Actual World MAP: Buddhist Cosmology (video)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Documentary; Hawaiian Gazette (1/11/1907); Wiki; Palikanon.com

Exaggerated curvature in NASA's CGI of our world as if seen from near-earth space

MAP: Hawaiian Gazette (Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, 1865-1918 (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov)

(Documentary) Inspired by the book Worlds Beyond the Poles, this documentary is a new look at our universe. We see the earth is flat, but we are told not to believe our eyes. Instead, we are shown CGIs (computer generated images) by NASA to confuse us. The book is nonfiction, based on observable facts. Might it explain the "stars" and "planets," and how we can get there? If true, it means there are many lands with (human) life.

Worlds Beyond the Poles

Worlds Beyond the Poles

The pages of Worlds Beyond the Poles contain the first and only description of the real world of land, water, and vegetation, where human and other forms of life abound. This is a work of nonfiction. It is a simple recital of fact that transcends the most elaborate fictions ever conceived. It projects our first understanding of the factual and endless universe that contains human life throughout its vast length and width, despite abstract theories to the contrary. It is the view of the author that the earth is a plane (rather than a globe planet) and stationary as the Judeo-Christian Bible states. It includes original illustrations.
 

The Northwest Passage is opening up in the warming world of Jambudvipa (AP).

This is a modern, colorized 3D map of the Hawaiian Islands (USGS)

Terra incognita is a strange place, Unknown Land. Where is it? It was once all around. Now it is Antarctica and beyond. How can there be a beyond if the world is a sphere, a ball, a globe? There can't.

Our world must be some other shape, contoured. Ancient Buddhist and other sacred texts certainly do not describe a ball traveling in midair while spinning at 1,000 MPH without sloshing its water. They describe a series of mountain rings and lands unexplored. The Buddha described them.

Chart of Buddhism's 31 Planes of Existence

A Buddhist cosmogony is not lacking. It agrees in large part with that of other religions, if only being more detailed or inclusive. The Buddha disclosed the world as have 31 "planes." These are not singular worlds but worlds alongside similar worlds. They move up an order of magnitude, and in that next plane there are many worlds. There are, therefore, countless worlds extending out in all directions or in ten-thousandfold directions.

Discussion of this human plane should not be misunderstood, as has for so long been the case, as being limited to earth. There are many worlds within the human plane. They are similar in their cycles, going through things as we go through them. The world, this earth, this planet was described as rings of mountains around a central mountain call "Good Meru," Mt. Sumeru.

Buddhist cosmology

What is the shape of this world if the nearby sun leaves a hot spot on the ocean?

What did Marilyn Monroe know about the Mercator [Inner-Ring] Projection Map? Not much.

The world-mountain Sumeru is an immense, strangely shaped peak that arises in the center of the world, and around which the Sun and Moon revolve.

Its base rests in a vast ocean, and it is surrounded by several rings of lesser mountain ranges and oceans.

These three worlds are all located on, or around, Mt. Sumeru: the World of the Thirty-Three (Trāyastriṃśa devas) live on its peak; the The Four Great Space Kings (Cāturmahārājikakāyika devas) live on its slopes; the Titans (Asuras) live in the ocean at its base.

Mt. Sumeru and its surrounding oceans and mountains are the home not just of these beings but also vast assemblies of beings of popular mythology who only rarely intrude on the human world.

Earth

Stay in your world. We'll stay in ours (WQ).

Manuṣya-loka is the world of humans and human-like beings who live on the surface of the earth. [Agartha in name of the inner or middle earth.]

The mountain-rings that gird Mt. Sumeru (not the Himalayas) are surrounded by a vast ocean or oceans, which fill most of the world. The ocean is in turn surrounded by a circular mountain wall called Chakra-vāḍa (Cakka-vāḷa) which marks the horizontal limit of the world.

In this ocean there are four "continents" or great land masses which are, relatively speaking, small "islands" (dvipas or lights) in it. Because of the immenseness of the ocean, they cannot be reached from each other by ordinary sailing vessels.

