Hungry Ghost
In the Orient, there are mythical figures called Hungry Ghosts. Hungry ghost is a concept in Chinese Buddhism and Chinese traditional religion representing beings who are driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. The term 餓鬼 èguǐ, literally “hungry ghost”, is the Chinese translation of the term preta in Buddhism. “Hungry ghosts” play a role in Chinese Buddhism and Taoism as well as in Chinese folk religion.
According to the tradition, evil deeds that lead to becoming a hungry ghost are killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. Desire, greed, anger and ignorance are all factors in causing a soul to be reborn as a hungry ghost because they are motives for people to perform evil deeds. These ghosts are so avaricious they consume everything around them including their own bodies. When they have eaten their own lower jaw, they are prevented from eating anything else. Thus they wander around in the lower realms, perpetually starving.