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Hungry ghost is a concept in Chinese Buddhism and Chinese traditional religion representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. The term ', literally "hungry ghost", is the Chinese translation of the term ''preta'' in Buddhism. "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", ' (i.e. the spirit of a deceased ancestor). The understanding is that all people become such a regular ghost when they die,〔Venerable Yin-shun. ''The Way to Buddhahood''. Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications: 1998.〕 and would then slowly weaken and eventually die a second time.〔(目次：冥報記白話 )〕〔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.〔 With the rise in popularity of Buddhism, the idea became popular that souls would live in space until reincarnation.〔 In the Taoist tradition it is believed that hungry ghosts can arise from people whose deaths have been violent or unhappy. Both Buddhism〔 and Taoism〔Oldstone-Moore, Jennifer. ''Taoism''. USA: Oxford University Press: 2003.〕 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.〔Baroni, Helen J. Ph.D. ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism''. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Incorporated: 2002. 〕 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.〔Gregory, Peter N., ed. ''Inquiry Into the Origin of Humanity''. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press: 1995. 〕 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.〔 ==Myths of origin == There are many legends regarding the origin of hungry ghosts. In the Buddhist tradition there are stories from ''Chuan-chi po-yuan ching'' ("Sutra of One Hundred Selected Legends") that is from the early third century.〔Teiser, Wolfram. Chinese Festivals. New York: Abelard-Schuman Ltd.: 1958. 〕 Some examples of these stories are as follows: One story is of a rich man who traveled selling sugar-cane juice. One day a monk came to his house looking for some juice to cure an illness. The man had to leave, so he instructed his wife to give the monk the drink in his absence. Instead of doing this, she secretly urinated in the monk's bowl, added sugar cane juice to it and gave it to the monk. The monk was not deceived, he poured out the bowl and left. When the wife died she was reborn as a hungry ghost.〔 Another such tale is of a man who was giving and kind. One day he was about to leave his house when a monk came by begging. The man instructed his wife to give the monk some food. After the man left his house his wife was overcome with greed. She took it upon herself to teach the monk a lesson, so she locked the monk in an empty room all day with no food. She was reborn as a hungry ghost for innumerable life times.〔 Most times the legends speak of hungry ghosts who in a previous lifetime were greedy women who refused to give away food.〔 Other stories in the Buddhist tradition come from ''Kuei wen mu-lien ching'' ("The Sutra on the Ghosts Questioning Mu-lien"). One of the stories tells of a man who was a diviner who constantly misled people due to his own avarice and is now a hungry ghost.〔 There is another story in "The Legend of Mu-lien Entering the City and Seeing Five Hundred Hungry Ghosts". The story is about five hundred men that were sons of elders of the city they lived in. When monks came begging to the city for food, the sons denied them because they thought the monks would keep coming back and eventually take all their food. After the sons died they were reborn as hungry ghosts.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hungry ghost」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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