sequences of their evil deeds. They clung to one desperate hope:
if he could kindly inform living relatives of their plight, those rel-
atives might be willing to share the merit of their good deeds with
them, allowing them to escape from such unbearable torment.
When he questioned the hungry ghosts about their relatives, they
talked about another world altogether, one that was incomprehen-
sible to him. Having died and been reborn in one of the realms of
hell, some had remained there for tens or even hundreds of thou-
sands of years in nonphysical existence before being released into
another lesser state where they had to work through the remain-
der of their evil kamma. Their ghostlike existence then lasted
another five hundred to a thousand nonphysical years, so it was
quite impossible to trace their family lineage. Such was the cruel
irony of their karmic dilemma: by the time that the most severe
consequences of their kamma were exhausted and only the lesser
aspects remained – a state where they could finally receive assist-
ance from their relatives – they had lost all track of their fami-
lies. So they had no choice but to suffer that karmic misery indefi-
nitely, without any idea when it would end. Such ghosts resembled
stray animals who have no owners to care for them.
Other hungry ghosts could be helped somewhat, for they
died only recently and their kamma was not so severe – meaning
that they were in a position to receive merit dedicated to them by
their relatives. Since they had living relatives whose names and
addresses they could recall, Ãcariya Mun was able to give them
some assistance as long as their families lived in the vicinity where
he was residing. Once he knew who they were, he looked for an
opportunity to speak with them. He advised them to dedicate
to their dead relatives, who awaited, the merit they made by per-
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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