A Word About Exorcism Ritual (驱魔浅谈)

This posting is specifically for those friends who wanted to try performing exorcism rituals after reading my articles. First, I am not trying to discourage anyone to help others who have spiritual problems. Just a word of caution: though I have put my stories in a very simple and direct manner; please don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the exorcism rituals.

Many folks have overlooked the time and money I spent on learning those skills. I am not trying to boast about my magical experiences; but exorcism rituals are not for novice and exorcism is only the tip of an iceberg. One has to master many disciplines before one draws a conclusion that exorcism ritual is the best way to go.

Basically, an exorcist of whatever tradition will need to consult the person who thinks that he/she is being possessed through face to face interview and through analytical methods. It is best if the exorcist has some background in astrology and psychology studies. This preliminary analytical exercise is very important to filter out if the person is indeed possessed by spirits or the person has mental problems; or if the person only wants to play a prank on the exorcist. You will be surprised on how many people out there are trying to get to you if you are not careful.

When a possession case is deemed authentic, then the exorcist should determine the severity of the case. In most cases, simple blessing and food offering rituals are sufficient. Many people think that exorcism ritual is one time deal. I can assure you that this is seldom true and even simplest case such as dealing with bad luck takes time. So, if the help seeker can promise to continue with treatments at least once a week for 3 months or so; then the exorcist should not take the case. This is because it is a waste of time for both the exorcist and the help seeker. Not only the person cannot be cured; slanders could be thrown at the exorcist and this may land him/her into trouble if he/she is living in a small community. If a major exorcism rituals such a fire offering ceremony is needed, then preparations must be made and a good date should be chosen.

During treatment, the help seeker should ideally be willing to change his/her living environment. This person should also seek additional help such as psychotherapy or attending counseling sessions. If the person has nothing to do, then he/she should be encouraged to do charity work or doing physical exercises. However, the healer should be observant enough if the help seeker is making a recovery or otherwise. If spiritual healing has no significant effect on the help seeker for a period of time, then the person is most probably suffering from mantel depression.

Last but not least, it is best not to practise in mix-mode systems for each tradition has its uniqueness: Tantric Buddhism does not coincide with Taoism, and Taoism cannot work with Thai Magic and vice versa. There is no other way to master the art of exorcism but to try and learn from one’s errors… And it took me 25 years just to see some light… So please be patient.

Maintaining Health With Thai Medicine (泰医养生观)

In Thai medicine, our spirit and body is a holistic system. When health matters, then not only one should maintain the proper functionality of his/her physical body, at the same time it is also important to maintain a good spirit.

For example, most of the Thais are followers of Theravada. Through the practice of Buddhist dharma, they control their heart and donate to the needy. It is through these practices Buddhists achieve peaceful mind and gradually attain enlightenment. The calmness of our mind not only maintains our mental health; it also the health of our physical body. Thus in Thai medicine, ‘compassion’ is also part of curriculum and that human beings should help and love each other so as to avoid unnecessary confrontations. It is also when everyone has a calm and compassionate mind that our world can be at peace too.

Similar to Ayurvedic medicine, Thai medicine thinks that our health is maintained through the balancing of four elements (earth, water, fire and wind) and the ‘panca skandha’ or the five functions (form, sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness). The best method to maintain health is through a combination of working hard and relaxations, appropriate food and beverages, control of one’s sexual activities etc. to maintain the balance of four elements (四大) and five functions (五蕴).

Thai medicine thinks that when one consumes food of excessively hot nature, dry, sour or bitter; then these foods would knock one’s ‘earth’ element to be off balance if the foods are not consumed excessively; otherwise not only the earth element would be unbalanced, the rest of elements: water, fire and wind would also become unstable. It is when these elements become imbalance that a person falls sick. 

So it is not healthy if one fails to observe food hygiene, overeating, too hungry or even biased eating, Thai medicine maintains it is only through a balance diet that one’s health can be maintained and no other methods. So, just to sum up; the only means to keep ones mental and body health is through proper exercises, resting and balance diet. This is in line with all other traditional medicines of the world.

