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    Detailed outline Full text Preta categories and physiognomy Power and fear The man as a “receptacle” Previous lives, punishment extent and rebirth prospects Hellish punishments in the pretaloka Conclusion Bibliography Footnotes Author

    Fantômes dans l'Extrême-Orient d'hier et d'aujourd'hui - Tome 1

    This book is reviewed by

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    Table of contents

    The Thirty-Six Categories of “Hungry Ghosts” Described in the Sūtra of the Foundations of Mindfulness of the True Law

    Les trente-six catégories d’« esprits affamés »

    《正法念處經》三十六種餓鬼之說

    Constantino Moretti (牟和諦)

    Abstracts

    “Popular” Buddhist tales are filled with anecdotes on noctivagous and man-eating creatures haunting humans. “Canonical” Buddhist sūtra-s and treatises specifically discussing this topic are also quite frequent. However, a much smaller number of texts go into greater detail on the various preta categories, on their specific nature and their “karmic origin,” elements which often prove to be more complex and subtle than expected. The present paper focuses on a sixth century Chinese translation of the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra (Sūtra of the Foundations of Mindfulness of the True Law), the Zhengfa nianchu jing 正法念處經, which contains the most detailed description of the Hungry Ghosts’ rebirth path transmitted by the Buddhist tradition. After presenting the various specific features of each category of Hungry Ghosts, we will then discuss the distinctive conceptual background at the core of the systematisation presented by this text.

    Les histoires de démons et d’« esprits affamés » (preta) abondent au sein des contes bouddhiques à caractère « populaire », riches d’anecdotes relatant d’êtres noctivagues et anthropophages qui hantent les humains. De la même manière, les sūtra ou les traités bouddhiques « canoniques » évoquant spécifiquement ce sujet sont également assez nombreux. On trouve pourtant moins fréquemment des textes donnant des détails plus précis sur les différentes catégories de preta, sur leur nature spécifique et leur « origine karmique », éléments qui se révèlent parfois beaucoup plus complexes et subtils que ce que l’on pourrait imaginer. Dans cet article nous analyserons la traduction chinoise du Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra (Zhengfa nianchu jing 正法念處經 ou « Aide-mémoire de la Vraie Loi »), réalisée au vie siècle, qui comporte la présentation la plus détaillée de cette condition de renaissance que la tradition bouddhique nous a transmise.

    提到餓鬼世界的佛教經典確有不少。其中,《正法念處經,餓鬼品》有對餓鬼道的詳細描寫。《正法念處經》由元魏時瞿曇般若流支翻譯為漢文,共70卷。該佛經的內容解說各種善惡業報,特別是詳述地獄中種種受苦酷刑。《正法念處經》卷第十六《餓鬼品》的內容相當豐富。該經舉出餓鬼之住處有兩種:(一)住於人中;(二)住於閻浮提下五百由旬之餓鬼世界。又依《正法念處經》說,餓鬼大數有三十六種,各因生前所作不同,故所受之報各別。本文探討《正法念處經,餓鬼品》的內容及“三十六種餓鬼”觀念。

    Index entries

    Mots-clés: bouddhisme, Chine, Inde, esprits affamés, preta

    Keywords: Buddhism, China, India, hungry ghosts, preta

    Full text Preta categories and physiognomy Power and fear The man as a “receptacle” Previous lives, punishment extent and rebirth prospects Hellish punishments in the pretaloka Conclusion Bibliography Footnotes Author

    Full text

    … regit idem spiritus artus
    orbe alio; longae, canitis si cognita, vitae
    mors media est
    …
    Lucanus, Pharsalia, I, 456-458

    1An anecdote found in the third juan of the Treatise on Discerning Virtue (Fenbie gongde lun 分別功德論)1 refers to the story of a group of monks who went to a graveyard to practice “dead body contemplation” (guan sishi 觀死屍)2 and witnessed a particularly curious event: a “hungry ghost” (egui 餓鬼; skr.: preta) brutally beating a dead body.3 In the lines that follow, the corpse is revealed to be nothing more than the body of the preta itself or, more precisely, the body that belonged to this creature during its previous life. Beating its own mortal remains, the “hungry ghost” unleashed its anger against the human weaknesses that led it to this unfortunate condition. Such preta accounts are common in so-called “popular” Buddhist tales, filled with anecdotes on noctivagous and man-eating creatures that haunt humans. In addition, “canonical” Buddhist sūtra-s and treatises specifically discussing this subject matter are also quite frequent. However, a much smaller number of texts go into greater detail about the various preta categories and their specific nature and “karmic origin”, elements which often prove to be more complex and subtle than expected. It is well known that, despite its integration into the Buddhist cosmological scheme, the concept of preta is in fact inherited from much older speculations linking this condition to notions that are at times far removed from those found in Buddhist texts. Before its assimilation into the five (or six) realms of rebirth by the systematizations of Buddhist scholastics, the preta is first and foremost “the one who proceeds”, in other words the “migrant”, that is to say “the one who travels” between the material world and the world of the ancestors, the pitṛ-s.4

    2The most detailed description of this rebirth path transmitted by the Chinese Buddhist tradition appears in a sixth-century translation of the Sūtra of the Foundations of Mindfulness of the True Law (Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra), the Zhengfa nianchu jing 正法念處經 (henceforth ZFNCJ), provided by Gautama Prajñaruci 瞿曇般若流支 (act. 538-543). Up until a few years ago, apart from this translation, completed during the first year of the Xinghe 興和 era (539) of the Eastern Wei,5 only excerpts and a Tibetan translation (dating from the late 11th–early 12th c.) of this text were known to exist.6 A Sanskrit manuscript containing this text was recently found in Tibet. The origins of this manuscript, which began to circulate in the Western academic milieu in the form of photographs, are unclear. However, various elements would seem to indicate that it was copied between the eleventh and the thirteenth century.7 Despite its precious contents, the ZFNCJ was most likely not very popular in India, nor in China, as there is no evidence of the existence of any commentary or any other kind of exegetical work regarding this text.

    3The ZFNCJ lists thirty-six preta-s at the beginning of the chapter (pin) entitled “The Hungry Ghosts” (Egui 餓鬼品).8 Each entry is accompanied by a phonetic transcription of the “Indian language” ghost name, followed by a summary Chinese translation, that is to say an explanation of its meaning. The precise meaning of these ghost names is clarified in Chinese by short phrases explaining their general features, such as the food they consume, their physical aspect, etc.

    4Lin Li-kouang was doubtless the first scholar to provide a translation and (hypothetical) restoration of the Sanskrit names of these thirty-six preta-s.9 Later, Wayman suggested a number of rectifications to some of Lin’s assumptions.10 In this study I will mainly refer to the Chinese version of the ZFNCJ. The preta names found in the Sanskrit manuscript and referred to in the present paper are based on the data provided by Daniel Stuart in his 2012 PhD dissertation.11 By comparing the terms found in this manuscript with the transliterations found in the Chinese translation, various philological problems can be pointed out. These problems are often quite difficult to explain and, at times, constitute serious inconsistencies. Such elements, which should be studied in greater depth, raise a number of interesting questions concerning the transmission of the ZFNCJ and seem to suggest the existence of different versions or recensions of the text. The work of the three abovementioned scholars proved to be an invaluable source of information for this paper and all Sanskrit transcriptions of these preta names are based on the data they provided.12 Moreover, by analysing the whole section of the text concerning the preta-s, which consists of two juan-s of the ZFNCJ, it is possible to point out further interesting features of the specific details given by this text, which has not yet been explored in great depth. In fact, apart from the abovementioned list of names, the text contains an in-depth description of the various categories of preta-s, giving full details in a series of paragraphs also containing verses and short digressions on other topics. The ZFNCJ pays particular attention to the karmic causes leading human beings into this kind of evil path of rebirth, as well as to their consequences and long-term effects.

    Preta categories and physiognomy

    5The systematization of the ZFNCJ distinguishes two quite heterogeneous preta categories: those that live close to humans and those reborn in a remote region of the cosmos.13 The former are found in the human world and interact with men in different ways, while the latter are confined to an underground region of the universe and subsist in a condition which is very similar to that of hell beings, enduring ongoing torture and punishment.

    6In many cases the ZFNCJ describes the specific physical features of certain categories of preta. For example, some of these creatures are described as being of impressive size. This is the case of [1] “Cauldron body” preta-s (huoshen 鑊身), Jiapoli 迦婆離, which are double the size of a human.14 In the descriptions provided by the ZFNCJ, most preta-s are constantly plagued by fire. That is also a specific punishment of [19] “Blazing” preta-s (chiran 熾燃), Shepoli 闍婆隸.15 The latter wander through cities and villages or by mountains and forests, crying with pain because of the flames engulfing their bodies.16 The physical features of some preta-s are particularly frightening. The [9] preta-s “[Living on] hope” (xiwang 悕望), Ashejia 阿賒迦, for example, have extremely hairy bodies, dishevelled hair and deeply wrinkled faces.17 The [7] “Dharma-eaters” (shifa 食法), Damopocha 達摩婆叉, are disfigured and hollow eyed, and are so bony and emaciated that their veins appear as a network covering their entire body.18 In short, all these physical features can be linked to the state of starvation in which they are forced to live. Similar characteristics can be found in the description of the [16] preta-s “Looking for the right opportunity” (sibian 伺便), Chituoluo 蚩陀邏,19 which have extremely hairy bodies constantly engulfed in flames,20 the [17] “Underworld” preta-s (dixia 地下), Buoduoluo 波多羅, and the [22] preta-s of “Sea islands” (haizhu 海渚), Sanmoutuoluotibo 三牟陀羅提波, with emaciated bodies and dishevelled hair.21 In these cases, their physical condition is a consequence of the state of extreme thirst in which they are forced to live. The [8] “Water-eaters” (shishui 食水), Polilan 婆利藍, are another example of this kind: they hunt in vain for water and have “rigid” (jian 堅) and “dry” (se 澁) bodies.22

    7The ZFNCJ also sets out a number of specific physical features of the “hungry ghosts”, which are linked with the punishment they are bound to endure. The [2] “Needle-mouth” preta-s (zhenkou 針口), Suzhimuqu 甦 [or 蘇] 支目佉, for instance, have huge bodies, i.e. bodies that require huge quantities of food to subsist, but only very tiny mouths (as small as the eye of a needle), allowing them to swallow food only in very small amounts.23 Some “hungry ghosts”, such as the [33] preta-s “Living in cemeteries and eating hot ashes” (zhongjian zhu shi rehuitu 塚間住食熱灰土), or Shemosheluo 賒摩舍羅, are doomed to carry objects on their bodies that resemble instruments of torture. These creatures, because of the sins they committed in their lives (such as stealing flowers offered to the Buddha by believers), carry red-hot iron garlands (tieman 鐵鬘) on their heads. 24

    8A category of “hungry ghosts”, the [21] preta-s “[Having] a desirable appearance” (yuse 欲色), Jiamo 迦摩, is endowed with the power of metamorphosis. These creatures can change their appearance and look attractive or repulsive at will, or take different forms, such as the body of a man, a woman or an animal.25

    9Moreover, the main features of preta-s are linked to the food they consume or inhale, that is to say one of the fundamental features distinguishing their condition. In fact, the meaning of their names is often directly related to the specific “food” that allows them to subsist. Some of these creatures wander the human world or deserted areas with the specific aim of finding that food, usually to no avail. In most cases the kind of “food” these beings covet is particularly revolting. The [3] “Vomit-eaters” (shitu 食吐­), Panduopocha 槃多婆叉,26 and the [4] “Excrement-eaters” (shifen 食糞), Pishituo 毘師咃,27 as their names suggest, search for these repulsive substances. Likewise, the [10] “Spittle-eaters” (shituo 食唾), Qizha 㖉吒, desperately roam the world seeking this kind of human secretion on the ground or on walls.28 In fact, the intensity of their suffering, as well as their actual “subsistence”, depends on that frustrating pursuit of food, which is occasionally released by hard-won moments of ephemeral satisfaction. The text often indicates where and how these beings search for their food. Constantly followed by the “demon-guards of the water” (shoushui zhugui 守水諸鬼), the “Water-eaters”, for example, lie in wait along the waterways and rush to swallow a few drops of water that a man crossing a river may leave in his wake. They otherwise swallow a very small amount of water when it slips through the fingers of a man who collected it in his hands to make alms to his deceased parents.29 The preta-s of “Sea islands” are suffering roughly the same torture. They live on islands in the very middle of the sea, in intense heat and with no drinking water. In this place – according to the text – one winter’s day is ten times hotter than a summer’s day in the human world. Morning dew (zhaolu 朝露) is the only substance that allows these creatures to “survive”.30

    10Other preta-s described in the text, such as the [29] “Wind-eaters” (shifeng 食風), Poyipocha 婆移婆叉, suffer, in a Tantalus-like torment, from the constant illusion of being on the verge of eating something: in a forest or a place inhabited by Buddhist monks, they spot some food and move to get it; however, when they try to eat it, they realize that it is not “real” food but just “wind”.31 Similarly, the [30] “Coal-eaters” (shi huotan 食火炭),32 Yanggaluopocha 鴦伽囉婆叉, wander through cemeteries to look for the remains of cremated bodies (shaoshi huo 燒屍火); when they manage to eat that smouldering substance, they suddenly feel fleeting wellness.33 In a similar manner, the preta-s “Living in cemeteries and eating hot ashes”, once a month manage to consume the ashes of a cremated body or burning coals, while they are constantly chased and beaten by rākṣasa-s.34

    11Various preta categories described in the ZFNCJ are mainly active in close proximity to places of worship or sacred areas. The [6] “Odour-eaters” (shiqi 食氣), Qiantuo 揵陀, subsist – as is noted in the text – by inhaling the smell of food offerings the believers have laid out for the gods (tiansi 天祀) by rivers, forests or crossroads to ward off disease.35 In the same way, the [27] “Hearth” preta-s (huolu 火爐), Juncha 君茶,36 wander around temples and feed themselves on leftover food offerings mixed with coal.37 Moreover, the only kind of food the preta-s “[Living on] hope” can ingest are the offerings presented by mourners to honour their deceased parents (shisi 設祀).38 On the other hand, the “Dharma-eaters”, perpetually gnawed by insects, regain “life” (de ming 得命) and find their strength (de li 得力) only when they manage to get close to a temple and hear a “senior monk” (shangzuo 上座) preaching the Dharma.39 Finally, the [36] “Māra-body” preta-s (moloushen 魔羅身), Moluojiaye 魔羅迦耶, haunt the religious realm to torment the bhikṣu-s in their daily life or during their meditation practice, frightening them by making sinister sounds or appearing in their dreams.40 The purpose of these last preta-s is to attack the Buddhist community, hence their name.41

