Dhammapada Commentary: Ghost and Spirit Narratives
- Date of account
- Commentary preserved in Pali; commonly associated with the 5th century CE
- Location
- Sri Lanka and South Asian Buddhist literary tradition
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
The Dhammapada Commentary attributes many verses to stories involving monks, laypeople, devas, yakkhas, and unhappy dead. Several episodes describe postmortem beings becoming visible, communicating with relatives, or revealing the consequences of previous conduct. These narratives can be compared with later apparition reports because they combine witnessed-seeming encounters with karmic explanation and temple-centered authority. The work survives through a complex transmission history, and the original relationship between Buddhaghosa and every story is uncertain; modern translations also differ in rendering spirit terminology.
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