Stories of Ghosts from the Petavatthu

Most of us are able to see beings who have been reborn in the human realm and many of the beings born in the animal realm. But it is very rare to have the opportunity to witness for ourselves the suffering experienced by those beings born in the ghost realm. Our great teacher, the Supreme Buddha, had an excellent knowledge and vision to be able to see these beings as well as the action that led to the suffering that they experience. In this book, Stories of Ghosts, we can learn about many kinds of ghosts and the bad actions they did to be reborn in the ghost world.Some ghosts had done bad actions with their body, such as the former deer hunter who, in the ghost world, was torn to shreds by dogs day after day. Other ghosts had done bad things with their speech, such as the ghost who had the mouth of a pig. Even our mental actions can lead to rebirth as a ghost. In this book you will learn about the ghost who held many wrong views and because of that was eventually going to be born in hell for many eons. Some ghosts experience suffering because of not doing things such as practicing generosity.Because it is not easy to see the results of our own actions immediately, the information in this book will help us to make wise choices about what we do and don’t do. (This book is a translation of Buddhist scriptures found in the Sutta Pitaka, preserved in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.)