A hungry ghost is a kind of ghost associated with hunger common to many religions. A manufactured image of a ghostly woman ascending a staircase A ghost is an alleged non-corporeal manifestation of a dead person (or, rarely, an animal). ... For the 1983 horror film, see The Hunger. ...

In Buddhism and other Asian religions

The same understanding has Buddhism, where Hungry Ghosts (sanskrit: pretas/petas) have their own realm in the Wheel of Life and are depicted as teardrop 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. Buddhism (Pāli Buddhadhamma or Sanskrit Buddhadharma) is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived in the 5th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following his death, and propagated into Central, Southeast, and... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम्) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ... It has been suggested that Wheel of Dharma be merged into this article or section. ...

Hungry ghosts also appear in Chinese ancestor worship. Some Chinese believe that the ghosts of their ancestors return to their houses at a certain time of the year, hungry and ready to eat. A festival is held to honor the hungry ancestor ghosts and food and drink is put out to satisfy their needs. Ancestor worship, also ancestor veneration, is a religious practice based on the belief that ones ancestors possess supernatural powers. ... The 2006 Sinulog festival in the Philippines Renaissance festival A festival or fest is an event, usually staged by a local community, which centers on some theme, sometimes on some unique aspect of the community. ...

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. Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... This article is about the Chinese Ghost Festival. ...

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 (食尸鬼 "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, which they use to bribe local officials to leave them in peace. Nevertheless, jikininki lament their condition and hate their repugnant cravings for dead human flesh. Japanese Buddhist priest c. ... In Japanese Buddhism, Gaki (餓鬼, hungry ghosts) 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. ... In Japanese Buddhism, Jikininki (man-eating ghosts) are the spirits of greedy, selfish or impious individuals who are cursed after death to seek out and eat human corpses. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Jealousy is an emotion experienced by one who perceives that another person is giving something that s/he wants or feels is due to them (often attention, love, respect or affection) to an alternate. ... Greed is often associated with death and disease. ... With regard to living things, a body is the integral physical material of an individual, and contrasts with soul, personality and behavior. ... Rabbit feces are usually 8-10 mm in diameter and dry to the touch. ... Selfishness is, at base, the concept and/or practise of concern with ones own interests; it is often used to refer to a self-interest that comes in a particular form, or above a certain level. ... Impiety is a lack of proper concern for the obligations owed to cult in its proper sense. ...

In Hinduism

In Hindu tradition, much as described in the Book of Enoch, hungry ghosts are spirit-beings driven by the passionate objects of their desire. Very detailed information about ghosts is given in Garuda Purana. A Hindu (archaic Hindoo), as per modern definition is an adherent of philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, the predominant religious, philosophical and cultural system of the Indian subcontinent and the island of Bali. ... The word tradition, comes from the Latin word traditio which means to hand down or to hand over. ... In psychology and common terminology, emotion is the language of a persons internal state of being, normally based in or tied to their internal (physical) and external (social) sensory feeling. ... Desire can refer to: Desire (album), a Bob Dylan album. ... Garuda Purana is one of the great puranas of India. ...

In Judaism

In Judaism, for example, the Book of Enoch (an apocryphal book of the Bible whose complete version has only recently been discovered as a part of the Dead Sea Scrolls) describes the fall of the Watchers and the demons who might be the fallen angels (Watchers) themselves, or the offspring of the union of the Watchers and mankind. These creatures are said to wander the world in the form of evil spirits—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. On the positive side, in Judaic tradition, the good but obviously thirsty spirit of Elijah, the prophet, visits every Jewish house during Passover to sample the wine. At every Passover Seder, a Jewish family will put out an extra glass of wine meant to satisfy Elijah. Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people with around 14 million followers (as of 2005 [1]). It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Apocrypha is a Greek word (απόκρυφα, neuter plural of απόκρυφος), from αποκρυπτειν, to hide away. ... The Bible (Hebrew: תנ״ך tanakh, Greek: η Βίβλος hÄ“ biblos) (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Word of God, The Word Scripture, Scripture), from Greek (τα) βίβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the name used by Jews and Christians for their (differing but overlapping) canons of sacred texts. ... Fragments of the scrolls on display at the Archeological Museum, Amman The Dead Sea Scrolls comprise roughly 800 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on... According to Jewish folklore, the Watchers or Grigori are a superior order of angels whose proper place is either second or fifth heaven. ... St. ... For other uses of the term fallen angel, see fallen angel (disambiguation). ... In biology, offspring are the product of reproduction, a new organism produced by one or more parents. ... Look up Mankind in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Mankind may refer to: Human beings and their society The morality play Mankind An alias of professional wrestler Mick Foley An MMORTS (massively multiplayer online real-time strategy); see Mankind (MMORTS) A French Demoscene group : m4nkind (web) Spelt thus: ManKind, it can... This article is about the paranormal. ... Sagittal section of nose mouth, pharynx, and larynx. ... The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids. ... Possession is having some degree of control over something else. ... Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people with around 14 million followers (as of 2005 [1]). It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Elijah (אֱלִיָּהוּ Whose/my God is the Lord, Standard Hebrew Eliyyáhu, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔliyyāhû), also Elias (NT Greek Ἠλίας), is a prophet of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. ... A prophet is a person who is believed to speak through divine inspiration. ... Jews (Hebrew: יהודים, Yehudim) are followers of Judaism or, more generally, members of the Jewish people (also known as the Jewish nation, or the Children of Israel), an ethno-religious group descended from the ancient Israelites and converts who joined their religion. ... Passover (Hebrew: פסח; transliterated as pesach or pesah) is a Jewish holiday beginning on the fifteenth day of Nisan which commemorates the Exodus and freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. ... Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of grapes and grape juice. ... The Seder (pronounced say-der, meaning order in Hebrew) is a special Jewish ceremonial dinner revolving around the story of Exodus. ...

In Roman Pagan religion

In the religious beliefs of Ancient Rome, hungry ghosts of a family's ancestors figured in the festival of Lemuria; it was the duty of the pater familias to appease the larvæ of his ancestors with an offering of beans. The Balkan tradition of the vampire is another malevolent sort of undead revenant, a corpse supernaturally animated which seeks to feed on the blood of the living. Religion—sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system—is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices, values, and institutions associated with such belief. ... The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... In Roman religion, the Feast of the Lemures, called the Lemuralia or Lemuria, was a feast during which the ancient Romans performed rites to exorcise the malevolent and fearful ghosts of the dead from their homes. ... The pater familias was the eldest or ranking male in a Roman household. ... Larvae are the plural of larva, juvenile form of animals with indirect development. ... Green beans Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) used for food or feed. ... The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe a region of south-eastern Europe. ... This article deals with vampires in folklore and legends. ... Undead is the collective name for all types of supernatural entities that are deceased yet behave as if alive. ... The supernatural (Latin: super- exceeding + nature) refers to forces and phenomena which are beyond ordinary scientific understanding. ...

See also

• Oral fixation

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Oral_stage. ...

External links

• The Lair of The Hungry Ghost
• Garuda Purana excerpts
• Samsara - Ghosts