• གཅོད་བྱེད།
  • དྲེ་ལྟོགས།
  • ཡི་དགས།
  • ཡི་དྭགས།
  • yi dags
  • yi dwags
  • dre ltogs
  • yi dgas
  • gcod byed
  • preta
  • Term
Publications: 77

One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, into which beings are born as the karmic fruition of past miserliness. As the term in Sanskrit means “the departed,” they are analogous to the ancestral spirits of Vedic tradition, the pitṛs, who starve without the offerings of descendants. It is also commonly translated as “hungry ghost” or “starving spirit,” as in the Chinese 餓鬼 e gui.

They are sometimes said to reside in the realm of Yama, but are also frequently described as roaming charnel grounds and other inhospitable or frightening places along with piśācas and other such beings. They are particularly known to suffer from great hunger and thirst and the inability to acquire sustenance.