Origins Of Thai Tattoo (泰族纹身的由来)

There are many stories concerning the origin of Thai tattoo. Basically these stories can be subdivided into Pre-Buddhist, Buddhist influence and Ancestral related. I have collected some stories just to share with loyal blog visitors:

Pre-Buddhist story

In ancient time, there is a type of water demon known as Phi Thale that always attacks fishermen who earned living by fishing fishes and shrimps. This demon has caused many fishermen to shy away from the waters except for a brave young man who has to support his sick and aged mother.

One day this young man accidentally netted the 7^th daughter of nagaraja (dragon king). When the king learnt about the news of the capture of his daughter, his majesty immediately dispatches his minister to bring some jewels to exchange for the princess. After hearing what the minister had to say, the young man voluntarily sent the princess back without asking for any rewards.

The minister was very grateful for what the young man’s benevolent act and he tattooed some fish scale patterns on the young man’s body. Since then whenever the young man enters into water, the water would automatically splits apart; even the horrible Phi Thale also keeps away from him. As the news spread, many people tattooed the fish scale patterns on to their bodies too for protection.

Post-Buddhist story

One day the Buddha was preaching to a group of monks but one young monk was too lazy to listen to the Buddha, so he sneaked out to steal some food to eat. When the Buddha has discovered what the young monk has done, the Buddha stripped off the young monk’s robe and start drawing various patterns on the young monk’s body. These patterns were later being copied as the tattoo patterns of later days.

Ancestral story

Once upon a time, when the sun and moon still not yet exist in the sky, the Thai ancestors have a ruby stone that hangs on a bodhi tree. This ruby has illuminated the world of the Thai folks and bestowing fortune. One day, a demon has stolen this ruby and escaped to the end of the world. Since then, the Thai lived in darkness.

A brave young man vowed to get back this stolen ruby so he started his long journey. He started to tattoo what he saw during his journey on his body as records. After he has passed through 9,999 forests, 9,999 mountains and 9,999 rivers, he finally found and killed the demon; and regained the ruby. Sadly when the young man has finally returned to his village, he already became an old man with white hairs. And this person died on the same day he reached his village.

So as a remembrance of his bravery, all men in the village tattooed the patterns of their hero on their body. This is how the practice of tattoo started amongst the Thais.

Hmm... what then  is the reason you choose to tattoo may I ask?

Secret Behind The Wall (墙后的秘密)

A recent case of a father murdered his son and buried the body under the house kitchen in KL has reminded me of a ghost story told by a friend from Ho Chi Minh city quite some time ago:

My family and I used to live in a double story Chinese style brick house down south of Ho Chi Minh City. Although the house was built with bricks, its staircase and floor was built with black Chinese fir wood. At that time, we could be considered as quite well to do. We had moved from southern part due to unrest.

This is a secondhand house as its previous owner was a rich government officer who somehow became insane and faced horrible ending. As soon as we have moved into the house, we found that there is something not quite right with the house. Due to the fact that we have sold off all our properties in the south, we had to stay put.

It was always after pass midnight that the miserable crying sound of a young girl would be heard coming from a small room upstairs. The room was initially a servant room but since the creepy sound was heard, my servant has resigned with immediate effect.

I initially wanted to find someone to perform exorcism ceremony, but in case you are not aware; majority of Vietnamese Chinese are Catholics. The only way I could think of is to put the holy cross and the image of Saint Mary in that room. Other than that we could only closed an eye and pray. Somehow the crying sound grew louder and intermittently we could also hear sound of water splashing…

If I am to describe the sounds, it was a combination of the sounds of a little girl crying and struggling during bathing in a wooden bathtub and at times the sounds of bathtub banging on the wall could also be heard.

Initially we tried to control our fear by reciting the Rosary and treated the sounds as our own hallucinations until one just past 9pm. All of us were sitting in the living room watching TV programs, suddenly we saw a girl with long hairs about 8~9 years old clad in white sleeping gown gently gliding down from the staircase. I can still visualize that the girl has no facial expression and her face was extremely pale. Somehow the strange girl glided into a wall opposite of the staircase and vanished.

After a few sighting of the similar materializations, I decided to perform some detective work myself. First I pulled out the estate agent and enquired about the house background. With some persuasions, the agent finally told me that the previous house owner had hung himself on a tree beside the house while his daughter was nowhere to be found.

