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Ucchu

The name given to one of the stories of the Petavatthu. The hungry ghost referred to had been a resident near Veḷuvana. Once he was going along the road eating a sugar-cane and carrying a bundle of sugar-canes. Behind him came another man of good conduct, with a child. The child, seeing the sugar-cane, begged for some of it with great lamentations. The good man wishing to console the child, walked up to the sugar cane-eater and tried to make friends. His efforts were, however, unsuccessful, and when he begged for a piece of sugar-cane for the child, the man sulkily threw him a bit from the end of the sugar-cane. This man, after his death, was born as a hungry ghost (peta). Around him was a forest of sugar-canes, but whenever he attempted to eat any of them he got badly bruised and wounded. One day Mahā-Moggallāna saw him, and having discovered his antecedents told him about his past profitless life. He made the hungry ghost get for him a piece of sugar-cane, which he offered to the Buddha and the monks. As a result of this, the hungry ghost was reborn in Tāvatiṃsa. Pv., pp.61 f; PvA.257 ff.