    12The [34] preta-s “Living in trees” (shuzhong zhu 樹中住­), Pilicha 毘利差, are among the most peculiar categories of “hungry ghosts” described in the text. As their name suggests, these beings are reborn inside trees. They suffer from the cold and the heat, and are plagued by insects.42

    Power and fear

    13Certain categories of preta-s live off humans as parasites and the constant search for the different types of “food” mentioned above simply brings them closer to humans. Therefore, in the system of the ZFNCJ, many preta categories are frightening and parasitic but essentially harmless. However, the system also comprises far more dangerous creatures, which become truly detrimental when they attack humans in order to deliberately harm them. This is the case of the [20] preta-s “Looking for the opportunity regarding [human] infants” (ci ying’er bian 伺嬰兒便), Chituoluo 蚩陀羅. The latter can travel thousands of yojana-s in an instant if they smell blood, and hone in on pregnant women to kill their unborn children.43 They also attack young children, frightening them or making an attempt on their lives when they are in dangerous places or in unsafe circumstances.44 The text also mentions a second category of preta-s, which wander among men to kidnap young children, the [24] “Child-eaters” (shi xiao’er 食小兒), Poluopocha 婆羅婆叉. These creatures specifically target children who cannot yet walk.45

    14Many “hungry ghosts” are endowed with “supernatural powers”. For this reason, they pose a constant threat to men, who must protect themselves from these creatures or try to appease them. On that account, some preta-s are worshipped by men, who make them offerings,46 either for the potential profit they wish to glean from their “powers”, or for fear of their harmful powers. In several cases the text also provides the names the men attribute to the preta-s supposedly endowed with extraordinary power.47 Experiencing hardship, men address themselves to the [11] “Garland-eaters” (shiman 食鬘), Moluopocha 摩羅婆叉, worshipping them with garland offerings (that constitute their food) and giving eulogies (zantan 讚歎). These creatures, in fact, are quite formidable, being able to manifest themselves in dreams to frighten people.48 Men call these “hungry ghosts”: “Yakṣa-s endowed with supernatural power and great virtue of power” (da weide shentong yecha 大威德神通夜叉).49 Likewise, the [35] preta-s of the “Crossroads” (sijiao dao 四交道), Zheduobota 遮多波他­,50 are believed to ward off disease. Men who ignore the law of karmic retribution worship them with offerings (jisi 祭祀) along the roadside (jiaodao 交道).51

    15The common people, the text notes, also consider the [12] “Blood-eaters” (shixue 食血), Luoqizha 囉訖吒, as yakṣa-s or “spirits” (lingshen 靈神), and worship them with blood offerings, i.e. the substance that nourishes these creatures.52 Similarly, the [13] “Flesh-eaters” (shirou 食肉), Mengsuopuocha 瞢娑婆叉, are fed by different kinds of animal meat offerings.53

    16Less dangerous but as powerful as the above creatures, the “Incense-eaters” (shi xiangyan 食香煙), Sujiantuo 蘇揵陀,54 are also considered as yakṣa-s by the common people. These garland-wearing creatures feed on the smoke of incense and live either in temples (shenmiao 神廟), or by crossroads (sijiao gang 四交巷). They roam the forests and can be seen on pavilions or city walls (chongge loulu 重閣樓櫓). “Unwise men” (yuren 愚人) worship them with incense and perfume offerings. The ephemeral power with which these beings are endowed is also a result of karmic action. As these creatures sold perfumes for religious offerings in their past lives, they indirectly contributed to other people’s merit-making and thus also produced a certain amount of good karma for themselves.55 As a consequence of allowing the believers to accumulate merits, they benefit – even in an unfortunate rebirth path – from the good effects of their deeds.

    17On the other hand, the [15] “Harmful conduct” preta-s (jixing 疾行), Apizhiluo 阿毘遮羅,56 which feed on impurities (bujing 不淨), notably target men engaged in impure conduct, frightening them in the real world or in dreams. These creatures wander through the cemeteries and delight in being in close proximity to dead bodies. They also take delight in epidemics. The text underlines that men who posses “harmful incantations” (ezhou 惡咒) can invoke these creatures. They move very quickly and can travel hundreds of thousands of yojana-s in a few seconds. Out of fear, men make offerings to them and call them “Very powerful yakṣa-s endowed with supernatural powers” (dali shentong yeca 大力神通夜叉).57

    18Moreover, the [18] preta-s with “Supernatural powers” (shentong 神通), Yiliti 矣利提,58 as suggested by their name, are extremely powerful creatures. They live deep in the mountains (shenshan 深山), in the middle of the sea or by sea coasts (haizhu 海渚). These “hungry ghosts” live in a state of relative joy, but suffer from being surrounded by a large number of demons experiencing all kinds of pain and constantly staring at them with miserable eyes.59

    19Also in this category, the preta-s “[Having] a desirable appearance” possess the power to transform their “subtle” body (weixi 微細) as they please in order to sneak into a house to steal food. With the same goal of stealing food, they take on human form to insinuate their way into ceremonies (jiehui 節會), or take on the form of a bird and fly to their target to steal food offerings (jifan 祭飯). Men call these creatures “Yakṣa-s [transforming] ‘at will’” (ruyi yecha 如意夜叉). They can also take on the form of a woman and incite men to have sexual intercourse with them.60

    20Finally, the [28] preta-s of “Dirty streets” (bujing xiangmo 不淨巷陌), Ashupoluo 阿輸婆囉他,61 can be seen only at night, in cities (chengyi 城邑), villages (juluo 聚落) or other places populated by humans. They live in impure places and come to life from the vomit of humans.62

    The man as a “receptacle”

    21Man is sometimes bewitched by preta-s and can become their “receptacle”. The “[preta-s] Looking for the right opportunity” and the [25] “[Human] vital energy eaters” (shi ren jingqi 食人精氣), Wushupocha 烏殊婆叉,63 take advantage of specific circumstances and creep into a human body to absorb its “vital energy” (jingqi 精氣).64 The latter specifically target so-called “faithless men”, i.e. those individuals who do not pay respect to the Three Jewels. These creatures wait – sometimes for ten or twelve years – for the “[right] opportunity” (bian 便) to enter a body and appropriate its life force.65

    22Similarly, the [26] “Brahmanic rākṣasa-s” (fan luosha 梵羅剎), Boluomen luosha 婆羅門羅剎,66 which live in deserted backstreets or at crossroads, await the most auspicious moment to creep into a man’s body with the purpose of killing him, or simply bewitch him by casting “spells” to take control of his body.67

    Previous lives, punishment extent and rebirth prospects

    23In the system of the ZFNCJ, there are general causes that bring about a rebirth in the “hungry ghost” condition, and they are for the most part linked with a relatively small number of evil acts. Indeed, two pain-inducing factors plague every category of “hungry ghost”: hunger and fire. In most cases, as previously mentioned, the condition of preta, resulting from wrongdoing specifically related to food, is reflected in suffering caused by hunger. In other cases, these beings failed to give alms (dāna) throughout their lives. The specific causes emanating from these general causes make up a range of very varied and detailed cases. Among them, the act of abstaining from making food offerings to the monks is undoubtedly a central element. The text makes specific reference to:

    • Women who refuse to carry out their husband’s wish to present food offerings to Buddhist monks and Brahmans, falsely claiming that the family lacks of foods (“Needle-mouth” preta-s).68
    • Those who offer impure food, leading the monks who eat it to commit a sin (the “Excrement-eaters” and the “Spittle-eaters”).69
    • Those who commit this last sin against a brahmacārin (the preta-s of “Dirty streets”),70 or who break the promise to offer food to the monks, the poor, the sick and to people with no economic means (the “Wind-eaters”).71

    24The same sin is also linked to the act of not sharing food with others or depriving others of food:

    • Husbands or wives who do not share “excellent foods” (meishi 美食) with their spouse (the “Vomit-eaters”),72 or with their children and other family members (the “Odour-eaters”).73
    • People who, abusing their power, throw someone in jail and starve him to death (“Foodless” preta-s).74
    • Men in charge of prisons (dianzhu xingyu 典主刑獄),75 allowing prisoners to suffer from hunger, with the latter being forced to eat mud (nitu 泥土) [sic] to stay alive (the “Coal-eaters”).76

    25Many individuals are reborn into this unfortunate condition having used offerings intended for others:

    • The śramaṇa-s who go around every village and encourage people to make offerings for the sick, but then use these donations for themselves (“Harmful conduct”
    • preta-s).77
    • Those who use the food offerings intended for monks (“Hearth” preta-s).78

    26A third largely represented kind of transgression leading the sinners to the preta realm is “stealing”. This sin covers a wide range of acts, each with their own specific characteristics. First of all, “stealing”, as in the very act of taking someone else’s property, manifests itself in different ways:

    • Frightening people or looting villages (the “[preta-s] Looking for the right opportunity” or the “Blazing” preta-s). The ZFNCJ specifically refers to the act of looting a city (destroying city walls, robbing and killing the people); the text also mentions government officials who, after having won a king’s trust, become extremely evil.79
    • Abusing his power to steal other people’s property (preta-s with “Supernatural powers”).80
    • Taking advantage of people facing difficulties by selling goods at exorbitant prices (preta-s “[Living on] hope”).81
    • Throwing someone in jail or breaking the law for personal gain (the “Underworld” preta-s).82
    • Poisoning someone to steal his belongings (the “Poison-eaters”).83
    • Women (or men and eunuchs disguised as women) inciting immoral men to debauchery to steal their belonging (the preta-s “[Having] a desirable appearance”).84
    • Selling to travellers at exorbitant prices (or buying from them at unreasonably low prices) as they travel through dangerous regions and thus have no other choice (the preta-s of “Sea islands”).85
    • Taking advantage of sick people promising them incantations that can heal them (the “Child-eaters”).86
    • Stealing the “wood” belonging to the Buddhist community. The text gives a specific example: a believer plants some trees for travellers and sick people [sic], and a wrongdoer cuts them down to get the wood (the preta-s “Living in trees”).87
    • Not returning other people’s belongings to them (“Caldron body” preta-s”).88

    27Other sins related to “stealing” are also linked to the act of making offerings or to food, or consist in theft involving food:

    • Stealing offerings some believers intended for the Buddha or their masters (the “Garland-eaters”),89 to resell these offerings (preta-s “Living in cemeteries and eating hot ashes”), or to reuse them to make offerings.90
    • Selling believers, who are eager to make offerings (su xu gongyang 速須供養) [sic], low-quality incense at high prices (the “Incense-eaters”).91
    • Stealing food from travellers crossing remote and deserted regions (the preta-s of the “Crossroads”).92
    • A very specific example of stealing: in a deserted place, some virtuous men (lit.: “people wishing to gain spiritual merits” [qiufu zhi ren 求福之人]) plant trees and provide travellers with water supplies; some bandits take the water from the reservoirs, leaving the travellers to become weak with thirst in order to steal their belongings with greater ease (the preta-s “[of the] Jungle”).93
    • Meat sellers who take advantage of their customers by giving them less then the amount for which they have paid (the “Flesh-eaters”).94

    28A limited number of sins are linked to the act of spreading heretical beliefs or to leading someone astray from the right doctrine:

    • To profess false doctrines (the “Dharma-eaters”95 and the “Māra-body” preta-s).96
    • Alcohol producers who tamper with their products (for example, adding worms or insects [sic]) to corrupt Buddhist believers, who consequently lose their sense of virtue (the “Water-eaters”).97

    29The ZFNCJ frequently specifies the duration of the punishment given to the sinners reborn in the preta realm. It specifies notably that one day and one night in the “hungry ghost” path is equivalent to ten years in the Jambudvīpa. The sinners spend 500 years on this evil path (that is to say, 500 preta years!).98

    30The rebirth in “hungry ghost” condition is presented as the extension of a purification period that started in another quintessentially “bad path”: the hells. Only in one case does the text present this condition as a prelude to a regression to the hells (the “Poison-eaters”). The contrapasso is also mirrored in the various rebirths designed for the sinners at the end of their purgative period as “hungry ghosts”. These specific kinds of rebirths are listed at the end of every paragraph detailing each “hungry ghost” category. However, even though the subsequent condition has a higher status in the hierarchy of rebirth paths, it is not necessarily better, as it always implies a number of sufferings that are quite similar in nature to those endured by sinners on the “hungry ghost” realm.

