SuttaCentral
Happy Halloween to those who meditate on Bones
May the skeletons and death remind you of the impermanence of all actions and individuals and diminish your anger
May the candy corn and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups remind you of the dangers of Desire such as diabetes bad teeth and obesity
and may seeing all those children and their costumes remind you of just how much you don’t know what is in the future for them and humble you with a reminder of your ignorance
Best I can do for a Halloween sutta.
SN 19.1: Aṭṭhisutta: A Skeleton
So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground.
Now at that time Venerable Lakkhaṇa and Venerable Mahāmoggallāna were staying on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain. Then Mahāmoggallāna robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, went to Lakkhaṇa and said to him, “Come, Reverend Lakkhaṇa, let’s enter Rājagaha for alms.”
“Yes, reverend,” Lakkhaṇa replied.
As Mahāmoggallāna was descending from Vulture’s Peak Mountain he smiled at a certain spot. So Lakkhaṇa said to Mahāmoggallāna, “What is the cause, Reverend Moggallāna, what is the reason you smiled?”
“Reverend Lakkhaṇa, it’s the wrong time for this question. Ask me when we’re in the Buddha’s presence.”
Then Lakkhaṇa and Mahāmoggallāna wandered for alms in Rājagaha. After the meal, on their return from almsround, they went to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. Lakkhaṇa said to Mahāmoggallāna:
“Just now, as Mahāmoggallāna was descending from Vulture’s Peak Mountain he smiled at a certain spot. What is the cause, Reverend Moggallāna, what is the reason you smiled?”
“Just now, reverend, as I was descending from Vulture’s Peak Mountain I saw a skeleton flying through the air. Vultures, crows, and hawks kept chasing it, pecking, clawing, and stabbing it in the ribs as it screeched in pain. It occurred to me: ‘Oh, how incredible, how amazing! That there can be such a sentient being, such an entity, such an incarnation!’”
Then the Buddha said to the mendicants:
“Mendicants, there are disciples who live full of vision and knowledge, since a disciple knows, sees, and witnesses such a thing.
Formerly, I too saw that being, but I did not speak of it. For if I had spoken of it others would not have believed me, which would be for their lasting harm and suffering.
That being used to be a cattle butcher right here in Rājagaha. As a result of that deed he burned in hell for many years, many hundreds, many thousands, many hundreds of thousands of years. Now he experiences the residual result of that deed in such an incarnation.”
Oh, man! How did you find this gem?
I don’t know how @Jhana4 found it, but you can find it in the CIPS:
There are also entries for perception of skeleton (aṭṭhisaññā), simile of skeleton and of course ghosts and ghost realm
I’ve been doing daily sutta readings for over 2 years. I like to jot down notes for each sutta so I stay with the sutta longer. I take notes in Google Docs which are searchable. I searched on “flying skeleton” and found it in my notes. That image stuck in my brain.
SN 19.1–21 and SA 508–534 describe various forms of tormented ghost (P. peta, Skt. preta), and the karmic causes for the arising of the suffering experienced by them.
Cf. pp. 78-81 “Various karmic causes of the suffering of tormented ghosts” in Choong Mun-keat, “A comparison of the Chinese and Pāli Saṃyukta/Saṃyuttas on the Venerable Mahā-Maudgalyāyana (Mahā-Moggallāna)”, Buddhist Studies Review, v. 34.1 (2017), pp. 67-84.
He concludes the findings:
" To sum up, this section gives examples of various tormented ghosts and their karmic causes shown in the two versions. There are some differences between the two versions regarding tormented ghosts. Some tormented ghosts and their karmic causes are found only in the Chinese SA version, and some are found only in the Pāli S version. Overall, they are likely to be related to folk ghost stories connected with the concept of karma .
Regarding the description of the tormented ghosts, there may have been some confusion of the different versions of the account, and perhaps there is also some confusion about which S discourse corresponds to which SA discourse. In cases of difference it is not possible to conclude which version of the ghost’s depiction is the earlier one."
How does the song go? “I’m only human, after all.”
People are people…we are weird like that.
Thag 1.18
There was an heir of the Buddha, a monk in Bhesakaḷā forest, who suffused the entire earth with the perception of bones. I think he will quickly get rid of sensual desire.
The entire earth is just the bones of the previous beings! 
Fun(?) fact: prehistoric fossils and shells are used plenty in limestone; our concrete buildings are no escape from nature.
Thankyou for this post.