Hungry ghost information

Hungry ghost
	7th month Hungry Ghost Festival offerings in Singapore.
Grouping	Legendary creature
Sub grouping	Nocturnal, revenant
Similar entities	Krasue and Kalag
Folklore	Chinese Buddhism, Chinese traditional religion
Country	China
Region	East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia

Hungry ghost is a term in Buddhism, and Chinese traditional religion, representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. The terms 餓鬼 èguǐ literally "hungry ghost", are the Chinese translation of the term preta in Buddhism which is a Sanskrit word. "Hungry ghosts" play a role in Chinese Buddhism and Taoism as well as in Chinese folk religion. The term is not to be confused with the generic term for "ghost" or damnation, 鬼 guǐ (i.e. the residual spirit of a deceased ancestor). The understanding is that all people become such a regular ghost when they die,^[1] and would then slowly weaken and eventually die a second time.^[2]^[3]

With the rise in popularity of Buddhism, the idea became popular that souls would live in space until reincarnation.^[3] In the Taoist tradition it is believed that hungry ghosts can arise from people whose deaths have been violent or unhappy. Both Buddhism^[3] and Taoism^[4] share the idea that hungry ghosts can emerge from neglect or desertion of ancestors. According to the Hua-yen Sutra evil deeds will cause a soul to be reborn in one of six different realms.^[5] The highest degree of evil deed will cause a soul to be reborn as a denizen of hell, a lower degree of evil will cause a soul to be reborn as an animal, and the lowest degree will cause a soul to be reborn as a hungry ghost.^[6] According to the tradition, evil deeds that lead to becoming a hungry ghost are killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. Desire, greed, anger and ignorance are all factors in causing a soul to be reborn as a hungry ghost because they are motives for people to perform evil deeds.^[1]

^ ^a ^b Venerable Yin-shun. The Way to Buddhahood. Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications: 1998.
^ "目次：冥報記白話". www.bfnn.org.
^ ^a ^b ^c Eberhard, Stephen F. The Ghost Festival in Medieval China. New Jersey: Princeton University Press: 1988. Hungry ghosts, by contrast, are a much more exceptional case, and would only occur in very unfortunate circumstances, such as if a whole family were killed or when a family no longer venerated their ancestors.
^ Oldstone-Moore, Jennifer. Taoism. USA: Oxford University Press: 2003.
^ Baroni, Helen J. Ph.D. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Incorporated: 2002.
^ Gregory, Peter N., ed. Inquiry Into the Origin of Humanity. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press: 1995.

[sixteen-1] Venerable Yin-shun. The Way to Buddhahood. Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications: 1998.

[2] "目次：冥報記白話". www.bfnn.org.

[eleven-3] Eberhard, Stephen F. The Ghost Festival in Medieval China. New Jersey: Princeton University Press: 1988. Hungry ghosts, by contrast, are a much more exceptional case, and would only occur in very unfortunate circumstances, such as if a whole family were killed or when a family no longer venerated their ancestors.

[fourteen-4] Oldstone-Moore, Jennifer. Taoism. USA: Oxford University Press: 2003.

[ten-5] Baroni, Helen J. Ph.D. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Incorporated: 2002.

[thirteen-6] Gregory, Peter N., ed. Inquiry Into the Origin of Humanity. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press: 1995.

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