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{{TheravadaBuddhism}}{{PaliCanon}}
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The '''Petavatthu''' ({{lit|Ghost Stories}}){{sfnp|Sayers|2013|p=[https://books.google.com.tw/books?id=3AOBwiZBjRMC&pg=PA91 91]}} is a [[Theravada Buddhist]] [[Buddhist scripture|scripture]], included in the [[Khuddaka Nikaya|Minor Collection]] (''Khuddaka Nikaya'') of the [[Pali Canon]]'s [[Sutta Pitaka]]. It ostensibly reports stories about and conversations among [[Gautama Buddha|the Buddha]] and [[disciples of Buddha|his disciples]], but in fact dates to about 300{{nbsp}}BC at the earliest.<ref name=lange>{{harvp|Langer|2007|p=[https://books.google.com.tw/books?id=dXB9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT276 276]}}.</ref> It is composed of 51 verse narratives describing specifically how the effects of bad acts can lead to rebirth into the unhappy world of [[Preta|petas]] (ghosts) in the doctrine of [[karma]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/pv/index.html
|title=Petavatthu – Stories of a Hungry Ghost
|publisher=
|accessdate=2007-02-01
}}</ref> More importantly, it details how meritorious actions by the living can benefit such suffering beings.<ref name=lange />

The scripture also includes stories of [[Maudgalyayana]]'s travels to the [[Preta|Hungry Ghost realm]] and his discussions with [[Hungry ghost]]s and his understanding of the realm.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/13576275.2013.843512 | volume=18 | issue=4 | title=Buddhist funeral cultures of Southeast Asia and China | journal=Mortality | pages=388–389| year=2013 | last1=Pearce | first1=Callum | s2cid=144383079 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeBL7ci3MKoC |title = Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia|isbn = 9788120818125|last1 = Schober|first1 = Juliane|year = 2002}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/hecker/wheel263.html|title=Maha-Moggallana|website=www.accesstoinsight.org}}</ref> It also includes a story of how [[Sariputta]] rescued his mother from hell by making offerings to the monks as a form of merit-making to increase the chance of a hungry ghost being reborn as a higher being.

The scripture gave prominence to the doctrine that giving alms to monks may benefit the ghosts of one's relatives seen in the [[Ghost Festival#Related traditions in other parts of Asia|Hungry Ghost Festival and ceremonies]] conducted in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Laos.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-and-general-terms/religion-general/ancestors#3402600030|title=Ancestors | Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> While regarded by scholars as a later text with relatively little doctrinal content or literary merit, the Petavatthu and a similar text, the [[Vimānavatthu]], became popular sources for sermons due to the narratives on the effects of karma contained in their commentaries.<ref>Skilling, Peter. “Scriptural Authenticity and the Śrāvaka Schools: An Essay towards an Indian Perspective.” The Eastern Buddhist, vol. 41, no. 2, 2010, pp. 1–47. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44362554. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.</ref>

== Legacy ==
{{Main|Yulanpen Sutra|Mulian Rescues His Mother}}
The Sariputta story of the Petavatthu was adapted in 6th-century China to form the [[Mahayana]] [[Yulanpen Sutra]], which makes Mulian (i.e., Maudgalyayana) its hero. Similar to its effect in [[South Asia|South]] and [[Southeast Asia]], the dissemination of the story led to the spread of a [[Ghost Festival]] throughout the [[Sinosphere]].<ref>http://www.sacbc.org/docs/Thoughts%20on%20Obon.pdf</ref>

A version of the Petavatthu's Maudgalyayana story separately became a Chinese legend or folk tale known as "[[Mulian Rescues His Mother]]".

== Editions ==
* "Stories of the departed", tr Henry S. Gehman, in ''Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon'', volume IV, 1942, [[Pali Text Society]][http://www.palitext.com/ Pali Text Society Home Page], Bristol
* In ''Peta-Stories'', tr U Ba Kyaw & Peter Masefield, 1980, Pali Text Society, Bristol; translation of the commentary, with the verses embedded; the PTS's preferred translation

== See also ==
* [[Vimanavatthu]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist|30em}}
=== Bibliography ===
* {{citation |last=Egge |first=James |title=Religious Giving and the Invention of Karma in Theravada Buddhism |location=Abingdon |publisher=Routledge |date=2002 |isbn=0-7007-1506-1 }}.
* {{citation |last=Langer |first=Rita |title=Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth: Contemporary Sri Lankan Practice and Its Origins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXB9AgAAQBAJ |location=Abingdon |publisher=Routledge |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-134-15872-0 }}.
* {{citation |last=Sayers |first=Matthew R. |title=Feeding the Dead: Ancestor Worship in Ancient India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AOBwiZBjRMC |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-989643-1 }}.

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030717141940/http://www.mahindarama.com/e-library/tirokudda.htm Dedication of Merits to our Departed Next-of-Kin]
*[http://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/spectra/petavatthu Petavatthu – List of Stories]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=AUA-2pgDhNwC&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=petavatthu&source=web&ots=X7SVDFOUkN&sig=-Merv_elc_TOiUH3d0KAWNUdV4M#PPA71,M1 Religious Giving and the Invention of Karma in Theravada Buddhism By James R. Egge]
*[https://suttafriends.org/peta-vatthu/ Complete English translation by Ven. Gnanananda Thero]

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[[Category:Khuddaka Nikaya]]

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Petavatthu - Revision history

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