A few days later, I decided to employ a few workers to hack the wall where the little girl was sighted to have vanished. To our surprised, there was a small conceal room behind the wall. It looks like a bathroom of some sort. There was also an overturned wooden bathtub. We were all horrified right after the workers have lifted the bathtub. There we found a human skeleton believed to be of a girl!

Perhaps I have solved the mystery of the missing girl and the haunting has ceased on that night. Of course, I have sold the house as soon as the property market revives in Vietnam.

  

Exorcism Of Poltergeist (驱魔记)

Poltergeist is known as ‘hantu amukan’ in Malaysia. It is believed that this type of spirit would not harm human beings; they normally play pranks to a house owner such as throwing rocks onto the roof or setting fire to one’s household items. We still can hear news of poltergeist activities now and then across Malaysia. Just a note that the Malaysian hantu amukan is not as sensational as the western poltergeist though…

In early 2000’s while I was performing retreat for Hayagriva and Shitro cycles in Ulu Selangor, an old man came to the dharma center asking for help. According to this old man, his family was tormented by one or many unknown entity. Even at daylight that his daughter could see black shadows running in his house and at times, stones were thrown into the house breaking their utensils. The old man believed that it was the working of poltergeist so he has hired many shamans to do the exorcisms at first but of no avail; then he asked some religious teachers to perform prayers and exorcism rituals; but that too were useless. After a few rounds of exorcism rituals, the old man has exhausted all his savings, so he came to the dharma center to seek help.

While I have some rituals in mind but I was not sure of what ritual to use at that time. So I consulted my Rinpoche and he recommended me to use the Hayagriva obstacle removing ritual since Hayagriva is known of its speedy respond. After obtaining the Rinpoche’s blessings, I made some ‘torma’ (ritual cake) and some human figurines with flour. When everything is ready, I followed the old man to his house.

After walking around the old man’s house, I went in and took out a red torma while reciting the mantra of Hayagriva. At the same time, I held the red torma with my left hand and then use a ritual knife to cut the torma slowly until the whole torma is cut. When the first round of torma cutting offering is done, I fold a paper boat and put the flour human figurines into the paper boat. Then I asked the old man to bring me to the nearest river so that I could put the paper boat with its load into the river.

The old man was kind enough to send me back on his old bike after my second round of ritual. A few days later, he returned with a bunch of durians as a gesture of appreciation. According to the old man, the disturbances in his house have subsided on that particular night.

According to my Rinpoche, other rituals that are also effective in tackling poltergeist activities are Vajrakilaya fire offering rituals for speed. But other obstacle removal can also be used though it would take some time for other rituals to take effect. However, if one does not like to seek confrontation, then the spirit deliverance methods such as the ‘Phowa’ would be the best. Then and again, these religious activities may not be convenient within some religious communities. So a person needs to be careful as not to raise hostility or he/she may be harmed instead of the spirit.

If you too are tormented by poltergeist activities, why not give tantric ritual a try? I am sure you will not be disappointed!

  

What Intelligent Ghosts Really Are? (什么鬼？)

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Ghosts are very illusive beings, there are believers and disbelievers. The believers would show many photos to proof that ghosts exist. Modern scientific minded folks would say that ghosts are in fact electro-magnetic forces that could be detected by electronic gadgets. If one is not too demanding, then a person can use a compass to detect the presence of ghosts; however care must be taken that one must switch off all his/her electronic gadgets beforehand.

Defining intelligent ghosts

Basically ghosts can be divided into two types:

·         Intelligent spirit

·         Residual spirit

Intelligent spirits are those entities that can react to outside world while residual spirits are just images of a person being recorded down in time to re-enact a horrific event. However, once the surrounding is changed, the residual energy would disperse. A residual energy cannot react to the outside world.

The ghosts that we are discussing here are spirits of intelligent.

Ghosts in the eyes of Buddhist doctrine

It is interesting to say that the view of Buddhists on ghosts varies (unfortunately) on the existence of ghosts. However, majority of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhists agree that ghosts and other spiritual beings exist; or else we would not have all those spirit deliverance and food offering rituals to these spirits.

