Inner Practice: Hungry Ghost Festival, Cravings and Desires

The lunar seventh month lasting from 16 August 2023 till 14 September 2023 is also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival. During this period, it is believed that the hell gates are opened, and hungry ghosts are set free for a month to roam the earthly human realm.

So who are the hungry ghosts?

It is recorded in traditional texts that they are beings that have large, bloated, empty bellies yet their necks are as thin as straws, their mouths are tiny and their limbs are limp and weak. Because of the empty large bellies, they are always hungry. But whenever they attempt to put food into their tiny mouths, the food will turn into hot coals that are impossible to swallow on top of the fact that their necks are narrow as straws.

While it is out of this context to discuss whether these beings truly exist, it is noteworthy that any being can traverse between the different realms of existence by embodying the characteristics of beings in that realm. The hungry ghosts depict a domain of addiction which can arise in any human beings when we constantly seek for something outside to curb an insatiable yearning for relief or fulfilment. In other words, the state of hungry ghosts is when we keep wanting something but we do not actually know what we are desiring. Because cravings and desires burn, it causes us pain, tears and drama that are all packaged as part of the human experience.