Model humanity:
103-515: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: 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
206-544: A Chinese religious tradition characterised by a concern for salvation (moral fulfillment) of the person and the society. They are distinguished by egalitarianism , a founding charismatic person often informed by a divine revelation , a specific theology written in holy texts , a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation, an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and self-cultivation, and an expansive orientation through evangelism and philanthropy . Some scholars consider these religions
309-508: A Confucian identity, with the foundation of the Holy Confucian Church of China which aims to unite in a single body all Confucian religious groups. Many of the movements of salvation of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism and materialism, advocating an "Eastern solution to the problems of the modern world", or even interacting with
412-409: A chain, conditioning and depending on each other. When certain conditions are present, they give rise to subsequent conditions, which in turn give rise to other conditions. Phenomena are sustained only so long as their sustaining factors remain. The most common one is a list of twelve causes ( Pali : dvādasanidānāni, Sanskrit: dvādaśanidānāni ). Bucknell refers to it as the "standard list". It
515-490: A chair are built for a priest either at a street entrance or in front of the village. The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha sits in front of the chair. Under the chair are plates of rice flour and peaches. Sitting on the altar are three spirit tablets and three funeral banners. After noon, sheep, pigs, chicken, fruits, and cakes are donated by families that are displayed on the altar. A priest will put a triangular paper banner of three colors with special characters on every sacrifice. After
618-459: 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. 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. The biggest factor
721-502: A disorder known as kwashiorkor that encompasses symptoms like stomach bloating from fluid retention, hair and tooth loss and dry and cracked skin. These people have skeletal like figures and big stomachs. Looking at these hungry ghosts and their figure one might interpret hungry ghosts as teachers. They do not teach the causes of karma like solitary buddhas, however, instead of words with their bodies. Their whole body embodies suffering ( dukkha ) to such an extend that seeing them gives
824-482: A ghost which takes the form of a pretty girl and seduces a young man until a priest intervenes and sends the spirit back to hell. It is believed that possession can cause illness and/or mental disorders. During the seventh month of the Chinese calendar , children are advised (usually by an elder in the family) to be home before dark, and not to wander the streets at night for fear a ghost might possess them. Swimming
927-506: A lotus flower-shaped lantern on a piece of board. Hungry ghosts are believed to have found their way back when the lanterns go out. There are many folk beliefs and taboos surrounding the Hungry Ghost Festival . Spirits are thought to be dangerous, and can take many forms, including snakes, moths, birds, foxes, wolves, and tigers. Some can even use the guise of a beautiful man or woman to seduce and possess. One story refers to
1030-454: A nature to cease." SA 296 describes them simply as "arising thus according to causal condition, these are called dharmas arisen by causal condition." Regarding the arising of suffering, SN 12.10 discusses how before the Buddha's awakening, he searched for the escape from suffering as follows: "when what exists is there old age and death? What is a condition for old age and death?", discovering
1133-459: A particular substance or object. Traditionally, this is something repugnant or humiliating, such as human corpses or feces , though in more recent legends, it may be virtually anything, no matter how bizarre. Jikininki (食人鬼 "people-eating ghosts") are the spirits of greedy, selfish or impious individuals who are cursed after death to seek out and eat human corpses. They do this at night, scavenging for newly dead bodies and food offerings left for
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#17327838887261236-449: A second time. The hungry ghosts, along with animals and hell beings, consists of the three realms of existence no one desires. In these realms it is extremely difficult to be reborn in a better realm (i.e. the realm of humans, asura or deva ) because it is nearly impossible to perform deeds that cultivate good karma. With the rise in popularity of Buddhism , the idea that souls would live in space until reincarnation became popular . In
1339-507: A single group they are said to have the same number of followers of the five state-sanctioned religions of China taken together. Scholars and government officials have been discussing to systematise and unify this large base of religious organisations; in 2004 the State Administration of Religious Affairs created a department for the management of folk religions. In the late 2015 a step was made at least for those of them with
1442-416: A single phenomenon, and others consider them the fourth great Chinese religious category alongside the well-established Confucianism , Buddhism and Taoism . Generally these religions focus on the worship of the universal God ( Shangdi ), represented as either male, female, or genderless, and regard their holy patriarchs as embodiments of God. "Chinese salvationist religions" ( 救度宗教 jiùdù zōngjiào )
