amida Buddha (and any Buddha!) does not
pretend to be the creator of this samsaric world, but only of His enlightened
Pure Land, where He vowed to bring all samsaric beings for their final
liberation (attainment of Buddhahood/Nirvana).
Any person who pretends to be the creator and owner of this
world or any samsaric world is afflicted with arrogance and is hungry for power
- a feature which is often found in some gods and especially in some powerful
pretas (hungry spirits) who have connection with the human realms. The attitude
of such spirits or gods is an imperialist one, that is, to receive the praise
and submission of as many beings as possible. I often give the example of Baka
Brahma, the god who was mislead by Mara into believing that he was "the Omniscient, the Omnipotent, the
Lord God, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief, the Ordainer, the Almighty, the
Father of all that are and that will be" and was corrected by
Shakyamuni Buddha[13].
However, those who have such imperialist tendency are not only from the realms
of gods, but from the preta realms, too. My opinion is that most of the gods
who live way beyond our human realm are more busy with enjoying their beautiful
long lives, than dealing with the affairs of the humans. So, I think that the
pretas are more connected with us, and more involved with our plane of
existence. Knowing this we must be aware of the category of powerful pretas who
want to dominate others through religion, and do as Shinran advised us:
“Those who take refuge
truly and wholeheartedly, freeing themselves from all delusional attachments
and all concern with the propitious or unpropitious, must never take refuge in
spirits or non-Buddhist teachings.”[14]
[1] The realm of human beings does not mean only
the humans living on this planet. The Buddha Dharma recognizes the existence of
many parallel universes and worlds.
[2] AbhidharmakoSabhasyam,
English translation by Leo M. Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities
Press, 1991; vol 2, p. 460
[3] Letter to a Friend (bShes-pa'i springs-yig, Skt. Suhrllekha)
by Nagarjuna, translated by Alexander Berzin, 2006, http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level6_study_major_texts/suhrllekha_letter_friend_nagarjuna/letter_friend.html
[4] Saddharmasm tyupasthana
Sutra (Shobonenjogyo) – Mindfulness of the Right Dharma Sutra.
[5] That passage appeared in T’ien-t’ai’s Discourse on the Fourfold
Teachings.
[6] Kyogyoshinsho – On
Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki,
Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.334
[7]
AbhidharmakoSabhasyam, English translation by Leo M.
Pruden; Berkeley, Calif, Asian Humanities Press, 1991; vol 2, p. 460
[8] However, not all gyalpo
spirits manifest a negative and imperialist attitude. There are also some
gyalpo who can show interest in the Dharma, but as they have an inconstant
character and pride and anger are some of their main features, they can be
easily offended and manipulated by the Maras.
[9] To worship the Buddha is karmically beneficial
for the unenlightened beings, not for a Buddha, as He does not depend on
anything.
[10] The 'Chapter of
Mahasthamaprapta' of the Sutra of
the Samadhi of Heroic Advance.
[11] Shinran Shonin, Hymn of the Two Gateways of Entrance and
Emergence, The Collected Works
of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p.629
[12] See the chapter "Some Buddhist
explanations of the origin and existence of the universe" from my
book, The True Teaching on Amida Buddha
and His Pure Land, Dharma Lion Publications, Craiova , 2015, p. 31
[13] See chapter "There
is no supreme god or creator in the Buddha Dharma" from my book, The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His
Pure Land, Dharma Lion Publications, Craiova, 2015, p. 18
[14] Shinran quoted this passage in his Kyogyoshinsho, chapter VI, from the Sutra of the Ten Wheels of Ksitigarbha. Kyogyoshinsho - The
Collected Works of Shinran,
Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.273
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