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.
Read more about Hungry Ghost: Similar Traditions in Other Cultures
Famous quotes containing the words hungry and/or ghost:
“I am hungry to be interrupted
For ever and ever amen
O Person from Porlock come quickly
And bring my thoughts to an end.”
—Stevie Smith (1902–1971)
“A fig for
The seal of fire,
Death hairy-heeled, and the tapped ghost in wood,
We make me mystic as the arm of air,
The two-a-vein, the foreskin, and the cloud.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)