1545-399: Is "a principle of causal regularity, a Basic Pattern (Dhamma) of things" which can be discovered, understood and then transcended. The principle of conditionality, which is real and stable, is contrasted with the "dependently arisen processes", which are described as "impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, of a nature to be destroyed, of a nature to vanish, of a nature to fade away, of
1648-492: Is a condition for craving. This is the origin of suffering … [the same formula is repeated with the other six sense bases and six consciousnesses, that is, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind] Other depictions of the chain at SN 12.52 and its parallel at SA 286, begin with seeing the assada (taste; enjoyment; satisfaction) which leads to craving and the rest of the list of nidanas. Meanwhile, in SN 12.62 and SA 290, dependent origination
1751-507: Is a contemporary neologism coined as a sociological category and gives prominence to folk religious sects' central pursuit that is the salvation of the individual and the society, in other words the moral fulfillment of individuals in reconstructed communities of sense. Chinese scholars traditionally describe them as "folk religious sects" ( 民间宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào , 民间教门 mínjiān jiàomén or 民间教派 mínjiān jiàopài ) or "folk beliefs" ( 民间信仰 mínjiān xìnyǎng ). They are distinct from
1854-443: Is a key doctrine in Buddhism shared by all schools of Buddhism . It states that all dharmas (phenomena) arise in dependence upon other dharmas: "if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist". The basic principle is that all things (dharmas, phenomena, principles) arise in dependence upon other things. The doctrine includes depictions of the arising of suffering ( anuloma-paṭiccasamuppāda , "with
1957-562: Is a valid currency in the underworld and helps ghosts to live comfortably in the afterlife. People also burn other forms of joss paper such as paper houses, cars and televisions to please the ghosts. This festival is one of numerous tantric practices from Chinese Esoteric Buddhism preserved in modern Chinese Buddhism after the various Buddhist traditions started to merge in the early modern period. Families also pay tribute to other unknown wandering ghosts so that these homeless souls do not intrude on their lives and bring misfortune. A big feast
2060-447: Is action ( karma ) and result ( vipāka )" there is "no actor agent" ( kāraka ). It also states that dharmas of dependent origination are classified as conventional. The Kaccānagottasutta and its parallel also associates understanding dependent origination with avoiding views of a self (atman). This text states that if "you don't get attracted, grasp, and commit to the notion 'my self', you'll have no doubt or uncertainty that what arises
2163-538: Is also incredibly painful. Some are described as having "mouths the size of a needle's eye and a stomach the size of a mountain". This is a metaphor for people futilely attempting to fulfill their illusory physical desires. According to the History of Buddhism , as elements of Chinese Buddhism entered a dialogue with Indian Buddhism in the Tibetan Plateau , this synthesis is evident in the compassion rendered in
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#17327838887262266-563: Is burnt up in their mouths, sometimes they have a big belly and a neck as thin as a needle (this image is the basic one for hungry ghosts in Asian Buddhism ). According to the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna Sūtra , there are thirty-six different types of hungry ghost. The depictions and stories about hungry ghosts especially in the early Indian context can show the viewer a commentary about the "manual scavengers", members of
2369-728: Is distinct. By that, the author establishes an argument for a lack of substantial reality among external objects. 丁寧な暮らしをする餓鬼 ("The Hungry Ghost who leads a polite life"): This three volume work explores the life of an hungry ghost who, unlike others of their kind, is very compassionate and pure-hearted. They spend half a day grinding coffee beans in a mortar, folding plastic bags into triangles, sweeping up leaves, and so on. Chinese salvationist religions Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese salvationist religions or Chinese folk religious sects are
2472-488: Is divided into ten "decades", the fifth decade being stories that concern hungry ghosts. This part of the Avadānaśataka recounts the bad thoughts and behavior the hungry ghosts have cultivated in their human existence which led them to the hungry ghost realm. The accumulation of malignancy or meanness is called mātsarya. The notion of mātsarya in this volume is explained to understand the logic of mātsarya's development,
2575-467: Is filled with suffering. This nectar symbolises purification which is able to cleanse all negativities, karma, obscurations, and defilements. In Japanese Buddhism , the Hungry Ghosts are considered to have two variants: the gaki and the jikininki . Gaki (餓鬼) are the spirits of jealous or greedy people who, as punishment for their mortal vices, have been cursed with an insatiable hunger for
2678-605: Is found in section 12 of the Samyutta Nikaya and its parallels, as well as in other suttas belonging to other Nikayas and Agamas. This list also appears in Mahasamghika texts like the Salistamba Sutra and in (later) works like Abhidharma texts and Mahayana sutras . According to Eviatar Shulman, "the 12 links are paticcasamuppada, " which is a process of mental conditioning. Cox notes that even though
