Hungry ghost: Difference between revisions
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===Japanese Buddhism=== |
===Japanese Buddhism=== |
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In [[Japanese Buddhism]], two such creatures exist: the '''[[gaki]]''' and the '''[[jikininki]]'''. Gaki (餓鬼) are the [[spiritual being|spirit]]s of [[jealousy|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 [[corpse]]s 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, [[selfishness|selfish]] or [[impiety|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|reason=please give a reliable source for this assertion|date=December 2008}} |
In [[Japanese Buddhism]], two such creatures exist: the '''[[gaki]]''' and the '''[[jikininki]]'''. Gaki (餓鬼) are the [[spiritual being|spirit]]s of [[jealousy|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 [[corpse]]s 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, [[selfishness|selfish]] or [[impiety|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|reason=please give a reliable source for this assertion|date=December 2008}} |
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==Similar traditions in other cultures== |
==Similar traditions in other cultures== |
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Revision as of 01:06, 1 December 2011
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Hungry ghost is a Western translation of Chinese 餓鬼 èguǐ, a concept in Chinese Buddhism and Chinese traditional religion representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way.
The Chinese concept is related to the preta in Buddhism more generally. These beings are "ghosts" only in the sense of not being fully alive; not fully capable of living and appreciating what the moment has to offer.
The English term has often been used metaphorically to describe the insatiable craving of an addict.[1]
In China
Chinese folk religion
Hungry ghosts also appear in Chinese ancestor worship. 鬼法界, 鬼界 is "the realm of hungry ghosts".[2] 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.[3]
Taoism
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]
Comparison with Buddhism outside of China
Tibetan Buddhism
In Tibetan Buddhism Hungry Ghosts (Tib. ཡི་དྭགས་, Wyl. yi dwags, Template:Lang-sa) 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]
Japanese Buddhism
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] h
Similar traditions in other cultures
 | This section may contain material not related to the topic of the article. (November 2011) |
The Book of Enoch (an pseudepigraphal 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]
See also
References
- ^ e.g. Mark Epstein in Thoughts Without a Thinker, pp29,30; ISBN 0-465-08585-7, of the compulsive infidelity of a patient.
- ^ Source: http://buddhism-dict.net/ddb/indexes/term-en.html (accessed: October 18, 2007)
- ^ Martin, Emily (1973). The cult of the dead in a Chinese village. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804708355, 9780804708357.
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