Venerable Master Mengcan | The Lifespan of Ghosts is at Most Forty-Nine Days
[Translation of the Quoted Text]:
“Thus, sentient beings, through their individual actions and creations, enter the same karmic realm in this world. Deluded thoughts arise, but they are not inherently real.”
Explanation and Commentary (Translated):
Due to the differences in the karma sentient beings create—differing in time, root causes, and the nature of the actions—their experiences vary. Those with similar karma enter the same karmic realm, such as hell, while those with different karma face distinct consequences. These consequences arise from deluded thoughts and do not create substantial reality, so the karma is relatively light. If the harm caused is minor, the karma is light; if the harm is great, the karma is heavy. The karma created is not inherently existent but arises from delusion, making it lighter and easier to transcend quickly. However, heavy karma—such as killing with intense hatred or vengeful intent—carries greater weight. Killing requires hatred, as without it, one cannot act. For example, killing for wealth, where the victim refuses to give up their possessions, involves less intense hatred, resulting in lighter karma. Thus, the intensity of actions—whether killing, stealing, or sexual misconduct, committed through body, speech, or mind—greatly affects the nature of the retribution.
The Ghost Realm:
Do beings in the ghost realm still create karma? Yes, they do. The mention of ghosts immediately evokes fear, timidity, and dread. People often describe someone as “timid as a ghost,” implying cowardice or weakness. The ghost realm is one of the six realms of existence—alongside gods, humans, asuras, hell beings, and animals—and specifically relates to the intermediate state (zhongyin, or bardo). Those with extreme evil go directly to hell without passing through the ghost realm. Those with great virtue may ascend to the heavenly realms or, for practitioners like us, go to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, bypassing the ghost realm entirely if our mindfulness of the Buddha is strong. The ghost realm is primarily for those who have committed moderate evil. Severe evildoers fall into hell and may not even enter the ghost realm. However, some beings, after completing their punishment in hell, transition to the ghost realm.
After completing their sentence in hell, beings may not immediately return to the human realm but enter the ghost realm first. From hell, they may move to the hungry ghost realm, and only later to the animal realm, which involves lighter karma. After fulfilling their time in the ghost realm, they may be reborn into the world as animals. From the animal realm, as their karmic obstacles diminish and debts are repaid, they may return to the human realm. However, this human rebirth is often in degraded conditions—born in remote or lowly places, despised by others, or considered base and ignoble.
In the human realm, if one resolves to become a monastic, they transcend the human realm and enter the path of the immortals (xian) or sages through this aspiration, especially if they have already taken monastic vows.
The Ghost Realm Explained:
The Buddha clearly delineates the realms of existence. Let us focus on the ghost realm. What is a ghost? Ghosts are characterized by fear, timidity, and weakness, lacking sufficient energy. The term “ghost” (gui) derives from fear (wei), meaning “to dread.” Those who have completed their punishment in hell become ghosts. During their time in hell, sentient beings in the intermediate state (zhongyin) merge with the hell realm and are not called ghosts. After fulfilling their punishment in hell, they emerge as ghosts.
Ghosts differ from beings in the intermediate state. Those who committed great evil in life go directly to hell without passing through the ghost realm. Greatly virtuous people, even if they do not reach a pure Buddha land, ascend to the heavenly realms and also bypass the ghost realm. The ghost realm is for those who committed moderate evil. Ghosts are primarily born through transformation (huasheng), not always possessing a physical form, though some ghosts do have forms, making their nature complex. Those with karma that prevents immediate rebirth exist temporarily in the intermediate state, often as transformed beings.
Ghosts may take form through the four types of birth—womb-born, egg-born, moisture-born, or transformation-born—just like humans. Their six sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) are sharp, and their form is typically no taller than three feet, naked without clothing. They move swiftly, like the wind, and are unobstructed by physical barriers such as walls or doors, passing through them as mere shadows. The Buddha describes their form as no taller than three feet, with sharp sense faculties. The longest lifespan of a ghost is seven sets of seven days, or forty-nine days, after which they transform or “die” again. The shortest lifespan may be one or two sets of seven days, perhaps ten or more days, after which they change again, existing as mere shadows. Some ghosts, after seven days, may descend to hell or be reborn as humans, but their time in the ghost realm is short. While ghosts can arise through any of the four types of birth, many transition from the ghost realm to the animal realm.
[Translation of the Second Quoted Text]:
“Furthermore, Ananda! These sentient beings, who have not broken their precepts, violated the Bodhisattva vows, or slandered the Buddha’s Nirvana, but have committed various miscellaneous karmic actions, undergo burning through eons in hell. After their sins are exhausted, they take on the form of ghosts.”
Explanation and Commentary (Translated):
The Buddha explains to Ananda that sentient beings who fall into hell—whether monastics or laypeople who have taken the Three Refuges or Five Precepts—suffer due to breaking precepts, violating Bodhisattva vows (whether major or minor), or slandering the Buddha or Dharma. These beings, through their miscellaneous karmic actions, endure suffering in hell. After their sins are burned away through eons of torment, they complete their punishment and receive residual retribution, taking on the form of ghosts.
The Buddha categorizes sins into ten types, each leading to a specific type of ghost:
- Greed-heavy karma: Leads to greedy ghosts.
- Lust-heavy karma: Leads to wind-demon ghosts (fengba).
- Deception-heavy karma: Leads to seductive charm ghosts (meigui), often reborn as animals.
- Anger-heavy karma: Leads to poisonous insect ghosts, such as venomous worms (gu).
- Resentment-heavy karma: Leads to plague-spreading ghosts, causing infectious diseases.
- Arrogance-heavy karma: Leads to hungry ghosts.
- Delusion-heavy karma: Leads to shadowy nightmare ghosts (youyan).
- Ego-heavy karma: Leads to monstrous ghosts (wangliang, chimei).
- Fraudulent or manipulative karma: Leads to servitude ghosts.
- Litigious karma (fondness for lawsuits): Leads to messenger ghosts.
These ten categories illustrate how different habitual tendencies (xiqi) lead to specific forms of ghostly existence, each reflecting the nature of the karma created.
心念。
愛抱怨的人，磁場低，吸來全是煩事；
心裡裝的是怨氣，招來的就是爛事；
The English Heart Sutra