In higher tantric teachings such as Anuttara Tantra and Ati Yoga where theory of emptiness take precedence, not only ghosts; Buddha, spirits, bodhisattvas, dharma protectors etc are treated as the reflection of our minds. So if a Buddhist denies the existence of ghosts, then he/she would also need to deny the existence of Amitabah and Pure Land. Because of these euphoric illusions are only creations of our mind.

(Perhaps I should clarify about theory of emptiness: according to theory emptiness, emptiness refers to ‘impermanent’ of a phenomena and not the ‘functionality’ of the item.)

Religious persecutions did occur in Tibet in history due to the disagreement of interpretation of ‘emptiness’. So much for peace loving and compassionate monks under political power struggle… Now back to the ghost story…

What are ghosts?

As we all know, ghosts are spirits of the dead that liger in this physical world. Now, perhaps you would wonder why these dead souls refuse to go to the light when there is still a chance?

According to ‘Tibetan Book Of The Dead’, when one dies the hearing sense becomes most active and one may be frightened on hearing loud noises such as crying or screaming. It is due to extreme fear and hatred that a dead soul refuses to enter the light at first instance. This is similar to human behavior that when one is in fear or pain, he/she would hide in a dark corner rejecting light. It is common human behavior to shy away from light when one felt that he/she is being persecuted. So when a dead soul misses its chance to enter light, it could only wonder in the dark and lost in the darkness forever.

Because these dead souls are electro-magnetic force, it lingers within the dark space and moves aimlessly as if a person moves from one room to another wedged in between door seams; it could neither move forward nor retreat. So this lost soul is as if marginal of a dark room. Hence perhaps now that we can have a little understanding of how ghosts feel at this point.

How ghosts posses our body?

In the eyes of ghosts, our astral and physical bodies appear to be a large sponge. So, unless the ghost is purposely seeking revenge or of other karmic reasons; they would try to avoid being sucked into this big sponge because it would be virtually impossible for a ghost to free itself from the sponge unless the host is dead. So, it is possible for a spirit to be trapped in a physical body for more than 50 years!

Becoming a spirit medium

When a ghost possessed a person due to karmic reasons, the person it possessed would also possesses psychic abilities such as psychic audio and visual. Likewise, it is also due to more powerful ghosts that possess a medium so that he/she can perform exorcism. This is known as ‘use a ghost to catch a ghost’. Of course, once these spirits are delivered and exorcised properly, the person’s psychic ability would be lost simultaneously.

Characteristics of a ghost

Ghosts are pitiful beings and yet it is best to keep them at a distance. Since ghosts are electro-magnetic entities hence they have no form so they can transform themselves into any shapes a person like to see. For example if a person misses his late father, then any ghost can transform itself into the image of the person’s father after reading his/her brainwave. It is also in this matter that one should be careful of ghosts as ghosts always tell lies too!

Conclusion

Ghosts are not something we should be fear of as they always live in pain; yet they are something that we should not deal with due to their deceptive nature. Most of the people who claim to see ghosts are in fact being possessed by ghosts. It is through the ghosts’ visions that people could see other ghosts. The best way to deal with ghosts is to deliver them to the light.

Malay Bomoh Vs Rinpoche (马来巫师与活佛)

Old Malay bomoh (shamans) are still very much feared of today especially those who live near Malaysia and Thai borders as they have the service of powerful spirit servants known as Hantu Raya. However, one downfall of their practice is that if these bomoh cannot find a successor of their servant spirit; then the bomoh cannot die in peace.

I know Pak Man who was once a powerful bomoh in Changlun, Kedah but I didn’t contact him for quite some time since I moved to Penang a decade ago. About last year, my brother in dharma told me that Pak Man has rested in peace a few years since I left Kedah.

According to my bro, before Pak Man was dying, his family members and relatives all surrounding him performing prayer and preparing for Pak Man’s funeral. As soon as Pak Man gave out his last puff of air and when his body was about to be moved for cleansing; the corpse suddenly opened its eyes and stood up and then walked about in the house. That certainly caused some commotion within the household but nothing could be done since the corpse kept walking and refused to lie down. People could only pray and wished the ordeal would come to an end.