    31At times, the text refers to animal condition rebirths and specific categories of animals.99 In addition, the ZFNCJ calls attention to the difficulty for sinners of obtaining a human body after their purgation in the preta realm. This is highlighted by the following metaphor: “[A rebirth into] a human body is as difficult as it is for a sea turtle to come into contact with a floating wooden log” (人身難得猶如海龜遇浮木孔).100

    32Once sinners are reborn in the human ranks, they suffer mainly from hunger and thirst, as in their previous condition, but also from various diseases (the “Odour-eaters”, the “[preta-s] Looking for the right opportunity” and the “Māra-body” preta-s), congenital malformations, short lifespan, poverty, accidents and material loss (the “Blazing” preta-s). Their unfortunate condition is characterized by a general lack of means of subsistence: in order to survive, some of the men coming from the preta condition avail themselves of food offerings provided by the community (the “Spittle-eaters”). At times, the text refers to fortunate human conditions in terms of social position, wealth, etc. However, these fortunate conditions are tainted by the historical context: for example, some sinners hold important positions, as ministers or rulers, but live in a time of drought or famine (preta-s with “Supernatural powers”). Examples of geographically disadvantageous rebirths are listed: peripheral places (for the “Water-eaters”), remote regions (for the “Underworld” preta-s), and dangerous places (for the “Coal-eaters”). One of the most interesting features of this text is the fact that the lists of various kinds of human conditions of rebirth also include references to a number of well-defined social categories: “craftsman” (gongshi jia 工師家), “servants” (ceshi 策使)101 (and similar categories),102 “latrine cleaners” (chuce jia 除廁家),103 “garden keepers” (shouyuan ren 守園人),104 the chandala caste 旃陀羅,105 “spell masters” (zhoushi jia 咒師家),106 “musicians” (ji’er 伎兒),107 “excrement collectors” (chufen jia 除糞家), “butchers” (tu’er 屠兒), “executioners” (kuikuai 魁膾) or “people in charge of [transporting] dead bodies [for burial]” (danfu sishi 擔負死屍),108 and finally “sheep butchers” (shayang zhi jia 殺羊之家).109 Lastly, the text also makes reference to rebirth as a male who dresses and acts like a woman.110

    Hellish punishments in the pretaloka

    33In some descriptions provided by the ZFNCJ, the “hungry ghost” condition is quite similar to that of hell beings, as is the case of the “Caldron body” preta-s. Confined to a remote and dark region of the universe, located some 500 yojana-s below the earth, these “hungry ghosts” undergo torture characteristic of the hell Saṃghāta: their body is perpetually crushed between two crumbling mountains.111 As if they were in the hell regions, the [5] “Foodless” preta-s (wushi 無食), Apocha 阿婆叉,112 constantly wander from one side of the universe to the other in search of a pond or a water source, wishing to stop the flames burning in their stomachs and destroying their bodies from the inside. Their quixotic search leads them to a plateau where they find water sources. However, these sources are protected by guardian-demons beating the “Foodless” preta-s with sticks to prevent them from reaching the water.113

    34The “Underworld” preta-s, as their name suggests, fall into a dark, underground place inhabited by huge snakes, where they suffer from hunger and cold.114 Similarly, the [31] “Poison-eaters” (shidu 食毒), Pishapocha 毘沙婆叉,115 live in caves with no drinking water or on mountains where the weather is extremely hot or cold. These places are also largely populated by lions, tigers, and birds that pluck out the preta-s’ eyes. Moreover, depending on the season, it rains knives or flames from the sky. The sinners feed on toxic grass, bringing about their “death”. However, they eventually “regain life”.116

    35The description of the [32] preta-s “[of the] Jungle” (kuangye 曠野), Azhapi 阿吒毘,117 is also reminiscent of hell punishments. The main torment consists of a fruitless search for food or drink which, in fact, leads the “hungry ghosts” to suffer other tortures (waking on thorny ground, being attacked by fierce birds, etc.) in order to reach a place that eventually turns out to be quite different from what they expected.118

    36The [23] preta-s called “Assistants of Yama armed with sticks” (Yanluowang shi zhizhang egui 閻羅王使執杖餓鬼) are in a somewhat different category.119 They live straddling two planes of existence, i.e. the human world and the otherworld, fulfilling the role of “assistant commissioners” (quzou geishi 趨走給使) to Yama. The latter sends them out to the human world to record the sinful acts committed by men.120 These “hungry ghosts” have scrunched-up hair covering their faces, elongated ears and big stomachs. Their task is also to bring the sinners to Yama and inform them of the sins for which they are judged.121

    Conclusion

    37In the pāli Buddhist Canon, one of the most important texts concerning the “hungry ghosts”, the Petavatthu, puts great emphasis on the idea that lay believers, by their offerings, can transfer spiritual merits to their deceased relatives through the religious “authorities”, which act as “mediators”. In fact, as the “hungry ghosts” cannot receive offerings directly from men, the monks play an important intermediary role, linking the two sides.122 The origins of this practice go back to the Hindu ritual of śrāddha, which was essentially designed to enable preta “transformation”, facilitating their passage from this liminal condition to that of pitṛ.123 In the ZFNCJ, this possibility of human intervention bettering the condition of those departed into the “hungry ghost” realm, well known and also very popular in Chinese Buddhism, is never mentioned.124 On the contrary, the most prominent doctrine is that of the incontrovertible retribution of acts, based on karmic ethics. The humans do not see “hungry ghosts” as “relatives”, but rather as “strangers”. The preta-s are not considered to be “misfortunate” ancestors, so to speak, but rather dangerous sinners. In fact, the only cases in which the text cites practices or cults intended for “hungry ghosts” are negative ones: the ZFNCJ notably refers to “heretical” offerings made to certain categories of preta-s by “ignorant” men, who consider them to be extremely powerful creatures. It is quite difficult to determine whether the concern over these practices was meant to define and rationalize the “right” channels of offering, or to denigrate the presumed power of these creatures. Even though meritorious acts are highly encouraged by this text, they are implicitly dissociated from any notion of “merit transfer” in the abovementioned sense. Nevertheless, the offerings some men made to the “hungry ghosts” gave these beings a specific role in a religious world possibly uncodified or placed outside the “canonical” channels of the religious establishment, with the term “canonical” not referring exclusively to Buddhist tradition. Accordingly, there are reasonable grounds for believing that these religious practices (condemned by Buddhism) were rather common, and most likely some Buddhists either practiced them or were tempted to do so. Based on a longstanding and well-known formula – one man’s gods are another man’s demons – in this specific context what was considered heterodox by one religious entity was either integrated into the orthodoxy of another, or simply branded as demonic evil.

    38Some categories of “hungry ghosts” described in the ZFNCJ “survive” on human offerings. Other categories of preta-s make concerted efforts to find their own “food”. To use the categories established by Arthur Wolf, it could be argued that the latter are more akin to thieves or parasites than to beggars.125 Furthermore, it should be noted that, while in the various Buddhist anecdotes concerning the preta-s, the suffering of these creatures is a consequence of the fact that they cannot swallow food (which bursts into flames as soon as they put it in their mouths),126 in the ZFNCJ their torment is often caused by the inaccessibility of food or by the difficulty of obtaining it.

    39The short analysis presented in this paper may lead to further considerations. Firstly, one may wonder whether there is any hierarchical distinction among the various preta categories, and notably between those “living” in the human world and those confined to the underworld. In fact, a similar distinction exists in the hierarchical subdivision of the various hells described in the ZFNCJ, with the first hell being the least severe. Even though the text does not provide any information on this topic, it can be argued that this hypothetical hierarchical division within the “hungry ghost” ranks could be directly linked to the severity of evil deeds committed by the various categories of sinners reborn in that realm. Likewise, their hierarchic position is not devoid of interest in relation to men. In fact, despite their inferiority in terms of rebirth “ranking”, the preta-s possess faculties largely superior to those of men. Not only are these creatures very powerful and cunning, but their condition also allows them to transcend human knowledge of reality, as they are endowed with powers which mutatis mutandis make them more similar to heavenly beings than to humans. They are active elements in the human world and can manifest themselves not only in visions but also in reality. The “hungry ghosts” are provided with a “subtle body”, but they can inflict or undergo torture. It may be added that they have an extraordinary “longevity”. However, this is in fact a negative point, given the wretchedness of their condition. In the ZFNCJ system, the preta-s are predisposed to erroneous passions, as are men, and in the same way are also inclined to cruelty. In the latter domain, man is on a higher plane from a moral standpoint as, unlike preta-s, man is capable of good.

    40Based on the information provided by the text, in various cases the “hungry ghosts” are not motivated to commit malevolent acts against men by what might be called their “purely evil nature”, but rather by a “real” need. Likewise, the fear these creatures inspire in humans is very often linked to the image of their miserable suffering rather than to their actual ability to harm men. At times, their actions become almost paradoxical. In fact, some of these creatures – doomed to this unfortunate condition because of the sins committed during their lives – basically act as keepers of the Dharma, specifically persecuting men engaged in impure conduct (as the “Harmful conduct” preta-s, the “[Human] vital energy eaters” and also, indirectly, the “Assistants of Yama armed with sticks”). However, particularly evil behaviour is a specific feature of some preta-s, showing forms of evil inherent in their will: some of these creatures wish to incite men to commit sins or take delight in leading them to their demise.127 The preta-s’ predisposition to evil is evident from various negative inclinations also typical of men: envy, jealousy, hate, greed, etc.

    41Despite few examples given by the ZFNCJ, the men reborn in this condition were lay people during their lives. The sinners’ social categories mentioned in the ZFNCJ include thieves and bandits, but also (evil) merchants, householders, donors (giving impure alms) and, at times, individuals with a rather high social status (such as government officials) or those possessing a position of power which they exploit to commit their crimes. Likewise, the human rebirth prospects to which these individuals are doomed, in terms of social position, are often reminiscent of a precise “social category”, the so-called “outcast”. In fact, due to direct contact with the impure substances or polluted places mentioned above, the preta-s themselves appear as a sort of otherworldly counterpart of this social category, to which – in the Hindu caste system – all those activities considered impure were relegated.

    42Without venturing beyond the scope of this paper, as shown above, it should be noted in conclusion that in many respects the pretaloka closely resembles the hells. As with the path of the “underground prisons” (diyu 地獄), the way of the “hungry ghosts” is the realm of “evil men” (e’ren 惡人). Furthermore, as is common knowledge, the Buddhist hells are not so different from the condition the Christian eschatological system might call “purgatory”: the “underground prisons” are a place of purification where sinners atone for their evil deeds for an extremely long period but definitely not for all eternity. However, though many texts refer to preta-s “suffering in the hells”, the pretaloka is quite different from the hells in nature. The hallmarks of the “hungry ghost” condition are the suffering of hunger and thirst, the constant search for things that never materialize and the themes of transition and hope. In fact, the very notions of “underground prisons” and “hungry ghosts” seem to have created a certain degree of confusion, both in ancient times and in more recent years.

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    Footnotes

    1 The Fenbie gongde lun (unknown translator) is a commentary on the pin-s 1–4 of the Zengyi ahan jing 增一阿含經 (Ekottarāgama [T. 125, II], a translation ascribed to Gautama Saṃghadeva 瞿曇僧伽提婆 [act. 383–398]). Fei Zhangfang 費長房 (act. late 6th c.) has catalogued this text as a translation dating from the later Han dynasty (25–220); see the Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶紀, T. 2034 (4), XLIV, 54b19. However, the linguistic analysis of this text provided by Fang Yixin and Gao Lieguo shows philological links with the translation style of the Wei (220–265) and Jin (265–420) dynasties. See Fang Yixin 方一新 and Gao Lieguo 高列過, 2003, “‘Fenbie gongde lun’ fanyi niandai chutan”,《分別功德論》翻譯年代初探, Zhejiang daxue xuebao 浙江大學學報, n° 33, pp. 92–99.

    2 Through this kind of meditation, the disciple contemplated the impermanent nature of his own body, visualizing the different stages of a corpse’s decomposition. For this purpose, the practitioner drew on the observation of a rotten corpse, more precisely a dead body starting to putrefy, then a corpse partially devoured by animals, and finally a body reduced to a pile of bones. See Swearer Donald K., 1973, “Control and Freedom: The Structure of Buddhist Meditation in the Pāli Suttas”, Philosophy East and West, 23/4, p. 439.

    3 T. 1507 (3), XXV, 40b5–19.

    4 On the etymology of this term, see Hotori Risho 阿理生, 2002, “Gaki (peta; preta) no gogi ni tsuite” 餓鬼 (peta; preta) の語義について, Indogaku bukkyōgaku kenkyū 印度學佛教學研究, 51/1, pp. 420–425. Harper claims that the term “hungry ghost” was not especially created to translate the word preta. This term may in fact refer to a preexisting concept (found in a text dating back to the third-century BCE), which Buddhists adopted as an equivalent for preta. See Harper Donald, 1996, “Spellbinding”, in Donald S. Lopez, ed., Religions of China in Practice, Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 242 and p. 248 (for the translation of the passage featuring the term egui). See also Harper Donald, 1985, “A Chinese Demonography of the Third Century B. C.”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 45/2, pp. 459-498, and Li Mingxiao 李明曉, 2003, “‘Egui’ kaoyuan” “餓鬼”考源, Cishu yanjiu 辭書研究, p. 135. It should be kept in mind that the term “evil ghosts” (egui 惡鬼) is also frequently found.

    5 Cf. T. 2034 (9), XLIX, 86c15.

    6 Cf. Lin Li-kouang, 1949, L’Aide-mémoire de la Vraie Loi (Saddharma-smrtyupastana-sutra) : recherches sur un sutra développé du Petit Véhicule, Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, pp. 148-153. See also Mizuno Kogen 水野弘元, 1964, “Shōbō nenjo kyō ni tsuiite” 正法念処経について, Indogaku bukkyōgaku kenkyū 印度学仏教学研究, 12/1, pp. 38-40.

    7 See Stuart Daniel M., 2012, A Less Traveled Path: Meditation and Textual Practice in the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna(sūtra), PhD dissertation (unpublished), Berkeley: University of California, pp. 25–29.

    8 The text does not give any information concerning the number thirty-six, but it should be noted that, based on early Indian Buddhist mythology, Yama’s kingdom was the preta-s’ abode and was composed of thirty-six provinces. See Haldar J. R., 1977, Early Buddhist Mythology, New Delhi: Manohar, p. 140 and p. 185.

    9 Lin Li-kouang, 1949, L’Aide-mémoire de la Vraie Loi, pp. 17-18.

    10 Wayman Alex, 1959, “Studies in Yama and Māra”, Indo-Iranian Journal, 3/1, pp. 51–52.

    11 Stuart Daniel M., 2012,, A Less Traveled Path, pp. 51–53.

    12 The first mention of each preta category discussed in this paper will be accompanied by the following information: the preta category number [1–36], based on the list given in the ZFNCJ; the meaning of the preta name, as indicated in the Chinese text, and its phonetic transcription. The restoration of the Sanskrit name of each preta category, based on Lin’s and Wayman’s hypotheses, and the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript, will be discussed in the footnotes.

    13 T. 721 (16), XVII, 92a14–20.

    14 T. 721 (16), XVII, 92c13–14. “Cauldron body” preta-s have neither face, hands nor feet, and – notes the text – look similar to a caldron (huo 鑊). Lin restores their name as Kapāli-kāya; Wayman points out that Lin ventures the skr. Kapāli based on the Chinese term huo (three-legged vessel), and adds that the term found in Tibetan, literally meaning “prostrate belly”, would suggest the skr. Kabandha; the word kabhallika is used in the Sanskrit manuscript, which describes these creatures as having narrow necks, and heads and bellies the size of mountains. It should be noted that a gloss found in the Chinese version explains that “‘Jiapolijia’ means ‘Cauldron body’ in Wei language” (迦婆離迦魏言鑊身). In this transcription Lin has interpreted jia 迦 – which usually transcribes the sound kā – as an abbreviation for kā[ya], “body” (shen 身).

