About Ghost Part 6 …..,,
IV. The World of Ghosts and the Human Life
In this universe, there are respective worlds for the ten Dharma Realms (Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Pratyekabuddhas, Sravakas, and the six realms mentioned earlier). There are the Buddhas' worlds such as the world of the Eastern Pure Land of Azure Radiance and that of the Western Pure Land of Bliss. Heavenly beings have their worlds subdivided into three realms and twenty-eight heavens. We human beings have our world with the three oceans and five continents. Among human beings there are different races with different body types. Some of us are rich and some poor, some are smart and some are a little slow.
Animals, too, have their worlds; some of them fly in the air, others walk on the ground and still others swim in the ocean. In the same way, the ghosts in hell have many different ways of being. Ghosts live in a world something like the one people live in. They have families, and they have to work to maintain themselves. Some of them are rich while others are poor.
Their world, too, has disputes and grievances.
Ghosts have many different sorts of characters; some of them are violent and cruel, but some of them are kind and good.
Ghosts and human beings actually live very close to one another. Not all ghosts live in hell.
They are right here with us, to the left and right of us. You do not have to travel to hell to find ghosts because ghosts are all over the place, right here in our world. What kinds of ghosts live in our world? Look around you. Everywhere you can see people who abuse drugs, who waste themselves away in sexual indulgence, who harm others, who commit violent acts, who rob and steal and murder. Are these people not worse than ghosts? Are we not all tempted at times to be like ghosts ourselves, to withhold help when it is needed, to turn away when we see something wrong, to be suspicious, to speak badly about our friends, to be gluttonous and mean spirited when we know full well what the right thing to do is? It really is true that "human ghosts" can be much worse than the ghosts in hell.
When we think of ghosts, we usually only think of asking a monk to come to our homes and bless them, but we often do not think of blessing the "ghosts" of our world. When ghosts are blessed and delivered from suffering, we can all enjoy peace in our minds and in our dwellings.
Likewise, when "human ghosts" are delivered, morality would be elevated and our society can become peaceful. How should we proceed to deliver those "human ghosts"? The Buddhist methods include taking refuge in the Triple Gem, upholding the Five Precepts, practicing the Six Paramitas (perfections), and performing the Ten Virtues. Truly taking refuge in the Triple Gem can bring deliverance as follows: taking refuge in the Buddha means never falling into the hell realm; taking refuge in the Dharma means never falling into the animal realm; taking refuge in the Sangha means never falling into the hungry ghost realm. If all of us would uphold the Five Precepts of Buddhism—no killing, no stealing, no sexual indulgence, no harsh words and no drugs or alcohol—we would all be much farther from evil. We would no longer be planting new seeds of evil that one day might cause us to be reborn in the realm of hell or to become evil ghosts.
In this modern world, evil is present all around us. If for any reason any of you ever becomes tainted by any of that evil, please come quickly to Buddhism to purify yourself. If all of us would devote ourselves to promoting social values, to supporting education, to helping others and to raising the level of society's kindness, then all "human ghosts" would soon be freed from their sufferings.
Thank everyone of you for coming tonight. I hope that by our efforts, society can be purged of ghosts and that every person will become a moral and upright human being. Instead of thinking about ghosts, people should think about the Buddha. Instead of acting like ghosts, people should discover the Buddha nature inside them. Then this human realm will become like the Pure Land and none of us will have to worry about hell anymore
Source
http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/A_discussion_on_Ghosts
Categories: Buddhist TermsGhosts
End
7 August 2023
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