2781-498: Is greed as hungry ghosts are ever discontent and anguished because they are unable to satify their feelings of greed. Some traditions imagine hungry ghosts living inside the bowels of earth or they live in the midst of humans but go unnoticed by those around them or they choose to distance themselves. There are many legends regarding the origin of hungry ghosts. It is likely that the idea of hungry ghosts originated from ancient Indian culture, where they were referred to as Preta . In
2884-431: Is held for the ghosts on the 15th day of the seventh month, where people bring samples of food and place them on the offering table to please the ghosts and ward off bad luck. Live shows are also put on and everyone is invited to attend. The first row of seats is always empty as this is where the ghosts are supposed to sit to better enjoy the live entertainment. The shows are always put on at night and at high volumes, so that
2987-625: Is just suffering arising, and what ceases is just suffering ceasing." Similarly, the Mahānidānasutta (DN 15) associates understanding dependent origination with abandoning various wrongs views about a self, while failing to understand it is associated becoming entangled in these views. Another sutra, SĀ 297, states that dependent origination is "the Dharma Discourse on Great Emptiness", and then proceeds to refute numerous forms of "self-view" ( ātmadṛṣṭi ). SN 12:12 (parallel at SĀ 372)
3090-576: Is said to be Nirvana , "the stopping, or transcending, of conditioned co-arising" (Harvey). In the Mahānidānasutta (DN 15) the Buddha states that dependent origination is "deep and appears deep", and that it is "because of not understanding and not penetrating this teaching" that people become "tangled like a ball of string" in views ( diṭṭhis ), samsara, rebirth and suffering. SN 12.70 and its counterpart SA 347 state that "knowledge of Dhamma-stability" ( dhamma-tthiti-ñānam ) comes first, then comes knowledge of nirvana ( nibbane-ñānam ). However, while
3193-431: Is that they describe the process of a sentient being's rebirth in saṃsāra , and the resultant duḥkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness), and they provide an analysis of rebirth and suffering that avoids positing an atman (unchanging self or eternal soul). The reversal of the causal chain is explained as leading to the cessation of rebirth (and thus, the cessation of suffering). Another interpretation regards
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3296-465: Is the kui , or demon part, and the yang is the shen , or spirit part. When death occurs, the kui should return to earth, and the shen to the grave or family shrine. If a ghost is neglected, it will become a kui . The shen , or ancestral spirit, watches over its descendants, and can bring good fortune if properly worshipped. Hungry ghosts are different from the ghosts of Chinese which all people are believed to become after death. According to
3399-467: Is the "best of all conditioned states" (AN.II.34). Therefore, according to Harvey, the four noble truths "can be seen as an application of the principle of conditioned co-arising focused particularly on dukkha." In the early Buddhist texts , dependent origination is analyzed and expressed in various lists of dependently originated phenomena (dhammas) or causes (nidānas) . Nidānas are co-dependent principles, processes or events, which act as links on
3502-400: Is thought to be dangerous as well, as spirits are believed to have drowned people. People will generally avoid driving at night, for fear of a "collision", or spiritual offence, which is any event leading to illness or misfortune. While "ghost" is a commonly used term throughout the year, many people use the phrase "backdoor god" or "good brother" instead during the 7th month, so as not to anger
3605-591: The Book of Rites . Some scholars even find influences from Manichaeism , Mohism and shamanic traditions . In the Ming and Qing dynasties many folk religious movements were outlawed by the imperial authorities as "evil religions" ( 邪教 xiéjiào ). With the collapse of the Qing state in 1911 the sects enjoyed an unprecedented period of freedom and thrived, and many of them were officially recognised as religious groups by
3708-531: The Buddhist tradition, hungry ghosts appear in stories from the Chuan-chi po-yuan ching ("Sutra of One Hundred Selected Legends") that is from the early third century. Some examples of these stories are as follows: Once, a rich man who travelled was selling sugar-cane juice. One day, a monk came to his house in search of some juice to cure an illness. The man had to leave, so he instructed his wife to give
3811-457: The Chinese folk religion consisting in the worship of gods and ancestors, although in English language there is a terminological confusion between the two. The 20th-century expression for these salvationist religious movements has been "redemptive societies" ( 救世团体 jiùshì tuántǐ ), coined by scholar Prasenjit Duara . A collective name that has been in use possibly since the latter part of
3914-491: The Kaccānagottasutta (SN 12.15, parallel at SA 301), the Buddha states that "this world mostly relies on the dual notions of existence and non-existence" and then explains the right view as follows: But when you truly see the origin of the world with right understanding, you won't have the notion of non-existence regarding the world. And when you truly see the cessation of the world with right understanding, you won't have