    15 Jvali for Lin, or Jvalita for Wayman. The latter underlines that the Tibetan literally means “Whose body blazes at night” and points out that this term would suggest a more complex form, such as rātrijvālapreta. The term niśiprajvalitagātra (“night-flamer”) is used in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    16 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97a26–27. A category of preta-s described in the Petavatthu, the Nijhāmātanhā, shows similar features: with their bodies constantly on fire, these creatures are in a perpetual state of motion. See Law Bimala Charan, 1923, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, Calcutta: Simla, Thacker, Spink & Co., p. 5. The Petavatthu, probably dating from the first century BCE, is the most important scripture concerning the preta-s in the pāli Canon.

    17 They are constantly crying and the colour of their skin resembles “black clouds” (heiyun 黑雲); see T. 721 (16), XVII, 95a5. The Chinese transcription Ashejia is restored as Āśā by Lin and as Āśāka by Wayman. The Sanskrit version uses āśāsaka, a term that Stuart translates as “Those who live on air”.

    18 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94b16–17. Wayman agrees with Lin on the correct restoration of this preta name: Dharma-bhakṣa. However, the term dharmmadānāhāra is used in the Sanskrit manuscript. Even though one would be inclined to consider the Sanskrit version as the correct one, we may point out that in most cases where the term “eater” is found as part of the various preta names, the Sanskrit text uses hāra, while the Chinese transcription uses pocha. Such transcription in no way corresponds to hāra but seems closer to the word bhakṣa as argued by Lin and by Wayman. This and other similar elements raise interesting questions as to the possible existence of different traditions of the ZFNCJ.

    19 Lin links the transcription Chituoluo 蚩陀邏 (or 羅) to the Sanskrit word cettāra. Wayman (“Studies in Yama and Māra”, 1959, p. 52, n. 53) refutes this claim on the basis of the Tibetan version, proposing avatāraprekṣin, which seems to correspond more closely to the Chinese translation provided by the text: “spotters” (“guetteurs” in Lin’s translation) or “preta looking for the right opportunity [to harm]” (sibian egui 伺便餓鬼). Despite the logic of this explanation, the sound avatāraprekṣin hardly corresponds to the Chinese transcription given in the text. It should be noted that, in another sentence, a note written in small characters in double columns explains that this term, in “Wei language”, corresponds to kongxue 孔穴, literally “empty” or “hollow”, and adds that it has the same meaning as sibian 伺便. The first word should be understood as “lack”, i.e. “fault” or “inattentiveness” (on the part of a man, which constitutes an opportunity for the preta to carry out its evil plan). Consequently, this term may translate the Sanskrit chidra, which seems to better correspond to the transcription chituoluo. Therefore, the original meaning of the name of this preta seems close to the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript cchidrap[r]ekṣin, “fault finder”, a term which implies a connotation very close to that of avatāraprekṣin, explained, by extension, as “looking for the right opportunity”.

    20 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96b28-29.

    21 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96c20–21 and (17), 98a17–18. I translate dixia as “underworld”, based on a gloss found in the Chinese text and referring to these preta-s as “The ‘hungry ghosts’ of the dark subterranean regions” (地下黑闇之處諸餓鬼). The “underworld” preta-s also appear among the various yakṣa categories listed in the Mahāmāyūrī-vidyārājñī; see Lévy Sylvain, 1915, “Le catalogue géographique des Yakṣa dans la Mahāmāyūrī”, Journal asiatique, 4, p. 54, line 90, n. 3. The transcription Buoduoluo is restored as Paṭala by Lin and as Pātāla by Wayman. The term pātālanivāsin is found in the Sanskrit text. Lin argued that Samudra-dvīpa best corresponded to Sanmoutuoluotibo, whereas Wayman ventured that Samanantara-dvīpa or Samudra-tīra would be more suitable. The term antardvīpanivāsin, “ocean dweller”, appears in the Sanskrit manuscript. Once again, this term would hardly seem to correspond to the Chinese transcription.

    22 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94c8. Wayman agrees with Lin’s restoration of Polian as Salila-bhakṣa. Wayman notes that salila generally means “river water”. He also points out that Lin, restoring the Sanskrit in this way, most likely neglected to say that he considers po 婆 to have been mistakenly used in the place of suo 娑. Surprisingly, the Sanskrit manuscript uses the term pānīyāhāra, “eater of alcohol”. Even though the Chinese character po could be used to transcribe the first syllable of this term, the description of these preta-s’ activities, which are linked to “river water”, seems to be broadly supportive of Wayman’s theory.

    23 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93a5. Similar features are also described in the Mahāvastu; see Jones J. J., 1949, The Mahāvastu, 3 vols., London: Luzac & Co., I, p. 22. It should be noted that, based on the Hindu vision, during the various phases of funeral rites (still practised nowadays), the relatives of the deceased presented several food offerings that were meant to gradually make up the body of the preta. During one of those phases, the body of the preta (in an “airy form”) was believed to measure one inch and have a mouth the size of the eye of a needle. As a result, the preta suffered from hunger and thirst. However, the suffering induced by thirst was more intense at that stage, as the preta shortly before was exposed to the fire of the funeral pyre. See Parry Jonathan, 1985, “Death and Digestion: The Symbolism of Food and Eating in North Indian Mortuary Rites”, Man, 20/4, p. 618. The name Suzhimuqu is restored as Sūcimukha by Lin and by Wayman; the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript is sūcīmukha. 

    24 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102a11. Śmaśāna for both Lin and Wayman, and śmaśānanivāsin in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    25 T. 721 (17), XVII, 97c19–20. The name of these preta-s was restored as Kāma-rūpa both by Lin and by Wayman. The word found in the Sanskrit manuscript is Kāmarūpin. A gloss to the Chinese text provides a longer and more accurate transcription: jiamo lianglupo 迦摩兩盧波. However, liang 兩 has probably been mistakenly used in the palce of yu 雨, hence jiamo yulupo.

    26 This name was restored as Vānta-bhakṣa by Lin and by Wayman; the term vāntāśin is used in the Sanskrit version of the text. On the use of bhakṣa, see note 18.

    27 Lin argues that the correct restoration for Pishituo is Viṣṭhā-bhakṣa, and Wayman concurs, but, in fact, the Chinese transcription may be closer to the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript: purīṣāhāra.

    28 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95b14. Restored as Kheṭa-bhakṣa by both Lin and Wayman; kheṭāhāra is the term found in the Sanskrit version of the text. 

    29 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94c10–14. The ZFNCJ uses the term ju 掬, lit. “to hold [something] with both hands”. The text possibly refers to the Hindu practice of making water alms to the deceased, i.e. by holding water with the palms of the hands joined together and raising it toward the sky. See Pandey Raj Bali, 1969, Hindu Saṁskāras: Socio-Religious Study of the Hindu Sacrements, Delhi, Benares, Patna: Motilal Banarsidass, pp. 255–256, and Filippi Giuseppe G., 1996, Mrtyu: Concept of Death in Indian Traditions, New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, p. 150. An anecdote found in the Za baozang jing 雜寶藏經, similarly, refers to the merits (gongde 功徳) gained by the same kind of offering (shi 施), i.e. “A [part of] water contained in joined hands” (yi ju shui 一掬水), offered to the Saṃgha, to the parents, to the sick and people in distress, cf. T. 203 (1), IV, 449b29. The translation of this text is ascribed to Tanyao 曇曜 (410?–480/490?) and Jijiaye 吉迦夜 (Kiṃkārya?) (act. 472). See Chu Sanzang jiji 出三藏記集 (A compilation of notes on the translation of the Tripiṭaka), by Sengyou 僧祐 (445–518), T. 2145 (2), LV, 13b6–12.

    30 T. 721 (17), XVII, 98a13.

    31 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100b27–c1. The restoration Vāyu-bhakṣa suggested by Lin, and with which Wayman agreed, seems closer to the Chinese transcription than the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript, vāyvāhāra, as pocha hardly corresponds to hāra.

    32 Restored as Aṅgara-bhakṣa by Lin and as Aṅgāra-bhakṣa by Wayman. As in the previous case, the Sanskrit word for “eaters” found in the Indian manuscript, which uses aṅgārāśin, hardly seems to correspond to the Chinese transcription pocha.

    33 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100c29–a1.

    34 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102a10–11. On the rākṣasa-s, see note 67.

    35 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94a20–25. Qiantuo is restored as Gandha[-bhakṣa] by Lin and by Wayman; gandhāhāra is the word found in the Indian manuscript.

    36 In the list at the beginning of juan 16 that cites the names of the thirty-six preta-s, the name of this category of hungry ghosts is translated as preta-s of the “hearth, eating burning [coals?]” (huolu shaoshi 火爐燒食), T. 721 (17), XVII, 92b14, or explained as preta-s “eating inside the hearth” (huolu zhong shi 火爐中食). The name found in the Sanskrit version of the text, kuṇḍaśin (“eater of hot coals”) seems quite close to these explanations.

    37 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100a4–5.

    38 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95a1–3.

    39 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94b20–22.

    40 T. 721 (16), XVII, 102c10–13. 

    41 Mārakāyika in Sanskrit. In the most typical mythological portrait of Māra, the latter attacks the Buddha in order to try to prevent him from achieving the Awakening. Likewise, Māra’s action is often linked to different kinds of phenomena constituting a major hindrance to the attainment of Salvation. Any individual trying to lead a monk astray from religious practice is said to be “possessed by Māra”. Similarly, any event leading a believer astray from meditation is considered the result of Māra’s evil action. See Boyd James W., 1971, “Symbols of Evil in Buddhism”, 1971, The Journal of Asian Studies, 31/1, pp. 73–74. In fact, since the sinners reborn as “Māra-body” preta-s preached heretical doctrines in their previous lives, they are guilty of a comparable offence.

    42 A tale found in the Petavatthu describes a man reborn as a preta and dwelling in a banyan tree. See Law Bimala Charan, 1923, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, p. 13. The name of these preta-s is Vṛkṣanivāsin in the Sanskrit version of the ZFNCJ.

    43 Since somebody killed their sons, these preta-s, in their previous lives, expressed their wish to be reborn as rākṣasa-s and to avenge their sons’ death, cf. T. 721 (16), XVII, 97b8–9. Kosambi. points out that in the Jātaka-s (510 and 513) mention is made of a female demon expressing a very similar wish. See Kosambi D. D., 1960, “At the Crossroads: Mother Goddess Cult-Sites in Ancient India”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (New Series), 92, p. 144. Lin has suggested that the name of these preta-s corresponds to the skr. term Bāla-cettāra; Wayman, based on the Tibetan text, ventures that the skt. equivalent may have been Manuṣyaputra-avatāraprekṣin; the Indian text uses cchidraprekṣin maṇuṣyānāṃ, which Stuart translates as “fault finders of the human realm”. The explanation of this name provided in the Chinese translation of the text is very similar to that of another category of “hungry ghosts”, the [16] “[Preta-s] Looking for the right opportunity”. The text distinguishes between the two categories only by indicating that the preta-s called [20] Chituoluo specifically target infants.

    44 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97b12–27. An interesting detail should be noted: the ZFNCJ states that if the child has accumulated merits, or “good and strong karma” (qiang shan ye 強善業), he will be protected (yonghu 擁護) by the “benevolent gods” (shanshen 善神). The idea that these “benevolent gods” protect men who did good deeds in their previous lives – very common in Chinese “apocrypha” and, as a result, considered by some scholars a typical feature of Chinese Buddhism – is notably found in the Sitianwang jing 四天王經 (Sūtra of the Four Heavenly Kings, transl. ascr. to Zhiyan 智嚴 [350–427] and Baoyun 寶雲 [376–449], T. 590, XV). This sūtra is a short extract from the Āgama-s; see Soymié Michel, 1977, “Les dix jours de jeûne du taoïsme”, in Yoshioka hakase kanrekikinen dōkyō kenkyū ronshū 吉岡博士還暦記念道教研究論集, Tokyo: Kokusho kankōkai, pp. 2–3; and Sørensen Henrik H., 1995, “Divine Scrutiny of Human Morals in an Early Chinese Buddhist Sūtra: A Study of the Si tianwang jing (T. 590)”, Studies in Central & East Asian Religions, pp. 44–83.

    45 Bālabhakṣin in the Indian text. This is one of the few occurrences where the Chinese transcription for “eater” (pocha) seems to correspond to the Sanskrit. The ZFNCJ explains that they attack “crawling babies” (pufu 匍匐) in particular or babies taking their “first steps” (shixing 始行), T. 721 (17), XVII, 99a29–b2. The latter two preta categories are reminiscent of those otherworldly beings called grahī-s, the “Seizers” (or their male counterparts, the graha-s); see Renou Louis and Filliozat Jean, 1947, L’Inde classique : manuel des études indiennes, Vol. 1, Paris: Payot, p. 528 (§ 1084). Strickmann points out that the various categories of demons listed in the Shoulengyan jing 首楞嚴經 (Śūraṃgama sūtra, T. 945, XIX) include Revatī, the “Female demon troubling the children”; see Strickmann Michel and Faure Bernard, eds., 2002, Chinese Magical Medicine, Stanford: Stanford University Press, p. 67. The Śūraṃgama sūtra is considered a Chinese “apocryphal” scripture dating from the eighth century. For more on this text, see a long footnote by Demiéville Paul, 1952, le concile de Lhasa : une controverse sur le quiétisme entre bouddhistes de l’Inde et de la Chine au VIIIe siècle de l’ère chrétienne, Paris: Imprimerie nationale/Presses universitaires de France, pp. 43–52, n. 3; also, on the same text, see Benn James A., 2008, “Another Look at the Pseudo-Śūraṃgama sūtra”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 68/1, pp. 57–87. An Indian text on “demonic” medicine mentions nine female “Seizers” attacking the children ; see Filliozat Jean, 1937, Étude de démonologie indienne: le Kumaratantra de Ravana et les textes parallèles indiens, tibétains, chinois, cambodgiens et arabes, Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, p. 43. Another text included in the Chinese Buddhist Canon and entitled Luomona shuo jiuliao xiao’er jibing jing 囉嚩拏說救療小兒疾病經 (T. 1330, XXI), describes the twelve yaomu gui 曜母鬼 (grahī-mātṛkā) that attack children under twelve years of age (Filliozat Jean, 1937, Étude de démonologie indienne, p. 147). Concerning these beings, the text explains: “The twelve yaomu gui wander the world day and night, looking for the opportunity [to attack children] … They scare children to disarm them and absorb their vital energy” (十二曜母鬼遊行世間於晝夜分常伺其便 … 驚怖小兒令其失常。噏取精氣), cf. T. 1330, XXI, 491c14–17. It should be noted that Hārītī, before being integrated into the Buddhist pantheon, was also a “child eater”; see the translation of a section of the Genben shuo yiqieyou bu pinaiye zashi 根本説一切有部毘奈耶雜事 (translation ascribed to Yijing 義淨 [635–713], T. 1451, XXIV), recording the most popular version of this tale, by Peri Noël, 1917, “Hārītī, la Mère-de-démons”, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 17/17, pp. 2–14.

