Chapter 6: Hungry Ghost Realm

The so-called "Hungry Ghosts" are actually those fellows who spend most of their time in a state of hunger. Hungry Ghosts are born with a bottomless stomach; no matter what they eat, they can only stave off hunger for a brief moment, and after just a short while, their bellies are growling with hunger again. Therefore, most of a Hungry Ghost's life is spent searching for food. Yet despite this, finding food is no easy matter. In the world of Hungry Ghosts, food is always limited, while Hungry Ghosts are endless, and this gives rise to the first interesting phenomenon in the Hungry Ghost Realm: "Hundred Ghosts Competing for Food."

At dawn, all the Hungry Ghosts are forced to wake before the Competing for Food, because they know that if they are even slightly late, they are bound to go hungry. The awakened Hungry Ghosts gather in an orderly manner at the Competing for Food Field, waiting for the competition to begin. Soon, the first food appears in the Competing for Food Field, and the Hungry Ghosts, as if receiving a divine command, madly rush toward the center of the field, fighting for that glorious meal that belongs to the victor.

Look! That Hungry Ghost is running on all fours, charging fearlessly like a greedy fierce tiger.

And look at that one over there! Those bloodthirsty eyes and frenzied steps make it absolutely the finest among Hungry Ghosts! The Hungry Ghosts spare no effort, crushing those of their own kind who dare to compete with them for the fruits of victory, and pocketing the ultimate triumph for themselves. One Hungry Ghost has already seized the food in its hands, but another Hungry Ghost follows closely behind, mercilessly delivering a fatal blow to the food-controlling Hungry Ghost. The howls of the Hungry Ghosts and the sounds of anguished struggle reach their climax at this moment… As one Hungry Ghost after another falls, the victor finally emerges. The other Hungry Ghosts are either cowed by his overbearing might and dare not continue to fight, or are already exhausted and unable to compete. The victor greedily savors his feast, while the losers can only go hungry and wait for the next round of Competing for Food to begin. Among them, there are no few Hungry Ghosts who have grown so weak with hunger that they know they can no longer obtain any food in the Competing for Food. At this point, they are compelled to make another choice, and thus the second interesting phenomenon of the Hungry Ghost Realm appears: the "Hungry Ghost Casino."

This is one of the ways Hungry Ghosts can obtain food without going through the Competing for Food, and the rules are very simple. Hungry Ghosts wager either food or a part of their own bodies; if they win, they receive an equivalent stake from the other side. Those Hungry Ghosts who are starving beyond endurance yet possess nothing will wager an arm or a leg. If they win, they can have a full meal; if they lose, they will correspondingly lose an arm or a leg. In the Hungry Ghost Realm, basically every day one can see Hungry Ghosts wagering parts of their own bodies because of hunger. Some Hungry Ghosts are lucky enough to enjoy a full meal, and naturally there are also those whose luck is poor and who lose a part of their bodies. Those who are lucky often grow drunk with success and gradually become unlucky ones. And those who are unlucky, because of their physical disability, find it even harder to defeat other Hungry Ghosts in the Competing for Food to obtain food, and in the end, after losing both hands and feet, they can only starve to death. Whether it was their opponents in the Hungry Ghost Casino who devoured their bodies, or the Hungry Ghosts' own desires that devoured themselves, is unknown. In short, in the Hungry Ghost Casino there is no such thing as a winner; if one insists there is, it is not the Hungry Ghosts. Some Hungry Ghosts grow weary of the Competing for Food and the Casino, and they try to choose another way of life, giving rise to the third interesting phenomenon in the Hungry Ghost Realm: the "Lonely Tavern."

There is a kind of Hungry Ghost who is weary of the endless struggle in the Competing for Food, and also weary of the rule of mutual slaughter in the Casino. So they calm down and begin to ponder why the lives of Hungry Ghosts are the way they are. These Hungry Ghosts would often rather endure hunger than frequent the Hungry Ghost Tavern, pouring drinks for themselves and contemplating the meaning of life. For them, loneliness and confusion have become things more fatal than hunger itself. Yet to seek the meaning of life in a world where Hungry Ghosts survive—its difficulty is imaginable. What is the reason? In the world of Hungry Ghosts, all Hungry Ghosts spend most of their lives searching for food. Therefore, the entertainment activities in the Hungry Ghost world all focus on giving Hungry Ghosts pleasure in the shortest possible time. Hungry Ghosts have no time to waste; after obtaining pleasure in the briefest moment, they throw themselves back into the endless cycle of searching for food. Yet such brief pleasure is often the most hollow. Gradually, the thinkers among the Hungry Ghosts discover that the home of the soul, apart from emotion, is unreliable in all other respects. But does such a thing as emotion exist in the world of Hungry Ghosts? The Hungry Ghosts, driven mad by the fight for food, have forever forgotten what it is to love and to be loved. The world of Hungry Ghosts is lonely, lacking something fundamental that can soothe the Hungry Ghost's soul. The more the Hungry Ghosts use brief sensory pleasures to dispel their confusion, the deeper they sink into greater confusion and pain. They do not know where they came from, why they exist here, or where they will go in the future… In the world of Hungry Ghosts, only hunger is eternal; everything else flashes by in an instant, so how can one speak of any other meaning of existence? Hungry Ghosts actually cannot experience pure happiness; they are merely seeking every possible method to make themselves less miserable. What they find is not happiness itself, but merely a temporary way to make themselves forget their pain. Thus, some of the Hungry Ghost thinkers gave up thinking and continued to sink under the drive of desire. Other Hungry Ghost thinkers, unable to obtain the answers they sought, ultimately died of frustration. Even so, some Hungry Ghosts still look up to these seekers of life's meaning, saying they are the wisest among Hungry Ghosts, while some Hungry Ghosts mock these thinkers, saying they are the most foolish of Hungry Ghosts, and that their pondering is far less meaningful than a full meal.

To this day, Hungry Ghosts still repeat that same kind of life. Among them, the competitors, the gamblers, and the thinkers still use their respective methods to fill that stomach which can never be satisfied. Coldness, cruelty, and other such traits have, for Hungry Ghosts, instead become the excellent qualities essential for survival. In the eyes of Hungry Ghosts, the competitors possess the spirit of pragmatic struggle, the gamblers possess a bold and magnanimous disposition, and the thinkers possess the wisdom of pursuing truth. Yet despite all this, as a Hungry Ghost, I still do not know what the meaning of a Hungry Ghost's life truly is. The only thing that gives me a tiny bit of comfort is that those in confusion and perplexity seem to be more than just me alone. Regardless, all Hungry Ghosts still give their all to take the final step of ghost-life. From this, it seems that perhaps a Hungry Ghost's life does not actually need so-called meaning; as long as one is content with the present, that might just be enough.

(End of this chapter)