Talk:Preta

Untitled comments
It requires a separate page, and that will have to be done to reflect the wider coverage of the matter. --Bhadani 14:13, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Preta and Gaki
Gaki should be the Japanese name of Preta.220.246.243.83 11:43, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Why? Please give a valid argument with reputable sources that the two are the same. WP:Original research and speculation don't count. At a merely visual glance, the two have different language roots and have different ideas. The only thing they share is the idea of suffering by hunger and/or thirst. Do you propose we merge Jesus and Mohammed because they are both prophets in related religions? 24.12.61.204 19:06, 5 May 2007 (UTC) Chris G.
 * Please ignore this response. It was answered in the gaki Talk page. 71.57.98.227 21:44, 4 June 2007 (UTC) Chris G.

Talk copied from Gaki
IIRC Buddhism had already Gaki-concept in India, though I don't know equivalent term in Sansklit. Gaki is also a status or wolrd of six worlds through which all spirits incarnate. KIZU 11:33, 11 May 2004 (UTC)
 * You would be thinking of the preta or hungry ghost in India, and possibly other cultures as well. 24.12.61.204 03:47, 28 April 2007 (UTC) Chris G.

Tag
"In a game of tag, the person who is 'it' may be known as the 'gaki'." I thought it was oni in Japan, not gaki? — BrianSmithson 22:03, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Tag, cont'd
Actually, the article on the tag game says exactly that (claiming it's 'oni'). Possibly both are possible, though 'gaki' it seems makes less sense.
 * And I for one have never in all my born days heard the person who's "it" called gaki in Japanese, only ever oni. Tag's onigokko, not gakigokko. It's not "Gaki-san, kochira, te no naru hoe?", now is it? 71.223.133.108 (talk) 00:44, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Gaki and Preta
Gaki should be the Japanese name of Preta.220.246.243.83 11:42, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Why? Please give a valid argument with reputable sources that the two are the same. WP:Original research and speculation don't count. At a merely visual glance, the two have different language roots and have different ideas. The only thing they share is the idea of suffering by hunger and/or thirst. Do you propose we merge Jesus and Mohammed because they are both prophets in related religions? 24.12.61.204 19:08, 5 May 2007 (UTC) Chris G.
 * You're ignorant, and your suggestion is rude. Gaki and preta are 100% the same. Consider, for example, the Japanese word 餓鬼道 (がきどう), one of the six realms.  The "hungry ghost" or "preta" realm, to be precise.  Defined in Kojien as:〔仏〕三悪道・六道・十界の一. ここに住する者は、内障・外障によって飲食することができず、常に飢餓に苦しむ. 餓鬼. 餓鬼趣.
 * Here's the Kojien definition for 餓鬼 itself:〔仏〕悪業の報いとして餓鬼道に落ちた亡者. やせ細って、のどが細く飲食することができないなど、常に飢渇に苦しむという.
 * See that little 〔仏〕 tag? that means Buddhism.  Gaki are hungry ghosts.  Preta, plain and simple. MERGE. Bueller 007 17:01, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
 * He was not rude in his question. You, rather, are the rude one, for calling him rude and replying arrogantly just because he questioned your opinion.  Furthermore, your argument doesn't prove anything.  Without a source that says the two are the same, and not merely one based upon the other, gaki =/= preta.  What you do not seem to understand is that in different countries and cultures, religious and folkloric ideas develop into separate ones from their original.  With your argument, the "Japanese dragon" article should be merged into the "Dragon" article.  And the "Kitsune" article should be merged into the "Fox" article.  Though gaki unquestionably come from preta originally, they have developed in Japan into something separate enough to warrant their own article.  Please unmerge as soon as possible.  Shikino 01:05, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
 * According to Jim Breen's well-researched online dictionary, as well as this site, they refer to the same thing. Ninja housewife (talk) 00:11, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Actually Japanese tend to have the imported mythical/legendary figures turned into something uniquely Japanese only. But they do get the gaki from Chinese. And Chinese actually had preta translated as e-gui, and the 2 characters are absorbed into Japanese writing, only pronounced in the Japanese way. While one can say because Japanese had given gaki many traits different from preta, I still find it hard to separate them 2 totally different being. And why just the talk of gaki? What about e-gui and preta? In Chinese culture, there is a Hungry Ghost Festival, an occasion to help release the e-guis/pretas from their torment, which is observed by Chinese around the world. And this is actually a practice that came with Buddhism to China. Though I cannot find any news of such activities in Nepal and India anymore. Someone who knows more should edit the main page and have this Hungry Ghost Festival added. AsinoMan (talk) 11:22, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Merge
There is no reason to have a separate article on the hungry ghost instead of making it a section of preta. Gaki was merged here ages ago. Ogress smash! 02:41, 16 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Support - Per Ogress' reasoning.VictoriaGraysonTalk 20:23, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

The idea of hungry ghosts in Chinese culture has kind of diverged. People believe in them regardless of religion. However in Buddhism it is more of a divine punishment. In Chinese belief systems it is related to having no family member taking care of them which is a wholly Confucian concept. Maradox466 (talk) 04:56, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

Hungry Ghosts are also in Theravada and Tibetan Buddhism
Hungry ghosts are throughout all Buddhism. In Theravada there is the Petavatthu, or Ghost Stories. This is from about c.300 BCE but it is based on the original words of the Buddha in other texts. Theravada countries have a yearly Ghost Festival to help and placate the Pretas. The Preta realm is one of the Six Realms of Rebirth. It is possible Theravadins may believe in a 'floating consciousness', but we must be clear that all schools of Buddhism teach the non-existence of the soul, and all Buddhism accepts the existence of Pretas. In Theravada abd Tibetan Buddhism, I have always been taught that the Ghost Realm is a type of rebirth, not something waiting for a rebirth. Pretas have a body; therefore this is a rebirth. I think that's inarguable.

I am too old and ill to do the total re-write that this article's Buddhist section requires. But as it stands, it is misleading and wrong.