• The World-Ruler Mahasudassana Sutra

But in the past, when the "world rulers" (cakra-vartins) ruled, communication between the continents was possible by means of the treasure called the chakra-ratna (cakka-ratana), which seems to refer to a spaceship, "flying saucer," vimana), which a cakra-vartin and retinue can use to fly through the air between the lands/continents.

Cakkaratana with anti-gravity propulsion

• Wheel Treasure (cakka-ratana): One of the seven treasures of a world ruler. When a world ruler is born into the world, this treasure appears from its home/storage (cakkadaha) traveling through the air/space (J.iv.232, but see Vepulla). It is the world ruler's chief symbol of office; on its appearance the ruler sprinkles it with water and asks it to travel to the various quarters of the world, winning/conquering them [into a kind of peacefully won empire, perhaps by intimidation of this craft's imposing might]. This it does, carrying with it through the air the world ruler and a fourfold army. Wherever the world ruler halts, all the chiefs of that quarter acclaim the world ruler as their overlord and declare their allegiance. Having thus traversed the four quarters of the earth, it returns to the world ruler's capital and remains fixed as an ornament on the open terrace in front of the world ruler's inner apartments/residence (D.ii.173f; M.iii.173ff). The Commentaries (e.g., DA.ii.617ff; MA.ii.942ff) contain lengthy descriptions of it: It is shaped like a wheel, its nave is of sapphire, the center of which shines like the orb of the moon, and around it is a band of silver. [That sounds like a flying saucer all right.] It has one thousand spokes, each ornamented with various decorations; its tyre is of bright coral; within every tenth spoke is a coral staff, hollow inside, which produces the sounds of the fivefold musical instruments when blown upon by the wind. On the staff is a white parasol [which definitely looks like a standard flying saucer in all depictions, ancient and modern], on either side of which are festoons of flowers. When the wheel moves, it appears like three wheels moving one within the other ["wheels within wheels," as the biblical reference goes]. When a world ruler dies or leaves the world, it disappears from the sight of humans for seven days; it gives warning of the ruler's impending death by slipping from its place some time before the event (D.iii.59f.; MA.ii.885). When a successor has lived righteously for seven days, it reappears (D.iii.64). It is the most precious and the most honored thing in the world (UdA.356).

The four "continents" or lands are:
 

1. Jambudvīpa (Jambudīpa) is located in the south and is the dwelling of ordinary human beings. It is said to be shaped "like a cart," or rather a blunt-nosed triangle with the point facing south. (This description echoes the shape of the southern coastline of India). It is 10,000 yojanas in extent (Vibhajyavāda tradition) or has a perimeter of 6,000 yojanas (Sarvāstivāda tradition) to which can be added the southern coast of only 3  ¹⁄₂ yojanas' length. The continent takes its name from a giant Jambu tree (Syzygium cumini), 100 yojanas tall, which grows in the middle of the continent. Every continent has one of these giant trees. All Buddhas appear in Jambudvīpa. The people here are five to six feet tall and their length of life varies between 10 years and 10 to the power of 140 years (10¹⁴⁰, Asankya Aayu, an "incalculable" period).

2. Pūrvavideha (Pubbavideha) is located in the east and is shaped like a semicircle with the flat side pointing westward (i.e., towards Sumeru). It is 7,000 yojanas in extent (Vibhajyavāda tradition) and has a perimeter of 6,350 yojanas of which the flat side is 2,000 yojanas long (Sarvāstivāda tradition). Its tree is the acacia. The people here are about 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, and they live for 250 years.
 

3. Aparagodānīya (Aparagoyāna) is located in the west and is shaped like a circle with a circumference of about 7,500 yojanas (Sarvāstivāda tradition). The tree of this continent is a giant kadamba tree. The human inhabitants of this continent do not live in houses but sleep on the ground. They are about 24 feet (7.3 m) tall, and they live for 500 years.