4017-512: The Nyāyānusāriṇī , there are three main groups of hungry ghosts, each of which are divided into three sub-groups: Sixteen hungry ghosts are said to live in hell or in a region of hell. Unlike other hell dwellers, they can leave hell and wander. They look through garbage and human waste on the outskirts of human cities. They are said to be invisible during the daylight hours but visible at night. Some hungry ghosts can only eat corpses, or their food
4120-632: The Paccaya sutta (SN 12.20 and its parallel in SA 296) , dependent origination is the basic principle of conditionality which is at play in all conditioned phenomena. This principle is invariable and stable, while the "dependently arisen processes" ( paṭiccasamuppannā dhammā ) are variable and impermanent. Peter Harvey argues that there is an "overall Basic Pattern that is Dhamma" within which "specific basic patterns (dhammas) flow into and nurture each other in complex, but set, regular patterns.". According to
4223-518: The Paccaya sutta (SN 12.20) and its parallel, this natural law of this/that conditionality is independent of being discovered by a Buddha (a " Tathāgata "), just like the laws of physics . The Paccaya sutta states that whether or not there are Buddhas who see it "this elemental fact ( dhātu , or "principle") just stands ( thitā ), this basic-pattern-stability ( dhamma-tthitatā ), this basic-pattern-regularity ( dhamma-niyāmatā ): specific conditionality ( idappaccayatā )." Bhikkhu Sujato translates
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4326-519: The Taoist tradition, it is believed that hungry ghosts can arise from people whose deaths have been violent or unhappy. Both Buddhism and Taoism 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. The highest degree of evil deed will cause a soul to be reborn as
4429-507: The dharma : "One who sees dependent origination sees the Dharma. One who sees the Dharma sees dependent origination." And these five grasping aggregates are indeed dependently originated. The desire, adherence, attraction, and attachment for these five grasping aggregates is the origin of suffering. Giving up and getting rid of desire and greed for these five grasping aggregates is the cessation of suffering. A well-known early exposition of
4532-727: The early Buddhist texts . It is the main topic of the Nidana Samyutta of the Theravada school's Saṃyuttanikāya (henceforth SN). A parallel collection of discourses also exists in the Chinese Saṁyuktāgama (henceforth SA). Dependent origination is a philosophically complex concept, subject to a large variety of explanations and interpretations. As the interpretations often involve specific aspects of dependent origination, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive to each other. Dependent origination can be contrasted with
4635-484: The early republican government . The founding of the People's Republic in 1949 saw them suppressed once again, although since the 1990s and 2000s the climate was relaxed and some of them have received some form of official recognition. In Taiwan all the still existing restrictions were rescinded in the 1980s. Folk religious movements began to rapidly revive in mainland China in the 1980s, and now if conceptualised as
4738-756: The nidānas can be found in the Pali SN 12.2 ( Vibhaṅga "Analysis" sutta ) and in its parallel at SA 298. Further parallels to SN 12.2 can be found at EA 49.5, some Sanskrit parallels such as the Pratītyasamutpādādivibhaṅganirdeśanāmasūtra (The Discourse giving the Explanation and Analysis of Conditional Origination from the Beginning) and a Tibetan translation of this Sanskrit text at Toh 211. A Glossary of Pali and Buddhist Terms : "Becoming. States of being that develop first in
4841-450: The Buddha is asked a series of questions about the self (who feels? who craves? etc.), the Buddha states that these questions are invalid, and instead teaches dependent origination. SĀ 80 also discuss an important meditative attainment called the emptiness concentration ( śūnyatāsamādhi ) which in this text is associated contemplating how phenomena arise due to conditions and are subject to cessation. According to early suttas like AN 3.61,
4944-440: The Buddha understood experiences as "processes subject to causation". Bhikkhu Bodhi writes that specific conditionality "is a relationship of indispensability and dependency: the indispensability of the condition (e.g. birth) to the arisen state (e.g. aging and death), the dependency of the arisen state upon its condition." Peter Harvey states this means that "nothing (except nirvāna) is independent. The doctrine thus complements
5047-561: The Ghosts Questioning Mu-lien"). One of the stories tells of a diviner who constantly misled people due to his own avarice, and thus, he was reborn as a hungry ghost. Another story in "The Legend of Mu-lien Entering the City and Seeing Five Hundred Hungry Ghosts" 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
5150-533: The Qing dynasty is huìdàomén ( 会道门 "churches, ways and gates"), as their names interchangeably use the terms huì ( 会 "church, society, association, congregation"; when referring to their corporate form), dào ( 道 "way") or mén ( 门 "gate[way], door"). Their congregations and points of worship are usually called táng ( 堂 "church, hall") or tán ( 坛 "altar"). Western scholars often mistakenly identify them as " Protestant " churches. The Vietnamese religions of Minh Đạo and Caodaism emerged from
5253-523: The Sanskrit term preta in Buddhism . "Hungry ghosts" play a role in Chinese Buddhism , Taoism , and 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 people first become a regular ghost when they die and then slowly weaken and eventually die