    46 Lamotte states that in the Milinda there are references to four preta categories including the “preta-s living off almsgiving”. See Lamotte Étienne, 1949, Le Traité de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra), Vol. 2, Louvain: Muséon, p. 954, n. 1.

    47 The Abhidharmakośa describes some preta categories endowed with “supernatural powers” and “enjoying a glory similar to that of the gods”. See La Vallée Poussin Louis de, 1914–1918, Troisième chapitre de l’Abhidharmakoça, Kārikā, Bhāṣya et Vyākhyā. Avec une analyse de la Lokaprajñāpti et de la Kāraṇaprajñāpti de Maudgalyāyana. Versions et textes établis d’après les sources sanscrites et tibétaines, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, p. 81.

    48 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95b27–c2. In a gloss, the name of these preta-s is explained as follows: “Moluo, in Wei language, means ‘garland’, it refers to Jiuzi mo (‘Demon of the nine children’) worshipped by men” (魔羅魏言鬘世人所奉九子魔是也). The name “Demon of the nine children” could be reminiscent of Hārītī, assimilated in China to Guizimu 鬼子母, the “Mother of demons”, or Jiuzi mu 九子母, the “Mother of nine children”; see Murray Julia K., 1981–1982, “Representations of Hāritī, the Mother of Demons, and the Theme of ‘Raising the Alms-Bowl’ in Chinese Painting”, Artibus Asiae, 43/4, p. 255, and also Zhao Bangyan 趙邦彥, 1931, “Jiuzi mu kao” 九子母考, Zhongyin yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo jikan 中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊, 2/3, pp. 261–274). However, the specific features of the preta described in the ZFNCJ do not seem to correspond to those of that goddess. Mālyāhāra is the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript; once again, the transcription for “eater” in the Chinese version is pocha, which seems closer to the skr. term bhakṣa restored by Lin and by Wayman.

    49 It should be noted that the majority of the preta-s worshiped in various ways by men are said to be yakṣa-s. Some commentaries of the pāli Canon link the word yakkha to the root yaj, “to offer sacrifice”, and try to argue that this term may refer to all those beings to whom “a sacrifice is offered”. Even though this explanation is highly dubious, nevertheless a link would seems to exist between the yakṣa-s and various sacrificial practices (and this is also evident from the ZFNCJ); cf. Ling T. O., 1962, Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil: A Study in Theravada Buddhism, London: George Allen & Unwin, p. 19. Flower offering is cited as a religious practice intended for the yakṣa-s; see Coomaraswamy Ananda K., 1928, Yakṣas, 2 parts, Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, i, pp. 24–25. Coomaraswamy specifically links the cult of the yakṣa-s to the bhakti (devotion to a god), which became prominent in India shortly before the beginning of the Common Era (Coomaraswamy Ananda K., 1928, Yakṣas, i, pp. 27–28). On the existence of places of worship intended specifically for the yakṣa-s, see Banerjea Jitendra Nath, 1956, The Development of Hindu Iconography, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp. 335–344.

    50 Catuṣpathanivāsin in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    51 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102b28–c3. Many preta categories analysed above live either at or near the crossroads. In ancient India, the crossroads were considered inauspicious places, in the same way as cemeteries and abandoned temples. Some examples of sacrifices intended for the “Mothers” and offered to these goddesses at crossroads are known; see Kosambi D. D., 1960, “At the Crossroads”, pp. 18–19. The place where these kinds of practices were carried out might have some links with the merchant world or with certain “autochthon” practices assimilated to Brahmanism; see Kosambi D. D., 1960, “At the Crossroads”, p. 144.

    52 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95c11–14. The name Luoqizha has been restored as Rudhira-bhakṣa by Lin, and as Rakta-bhakṣa by Wayman. However, the Sanskrit manuscript uses raktāhāra.

    53 The term māṃsāhāra is used in the Sanskrit text; both Lin and Wayman suggest that this term should be restored as Māṃsa-bhakṣa because of the Chinese transcription pocha. T. 721 (16), XVII, 95c27–96a1. In Hindu mythology, the “meat-eaters” par excellence are the piśāca-s, showing features similar to the rākṣasa-s (discussed below in note 67). See Macdonell Arthur Anthony, 1897, Vedic Mythology, Strassburg: K. J. Trübner, p. 164, and Masson Joseph, 1942, La Religion populaire dans le canon bouddhique pâli, Louvain : Bureaux du Muséon pp. 134–135.

    54 The word dhūpāhāra is found in the Indian manuscript. Such a term hardly seems to correspond to the Chinese transcription sujiantuo, which both Lin and Wayman restored as Sugandha-bhakṣa. However, dhūpāhāra has the same meaning as Sugandha-bhakṣa.

    55 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96a13–19.

    56 Based on the Tibetan version of the ZFNCJ, Wayman (“Studies in Yama and Māra,” p. 51, n. 52), corrects Li’s translation “à la marche rapide” (“fast walking”), linking this term to the Sanskrit avicāra (“without hesitation”) and not to abhicāra. However, the Chinese text is, in fact, very ambiguous and misleading: “[…] They walk very fast. In an instant they can reach hundreds of thousands of yojana-s, that is why they are called jixing egui” (其行迅疾。一念能至百千由旬。是故名為疾行餓鬼). The Sanskrit manuscript uses abhicāruka, which Stuart translates as “trickster”.

    57 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96b5-15.

    58 The transcription Yiliti and its translation shentong correspond to the skr. ṛddhi, possibly an abbreviated form of the term pretamaharddhika, found in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    59 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97a8–12.

    60 T. 721 (17), XVII, 97c22–27.

    61 Restored as Aśubha-rathyā by Lin and by Wayman; aśucirathyānivāsin in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    62 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100a16–20.

    63 In the Sanskrit manuscript: ojobhakṣin.

    64 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99c5.

    65 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99c3–7.

    66 Branhmarākṣasa.

    67 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99c18–23. In l’Inde classique, it is said that some rākṣasa-s “sont parfois appelés dans les textes bouddhiques sanskrits (comme aussi dans l’Épopée brahmanique) brahmarākṣasa … et considérés comme ‘fils de Brahman’” (Renou Louis and Filliozat Jean, l’Inde classique, Vol. 2, § 2269, p. 531). While in Buddhism the rākṣasa-s mainly serve the Dharma (either as protectors [from the root rākṣ, “to protect”], or hell guardians, or Yama’s assistants), the “brahmanic rākṣasa-s” of the ZFNCJ show features that are quite similar to those of the rākṣasa-s found in Vedic descriptions. Those creatures creep into a man’s body in order to consume it and appease their craving for meat and blood. They can also cause humans to go insane. In a number of descriptions, these beings are said to haunt humans by dancing around their houses and braying as donkeys; they also make loud noises in the forest and drink using human skulls as cups; see Macdonell Arthur Anthony, 1897, Vedic Mythology, p. 163. In this respect, the etymology of their name proposed by Macdonell (with rākṣ meaning “harmful” and, by extension, “from whom one must protect himself”) does not seem totally inappropriate, cf. Macdonell Arthur Anthony, 1897, Vedic Mythology, p. 164.

    68 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93a16–20. Likewise, an anecdote found in the Petavatthu relates the tale of a weaver’s wife reborn in the preta realm for criticizing her husband’s excessive generosity toward the monks. See White David Gordon, 1986, “‘Dakkhiṇa’ and ‘Agnicayana’: An Extended Application of Paul Mus’s Typology”, History of Religions, 26/2, p. 201.

    69 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93b20–23.

    70 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100a14–15.

    71 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100b21–25.

    72 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93b4–6.

    73 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94a12–17.

    74 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93c8–10.

    75 I rectify xingyu 形獄, which is surely an error.

    76 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100c25–28.

    77 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96a29–b4.

    78 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99c29–100a2.

    79 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97a20–24.

    80 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97a4–7.

    81 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94c24–29.

    82 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96c15–17.

    83 T. 721 (17), XVII, 101a13–14.

    84 T. 721 (17), XVII, 97c12–15.

    85 T. 721 (17), XVII, 98a7–10.

    86 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99a23–25.

    87 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102b10–12.

    88 T. 721 (16), XVII, 92c29.

    89 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95b23–25

    90 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102a7–8.

    91 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96a08–11.

    92 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102b24–25.

    93 T. 721 (17), XVII, 101b5–9.

    94 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95c22–24. This form of theft is mentioned a number of times in the Petavatthu, where specific reference is made to men fallen into the preta realm for giving less goods than have been paid for (see Law Bimala Charan, 1923, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, p. 36), for instance mixing red earth into red rice [sic] to sell at a much higher price (see Law Bimala Charan, 1923, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, pp. 56–57).

    95 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94b4–10.

    96 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102c8–9.

    97 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94c1–5.

    98 See for example T. 721 (16), XVII, 92c26–27. In the Abhidharmakośa is said that one day in the preta path is equivalent to a month in the human world; sinners suffer in the “hungry ghost” condition for 500 years. See La Vallée Poussin Louis de, 1914–1918, Troisième chapitre de l’Abhidharmakoça, p. 94.

    99 Concerning the “Needle mouth” preta-s, the ZFNCJ makes reference to a bird called zhezhajia niao 遮吒迦鳥. A gloss explains that: “This bird feeds exclusively on rain [falling from the] sky. It opens its mouth, receives the rain from the sky and drinks it. It cannot drink any other kind of water” (此鳥唯食天雨仰口承天雨水而飲之不得食餘水), T. 721 (16), XVII, 93a26. Most likely, the above creature is a mythical bird often mentioned in Indian poetry, the cāṭaka, which is said to never drink “earthly” water; see Siegfried Lienhard, 1984, A History of Classical Poetry: Sanskrit-Pali-Prakrit, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, p. 101.

    100 Similar allegories are mentioned by Mus Paul, 1939, La Lumière sur les Six Voies : Tableau de la transmigration bouddhique d’après les sources sanskrites, pâli, tibétaines et chinoises en majeure partie inédites, Paris : Institut d’Ethnologie, Musée de l’Homme, pp. 5–6. A comparable motif is also found in the Baiyu jing 百喩經, Sūtra of the Hundred Apologues, ascr. to Saṃghasena 僧伽斯那 (fifth c.), transl. ascr. to Guṇavṛddhi 求那毘地 (fifth c.), T. 209, IV, 551a24: “[A rebirth into a] human body is as difficult to obtain as it is for a blind turtle to find a hole in a floating log” (人身難得猶如盲龜值浮木孔). The Baiyu jing was translated in 492 (see Menśikov L. N., 1980, “Les paraboles bouddhiques dans la littérature chinoise”, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 67/67, pp. 312–315). Schopen translates a passage of the Mahajjima-nikāya where, at the core of the same metaphor, the main hopeless task for the turtle is to squeeze its head into the log’s hole. See Schopen Gregory, 2005, Figments and Fragments of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India: More Collected Papers, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, p. 214.

    101 This is said for the preta-s “[Living on] hope”.

    102 The preta-s “Living in trees”.

    103 The “Spittle eaters”.

    104 The “Garland eaters”.

    105 This is said of the “Blood eaters”, “Flesh-eaters” and preta-s “Living in cemeteries and eating hot ashes”.

    106 The “Harmful conduct” preta-s.

    107 The preta-s “[Having] a desirable appearance”.

    108 This is said of the preta-s “Living in cemeteries and eating hot ashes”.

    109 The preta-s of “Crossroads”. Xuanzang 玄奘 (602–664) mentions more or less the same social categories in his description of the various Indian kingdoms visited during his famous journey. In his Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (Da Tang Xiyu ji 大唐西域記), he points out that in these regions some “social categories”, notably the “butchers” (tu 屠), “fishers” (diao 釣), “actors” (changyou 倡優), “executioners” (kuikuai 魁膾) and “excrement collectors” (chufen 除糞) were segregated outside the towns. Each time they moved into town to undertake their activities, they had to keep to the left side of the road; see T. 2087 (2), LI, 876a22–24.

    110 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100b18.

    111 T. 721 (16), XVII, 92c23–24.

    112 The Sanskrit manuscript uses the term nirāhāra; however, the Chinese transcription Apocha seems closer to the restoration proposed by both Lin and Wayman: Abhakṣa.

    113 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93c24–29. The “guardian-demons of water” (hushui zhugui 護水諸鬼) also appears in the Treatise on the Great Virtue of Wisdom (Da zhidu lun 大智度論) (ascribed to Nāgārjuna 龍樹, tr. by Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 [344–413 or 350–409]), T. 1509 (16), XXV, 175c6. Cf. the translation by Lamotte Étienne, 1949, Le Traité de la grande vertu de sagesse, Vol. 2, pp. 954–955.

    114 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96c18–21.

    115 Viṣāśin, in the Sanskrit manuscript. Viṣa-bhakṣa for Lin and for Wayman.

    116 T. 721 (17), XVII, 101a16–27.

    117 Aṭavi for Lin and Aṭavī for Wayman; araṇyanivāsin in the Sanskrit text.

    118 T. 721 (17), XVII, 101b12–20.

    119 The Chinese text does not provide a phonetic transcription of this term; in the Sanskrit version the term yamadaṇḍika appears.

    120 In the ZFNCJ is said that Yama sends these demons to the humans in order to “seize their jingshen” (lu qi jingsheng 錄其精神). The term jingsheng, which might be translated as “subtle body”, appears only once in the ZFNCJ. A similar passage is also found in the Foming jing 佛名經 (Sūtra of Buddha’s names): “Moreover, the Gods of this world and of the otherworld record sins and merits, making no mistakes. Concerning those who committed sins, after their death, cow-head hell-guards seize their ‘subtle body’ and, at the abode of King Yama, discuss over the exactitude [of these records]” (又復幽顯靈祇注記罪福纖毫無差。夫論作罪之人命終之後。牛頭獄卒録其精神。在閻羅王所辨窮是非), T. 441 (2), XIV, 194b27–29. For more on the possible “translator” of the Foming jing, see Kuo Liying, 1995, “La récitation des noms de Buddha en Chine et au Japon”, T’oung Pao, 81, pp. 244–252.