4. Uttarakuru (Uttarakuru) is located in the north and is shaped like a square. It has a perimeter of 8,000 yojanas, being 2,000 yojanas on each side. This continent's tree is called a kalpavṛkṣa (kapparukkha) or kalpa-tree, because it lasts for the entire kalpa (an average lifespan, 1000 years here, rather than an aeon). The inhabitants of Uttarakuru have cities built in the air/space. They are said to be extraordinarily wealthy, not needing to labor for a living -- as their food grows by itself -- and having no private property. They are about 48 feet (15 m) tall and live for 1,000 years, and they are under the protection of the Sky King Vaiśravaṇa.

Mythological maps of our Earth (video)

Devin Madgy (video, Jan. 3, 2017); Pat Macpherson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Is our Earth a contoured disc or flat with a cracked dome called the firmament and its rift? Let's see what other cultures believed before we forced our Western theory onto them. Where is the entrance to Agartha, "Middle Earth," and the levels beneath the surface home of its real inhabitants as opposed to us the outliers on the exposed surface?

What do the world's mythologies say about the flat Earth, its dome, Sun, Moon, stars, planets, satellites, rainbows, the Great Flood, the Black Sun, the North Star Polaris, and another urge to engage in Blood Over Intent, our spiritual currency into the center of the plane -- our Divine Destination? Music by Devin Madgy. Email me directly at hauntedgraffiti1@gmail.com.

NOTE: For anyone new to Earth being flat Earth, this is NOT the video to watch! Watch the evidence videos first by presenters like Eric Dubay. Then Come back after you've digested that mind blowing work. Those channels are designed to lift the curtain and explain the theory from the ground up. In any case, I do not base my argument in this video on there being a flat Earth. This is other research. Some of this information is purely speculative, which I distinguish while I am presenting it. Please feel free to mirror any of my videos on your channel with a link back to mine.

Where is the center of the world? Mt. Sumeru

Cho (Chotography on Facebook); Seven Dharmachari, Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist cosmology: Mt. Sumerus run through the center of "world-systems" or galaxies like our own and are surrounded by "continents" or planetary clusters (Wisdom Quarterly).

 

QUESTION: Where is Mount Sumeru? (Great Meru)

ANSWER: Sumeru is the name of the galactic center in Buddhist cosmology. So it is in the center of the Milky Way as seen from outside of it, a sight attainable through meditative development.
  

Cosmology in a sand mandala (Wonderlane) 

As the insert suggests, it is analogous to the main tower (1).  
  
Mandalas such as those used as the foundation for Buddhist temples, such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Boudanath in Nepal, are laid out in a pattern reflecting the Buddhist conception of our world in the multiverse.
  

Boudanath Mandala/Pagoda, Nepal (Gulmuhor)

Known categories and worlds (general spheres and particular planes) are depicted as concentric circles and levels, with pagodas (elaborate reliquaries or stupas) emulating the central pole, the world tree or world axis (Axis Mundi), which is Sumeru. 
  
Mt. Sumeru could never refer to a mountain on this planet, which may have its own mini Meru in the invisible lines of magnetic force emanating from the poles of this living Bhumi (Gaia). 
  
Of course, all of this is speculative and remains unsettled.

 
The first problem is determining the meaning of a popular ancient Indian measure of distance, the yojana. The most sensible meaning is the distance a draught ox can travel before needing to be un-yoked. This is or was roughly seven miles in agrarian Greater India (Bharat). Even then it was a colloquial generalization, never an exact measure.
   

Space with innumerable inhabited worlds in all 10,000 directions (wallpapervortex.com)

 

But it is what the Buddha and others used as a well understood convention. Exact measures are given of the height of Sumeru and the distance to other mountain ranges extending out with "oceans," certainly bodies of space rather than briny terrestrial waters, between them. 
 
Likewise the "continents," as also shown in the insert (2-5), are habitable worlds (lokas, worlds) on this "human" plane, with its ill-born, ghosts, titans, animals of all kinds, humans, devas, and brahmas.

