HUNGRY GHOST

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Preta. (Discuss) Proposed since June 2010.

Hungry ghost is a Western translation of an Eastern phrase representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way.
Contents [hide]
1 In Buddhism
2 In Tibetan Buddhism
3 In Taoism/Daoism
4 In China
5 In Japan
6 In Hinduism
7 Book of Enoch
8 See also
9 In popular culture
10 References
11 External links
[edit]In Buddhism

In Buddhism, Hungry Ghosts are ghosts only in the sense of not being fully alive; not fully capable of living and appreciating what the moment has to offer. Although the Eastern terminology and metaphor is very different, the concept has strong parallels with similar concepts in western psychology.
In his book Thoughts Without a Thinker, Mark Epstein paints a picture connecting these two viewpoints:
The Hungry Ghosts are probably the most vividly drawn metaphors in the Wheel of Life. Phantomlike creatures with withered limbs, grossly bloated bellies, and long thin necks, the Hungry Ghosts in many ways represent a fusion of rage and desire. Tormented by unfulfilled cravings and insatiably demanding of impossible satisfactions, the Hungry Ghosts are searching for gratification for old unfulfilled needs whose time has passed. They are beings who have uncovered a terrible emptiness within themselves, who cannot see the impossibility of correcting something that has already happened. Their ghostlike state represents their attachment to the past.[1]
He goes on to illustrate with a modern example:
A recent patient of mine, for example, an accomplished teacher of French literature named Tara, personified the predicament of a Hungry Ghost. Describing a long succession of relationships with other academics at the top of their fields, Tara repeatedly developed an impassioned relationship with one such man, while involved with another. Invariably, she kept the man she was actually living with at bay. She would quickly and critically uncover all of his faults, lose interest in him sexually, and essentially prevent him from touching her, either physically or emotionally. At the same time, she would begin to fantasize about the next luminary to enter her life...She remembered an unhappy and critical mother who had rarely touched her as a child...was searching insatiably for the kind of nourishment she had once needed, but that was now inappropriate to who she was as an adult woman.[2]
[edit]In Tibetan Buddhism

Main article: Preta
In Tibetan Buddhism Hungry Ghosts (Sanskrit: pretas) have their own realm depicted on the Bhavacakra and are represented as teardrop or paisley-shaped with bloated stomachs and necks too thin to pass food such that attempting to eat is also incredibly painful. Some are described as having "mouths the size of a needle's eye and a stomach the size of a mountain". This is a metaphor for people futilely attempting to fulfill their illusory physical desires.
According to the History of Buddhism, as elements of Chinese Buddhism entered a dialogue with Indian Buddhism in the Tibetan Plateau, this synthesis is evident in the compassion rendered in the form of blessed remains of food, etc., offered to the pretas in rites such as Ganachakra.[citation needed]
[edit]In Taoism/Daoism

In Taoist religion, hungry ghosts are ghosts of people that did not find everything they need to survive in their after life. If a ghost passes on, but does not have enough food, water, shelter, etc., it will come back into the world of the living to feed on the living. They will scare you, and then they will feed on your energy and fear. Taoists also believe that the way a building is made will determine how attracted hungry ghosts or any ghost is to going there. Taoists get rid of these hungry ghosts by performing a ritual. They will pray or chant and offer food and other things to the hungry ghosts, so they will have what they need to survive and move on to their next life.[citation needed]
[edit]In China

Main article: Hungry Ghosts in Chinese Religion
Hungry ghosts also appear in Chinese ancestor worship. 鬼法界, 鬼界 is "the realm of hungry ghosts".[3] Some Chinese believe[who?] that the ghosts of their ancestors return to their houses at a certain time of the year, hungry and ready to eat. A festival called the Hungry Ghost Festival (TC: 盂蘭盆, SC: 盂兰盆 Yúlánpén) is held to honor the hungry ancestor ghosts and food and drink is put out to satisfy their needs. The celebration of this festival and its requisites are described in the epilogue of the novel "The Hungry Ghosts" by Anne Berry.
When Buddhism entered China, it encountered stiff opposition from the Confucian adherents to ancestor worship. Under these pressures, ancestor worship was combined with the Hindu/Buddhist concept of the hungry ghost. Eventually, the Hungry Ghost Festival became an important part of Chinese Buddhist life.[citation needed]
According to transcribed oral tradition, some Chinese villagers believe that spirits may be granted permission to return to the world of the living, and to take what they can from there, if these spirits had not been given sufficient offerings by their living relatives.[4]
[edit]In Japan