    121 T. 721 (17), XVII, 98b1–9.

    122 D. White links the appearance in the pāli Canon of various anecdotes on the preta-s, during the fourth and third centuries BCE, notably with two precise goals: firstly, to make Buddhism more attractive to non-Buddhists (thanks to the spiritual merits provided to practitioners by the abovementioned religious practices); secondly, to legitimate the monks’ role as the recipients of these offerings. See White David Gordon, 1986, “‘Dakkhiṇa’ and ‘Agnicayana’”, p. 200.

    123 See Holt John C., 1981, “Assisting the Dead by Venerating the Living: Merit Transfer in the Early Buddhist Tradition”, Numen, 28/1, p. 2 and p. 5; and Filippi G. Giuseppe, 1996, Mrtyu, pp. 200–204. In China, the most popular annual celebration intended to enable the transfer of offerings to the deceased is the famous yulanpen 盂蘭盆 festival, which grew notably from the fourth and fifth centuries onwards. For more on this celebration, see Teiser Stephen F., 1988, Ghosts Ancestors in Medieval Chinese Religion: The Yulanpen Festival as Mortuary Ritual, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Campany calls attention to the link between the evolution of various liturgies, such as those associated with the yulanpen, and the development, in the narrative genre known as as zhiguai 志怪 (“records of strange facts”), of tales concerning demons and spirits. See Campany Robert F., 1991, “Ghosts Matter: The Culture of Ghosts in Six Dynasties Zhiguai”, Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews, 13, p. 18 and p. 34. In a later period, the practice consisting of burning paper money as an offering to the “spirits” also became very popular. The earliest record of this practice is found in the Mingbao ji 冥報記, by Tang Lin 唐臨 (601?–660); see Hou Ching-lang, 1975, Monnaies d’offrande et la notion de trésorerie dans la religion chinoise, Paris: Collège de France, Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises, p. 5.

    124 Teiser has argued that the yulanpen, in fact, was not only intended to confer benefits to the ancestors, but, in a more general manner, to all preta-s. See Teiser Stephen F., 1986, “Ghosts and Ancestors in Medieval Chinese Religion: The Yü-lan-p’en Festival as Mortuary Ritual”, History of Religions, 26/1, pp. 59–66; and Teiser Stephen F., 1988, Ghosts Ancestors in Medieval Chinese Religion, p. 218–219. The relationship between men and preta-s is thus quite different from that presented in the ZFNCJ.

    125 Cf. Wolf Arthur, 1974, “Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors”, in Arthur Wolf, ed., Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 169–176.

    126 One of the most well-known anecdotes showing this motif is that of Maudgalyāyana saving his deceased mother; see Mair Victor H., 1983, Tun-huang Popular Narratives, Cambridge, London, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 118–119.

    127 This reflects a passage found in the Jinglü yixiang 經律異相 by Baochang 寶唱 (d. early sixth c.), stating that the preta-s have the power to know human life length, but are not able to directly harm humans. However, they are capable of inciting someone else to harm other men (see T. 2121 [46], LIII, 240c25–241a9). This passage is said to be an excerpt of the juan 6 of the Piyu jing in 10 juan (Shijian Piyu jing 十卷譬喩經).

    Author

    Constantino Moretti (牟和諦)

    École Pratique des Hautes Études – CRCAO

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    1 The Fenbie gongde lun (unknown translator) is a commentary on the pin-s 1–4 of the Zengyi ahan jing 增一阿含經 (Ekottarāgama [T. 125, II], a translation ascribed to Gautama Saṃghadeva 瞿曇僧伽提婆 [act. 383–398]). Fei Zhangfang 費長房 (act. late 6th c.) has catalogued this text as a translation dating from the later Han dynasty (25–220); see the Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶紀, T. 2034 (4), XLIV, 54b19. However, the linguistic analysis of this text provided by Fang Yixin and Gao Lieguo shows philological links with the translation style of the Wei (220–265) and Jin (265–420) dynasties. See Fang Yixin 方一新 and Gao Lieguo 高列過, 2003, “‘Fenbie gongde lun’ fanyi niandai chutan”,《分別功德論》翻譯年代初探, Zhejiang daxue xuebao 浙江大學學報, n° 33, pp. 92–99.

    2 Through this kind of meditation, the disciple contemplated the impermanent nature of his own body, visualizing the different stages of a corpse’s decomposition. For this purpose, the practitioner drew on the observation of a rotten corpse, more precisely a dead body starting to putrefy, then a corpse partially devoured by animals, and finally a body reduced to a pile of bones. See Swearer Donald K., 1973, “Control and Freedom: The Structure of Buddhist Meditation in the Pāli Suttas”, Philosophy East and West, 23/4, p. 439.

    3 T. 1507 (3), XXV, 40b5–19.

    4 On the etymology of this term, see Hotori Risho 阿理生, 2002, “Gaki (peta; preta) no gogi ni tsuite” 餓鬼 (peta; preta) の語義について, Indogaku bukkyōgaku kenkyū 印度學佛教學研究, 51/1, pp. 420–425. Harper claims that the term “hungry ghost” was not especially created to translate the word preta. This term may in fact refer to a preexisting concept (found in a text dating back to the third-century BCE), which Buddhists adopted as an equivalent for preta. See Harper Donald, 1996, “Spellbinding”, in Donald S. Lopez, ed., Religions of China in Practice, Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 242 and p. 248 (for the translation of the passage featuring the term egui). See also Harper Donald, 1985, “A Chinese Demonography of the Third Century B. C.”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 45/2, pp. 459-498, and Li Mingxiao 李明曉, 2003, “‘Egui’ kaoyuan” “餓鬼”考源, Cishu yanjiu 辭書研究, p. 135. It should be kept in mind that the term “evil ghosts” (egui 惡鬼) is also frequently found.

    5 Cf. T. 2034 (9), XLIX, 86c15.

    6 Cf. Lin Li-kouang, 1949, L’Aide-mémoire de la Vraie Loi (Saddharma-smrtyupastana-sutra) : recherches sur un sutra développé du Petit Véhicule, Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, pp. 148-153. See also Mizuno Kogen 水野弘元, 1964, “Shōbō nenjo kyō ni tsuiite” 正法念処経について, Indogaku bukkyōgaku kenkyū 印度学仏教学研究, 12/1, pp. 38-40.

    7 See Stuart Daniel M., 2012, A Less Traveled Path: Meditation and Textual Practice in the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna(sūtra), PhD dissertation (unpublished), Berkeley: University of California, pp. 25–29.

    8 The text does not give any information concerning the number thirty-six, but it should be noted that, based on early Indian Buddhist mythology, Yama’s kingdom was the preta-s’ abode and was composed of thirty-six provinces. See Haldar J. R., 1977, Early Buddhist Mythology, New Delhi: Manohar, p. 140 and p. 185.

    9 Lin Li-kouang, 1949, L’Aide-mémoire de la Vraie Loi, pp. 17-18.

    10 Wayman Alex, 1959, “Studies in Yama and Māra”, Indo-Iranian Journal, 3/1, pp. 51–52.

    11 Stuart Daniel M., 2012,, A Less Traveled Path, pp. 51–53.

    12 The first mention of each preta category discussed in this paper will be accompanied by the following information: the preta category number [1–36], based on the list given in the ZFNCJ; the meaning of the preta name, as indicated in the Chinese text, and its phonetic transcription. The restoration of the Sanskrit name of each preta category, based on Lin’s and Wayman’s hypotheses, and the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript, will be discussed in the footnotes.

    13 T. 721 (16), XVII, 92a14–20.

    14 T. 721 (16), XVII, 92c13–14. “Cauldron body” preta-s have neither face, hands nor feet, and – notes the text – look similar to a caldron (huo 鑊). Lin restores their name as Kapāli-kāya; Wayman points out that Lin ventures the skr. Kapāli based on the Chinese term huo (three-legged vessel), and adds that the term found in Tibetan, literally meaning “prostrate belly”, would suggest the skr. Kabandha; the word kabhallika is used in the Sanskrit manuscript, which describes these creatures as having narrow necks, and heads and bellies the size of mountains. It should be noted that a gloss found in the Chinese version explains that “‘Jiapolijia’ means ‘Cauldron body’ in Wei language” (迦婆離迦魏言鑊身). In this transcription Lin has interpreted jia 迦 – which usually transcribes the sound kā – as an abbreviation for kā[ya], “body” (shen 身).

    15 Jvali for Lin, or Jvalita for Wayman. The latter underlines that the Tibetan literally means “Whose body blazes at night” and points out that this term would suggest a more complex form, such as rātrijvālapreta. The term niśiprajvalitagātra (“night-flamer”) is used in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    16 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97a26–27. A category of preta-s described in the Petavatthu, the Nijhāmātanhā, shows similar features: with their bodies constantly on fire, these creatures are in a perpetual state of motion. See Law Bimala Charan, 1923, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, Calcutta: Simla, Thacker, Spink & Co., p. 5. The Petavatthu, probably dating from the first century BCE, is the most important scripture concerning the preta-s in the pāli Canon.

    17 They are constantly crying and the colour of their skin resembles “black clouds” (heiyun 黑雲); see T. 721 (16), XVII, 95a5. The Chinese transcription Ashejia is restored as Āśā by Lin and as Āśāka by Wayman. The Sanskrit version uses āśāsaka, a term that Stuart translates as “Those who live on air”.

    18 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94b16–17. Wayman agrees with Lin on the correct restoration of this preta name: Dharma-bhakṣa. However, the term dharmmadānāhāra is used in the Sanskrit manuscript. Even though one would be inclined to consider the Sanskrit version as the correct one, we may point out that in most cases where the term “eater” is found as part of the various preta names, the Sanskrit text uses hāra, while the Chinese transcription uses pocha. Such transcription in no way corresponds to hāra but seems closer to the word bhakṣa as argued by Lin and by Wayman. This and other similar elements raise interesting questions as to the possible existence of different traditions of the ZFNCJ.

    19 Lin links the transcription Chituoluo 蚩陀邏 (or 羅) to the Sanskrit word cettāra. Wayman (“Studies in Yama and Māra”, 1959, p. 52, n. 53) refutes this claim on the basis of the Tibetan version, proposing avatāraprekṣin, which seems to correspond more closely to the Chinese translation provided by the text: “spotters” (“guetteurs” in Lin’s translation) or “preta looking for the right opportunity [to harm]” (sibian egui 伺便餓鬼). Despite the logic of this explanation, the sound avatāraprekṣin hardly corresponds to the Chinese transcription given in the text. It should be noted that, in another sentence, a note written in small characters in double columns explains that this term, in “Wei language”, corresponds to kongxue 孔穴, literally “empty” or “hollow”, and adds that it has the same meaning as sibian 伺便. The first word should be understood as “lack”, i.e. “fault” or “inattentiveness” (on the part of a man, which constitutes an opportunity for the preta to carry out its evil plan). Consequently, this term may translate the Sanskrit chidra, which seems to better correspond to the transcription chituoluo. Therefore, the original meaning of the name of this preta seems close to the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript cchidrap[r]ekṣin, “fault finder”, a term which implies a connotation very close to that of avatāraprekṣin, explained, by extension, as “looking for the right opportunity”.

    20 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96b28-29.

    21 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96c20–21 and (17), 98a17–18. I translate dixia as “underworld”, based on a gloss found in the Chinese text and referring to these preta-s as “The ‘hungry ghosts’ of the dark subterranean regions” (地下黑闇之處諸餓鬼). The “underworld” preta-s also appear among the various yakṣa categories listed in the Mahāmāyūrī-vidyārājñī; see Lévy Sylvain, 1915, “Le catalogue géographique des Yakṣa dans la Mahāmāyūrī”, Journal asiatique, 4, p. 54, line 90, n. 3. The transcription Buoduoluo is restored as Paṭala by Lin and as Pātāla by Wayman. The term pātālanivāsin is found in the Sanskrit text. Lin argued that Samudra-dvīpa best corresponded to Sanmoutuoluotibo, whereas Wayman ventured that Samanantara-dvīpa or Samudra-tīra would be more suitable. The term antardvīpanivāsin, “ocean dweller”, appears in the Sanskrit manuscript. Once again, this term would hardly seem to correspond to the Chinese transcription.

    22 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94c8. Wayman agrees with Lin’s restoration of Polian as Salila-bhakṣa. Wayman notes that salila generally means “river water”. He also points out that Lin, restoring the Sanskrit in this way, most likely neglected to say that he considers po 婆 to have been mistakenly used in the place of suo 娑. Surprisingly, the Sanskrit manuscript uses the term pānīyāhāra, “eater of alcohol”. Even though the Chinese character po could be used to transcribe the first syllable of this term, the description of these preta-s’ activities, which are linked to “river water”, seems to be broadly supportive of Wayman’s theory.

    23 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93a5. Similar features are also described in the Mahāvastu; see Jones J. J., 1949, The Mahāvastu, 3 vols., London: Luzac & Co., I, p. 22. It should be noted that, based on the Hindu vision, during the various phases of funeral rites (still practised nowadays), the relatives of the deceased presented several food offerings that were meant to gradually make up the body of the preta. During one of those phases, the body of the preta (in an “airy form”) was believed to measure one inch and have a mouth the size of the eye of a needle. As a result, the preta suffered from hunger and thirst. However, the suffering induced by thirst was more intense at that stage, as the preta shortly before was exposed to the fire of the funeral pyre. See Parry Jonathan, 1985, “Death and Digestion: The Symbolism of Food and Eating in North Indian Mortuary Rites”, Man, 20/4, p. 618. The name Suzhimuqu is restored as Sūcimukha by Lin and by Wayman; the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript is sūcīmukha. 

    24 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102a11. Śmaśāna for both Lin and Wayman, and śmaśānanivāsin in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    25 T. 721 (17), XVII, 97c19–20. The name of these preta-s was restored as Kāma-rūpa both by Lin and by Wayman. The word found in the Sanskrit manuscript is Kāmarūpin. A gloss to the Chinese text provides a longer and more accurate transcription: jiamo lianglupo 迦摩兩盧波. However, liang 兩 has probably been mistakenly used in the palce of yu 雨, hence jiamo yulupo.