• ANOTHER VIEW: Mt. Sumeru as North Pole
  Thank you to Cho, who recently responded to Wisdom Quarterly's 2008 speculative article on Sumeru as the North Pole, with further information and a graphic illustrating the likelihood that Mt. Sumerus in fact refer to galactic cores.

Billion new stars discovered

Discovery uncovers a billion new stars
The Web is abuzz about space, thanks to a major universe finding and a space station "man cave." Robot butler? - Legendary X-15 pilot dies - The space station - The size of the universe

• Space for $600, White-Chinese mummies, "Life"
• Want a good look at Mars? Time's running out

The Brain and the Universe

31 Planes of Existence (charts)

Susan Elbaum Jootla (Buddhist Publication Society, Wheel 414/416)

Tibetan mandala Kalachakra cosmogony (buddismnews.blogspot.com)

The Buddhist universe consists of thirty-one planes of existence (see chart). Every being lives on one or another of these planes. After death all beings, except arahants, will be reborn in a realm and under circumstances that accords with their karma — their volitional actions of body, speech, and mind willed and accumulated in that or any previous existence.

The lowest area (Planes 1-11) is called the Sensuous Sphere; sense experience predominates. Next comes the Fine-material Sphere (12-27) attained by practicing the fine-material absorptions (rupa-jhanas). Above that is the Immaterial Sphere (28-31) attained by practicing the immaterial absorptions (arupa-jhanas).

Although humans appear to be rather low on the scale, many intelligent deities long for rebirth on this plane. Why? The human world provides the best opportunity to practice the Dharma and attain liberation: On the lower four planes, little progress can be made because suffering is gross and unrelenting and the opportunity to perform deeds of merit is rarely gained. The very bliss of the higher planes beclouds the universal characteristics of all phenomena (impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and the lack of any lasting, controlling self). And without fully comprehending these principles, there is no motivation to develop the detachment from the Round of Rebirth that is essential to liberation.

31 Planes of Existence (Theravada)

The inescapable law of karma guarantees that each and every one of our actions — whether it be of body, speech, or mind — has consequences in line with the skillfulness or unskillfulness of that action. We can often witness this process firsthand in our own lives, even if the effects may not be immediately apparent.

But the Buddha also taught that our actions have effects that extend far beyond our present life, determining the quality of rebirth we can expect after death: act in wholesome, skillful ways and you are destined for a favorable rebirth; act in unwholesome, unskillful ways and an unpleasant rebirth awaits. Thus we coast for aeons through Samsara, propelled from one birth to the next by the quality of our choices and our actions.

The sutras describe thirty-one distinct "planes" or "realms" of existence into which beings can be reborn during this long wandering through samsara. These range from the extraordinarily dark, grim, and painful hell realms all the way up to the most sublime, refined, and exquisitely blissful heaven realms. Existence in every realm is impermanent; in Buddhist cosmology there is no eternal heaven or hell. Beings are born into a particular realm according to both their past karma and their karma at the moment of death. When the karmic force that propelled them to that realm is finally exhausted, they pass away, taking rebirth once again elsewhere according to their karma. And so the wearisome cycle continues.

The realms of existence are customarily divided into three distinct "worlds" (lokas), listed here in descending order of refinement:

The Immaterial World (arupa-loka). Consists of four realms that are accessible to those who pass away while meditating in the formless jhanas.

The Fine-Material World (rupa-loka). Consists of sixteen realms whose inhabitants (the devas) experience extremely refined degrees of mental pleasure. These realms are accessible to those who have attained at least some level of jhana and who have thereby managed to (temporarily) suppress hatred and ill-will. They are said to possess extremely refined bodies of pure light. The highest of these realms, the Pure Abodes, are accessible only to those who have attained to "non-returning," the third stage of Awakening. The Fine-Material World and the Immaterial World together constitute the "heavens" (sagga).

The Sensuous World (kama-loka). Consists of eleven realms in which experience — both pleasurable and not — is dominated by the five senses. Seven of these realms are favorable destinations, and include our own human realm as well as several realms occupied by devas. The lowest realms are the four "bad" destinations, which include the animal and hell realms.

