There is no evil, only insatiable cravings

The story of the preta was told to me as a kid as a way to deter me from breaking the precepts of Buddhism. As it was told to me, the preta is a hungry ghost who has large unusable hands because it inflicted violence upon others in its past life. It has needle-like mouth because it was gluttonous in its past life. Unable to do anything or eat anything it desires, it suffers greatly and passes suffering onto others.

These physical attributes seem clearly superstitious, but now as an adult I come to the understanding that the preta is a metaphorical device to illustrate the power of cravings. Each of us can become a preta in this very life if we crave something we can never have.

We are probably already familiar with how the cravings for the necessities of life can lead to "evil" deeds. But there are yet more subtle desires that can slip by unnoticed, such as the need for validation from others, the need to be the best or to be right, the need to be rid of all the things that hurt you or make you uncomfortable, to name a few. The more imaginary the cravings, the more difficult it is to quench. When these cravings can no longer be contained, the mind seeks refuge externally: obtaining things forcefully, killing people, lying to people, or using substance to drown out the needs.

These actions inflict damage upon others and the world, which will cause further suffering that create more pretas. These deeds we consider evil are just a result of insatiable cravings. When the cravings are imaginary, the deeds seem even more senseless. All this can be stopped if we learn to recognize our cravings as not ourselves.

I believe every preta has within themselves the power to return to human, and within each human the power to choose not to be pretas.

"Itam. sabbapeta-nam. hotu sukhita- hontu sabbe peta."

This is a excerpt from the Buddhist chant that I remember my parents used to say (the English spelling and translation thanks to this web page). The translation as said on the website is:

"May this merit be succeeded to all hungry ghosts. May all hungry ghosts be happy."

The ghosts cause us suffering and fear, but we do not abhor them or seek to eliminate them. Instead, we wish them happiness. Why do we do this? To me, I believe we know ghosts are just humans who have fallen on hard times. To hate them is to propagate the suffering. To love them is to recognize their true nature.