An Essay on Deities and Ghosts

Evil spirits and demons are capable of creating towns and villages as splendidly as those of devas, and assumed themselves the forms of male and female devas.

The earth-bound deities (Bhummadeva ) are the earth-gods that live in proximity to the earth, in remote regions like forests, mountains and shrines. Some deities cultivate their merits through human mediums. There is nothing wrong in this unless the mediums become greedy and begin to swindle people. The gods or the deities do have some supernatural powers which can assist the humans in limited ways, like granting them their wishes or bless them with happiness, if the conditions are right.  There are examples of monks who passed away but are not yet ready to be reborn as humans. They continue to cultivate their merits by making use of mediums to help the humans.

The deities who live on trees are called Rukkha-Devatta and those who live in empty space are called Akasa-Devatta. The deities can be seen by people who have purified their Citta well enough.

The deities in the various universes can be invited to listen to the chanting of Buddhist Suttas. These beings are always interested to listen to the Buddha’s teachings. During the Buddha’s time, countless devas attained Nibbana  after listening to the Buddha Dhamma. Actually there were more devas attaining Nibbana then human beings, after listening to the teachings of the Buddha. That was why the Buddha was called the teacher of gods and  men.

Devas and Nagas exist. Monks who reach the level with ability to communicate with them do not normally let people know of their ability. When devas are present evil spirits cannot be around. They flee to other places and thus have no chance to create troubles, diseases, or disasters, for the human beings.

Giving alms to the virtuous with wealth righteously obtained creates the superior wholesome kamma. The offering of merits is a way a person can usefully be in contact with his dead friends and relatives. If those departed ones are in a position to partake of such merit, they are pleased, affected by it, and afford the giver their protection. Offering of merits also help to dispel envy, jealousy and hatred between people, those still living and also those who are dead.

When people talk about ghosts haunting people, they may be referring to the fallen asuras who dwell in villages or in the vicinity of villages, living off the remains of food discarded by the residents. They may haunt or disturb human beings when they fail to obtain food. Now can you understand why some people leave food on the road side?

The only type of spirits that can enter our house is the hungry ghosts who are capable to enter anywhere, to bow and beg for a share of merits. They are harmless and seldom aggressive. These petas do not have a realm of their own.  They live in the forests, dirty surroundings etc. These petas appear spontaneously, without passing through embryonic stage. They have pinhole-sized mouths and they can never pass through enough food to ease their hunger. They wander hopelessly about searching in vain for sensual fulfillment.

Deities or the devas protect those virtuous people who have lots of merits. Demons, ferocious giants, or evil spirits cannot harm us. There is no need to use protective gadgets, magic scripts, magic sand, holy water or concentrated acid. These devils cannot come near us or enter our house if we chant and pay homage to the Buddha, Dhamma and the Sangha every day and practise meditation, by radiating loving kindness to all beings.

The devas also have food like the humans. Their food is more refined, unlike the human food which has remaining roughage to become feces. The devas don’t pass feces and that is why toilets are unheard of in heavens. When devas offer food to the arahants  and Buddha, they also receive merits. During the Buddha’s time there were cases of devas offering food to Arahants and the Buddha. Even today, it is believed some outstanding monks do receive food from devas at times.

Environment in heavens is not conducive to practice celibate life. The devas can materialize what they want to their heart’s desire. That is why the human realm is the best place to practice Dhamma, since the chances to attain arahanthood is the highest. For the Buddhist, the study of the Dhamma is a lifelong project. He studies to have a knowledge of the Dhamma, to practice it, and if conditions are right, to realize the Dhamma during this life.