It is pointless to debate whether these realms are real or simply fanciful metaphors that describe the various mind-states we might experience in this lifetime. The real message of this cosmology is this: unless we take steps to break free of the iron grip of kamma, we are doomed to wander aimlessly from one state to another, with true peace and satisfaction forever out of reach. The Buddha's revolutionary discovery came in finding that there is a way to break free: the Noble Eightfold Path, which equips us with precisely the tools we need to escape from this wearisome wandering, once and for all, to a true and unshakeable freedom.

The information here was assembled from a variety of sources. In the interest of economizing space each fact is not attributed to its respective source.

I. The Immaterial World
(31) Neither-perception-nor-non-perception. The inhabitants of these realms are possessed entirely of mind. Having no physical body, they are unable to hear Dharma teachings. Attained by the cultivating the Fourth formless jhana
(30) Nothingness, the Void, attained through the Third formless jhana
(29) Infinite Consciousness, attained through the Second formless jhana
(28) Infinite Space, attained through the First formless jhana

II. The Fine-Material World
(27) Peerless devas. These are the five Pure Abodes, which are accessible only to non-returners (anagami) and arahants. Beings who become non-returners in other planes are reborn here, where they attain enlightenment. Among its inhabitants is Brahma Sahampati, who requested the Buddha to teach Dharma to the world (SN 6.1). Attained by Fourth form jhana. See, for example, AN 4.123.
(26) Clear-sighted devas.
(25) Beautiful devas.
(24) Untroubled devas.
(23) Devas not Falling Away.
(22) Unconscious beings, only body is present; no mind.
(21) Very Fruitful devas. Beings in these planes enjoy varying degrees of jhanic bliss.
(20) Devas of Refulgent Glory. Attained through Third form jhana (highest degree). See, for example, AN 4.123.
(19) Devas of Unbounded Glory. Attained through Third form jhana (medium degree)
(18) Devas of Limited Glory. Attained through Third form jhana (minor degree)
(17) Devas of Streaming Radiance. Attained through Second form jhana (highest degree). See, for example, AN 4.123.
(16) Devas of Unbounded Radiance. Attained through Second form jhana (medium degree).
(15) Devas of Limited Radiance. Second form jhana (minor degree)
(14) Great Brahmas [gods]. One of this realm's most famous inhabitants is the Maha Brahma, a deity whose delusion leads him to regard himself as the all-powerful, all-seeing creator of the universe (DN 11). Attained through the First form jhana (highest degree).
(13) Ministers of Brahma. Beings in these planes enjoy varying degrees of jhanic bliss. Attained through First form jhana (medium degree).
(12) Retinue of Brahma. Attained through First form jhana (minor degree). See, for example, AN 4.123.

III. The Sensuous World
(11) Devas Wielding Power over the Creation of Others. These devas enjoy sense pleasures created by others for them. Mara, the personification of delusion and desire, lives here. Rebirth here is attained through:
° Ten wholesome actions (MN 41)
° Generosity
° The development of virtue and wisdom (AN 10.177)

(10) Devas Delighting in Creation. These devas delight in the sense objects of their own creation.
(9) Contented devas (Tusita deva world). A realm of pure delight and gaiety. Bodhisattas abide here prior to their final human birth. This is where the bodhisatta Maitreya (Metteya), the next buddha, is said to dwell.
(8) Yama devas. These devas live in the air, free of all difficulties.
(7) The Thirty-three Gods (Tavatimsa deva world). Sakka, a devotee of the Buddha, presides over this realm. Many devas dwelling here live in "mansions" in the air.

Original art by Howard David Johnson: www.howarddavidjohnson.com/pixies.htm
(6) Devas of the Four Great Kings [corresponding to the four cardinal directions]. Home of the gandhabbas, or celestial musicians, and [bhumi-devas, "earthbound devas," and] yakkhas. These are tree spirits of varying degrees of ethical purity, whereas the latter are analogous to the goblins, trolls, and fairies of Western fairy tales.