    26 This name was restored as Vānta-bhakṣa by Lin and by Wayman; the term vāntāśin is used in the Sanskrit version of the text. On the use of bhakṣa, see note 18.

    27 Lin argues that the correct restoration for Pishituo is Viṣṭhā-bhakṣa, and Wayman concurs, but, in fact, the Chinese transcription may be closer to the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript: purīṣāhāra.

    28 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95b14. Restored as Kheṭa-bhakṣa by both Lin and Wayman; kheṭāhāra is the term found in the Sanskrit version of the text. 

    29 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94c10–14. The ZFNCJ uses the term ju 掬, lit. “to hold [something] with both hands”. The text possibly refers to the Hindu practice of making water alms to the deceased, i.e. by holding water with the palms of the hands joined together and raising it toward the sky. See Pandey Raj Bali, 1969, Hindu Saṁskāras: Socio-Religious Study of the Hindu Sacrements, Delhi, Benares, Patna: Motilal Banarsidass, pp. 255–256, and Filippi Giuseppe G., 1996, Mrtyu: Concept of Death in Indian Traditions, New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, p. 150. An anecdote found in the Za baozang jing 雜寶藏經, similarly, refers to the merits (gongde 功徳) gained by the same kind of offering (shi 施), i.e. “A [part of] water contained in joined hands” (yi ju shui 一掬水), offered to the Saṃgha, to the parents, to the sick and people in distress, cf. T. 203 (1), IV, 449b29. The translation of this text is ascribed to Tanyao 曇曜 (410?–480/490?) and Jijiaye 吉迦夜 (Kiṃkārya?) (act. 472). See Chu Sanzang jiji 出三藏記集 (A compilation of notes on the translation of the Tripiṭaka), by Sengyou 僧祐 (445–518), T. 2145 (2), LV, 13b6–12.

    30 T. 721 (17), XVII, 98a13.

    31 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100b27–c1. The restoration Vāyu-bhakṣa suggested by Lin, and with which Wayman agreed, seems closer to the Chinese transcription than the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript, vāyvāhāra, as pocha hardly corresponds to hāra.

    32 Restored as Aṅgara-bhakṣa by Lin and as Aṅgāra-bhakṣa by Wayman. As in the previous case, the Sanskrit word for “eaters” found in the Indian manuscript, which uses aṅgārāśin, hardly seems to correspond to the Chinese transcription pocha.

    33 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100c29–a1.

    34 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102a10–11. On the rākṣasa-s, see note 67.

    35 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94a20–25. Qiantuo is restored as Gandha[-bhakṣa] by Lin and by Wayman; gandhāhāra is the word found in the Indian manuscript.

    36 In the list at the beginning of juan 16 that cites the names of the thirty-six preta-s, the name of this category of hungry ghosts is translated as preta-s of the “hearth, eating burning [coals?]” (huolu shaoshi 火爐燒食), T. 721 (17), XVII, 92b14, or explained as preta-s “eating inside the hearth” (huolu zhong shi 火爐中食). The name found in the Sanskrit version of the text, kuṇḍaśin (“eater of hot coals”) seems quite close to these explanations.

    37 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100a4–5.

    38 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95a1–3.

    39 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94b20–22.

    40 T. 721 (16), XVII, 102c10–13. 

    41 Mārakāyika in Sanskrit. In the most typical mythological portrait of Māra, the latter attacks the Buddha in order to try to prevent him from achieving the Awakening. Likewise, Māra’s action is often linked to different kinds of phenomena constituting a major hindrance to the attainment of Salvation. Any individual trying to lead a monk astray from religious practice is said to be “possessed by Māra”. Similarly, any event leading a believer astray from meditation is considered the result of Māra’s evil action. See Boyd James W., 1971, “Symbols of Evil in Buddhism”, 1971, The Journal of Asian Studies, 31/1, pp. 73–74. In fact, since the sinners reborn as “Māra-body” preta-s preached heretical doctrines in their previous lives, they are guilty of a comparable offence.

    42 A tale found in the Petavatthu describes a man reborn as a preta and dwelling in a banyan tree. See Law Bimala Charan, 1923, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, p. 13. The name of these preta-s is Vṛkṣanivāsin in the Sanskrit version of the ZFNCJ.

    43 Since somebody killed their sons, these preta-s, in their previous lives, expressed their wish to be reborn as rākṣasa-s and to avenge their sons’ death, cf. T. 721 (16), XVII, 97b8–9. Kosambi. points out that in the Jātaka-s (510 and 513) mention is made of a female demon expressing a very similar wish. See Kosambi D. D., 1960, “At the Crossroads: Mother Goddess Cult-Sites in Ancient India”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (New Series), 92, p. 144. Lin has suggested that the name of these preta-s corresponds to the skr. term Bāla-cettāra; Wayman, based on the Tibetan text, ventures that the skt. equivalent may have been Manuṣyaputra-avatāraprekṣin; the Indian text uses cchidraprekṣin maṇuṣyānāṃ, which Stuart translates as “fault finders of the human realm”. The explanation of this name provided in the Chinese translation of the text is very similar to that of another category of “hungry ghosts”, the [16] “[Preta-s] Looking for the right opportunity”. The text distinguishes between the two categories only by indicating that the preta-s called [20] Chituoluo specifically target infants.

    44 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97b12–27. An interesting detail should be noted: the ZFNCJ states that if the child has accumulated merits, or “good and strong karma” (qiang shan ye 強善業), he will be protected (yonghu 擁護) by the “benevolent gods” (shanshen 善神). The idea that these “benevolent gods” protect men who did good deeds in their previous lives – very common in Chinese “apocrypha” and, as a result, considered by some scholars a typical feature of Chinese Buddhism – is notably found in the Sitianwang jing 四天王經 (Sūtra of the Four Heavenly Kings, transl. ascr. to Zhiyan 智嚴 [350–427] and Baoyun 寶雲 [376–449], T. 590, XV). This sūtra is a short extract from the Āgama-s; see Soymié Michel, 1977, “Les dix jours de jeûne du taoïsme”, in Yoshioka hakase kanrekikinen dōkyō kenkyū ronshū 吉岡博士還暦記念道教研究論集, Tokyo: Kokusho kankōkai, pp. 2–3; and Sørensen Henrik H., 1995, “Divine Scrutiny of Human Morals in an Early Chinese Buddhist Sūtra: A Study of the Si tianwang jing (T. 590)”, Studies in Central & East Asian Religions, pp. 44–83.

    45 Bālabhakṣin in the Indian text. This is one of the few occurrences where the Chinese transcription for “eater” (pocha) seems to correspond to the Sanskrit. The ZFNCJ explains that they attack “crawling babies” (pufu 匍匐) in particular or babies taking their “first steps” (shixing 始行), T. 721 (17), XVII, 99a29–b2. The latter two preta categories are reminiscent of those otherworldly beings called grahī-s, the “Seizers” (or their male counterparts, the graha-s); see Renou Louis and Filliozat Jean, 1947, L’Inde classique : manuel des études indiennes, Vol. 1, Paris: Payot, p. 528 (§ 1084). Strickmann points out that the various categories of demons listed in the Shoulengyan jing 首楞嚴經 (Śūraṃgama sūtra, T. 945, XIX) include Revatī, the “Female demon troubling the children”; see Strickmann Michel and Faure Bernard, eds., 2002, Chinese Magical Medicine, Stanford: Stanford University Press, p. 67. The Śūraṃgama sūtra is considered a Chinese “apocryphal” scripture dating from the eighth century. For more on this text, see a long footnote by Demiéville Paul, 1952, le concile de Lhasa : une controverse sur le quiétisme entre bouddhistes de l’Inde et de la Chine au VIIIe siècle de l’ère chrétienne, Paris: Imprimerie nationale/Presses universitaires de France, pp. 43–52, n. 3; also, on the same text, see Benn James A., 2008, “Another Look at the Pseudo-Śūraṃgama sūtra”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 68/1, pp. 57–87. An Indian text on “demonic” medicine mentions nine female “Seizers” attacking the children ; see Filliozat Jean, 1937, Étude de démonologie indienne: le Kumaratantra de Ravana et les textes parallèles indiens, tibétains, chinois, cambodgiens et arabes, Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, p. 43. Another text included in the Chinese Buddhist Canon and entitled Luomona shuo jiuliao xiao’er jibing jing 囉嚩拏說救療小兒疾病經 (T. 1330, XXI), describes the twelve yaomu gui 曜母鬼 (grahī-mātṛkā) that attack children under twelve years of age (Filliozat Jean, 1937, Étude de démonologie indienne, p. 147). Concerning these beings, the text explains: “The twelve yaomu gui wander the world day and night, looking for the opportunity [to attack children] … They scare children to disarm them and absorb their vital energy” (十二曜母鬼遊行世間於晝夜分常伺其便 … 驚怖小兒令其失常。噏取精氣), cf. T. 1330, XXI, 491c14–17. It should be noted that Hārītī, before being integrated into the Buddhist pantheon, was also a “child eater”; see the translation of a section of the Genben shuo yiqieyou bu pinaiye zashi 根本説一切有部毘奈耶雜事 (translation ascribed to Yijing 義淨 [635–713], T. 1451, XXIV), recording the most popular version of this tale, by Peri Noël, 1917, “Hārītī, la Mère-de-démons”, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 17/17, pp. 2–14.

    46 Lamotte states that in the Milinda there are references to four preta categories including the “preta-s living off almsgiving”. See Lamotte Étienne, 1949, Le Traité de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra), Vol. 2, Louvain: Muséon, p. 954, n. 1.

    47 The Abhidharmakośa describes some preta categories endowed with “supernatural powers” and “enjoying a glory similar to that of the gods”. See La Vallée Poussin Louis de, 1914–1918, Troisième chapitre de l’Abhidharmakoça, Kārikā, Bhāṣya et Vyākhyā. Avec une analyse de la Lokaprajñāpti et de la Kāraṇaprajñāpti de Maudgalyāyana. Versions et textes établis d’après les sources sanscrites et tibétaines, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, p. 81.

    48 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95b27–c2. In a gloss, the name of these preta-s is explained as follows: “Moluo, in Wei language, means ‘garland’, it refers to Jiuzi mo (‘Demon of the nine children’) worshipped by men” (魔羅魏言鬘世人所奉九子魔是也). The name “Demon of the nine children” could be reminiscent of Hārītī, assimilated in China to Guizimu 鬼子母, the “Mother of demons”, or Jiuzi mu 九子母, the “Mother of nine children”; see Murray Julia K., 1981–1982, “Representations of Hāritī, the Mother of Demons, and the Theme of ‘Raising the Alms-Bowl’ in Chinese Painting”, Artibus Asiae, 43/4, p. 255, and also Zhao Bangyan 趙邦彥, 1931, “Jiuzi mu kao” 九子母考, Zhongyin yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo jikan 中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊, 2/3, pp. 261–274). However, the specific features of the preta described in the ZFNCJ do not seem to correspond to those of that goddess. Mālyāhāra is the term found in the Sanskrit manuscript; once again, the transcription for “eater” in the Chinese version is pocha, which seems closer to the skr. term bhakṣa restored by Lin and by Wayman.

    49 It should be noted that the majority of the preta-s worshiped in various ways by men are said to be yakṣa-s. Some commentaries of the pāli Canon link the word yakkha to the root yaj, “to offer sacrifice”, and try to argue that this term may refer to all those beings to whom “a sacrifice is offered”. Even though this explanation is highly dubious, nevertheless a link would seems to exist between the yakṣa-s and various sacrificial practices (and this is also evident from the ZFNCJ); cf. Ling T. O., 1962, Buddhism and the Mythology of Evil: A Study in Theravada Buddhism, London: George Allen & Unwin, p. 19. Flower offering is cited as a religious practice intended for the yakṣa-s; see Coomaraswamy Ananda K., 1928, Yakṣas, 2 parts, Washington: The Smithsonian Institution, i, pp. 24–25. Coomaraswamy specifically links the cult of the yakṣa-s to the bhakti (devotion to a god), which became prominent in India shortly before the beginning of the Common Era (Coomaraswamy Ananda K., 1928, Yakṣas, i, pp. 27–28). On the existence of places of worship intended specifically for the yakṣa-s, see Banerjea Jitendra Nath, 1956, The Development of Hindu Iconography, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp. 335–344.

    50 Catuṣpathanivāsin in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    51 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102b28–c3. Many preta categories analysed above live either at or near the crossroads. In ancient India, the crossroads were considered inauspicious places, in the same way as cemeteries and abandoned temples. Some examples of sacrifices intended for the “Mothers” and offered to these goddesses at crossroads are known; see Kosambi D. D., 1960, “At the Crossroads”, pp. 18–19. The place where these kinds of practices were carried out might have some links with the merchant world or with certain “autochthon” practices assimilated to Brahmanism; see Kosambi D. D., 1960, “At the Crossroads”, p. 144.

    52 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95c11–14. The name Luoqizha has been restored as Rudhira-bhakṣa by Lin, and as Rakta-bhakṣa by Wayman. However, the Sanskrit manuscript uses raktāhāra.

    53 The term māṃsāhāra is used in the Sanskrit text; both Lin and Wayman suggest that this term should be restored as Māṃsa-bhakṣa because of the Chinese transcription pocha. T. 721 (16), XVII, 95c27–96a1. In Hindu mythology, the “meat-eaters” par excellence are the piśāca-s, showing features similar to the rākṣasa-s (discussed below in note 67). See Macdonell Arthur Anthony, 1897, Vedic Mythology, Strassburg: K. J. Trübner, p. 164, and Masson Joseph, 1942, La Religion populaire dans le canon bouddhique pâli, Louvain : Bureaux du Muséon pp. 134–135.

    54 The word dhūpāhāra is found in the Indian manuscript. Such a term hardly seems to correspond to the Chinese transcription sujiantuo, which both Lin and Wayman restored as Sugandha-bhakṣa. However, dhūpāhāra has the same meaning as Sugandha-bhakṣa.

    55 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96a13–19.