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#17327838887265356-492: The actions it envokes, the suffering it causes and in which ways it can be eradicated. Therefore, it describes the causal chain ( pratītyasamutpāda ) that leads to the existence of a hungry ghost. At the end of nearly every story the phrase "Work hard to get rid of your mātsarya !" is repeated. In Chinese Buddhism, The World of the Hungry Ghosts (鬼法界, 鬼界) is one of the six domains of the desire realm of Buddhism. The oral tradition of Chinese ancestral worship believes that
5459-447: The appariance of external objects is mind-dependent, as they happen to be different at specific times and places across different minds. Since different minds encounter the same objects differently, similar to dreams, these objects do not need to have a physical reality. The author offers an example about a river perceived as clear by humans, but full of pus by hungry ghosts. Thus, the appearances of external objects across different minds
5562-458: The appearance of name and form. The standard listing then follows. SN 12.38 (and the parallel at SA 359) contain a much shorter sequence, it begins with willing as above which leads to consciousness, then following after consciousness it states: "there is in the future the becoming of rebirth ( punabbhavabhinibbatti )", which leads to "coming-and-going ( agatigati )", followed by "decease-and-rebirth ( cutupapato )" and following that "there arise in
5665-472: The arising (uppada) of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be. With the cessation (nirodha) of this, that ceases. According to Paul Williams "this is what causation is for early Buddhist thought. It is a relationship between events, and is what we call it when if X occurs Y follows, and when X does not occur Y does not follow." Richard Gombrich writes that this basic principle that "things happen under certain conditions" means that
5768-404: The art of hungry ghosts might have provided viewers of a look into the world they inhabit and which they normally do not see clearly. Therefore, the images might offer the insights that hungry ghosts interact with the world of humans from their world and that the human realm is oblivious to these beings affecting them. It is believed that the soul contains elements of both yin and yang . The yin
5871-442: The basic description of the stability of dependent origination as "the fact that this is real, not unreal, not otherwise". The Chinese parallel at SA 296 similarly states that dependent origination is "the constancy of dharmas, the certainty of dharmas, suchness of dharmas, no departure from the true, no difference from the true, actuality, truth, reality, non-confusion". According to Harvey, these passages indicate that conditionality
5974-511: The basic principle of causality is said to have led to the stream entry of Sariputta and Moggallāna . This ye dharmā hetu phrase, which appears in the Vinaya (Vin.I.40) and other sources, states: Of those dharmas which arise from a cause, the Tathagata has stated the cause, and also their cessation. A similar phrase is uttered by Kondañña , the first convert to realize awakening at
6077-552: The body of the hungry ghosts is like a hell because they cannot escape their bodies, free to wander the world at will. Vasubandhu , a monk who was one of the founders of the Yogācāra-school of Buddhism, used hungry ghosts in his argumentation of the Mahāyāna thought that "everything in the three realms is nothing but appearance." He argues against the objective reality of external objects (physical and non-physical) by asserting that
6180-578: The burnt area should be avoided, as it is considered an "opening" to the spirit world and touching it may cause the person to be possessed. The English term has often been used metaphorically to describe the insatiable craving of an addict. In Tibetan Buddhism , Hungry Ghosts (Tib. ཡི་དྭགས་, Wyl. yi dwags , Sanskrit : preta ) have their own realm depicted on the Bhavacakra and are represented as teardrop or paisley -shaped with bloated stomachs and necks too thin to pass food so that attempting to eat
6283-420: The chain of conditions as expressed in the twelve nidanas and other lists. MN 26 also reports that after the Buddha's awakening, he considered that dependent origination was one of the two principles which were "profound ( gambhira ), difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful, sublime, beyond the scope of mere reasoning ( atakkāvacara ), subtle." The other principle which is profound and difficult to see
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#17327838887266386-529: The chain with both consciousness and name and form conditioning each other in a cyclical relationship. It also states that "consciousness turns back, it goes no further than name and form." SN 12.67 also contains a chain with consciousness and name and form being in a reciprocal relationship. In this sutta, Sariputta states that this relationship is like two sheaves of reeds leaning on each other for support (the parallel at SA 288 has three sheaves instead). There are also several passages with chains that begin with
6489-688: The classic Western concept of causation in which an action by one thing is said to cause a change in another thing. Dependent origination instead views the change as being caused by many factors, not just one or even a few. The principle of dependent origination has a variety of philosophical implications. Pratītyasamutpāda consists of two terms: Pratītyasamutpāda has been translated into English as dependent origination , dependent arising , interdependent co-arising , conditioned arising , and conditioned genesis . Jeffrey Hopkins notes that terms synonymous to pratītyasamutpāda are apekṣasamutpāda and prāpyasamutpāda . The term may also refer to