Bhumi-devas, yakkhas, gandhabbas (note Fly agaric mushrooms) by H.D. Johnson.
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(5) Human beings (manussa loka). You are here (for now). Rebirth as a human being is extraordinarily rare (SN 56.48). It is also extraordinarily precious, as its balance of pleasure and pain (SN 35.135) facilitates the development of virtue and wisdom to the degree necessary to set one free from the entire cycle of rebirths. Rebirth attained through:

° The development of virtue and wisdom (AN 10.177)
° The attainment of stream-entry (sotapatti) guarantees that all future rebirths will be in human or higher realms.

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States of Deprivation
(4) Asuras. The demons — literally, "titans" — that dwell here are engaged in relentless conflict with each other.
° Ten unwholesome actions (MN 10)
(3) Hungry Ghosts (peta loka). Ghosts and unhappy spirits wander about this realm, searching in vain for sensual fulfillment. Read Ajaan Lee's colorful description of this realm.
° Ten unwholesome actions (MN 10)
° Lack of virtue, holding to wrong views (AN 10.177)
(2) Animals. This realm includes all the non-human forms of life that are visible to us under ordinary circumstances: animals, insects, fish, birds, worms, etc.
° Ten unwholesome actions (MN 10)
° Lack of virtue, holding to wrong views. If one is generous to monks and nuns, however, one may be reborn as an "ornamented" animal (i.e., a bird with bright plumage; a horse with attractive markings, etc.; AN 10.177).
° Behaving like an animal (MN 57)
(1) Hells (niraya). These are realms of unimaginable suffering and anguish (described in graphic detail in MN 129 and 130). They should not, however, be confused with the "eternal" hell proposed by other religions, since one's time here is — as it is in every realm — temporary. They are correct in saying that the lifespans here are seeming eternities. They can last aeons. Rebirth here is attained through:
° Ten unwholesome actions (MN 10)
° Lack of virtue, holding to wrong views (AN 10.177)
° Murdering your parents, murdering an arahant, injuring a Buddha, or creating a schism in the Sangha (AN 5.129)
° Being quarrelsome and annoying to others (Snp II.6)

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Depiction of hell, Angkor Wat, Cambodia (note similarity to later Western conceptions).

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Access to Insight edition © 2005. For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted, and redistributed in any medium. It is the author's wish, however, that any such republication and redistribution be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and that translations and other derivative works be clearly marked as such.

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OTHER ART: heavenly deva from www.kheper.net; fine-material devas from veda.krishna.com; earth-devas by H.D. Johnson; Bartolomeo's Map of Hell; trolls or ogres from cartoonstock.com.

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More details (such as full list of Pali place names) at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sagga/loka.html

"Hungry Ghosts" as Metaphor

Detail from Scroll of Hungry Ghosts depicting ghosts devouring corpses in a graveyard.

Hungry Ghosts and Rational Faith

(By John Remy, Posted January 28th, 2008)

"A few years back, I took a graduate course called 'Japanese Ghosts.' It was a fascinating blend of cultural, folklore, literary, feminist, political, and religious studies. One article argued against the common assumption among academics that the pre-modern world view was somehow less rational than our own and brought in hungry ghosts (Japanese: gaki 六道, Sanskrit: preta) to support this assertion.

"In medieval Japan, there were many influences on cosmology, but the Buddhist concept of the Six Realms of rebirth (rokudô 六道) was a powerful one. Depending on your karma in this life, you could be reborn into anything from paradise to hell, including the in between states of animals and hungry ghosts. Hungry ghosts had a pretty bad lot. It wasn’t quite as bad as the many Buddhist hells, which included the familiar Christian themes of fire and brimstone and demons jabbing poor souls in the groin with pointy things, but one-upped them with creative tortures like drowning in pools of menstrual blood (apparently all women who reached puberty qualified for this punishment) and getting devoured from the inside-out by disease and insects (reserved for merchants who watered down their sake). Hungry ghosts got to hang out in our world, trying to force organic garbage, fecal matter, and dead bodies through impossibly thin throats into bellies swollen with hunger.

