Preta

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Preta

A Burmese depiction of hungry ghosts (pyetta).
Grouping	Legendary creature
Sub grouping	Nocturnal, revenant
Similar entities	Ancestor spirits, krasue
Folklore	Indian religions Chinese folk religion Taoism Vietnamese folk religion
Other name(s)	Hungry ghost
Region	East, South and Southeast Asia
Habitat	Hinduism shmashanas or cemetery Buddhism Hungry Ghost Realm

Preta (Sanskrit: प्रेत, Standard Tibetan: ཡི་དྭགས་ yi dags), also known as hungry ghost, is the Sanskrit name for a type of supernatural being described in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religion as undergoing suffering greater than that of humans, particularly an extreme level of hunger and thirst.^[1] They have their origins in Indian religions and have been adopted into East Asian religions via the spread of Buddhism. Preta is often translated into English as "hungry ghost" from the Chinese and East Asian adaptations. In early sources such as the Petavatthu, they are much more varied. The descriptions below apply mainly in this narrower context. The development of the concept of the preta started with just thinking that it was the soul and ghost of a person once they died, but later the concept developed into a transient state between death and obtaining karmic reincarnation in accordance with the person's fate.^[2] In order to pass into the cycle of karmic reincarnation, the deceased's family must engage in a variety of rituals and offerings to guide the suffering spirit into its next life.^[2] If the family does not engage in these funerary rites, which last for one year, the soul could remain suffering as a preta for the rest of eternity.^[2]

Pretas are believed to have been false, corrupted, compulsive, deceitful, jealous or greedy people in a previous life. As a result of their karma, they are afflicted with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object. Traditionally, this is something repugnant or humiliating, such as cadavers or feces, though in more recent stories, it can be anything, however bizarre.^[3] In addition to having insatiable hunger for an aversive item, pretas are said to have disturbing visions.^[4] Pretas and human beings occupy the same physical space and while humans looking at a river would see clear water, pretas see the same river flowing with an aversive substance; common examples of such visions include pus and filth.^[4]

Through the belief and influence of Hinduism and Buddhism in much of Asia, preta figure appear prominently in the cultures of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.