6592-507: The dead. They sometimes also loot the corpses they eat for valuables. Nevertheless, jikininki lament their condition and hate their repugnant cravings for dead human flesh. The Hungry Ghosts Scroll kept at the Kyoto National Museum depicts the world of the hungry ghosts and the suffering of these creatures, and contains tales of salvation of the ghosts. The whole scroll has been designated as National Treasure of Japan and it
6695-457: The early scriptures contain numerous variations of lists, the 12 factor list became the standard list in the later Abhidharma and Mahayana treatises. The most common interpretation of the twelve cause list in the traditional exegetical literature is that the list is describing the conditional arising of rebirth in saṃsāra , and the resultant duḥkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness). An alternative Theravada interpretation regards
6798-499: The end of the first sermon given by the Buddha : "whatever has the nature to arise ( samudaya dhamma ) also has the nature to pass away ( nirodha dhamma )." The early Buddhist texts also associate dependent arising with emptiness and not-self. The early Buddhist texts outline different ways in which dependent origination is a middle way between different sets of "extreme" views (such as " monist " and " pluralist " ontologies or materialist and dualist views of mind-body relation). In
6901-406: The flavour in enfettering dharmas ( saññojaniyesu dhammesu ), there comes the appearance ( avakkanti ) of consciousness." There then follows the standard list. Then it states that if someone abides by seeing the danger ( adinavanupassino ) in the dharmas (the Chinese has seeing impermanence ), there is no appearance of consciousness (Chinese has mind ). SN 12.65 and 67 (and SA 287 and 288) begin
7004-471: The form of blessed remains of food, etc., offered to the pretas in rites such as Ganachakra . In Mahayana Buddhism Chenrezig offers the hungry ghosts the nectar flowing from his fingers that relieves their suffering. This buddha helps the hungry ghosts as he is the manifestation of the Lotus Family that has the special ability to support those who suffer, in this case the hungry ghost realm that
7107-530: The four categories of self, other, both or neither (non-causality)." A related statement can be found in the Paramārthaśūnyatāsūtra (Dharma Discourse on Ultimate Emptiness, SĀ 335, parallel at EĀ 37:7), which states that when a sense organ arises "it does not come from any location...it does not go to any location", as such it is said to be "unreal, yet arises; and on having arisen, it ends and ceases." Furthermore this sutra states that even though "there
7210-463: The future birth, ageing-and-death, grief, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair." Another short sequence is found at SN 12. 66 and SA 291 which contain an analysis of dependent origination with just three factors: craving ( tanha ), basis ( upadhi , possibly related to upadana), and suffering ( dukkha ). In SN 12.59 and its counterpart SA 284, there is a chain that starts by saying that for someone who "abides in seeing [the Chinese has grasping at ]
7313-411: The ghosts of the ancestors may be granted permission to return to the world of the living at a certain time of the year. If the spirits are hungry and not given sufficient offerings by their living relatives, they take what they can from the world. A festival called the Hungry Ghost Festival ( simplified Chinese : 盂兰盆 ; traditional Chinese : 盂蘭盆 ; pinyin : Yúlánpén is held to honor
7416-427: The ghosts. Another thing to avoid is sampling any of the food placed on the offering table, as doing this can result in "mysterious illness". Any person attending a show at indoor entertainment venues ( getais ) will notice the first row of chairs is left empty. These seats are reserved for the spirits, and it is considered bad form to sit in them. After an offering has been burnt for the spirits, stepping on or near
7519-411: The grain", forward conditionality) and depictions of how the chain can be reversed ( paṭiloma-paṭiccasamuppāda , "against the grain", reverse conditionality). These processes are expressed in various lists of dependently originated phenomena, the most well-known of which is the twelve links or nidānas (Pāli: dvādasanidānāni, Sanskrit: dvādaśanidānāni ). The traditional interpretation of these lists
7622-434: The hungry ancestor ghosts and food and drink is put out to satisfy their needs. The Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar . It also falls at the same time as a full moon, the new season, the fall harvest, the peak of monastic asceticism, the rebirth of ancestors, and the assembly of the local community. According to tradition, during this month, the gates of hell are opened up and
7725-526: The hungry ghost is important as it has a huge stomach and a throat as narrow as a needle which leaves the hungry ghost in the dilemma of always having appetite but no way to ever satisfy that hunger. The hungry ghost depicted in art in medieval Japan were thought of as "consumer of fires" because they mistook fire for something edible in their constant strive to satisfy their hunger. This only makes their hunger worse, they start to emit fire from their mouths and start to consume even more fire. LaFleur interprets that
7828-409: The hungry ghosts are free to roam the earth where they seek food and entertainment. These ghosts are believed to be ancestors of those who have forgotten to pay tribute to them after they died. They have long thin necks because they have not been fed by their families. Tradition states that families should offer prayers to their deceased relatives and burn " hell money ". It is believed that "hell money"