    56 Based on the Tibetan version of the ZFNCJ, Wayman (“Studies in Yama and Māra,” p. 51, n. 52), corrects Li’s translation “à la marche rapide” (“fast walking”), linking this term to the Sanskrit avicāra (“without hesitation”) and not to abhicāra. However, the Chinese text is, in fact, very ambiguous and misleading: “[…] They walk very fast. In an instant they can reach hundreds of thousands of yojana-s, that is why they are called jixing egui” (其行迅疾。一念能至百千由旬。是故名為疾行餓鬼). The Sanskrit manuscript uses abhicāruka, which Stuart translates as “trickster”.

    57 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96b5-15.

    58 The transcription Yiliti and its translation shentong correspond to the skr. ṛddhi, possibly an abbreviated form of the term pretamaharddhika, found in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    59 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97a8–12.

    60 T. 721 (17), XVII, 97c22–27.

    61 Restored as Aśubha-rathyā by Lin and by Wayman; aśucirathyānivāsin in the Sanskrit manuscript.

    62 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100a16–20.

    63 In the Sanskrit manuscript: ojobhakṣin.

    64 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99c5.

    65 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99c3–7.

    66 Branhmarākṣasa.

    67 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99c18–23. In l’Inde classique, it is said that some rākṣasa-s “sont parfois appelés dans les textes bouddhiques sanskrits (comme aussi dans l’Épopée brahmanique) brahmarākṣasa … et considérés comme ‘fils de Brahman’” (Renou Louis and Filliozat Jean, l’Inde classique, Vol. 2, § 2269, p. 531). While in Buddhism the rākṣasa-s mainly serve the Dharma (either as protectors [from the root rākṣ, “to protect”], or hell guardians, or Yama’s assistants), the “brahmanic rākṣasa-s” of the ZFNCJ show features that are quite similar to those of the rākṣasa-s found in Vedic descriptions. Those creatures creep into a man’s body in order to consume it and appease their craving for meat and blood. They can also cause humans to go insane. In a number of descriptions, these beings are said to haunt humans by dancing around their houses and braying as donkeys; they also make loud noises in the forest and drink using human skulls as cups; see Macdonell Arthur Anthony, 1897, Vedic Mythology, p. 163. In this respect, the etymology of their name proposed by Macdonell (with rākṣ meaning “harmful” and, by extension, “from whom one must protect himself”) does not seem totally inappropriate, cf. Macdonell Arthur Anthony, 1897, Vedic Mythology, p. 164.

    68 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93a16–20. Likewise, an anecdote found in the Petavatthu relates the tale of a weaver’s wife reborn in the preta realm for criticizing her husband’s excessive generosity toward the monks. See White David Gordon, 1986, “‘Dakkhiṇa’ and ‘Agnicayana’: An Extended Application of Paul Mus’s Typology”, History of Religions, 26/2, p. 201.

    69 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93b20–23.

    70 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100a14–15.

    71 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100b21–25.

    72 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93b4–6.

    73 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94a12–17.

    74 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93c8–10.

    75 I rectify xingyu 形獄, which is surely an error.

    76 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100c25–28.

    77 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96a29–b4.

    78 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99c29–100a2.

    79 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97a20–24.

    80 T. 721 (16), XVII, 97a4–7.

    81 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94c24–29.

    82 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96c15–17.

    83 T. 721 (17), XVII, 101a13–14.

    84 T. 721 (17), XVII, 97c12–15.

    85 T. 721 (17), XVII, 98a7–10.

    86 T. 721 (17), XVII, 99a23–25.

    87 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102b10–12.

    88 T. 721 (16), XVII, 92c29.

    89 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95b23–25

    90 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102a7–8.

    91 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96a08–11.

    92 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102b24–25.

    93 T. 721 (17), XVII, 101b5–9.

    94 T. 721 (16), XVII, 95c22–24. This form of theft is mentioned a number of times in the Petavatthu, where specific reference is made to men fallen into the preta realm for giving less goods than have been paid for (see Law Bimala Charan, 1923, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, p. 36), for instance mixing red earth into red rice [sic] to sell at a much higher price (see Law Bimala Charan, 1923, The Buddhist Conception of Spirits, pp. 56–57).

    95 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94b4–10.

    96 T. 721 (17), XVII, 102c8–9.

    97 T. 721 (16), XVII, 94c1–5.

    98 See for example T. 721 (16), XVII, 92c26–27. In the Abhidharmakośa is said that one day in the preta path is equivalent to a month in the human world; sinners suffer in the “hungry ghost” condition for 500 years. See La Vallée Poussin Louis de, 1914–1918, Troisième chapitre de l’Abhidharmakoça, p. 94.

    99 Concerning the “Needle mouth” preta-s, the ZFNCJ makes reference to a bird called zhezhajia niao 遮吒迦鳥. A gloss explains that: “This bird feeds exclusively on rain [falling from the] sky. It opens its mouth, receives the rain from the sky and drinks it. It cannot drink any other kind of water” (此鳥唯食天雨仰口承天雨水而飲之不得食餘水), T. 721 (16), XVII, 93a26. Most likely, the above creature is a mythical bird often mentioned in Indian poetry, the cāṭaka, which is said to never drink “earthly” water; see Siegfried Lienhard, 1984, A History of Classical Poetry: Sanskrit-Pali-Prakrit, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, p. 101.

    100 Similar allegories are mentioned by Mus Paul, 1939, La Lumière sur les Six Voies : Tableau de la transmigration bouddhique d’après les sources sanskrites, pâli, tibétaines et chinoises en majeure partie inédites, Paris : Institut d’Ethnologie, Musée de l’Homme, pp. 5–6. A comparable motif is also found in the Baiyu jing 百喩經, Sūtra of the Hundred Apologues, ascr. to Saṃghasena 僧伽斯那 (fifth c.), transl. ascr. to Guṇavṛddhi 求那毘地 (fifth c.), T. 209, IV, 551a24: “[A rebirth into a] human body is as difficult to obtain as it is for a blind turtle to find a hole in a floating log” (人身難得猶如盲龜值浮木孔). The Baiyu jing was translated in 492 (see Menśikov L. N., 1980, “Les paraboles bouddhiques dans la littérature chinoise”, Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 67/67, pp. 312–315). Schopen translates a passage of the Mahajjima-nikāya where, at the core of the same metaphor, the main hopeless task for the turtle is to squeeze its head into the log’s hole. See Schopen Gregory, 2005, Figments and Fragments of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India: More Collected Papers, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, p. 214.

    101 This is said for the preta-s “[Living on] hope”.

    102 The preta-s “Living in trees”.

    103 The “Spittle eaters”.

    104 The “Garland eaters”.

    105 This is said of the “Blood eaters”, “Flesh-eaters” and preta-s “Living in cemeteries and eating hot ashes”.

    106 The “Harmful conduct” preta-s.

    107 The preta-s “[Having] a desirable appearance”.

    108 This is said of the preta-s “Living in cemeteries and eating hot ashes”.

    109 The preta-s of “Crossroads”. Xuanzang 玄奘 (602–664) mentions more or less the same social categories in his description of the various Indian kingdoms visited during his famous journey. In his Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (Da Tang Xiyu ji 大唐西域記), he points out that in these regions some “social categories”, notably the “butchers” (tu 屠), “fishers” (diao 釣), “actors” (changyou 倡優), “executioners” (kuikuai 魁膾) and “excrement collectors” (chufen 除糞) were segregated outside the towns. Each time they moved into town to undertake their activities, they had to keep to the left side of the road; see T. 2087 (2), LI, 876a22–24.

    110 T. 721 (17), XVII, 100b18.

    111 T. 721 (16), XVII, 92c23–24.

    112 The Sanskrit manuscript uses the term nirāhāra; however, the Chinese transcription Apocha seems closer to the restoration proposed by both Lin and Wayman: Abhakṣa.

    113 T. 721 (16), XVII, 93c24–29. The “guardian-demons of water” (hushui zhugui 護水諸鬼) also appears in the Treatise on the Great Virtue of Wisdom (Da zhidu lun 大智度論) (ascribed to Nāgārjuna 龍樹, tr. by Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 [344–413 or 350–409]), T. 1509 (16), XXV, 175c6. Cf. the translation by Lamotte Étienne, 1949, Le Traité de la grande vertu de sagesse, Vol. 2, pp. 954–955.

    114 T. 721 (16), XVII, 96c18–21.

    115 Viṣāśin, in the Sanskrit manuscript. Viṣa-bhakṣa for Lin and for Wayman.

    116 T. 721 (17), XVII, 101a16–27.

    117 Aṭavi for Lin and Aṭavī for Wayman; araṇyanivāsin in the Sanskrit text.

    118 T. 721 (17), XVII, 101b12–20.

    119 The Chinese text does not provide a phonetic transcription of this term; in the Sanskrit version the term yamadaṇḍika appears.

    120 In the ZFNCJ is said that Yama sends these demons to the humans in order to “seize their jingshen” (lu qi jingsheng 錄其精神). The term jingsheng, which might be translated as “subtle body”, appears only once in the ZFNCJ. A similar passage is also found in the Foming jing 佛名經 (Sūtra of Buddha’s names): “Moreover, the Gods of this world and of the otherworld record sins and merits, making no mistakes. Concerning those who committed sins, after their death, cow-head hell-guards seize their ‘subtle body’ and, at the abode of King Yama, discuss over the exactitude [of these records]” (又復幽顯靈祇注記罪福纖毫無差。夫論作罪之人命終之後。牛頭獄卒録其精神。在閻羅王所辨窮是非), T. 441 (2), XIV, 194b27–29. For more on the possible “translator” of the Foming jing, see Kuo Liying, 1995, “La récitation des noms de Buddha en Chine et au Japon”, T’oung Pao, 81, pp. 244–252.

    121 T. 721 (17), XVII, 98b1–9.

    122 D. White links the appearance in the pāli Canon of various anecdotes on the preta-s, during the fourth and third centuries BCE, notably with two precise goals: firstly, to make Buddhism more attractive to non-Buddhists (thanks to the spiritual merits provided to practitioners by the abovementioned religious practices); secondly, to legitimate the monks’ role as the recipients of these offerings. See White David Gordon, 1986, “‘Dakkhiṇa’ and ‘Agnicayana’”, p. 200.

    123 See Holt John C., 1981, “Assisting the Dead by Venerating the Living: Merit Transfer in the Early Buddhist Tradition”, Numen, 28/1, p. 2 and p. 5; and Filippi G. Giuseppe, 1996, Mrtyu, pp. 200–204. In China, the most popular annual celebration intended to enable the transfer of offerings to the deceased is the famous yulanpen 盂蘭盆 festival, which grew notably from the fourth and fifth centuries onwards. For more on this celebration, see Teiser Stephen F., 1988, Ghosts Ancestors in Medieval Chinese Religion: The Yulanpen Festival as Mortuary Ritual, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Campany calls attention to the link between the evolution of various liturgies, such as those associated with the yulanpen, and the development, in the narrative genre known as as zhiguai 志怪 (“records of strange facts”), of tales concerning demons and spirits. See Campany Robert F., 1991, “Ghosts Matter: The Culture of Ghosts in Six Dynasties Zhiguai”, Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews, 13, p. 18 and p. 34. In a later period, the practice consisting of burning paper money as an offering to the “spirits” also became very popular. The earliest record of this practice is found in the Mingbao ji 冥報記, by Tang Lin 唐臨 (601?–660); see Hou Ching-lang, 1975, Monnaies d’offrande et la notion de trésorerie dans la religion chinoise, Paris: Collège de France, Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises, p. 5.

    124 Teiser has argued that the yulanpen, in fact, was not only intended to confer benefits to the ancestors, but, in a more general manner, to all preta-s. See Teiser Stephen F., 1986, “Ghosts and Ancestors in Medieval Chinese Religion: The Yü-lan-p’en Festival as Mortuary Ritual”, History of Religions, 26/1, pp. 59–66; and Teiser Stephen F., 1988, Ghosts Ancestors in Medieval Chinese Religion, p. 218–219. The relationship between men and preta-s is thus quite different from that presented in the ZFNCJ.

    125 Cf. Wolf Arthur, 1974, “Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors”, in Arthur Wolf, ed., Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 169–176.

    126 One of the most well-known anecdotes showing this motif is that of Maudgalyāyana saving his deceased mother; see Mair Victor H., 1983, Tun-huang Popular Narratives, Cambridge, London, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 118–119.

    127 This reflects a passage found in the Jinglü yixiang 經律異相 by Baochang 寶唱 (d. early sixth c.), stating that the preta-s have the power to know human life length, but are not able to directly harm humans. However, they are capable of inciting someone else to harm other men (see T. 2121 [46], LIII, 240c25–241a9). This passage is said to be an excerpt of the juan 6 of the Piyu jing in 10 juan (Shijian Piyu jing 十卷譬喩經).

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    Fantômes dans l'Extrême-Orient d'hier et d'aujourd'hui - Tome 1

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    Digital reference of the chapter

    Format

    (牟和諦) C. M. (2017). The Thirty-Six Categories of “Hungry Ghosts” Described in the Sūtra of the Foundations of Mindfulness of the True Law. In Fantômes dans l’Extrême-Orient d’hier et d’aujourd’hui - Tome 1 (1–). Presses de l’Inalco. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pressesinalco.2120
    (牟和諦) Constantino Moretti. “The Thirty-Six Categories of ‘Hungry Ghosts’ Described in the Sūtra of the Foundations of Mindfulness of the True Law”. In Fantômes Dans l’Extrême-Orient d’hier Et d’aujourd’hui - Tome 1. Paris: Presses de l’Inalco, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pressesinalco.2120.
    (牟和諦) Constantino Moretti. “The Thirty-Six Categories of ‘Hungry Ghosts’ Described in the Sūtra of the Foundations of Mindfulness of the True Law”. Fantômes Dans l’Extrême-Orient d’hier Et d’aujourd’hui - Tome 1, Presses de l’Inalco, 2017, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pressesinalco.2120.

    Digital reference of the book

    Format

    Laureillard, M., & Durand-Dastès, V. (2017). Fantômes dans l’Extrême-Orient d’hier et d’aujourd’hui - Tome 1 (1–). Presses de l’Inalco. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pressesinalco.1274
    Laureillard, Marie, and Vincent Durand-Dastès. Fantômes dans l’Extrême-Orient d’hier et d’aujourd’hui - Tome 1. Paris: Presses de l’Inalco, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pressesinalco.1274.
    Laureillard, Marie, and Vincent Durand-Dastès. Fantômes dans l’Extrême-Orient d’hier et d’aujourd’hui - Tome 1. Presses de l’Inalco, 2017, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pressesinalco.1274.
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