經律異相 46.23

46.23

若有眾生生餓鬼中。常飢渴故目陷髮長。東西亂走或食嘔吐脂肉膿血屎尿涕唾盪滌餘汁。壽命無量百千萬歲。初不曾聞醬水之名。設復眼見急往趣之。變成猛火膿血。或時不變多人執仗不令得前。或夏降雨至身成火名惡果報。恒河水邊有諸餓鬼。其數五百。於無量歲初不見水。雖至河邊純見流火。飢渴所逼發聲號哭。餓鬼白佛。我等飢渴命將不久。佛言。恒河流水。鬼言。如來見水我常見火。佛言。除汝顛倒令得見水。廣說慳貪過。鬼言。我今渴久雖聞法言都不入心。先可入河恣意飲之。以佛力故即得飲水。佛為說法悉發菩提心。捨諸鬼形。或有餓鬼常被火燒。如劫盡時諸山出火。或有羸瘦狂走毛髮蓬亂以覆其身。或立廁溷邊伺求不淨。或有常求產婦餘血飲之。形如燒樹咽孔如針。若與水飲千歲不飽。或有自破其頭取腦而舐。或有形如黑山鐵鎖鎖頸。叩頭求哀歸命獄卒。或有先世惡口好以麁言加他眾人憎惡見之如讐。以此罪故墮餓鬼中。如是罪報受苦無量（出涅槃大智論）。

If sentient beings are born among hungry ghosts, because of perpetual hunger and thirst their eyes are sunken and their hair is long; they run erratically east and west, or eat vomited food, fat, flesh, pus, blood, feces, urine, snot, spittle, and the leftover water from washings. Their lifespans last for immeasurable hundreds of thousands of years, during which they never once hear even the name of broth or water. Even if their eyes happen to see it and they rush toward it in haste, it turns into fierce fire, pus, and blood. Or at times it does not transform, but many people holding weapons prevent them from approaching. Or in summer, rain falls and turns to fire upon reaching their bodies; this is called evil retribution. By the banks of the Ganges River there were five hundred hungry ghosts who for immeasurable years had never seen water. Although they reached the riverbank, they saw only flowing fire; pressed by hunger and thirst, they uttered loud wails. The hungry ghosts said to the Buddha, "We are hungry and thirsty, and our lives are about to end." The Buddha said, "The Ganges River is flowing with water." The ghosts said, "The Tathāgata sees water, but we constantly see fire." The Buddha said, "I shall remove your delusion and enable you to see water." He expounded at length on the faults of stinginess and greed. The ghosts said, "Now we have been thirsty for so long that although we hear the words of the Dharma, none enters our minds. May we first enter the river and drink as we please?" By the Buddha's power, they immediately were able to drink the water. The Buddha preached the Dharma for them, and they all gave rise to the mind of awakening and shed their ghost forms. Some hungry ghosts are constantly burned by fire, like the mountains bursting into flame at the end of a kalpa. Some are emaciated, running madly with tangled hair covering their bodies. Some stand beside latrines seeking filth. Some constantly seek the postpartum blood of women to drink. Their bodies are like burnt trees and their throats are like needles; even if given water to drink, they would not be satisfied in a thousand years. Some crack open their own heads and lick their brains. Some have forms like black mountains, with iron chains around their necks, bowing their heads to beg for mercy and taking refuge with the hell wardens. Some in former lives had evil speech and liked to direct harsh words at others, so that people hated them and viewed them as enemies; through this transgression, they fell among the hungry ghosts. Such retributions of transgressions entail immeasurable suffering (from the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra).