Hungry Ghosts

The fall solstice brings autumn leaves, gentle rains, and food-a-plenty. It is harvest time, a time for celebrating the bounty of the earth and for grateful acknowledgment of the work it took to bring it to our tables. It is also a time of Halloween and ghosts. The Zen Segaki ritual is a way of feeding the Hungry Ghosts.

I have always appreciated the image of hungry ghosts as a quick symbolic reminder of my deep unhappiness and the root causes of it, namely an insatiable appetite and the absence of gratitude. Of course I share this with all human beings, which doesn't provide too much comfort, and that is why it is central to Buddhist teachings. In our conditioned states we are greedy and nothing fills us up, our desires run away with us. Hungry ghosts are depicted as emaciated beings with distended bellies and throat's too narrow to let food pass through.

We want to be fed and we won't let sustenance in. This is a psychological double bind that drives us nuts. Sometimes we think if we just have more of what we want we will be happy. Sometimes we think that if we squeeze down on the desires we will be happy. Sometimes we think if we practice Zen long enough the problem of insatiable longings will go away. Delusion after delusion. So how do we meet the Hungry Ghosts in our lives and what do we do with them?

Love them for starters. This is learning to appreciate our shadow side and the things that trouble us. We can meditate and just watch them, which at times let's our throats open up and allows the love and interconnection within each moment fill us completely. We can work with them by sorting out the inner greed, longings, loneliness, needs, angers, and selfish experiences that are the anatomy of Hungry Ghosts. And of course........we can shout BOO!