In Japanese Buddhism, two such creatures exist: the gaki and the jikininki. Gaki (餓鬼) are the spirits of jealous or greedy people who, as punishment for their mortal vices, have been cursed with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object. Traditionally, this is something repugnant or humiliating, such as human corpses or feces, though in more recent legends, it may be virtually anything, no matter how bizarre. Jikininki (食人鬼 "man-eating ghosts") are the spirits of greedy, selfish or impious individuals who are cursed after death to seek out and eat human corpses. They do this at night, scavenging for newly dead bodies and food offerings left for the dead. They sometimes also loot the corpses they eat for valuables. Nevertheless, jikininki lament their condition and hate their repugnant cravings for dead human flesh.[citation needed]
[edit]In Hinduism

In Hindu tradition, hungry ghosts are spirit-beings driven by passion for particular things, objects of their desire. Possibly the worst thing about "Hungry Ghosts" is that they always come back for more. Very detailed information about ghosts is given in Garuda Purana.[citation needed]
[edit]Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch (an apocryphal book of the Bible) describes the fall of the Grigori and the demons who might be the Grigori themselves, or the offspring of the union of the Grigori and mankind. These creatures are said to wander the world in the form of evil spirit, endlessly yearning for food though they have no mouths to eat, endlessly thirsty though they cannot drink. Endlessly seeking these things from the living, the evil spirits seek to possess weak-willed men and women to dispossess their spirits and to take over their bodies so as to partake of food and drink.[citation needed]
[edit]See also

Fear gorta
Wendigo
Killer BOB
[edit]In popular culture

The Cure's "4:13 Dream" album (2008) includes a song entitled "The Hungry Ghost."
In Twin Peaks the entities living in the Black Lodge like Killer BOB live on human suffering and trade in it, the substance of which is called garmonbozia.
The X-Files episode, Hell Money features a trio of Pretas (or "hungry ghosts," as Chinatown-local cop, Chao (B.D. Wong), translates) who may or may not be real, and who preside over quite an unusual lottery: The loser gets enough Hell money to go straight to Ti Yu [5].
There is a Wolf Parade song entitled "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts."
There is a book by the author Gabor Mate titled "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction."
Yuyuko Saigyouji of the Touhou Project series of games is often characterized as a hungry ghost.
The Hollows from the manga/anime series Bleach
A hidden track of a Scars on broadway album
The Dementors from the Harry Potter series has similar abilities as a Hungry Ghost. They, on the other hand, tend to live on "good" emotions.
DSS Angleton from Charles Stross' Laundry series is a pretas which has been bound into the body of a prisoner scheduled for execution and trained to serve the British Occult Secret Services.
[edit]References

^ Mark Epstein, M.D.: Thoughts Without a Thinker, p28, ISBN 0-465-08585-7
^ Mark Epstein, M.D.; Thoughts Without a Thinker, pp29,30; ISBN 0-465-08585-7
^ Source: http://buddhism-dict.net/ddb/indexes/term-en.html (accessed: October 18, 2007)
^ Martin, Emily; Emíly M. Ahern (1973). The cult of the dead in a Chinese village. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804708355, 9780804708357.
^ I just watched the episode
[edit]External links

Garuda Purana excerpts
View page ratings
Rate this page
What's this?
Trustworthy
Objective
Complete
Well-written
I am highly knowledgeable about this topic (optional)

Submit ratings
Categories: Asian folklore | Ghosts | Metaphors | Undead | Book of Enoch
Log in / create accountArticleDiscussionReadEditView history