7931-605: The label "secret sects" ( 秘密教门 mìmì jiàomén ) to distinguish the peasant "secret societies" with a positive dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces (the Guomindang or Japan ). Many of these religions are traced to the White Lotus tradition ("Chinese Maternism", as mentioned by Philip Clart ) that
8034-511: The list as describing the arising of mental formations and the resultant notion of "I" and "mine," which are the source of suffering. Understanding the relationships between these phenomena is said to lead to nibbana , complete freedom from the cyclical rebirth cycles of samsara . Traditionally, the reversal of the causal chain is explained as leading to the cessation of mental formations and rebirth. Alex Wayman notes that "according to Buddhist tradition, Gautama discovered this formula during
8137-472: The lists as describing the arising of mental processes and the resultant notion of "I" and "mine" that leads to grasping and suffering. Several modern western scholars argue that there are inconsistencies in the list of twelve links, and regard it to be a later synthesis of several older lists and elements, some of which can be traced to the Vedas . The doctrine of dependent origination appears throughout
8240-481: The lowest caste in India. They are regarded as people whose bad stigma comes from their birth and the group they belong to. They represent a group of starving people who are wandering the outside of cities, are homeless and hungry. As most people have adopted an ingrained blindness to this underclass. Furthermore, the bodies of hungry ghosts bear similarities with humans who are deprived of food. This malnourishment causes
8343-424: The mind and can then be experienced as internal worlds and/or as worlds on an external level." There are various interpretations of what this term means. The twelve branched list, though popular, is just one of the many lists of dependently originated dharmas which appear in the early sources. According to Analayo, the alternative lists of dependently arisen phenomena are equally valid "alternative expressions of
8446-506: The modern discourse of an Asian -centered universal civilisation. The Chinese folk religious movements of salvation are mostly concentrated in northern and northeastern China, although with a significant influence reaching the Yangtze River Delta since the 16th century. The northern provinces have been a fertile ground for the movements of salvation for a number of reasons: firstly, popular religious movements were active in
8549-525: 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 lifetimes. The legends often 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
8652-430: 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
8755-412: The monks would keep coming back and eventually take all their food. After the sons died, they were reborn as hungry ghosts. The Avadānaśataka is one of the earliest collections of stories about hungry ghosts and was compiled by a Buddhist monk from northwest India between the second and fourth centuries CE. The stories in this work may have functioned as a prescription for appropriate behaviour. The text
8858-407: The music begins to play, the priest hits the bell to call the hungry ghosts back to the table. He then throws the rice and peaches into the air in all directions to distribute them to the ghosts. During the evening, incense is burnt in front of the doors of households. Incense stands for prosperity, the more incense burnt, the greater one's prosperity. During the festival, shops are closed to leave
8961-426: The night of Enlightenment and by working backward from "old age and death" in the reverse of the arising order." Wayman also writes that "in time, the twelve members were depicted on the rim of a wheel representing samsara." The popular listing of twelve nidānas is found in numerous sources. In some of the early texts, the nidānas themselves are defined and subjected to analysis ( vibhaṅga ). The explanations of
9064-512: The notion of existence regarding the world. The Kaccānagottasutta then places the teaching of dependent origination (listing the twelve nidanas in forward and reverse order) as a middle way which rejects these two "extreme" metaphysical views which can be seen as two mistaken conceptions of the self. According to Hùifēng, a recurring theme throughout the Nidānasamyutta (SN 12) is the Buddha's "rejection of arising from any one or other of
9167-587: The population of China, which is around 30 million people, claim to be members of folk religious sects. The actual number of followers may be higher, about the same as the number of members of the five state-sanctioned religions of China if counted together. In Taiwan, recognised folk religious movements of salvation gather approximately 10% of the population as of the mid-2000s. Prat%C4%ABtyasamutp%C4%81da Pratītyasamutpāda ( Sanskrit : प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद, Pāli : paṭiccasamuppāda ), commonly translated as dependent origination , or dependent arising ,
9270-481: The process which leads to nirvāna is conditioned, nirvāna itself is called "unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconstructed" ( Ud . 80–1). The Milinda Panha compares to how a mountain is not dependent on the path that leads to it (Miln. 269)". According to Harvey, since it is "not co-arisen ( asamuppana ) ( It . 37–8), nirvāna is not something that is conditionally arisen, but is the stopping of all such processes." MN 28 associates knowing dependent origination with knowing
