Hungry Ghosts

The realm of hungry ghosts, or pretas, is one of the three unfortunate destinations for rebirth in the Buddhist cosmology of the cycle of existence. Those who end up there are said to have led lives consumed by greed and covetousness, and once there, they are often depicted with distended bellies and thin necks, searching for but never finding satisfaction. One of the earliest sources informing much of what we know about hungry ghosts are the ten stories about them compiled in the Avadåanaâsataka (the One Hundred Stories), which draws from the scriptures of the Måulasarvastivåadin sect that made their way to Tibet and beyond. These stories recount the bad thoughts and actions various hungry ghosts cultivated as humans in previous lives that led them to their current existence with its karmically customized miseries. The stories are an especially important record of early Buddhist thinking about hungry ghosts and about ethics. Depictions of the travails of hungry ghosts are found throughout the Buddhist world, and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts reproduces many of the best examples of these. The volume also begins with a meditation on matsarya, a Sankrit word often translated as miserliness" that figures prominently in these stories of the ravenous spirits. In the hands of Andy Rotman, we discover how its connotations of meanness and bad faith have profound resonances not only in the ancient texts but also in the malaise of today's world"--