Buddhist legendary creatures

thumb|right|250px|Statue of a kinnara in Wat Phra Kaew|The Temple of the Emerald Buddha, [[Bangkok (Thailand).]] thumb|Kinnara statue of Lý dynasty, Vietnam

thumb|The Bhutesvara Yakshis, [[Mathura, 2nd century CE.]]

Pishachas (, '''', ) are flesh-eating demons in Indian religions, appearing in Hindu and Buddhist religion. A pishacha is a malevolent being that has often been referred to as the very manifestation of evil.

thumb|Pillar with Naga Mucalinda protecting the throne of the Buddha. Railing pillar from Jagannath Tekri, [[Pauni (Bhandara District). 2nd-1st century BCE. National Museum of India.]] alt=|thumb|12th century Khmer bronze Naga-enthroned Buddha from Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia. [[Cleveland Museum of Art.]] Mucilinda (; Pali: Mucalinda) is a nāga who protected Śākyamuni Buddha from the elements after his enlightenment.

Chinese conception of the preta of Buddhist mythology

thumb|Manohara as depicted in Phap Nang Ngam Nai Wannakhadi ("Illustrations of Ladies in Literature"), an illustrated book by Thai people|Thai artist [[Hem Vejakorn.]] Manohara is the kinnari (half-woman, half-bird) heroine of one of the Jataka tales. Typically referred to as Manohara and Prince Sudhana, the legend appears in the Divyavadana and is documented by stone reliefs at Borobodur. Versions of the story are reported in the literature of Southeast Asian countries, and similar stories about a bird maiden and a mortal man can be found in East Asia.

The Mahoraga (), also pronounced as Maha-Uraga ("Greater Reptilians"), are a race of deities in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. They are the exalted ones among the Uragas, a race of primordial reptilian beings who are cousins to the nāga. Like the nāga, they are often depicted as anthropomorphic beings with reptilian bodies from the waist down. However, their appearance can differ depending on artistic tradition, sometimes having serpent skin with humanoid bodies, or having a serpent head with the body of a human.

right|thumb|167x167px|A statue of Datsue-ba in Kawaguchi, Saitama is often depicted sitting by the Sanzu River in literary, visual, and religious depictions of the Buddhist underworld. Although Buddhist hell is imagined in a great number of texts and images ranging from places such as China, India, and Tibet, Datsueba appears to be unique to Japanese iterations of Buddhist hell. Throughout these depictions, Datsueba is broadly imagined and illustrated as an old, frightening ogress who takes the clothes from the deceased as they cross the Sanzu River.

thumb|263x263px|A male kumbhāṇḍa (left) and female Kumbhāṇḍakā (right).

right|thumb|250px|Karyōbinga in a depiction of the Amitabha Sutra Kalaviṅka ( kalaviṅka; Pali: karavika; Jiālíngpínqié; , ; ; karawik; , Malay: karawek) is a fantastical immortal creature in Buddhism, with a human head and a bird's torso, with long flowing tail.

Apalāla is a water-dwelling Nāga in Buddhist mythology. It is said that Apalāla lived near the Swat River, this area is currently located in Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. He is known to be a Naga King.

thumb|right|150px|Painting of Keneō by Tosa Mitsunobu

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Chinese legendary creature

The Nariphon (, from Pali nārīphala), also known as Makkaliphon (, from Pali makkaliphala), is a tree in Buddhist mythology which bears fruit in the shape of young female creatures. The maidens grow attached by their head from the tree branches. This tree grows at the Himaphan, a mythical forest where the female fruits are enjoyed by the Gandharvas who cut the fruits and take them away.

appear in Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904) as corpse-eating spirits. In Japanese Buddhism, jikininki ("human-eating ghosts"; pronounced shokujinki in modern Japanese), are similar to Gaki/Hungry ghost; the spirits of greedy, selfish or impious individuals who are cursed after death to seek out and eat humans and human corpses.

thumb|A Northern Thai funerary hearse featuring the hatsadiling.