"Buddhism dominated the intellectual world of medieval Japan. It was of great antiquity, had been transmitted to Japan through the long established Chinese and Indian civilizations, and had a huge canon of complex philosophical and theological support. Given this intellectual framework (and the apparent lack of microscopes), it’s not surprising that some Japanese speculated that hungry ghosts were responsible for nibbling at feces, corpses and last week’s bad tofu. This happened even when you protected the repugnant stuff from insects. Something had to be eating at it, and Buddhism provided yet another convenient and entirely rational explanation for the unseen world...." (Read entire post, view scroll: SOURCE).

A worshipper dressed in a costume as "Ba Ye" dances during the Cheng Huang Ye parade as part of the Hungry Ghost Festival or "Zhong Yuan Jie" in Hsinchu August 26, 2007. It is believed by worshippers that the gates of Hell are opened during the month and the dead ancestors return to visit their relatives. The Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated every year during the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar (Reuters).

"In Tibetan Buddhism, 'hungry ghosts' (Pali petas; Sanskrit pretas) have their own realm depicted on the Wheel of Life (Bhava-cakra). They are represented as teardrop or paisley-shaped with bloated stomachs and necks too thin to pass food. Attempting to eat is therefore incredibly painful. Some are described as having "mouths the size of a needle's eye and a stomach the size of a mountain." This is a metaphor for people futilely attempting to fulfill their illusory physical desires.

The idea of ghosts in many cultures and religions seems over emphasized -- given that we do not often SEE ghosts, if at all. The Secret of the Golden Flower, the Chinese meditation classic, states that "If we do not meditate for a day, then we become a ghost for that day." This stuck with me, as I have always had trouble keeping my daily practice consistent. This idea implies that if we do not practice becoming closer to our natural physical bodies, we enter a "ghost world" of floating bodiless. And we're "hungry ghosts" because a lack of meditation will condition our hungry desires to surface.

This has illustrated the world of "hungry ghosts" a lot better for me, and it puts the mystical idea into a practical, observable context. It seems one frequently encounters "hungry ghosts" in society, who encourage us to leave our physical body behind and drift with them looking for trash to "eat." (Source: Wikipedia & a-path.livejournal.com/)

Recent Chinese-American celebrations, San Gabriel, California

Original Concept of Hungry Ghost

(Petavatthu 1.5 translated by Ven. Thanissaro, www.acesstoinsight.org)

Outside the walls they stand,
and at crossroads.
At door posts they stand,
returning to their old homes.

But when a meal with plentiful food and drink is served,
no one remembers them:
Such is the karma of living beings.

Thus those who feel sympathy for their dead relatives
give timely donations of proper food and drink
— exquisite, clean —

[thinking:] "May this be for our relatives.
May our relatives be happy!"
And those who have gathered there,
the assembled shades of the relatives,
with appreciation give their blessing
for the plentiful food & drink:
"May our relatives live long
because of whom we have gained [this gift].
We have been honored,
and the donors are not without reward!"
For there [in their realm] there's
no farming,
no herding of cattle,
no commerce,
no trading with money.
They live on what is given here,
hungry shades,
whose time here is done.
As water raining on a hill
flows down to the valley,
even so does what is given here
benefit the dead.
As rivers full of water
fill the ocean full,
even so does what is given here
benefit the dead.
"He gave to me, she acted on my behalf,
they were my relatives, companions, friends":
Offerings should be given for the dead
when one reflects thus
on things done in the past.
For no weeping,
no sorrowing
no other lamentation
benefits the dead
whose relatives persist in that way.
But when this offering is given, well-placed in the Sangha,
it works for their long-term benefit
and they profit immediately.
In this way the proper duty to relatives has been shown,
great honor has been done to the dead,
and [monastics] have been given strength:
The merit you've acquired
is not small.