9373-552: The region already in the Han dynasty , and they deeply penetrated local society; secondly, northern provinces are characterised by social mobility around the capital and weak traditional social structure, thus folk religious movements of salvation fulfill the demand of individual searching for new forms of community and social network. According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2012, approximately 2.2% of
9476-422: The same principle." Choong notes that some discourses (SN 12.38-40 and SA 359-361) contain only 11 elements, omitting ignorance and starting out from willing ( ceteti ). SN 12.39 begins with three synonyms for saṅkhāra, willing, intending ( pakappeti ) and carrying out ( anuseti ). It then states that "this becomes an object ( arammanam ) for the persistence of consciousness ( viññanassa-thitiya )" which leads to
9579-494: The same tradition of Chinese folk religious movements. A category overlapping with that of the salvationist movements is that of the "secret societies" ( 秘密社会 mìmì shèhuì , or 秘密结社 mìmì jiéshè ), religious communities of initiatory and secretive character, including rural militias and fraternal organisations which became very popular in the early republican period, and often labeled as " heretical doctrines" ( 宗教异端 zōngjiào yìduān ). Recent scholarship has begun to use
9682-435: The second and third noble truths of the four noble truths are directly correlated to the principle of dependent origination. The second truth applies dependent origination in a direct order, while the third truth applies it in inverse order. Furthermore, according to SN 12.28, the noble eight-fold path (the fourth noble truth) is the path which leads to the cessation of the twelve links of dependent origination and as such
9785-414: The six sense spheres ( ayatana ). They can be found in SN 12. 24, SA 343, SA 352-354, SN 12. 13-14 and SN 12. 71-81. Another one of these is found in SN 35.106, which is termed the "branched version" by Bucknell because it branches off into six classes of consciousness: Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a condition for feeling. Feeling
9888-415: The sound attracts and pleases the ghosts. These acts were better known as "Merry-making". The chief Taoist priest of the town wears an ornate crown of five gold and red panels, a practice borrowed from Buddhism . This represented the five most powerful deities (The Jade Emperor , Lord Guan , Tu Di Gong , Mazu and Xi Wangmu ). He is believed to become their voice on earth. A sacrificial altar and
9991-492: The streets open for the ghosts. In the middle of each street stands an altar of incense with fresh fruit and sacrifices displayed on it. Behind the altar, monks will sing songs that it is believed only the ghosts can understand. This rite is called shi ge'r , meaning "singing ghost songs". Fifteen days after the feast, to make sure all the hungry ghosts find their way back to hell , people float lanterns on water and set them outside their houses. These lanterns are made by setting
10094-416: The teaching that no permanent, independent self can be found." Ajahn Brahm argues that the grammar of the above passage indicates that one feature of the Buddhist principle of causality is that "there can be a substantial time interval between a cause and its effect. It is a mistake to assume that the effect follows one moment after its cause, or that it appears simultaneously with its cause." According to
10197-455: The twelve nidānas , Pali : dvādasanidānāni, Sanskrit: dvādaśanidānāni, from dvādaśa ("twelve") + nidānāni (plural of " nidāna ", "cause, motivation, link"). Generally speaking, in the Mahayana tradition, pratityasamutpada (Sanskrit) is used to refer to the general principle of interdependent causation, whereas in the Theravada tradition, paticcasamuppāda (Pali) is used to refer to
10300-465: The twelve nidānas. In the early Buddhist texts , the basic principle of conditionality is called by different names such as "the certainty (or law) of dhamma" ( dhammaniyāmatā ), "suchness of dharma" (法如; * dharmatathatā ), the "enduring principle" ( ṭhitā dhātu ), "specific conditionality" ( idappaccayatā ) and "dhammic nature" (法爾; dhammatā ). This principle is expressed in its most general form as follows: When this exists, that comes to be. With
10403-421: The viewer the chance to witness the truth of dukkha . The realm of the hungry ghosts is just one above that of the beings in naraka, however, while the hungry ghosts are not directly in hell their body is constituted by a hunger that they cannot satisfy due to the nature of their bodies, having big bellies and the throat of a needle. Whereas the hell have walls that keep the beings in a permanent state of torture,
10506-459: Was already active in the Song dynasty ; others claim a Taoist legacy and are based on the recovery of ancient scriptures attributed to important immortals such as Lü Dongbin and Zhang Sanfeng , and have contributed to the popularisation of neidan ; other ones are distinctively Confucian and advocate the realisation of a "great commonwealth" ( datong 大同 ) on a world scale, as dreamt of in
10609-399: Was possibly part of a set of scrolls depicting the six realms which was kept at Sanjūsangen-dō . LaFleur comments that these depictions symbolise that hungry ghosts are not just hungry but they are constituted by their very hunger. Unlike mankind's hunger that comes and goes for hungry ghosts "there is only an ongoing, alleviated gnawing of the stomach and parching of the throat." The body of
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