As I heard, the corpse continued to walk for 2 days and nights and asking to be fed with food. Since this walking dead kept on ramping around and nothing could be done, someone in the village suddenly thought of inviting a Ningmapa Rinpoche who happened to be visiting to come and have a look as a last resort.

After a while the good old Rinpoche finally arrived at the scene. As when the crowd who gathered around the place wanting to see what kind of magic the rinpoche wanted to perform; he only called his disciple who can speak Malay and then speak directly to the zombie:

Rinpoche: “You are not Pak Man. Who are you?”

Zombie: “I am Pak Man’s servant, the Hantu Raya.”

Rinpoche: “Why do you not let your master rest in peace?”

(After a long silence…)

Zombie: “I wanted to go… but I was bound by a secret mantra…”

Rinpoche: “I will release you, do you agree to go?”

Zombie: “I have another request… I want someone to take over me.”

(After  a pause, the rinpoche turned his back and asked aloud…)

Rinpoche: “Anyone want to take over this Hantu Raya?”

(There was a long silent… no one answered the call…)

Rinpoche: “No one wants you. So go! Phat! Phat! Phat!”

At this point, the zombie gave out a long sigh and it fell down onto the floor. To everyone’s surprised; Pak Man’s body immediately gave out foul smell and started to decay…

It is a pity that I wasn’t at the site at that time… Maybe I would take over the Hantu Raya… Hmm…

Truth About Spirit Possession (鬼上身)

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Spirit possession issues are very much misunderstood about by general folks as they are most likely to be influenced by horror movies. Some people are easier to be possessed by spirits while some are less likely. Nonetheless, everyone would be possessed by some entities at one time or another. Also it is not really necessary to perform exorcism rituals for all cases of spirit possessions. Only serious cases need to be dealt with.

Types of spirit possessions

There are many types of spirit possessions:

·         Real spirit possession (实际附体)

·         Thought forms (生灵)

·         Spirit parasites (寄生灵)

·         Residual energy (残余灵)

Real spirit possession

This is the most common form of spirit possession. In this form of possession, a person is possessed by dead human souls and some intelligent animal spirits.

Thought form possession

A person can be possessed by thought forms of others too. A very good personal example is that when I was working with a MNC, the senior manager was disliked by many of his subordinates. So everyone start cursing him every day until this person suddenly suffered from double kidney failure within a 6 month’s period. So, please do not underestimate the power of living thought forms.

Spirit parasites

Spirit parasites can be from one’s own thought forms, insects or animals that have no or very low intelligence. For example the thought form of one’s previous love that has continued to be attached to the person long after the love is ceased. This thought form will sometime recalls the person’s memory of his/her lost love.

Residual energy

Residual energy can be the residual memory of our deceased love ones or pets; or it can be the residual energy that lingers on at a location after some major events such as murders or accidents.

Our impure astral and physical body

Not many people aware that our astral body and our physical body are actually quite contaminated unless physical and spiritual cleansing rituals are carried out. Basically our astral and physical bodies would be loaded combine with some spirit parasites, residual energies, thought forms and dead souls. These energies would at first attach on the outer edge of one’s aura and they would gradually move into our physical body. Dead souls are especially fond of staying in our internal organs such as kidneys as this is where our life force congregates. These spirits would first transform themselves into needle form so that they can penetrate into our organs and absorb the life force.

Traditional medicine view of spirit possession

Contrary to common believes, a spirit does not immediately take control of the subject it possessed. In fact, when a spirit possesses the body of a person, it is latent at first. It only strikes when the time is right to control the subject’s consciousness. When this spirit is taking actions, uncontrolled limb movements would be resulted.

When the spirit is in liver

When a spirit is in our liver, then our limbs would shake and that our body would swing front and back uncontrollably. If we visit a TCM physician, the good doc would say that there is ‘cold wind’ (风寒) in our liver or cold in liver. Then he/she would prescribe medicine for curing cold; most of the time this shall be enough to chase out the spirit.

When the spirit is in stomach

Only when the spirit is very powerful that we would feel a gust of cold gas upwelling causing hiccups.

When the spirit is in heart

We shall feel a sense of chillness in our heart.

If the spirit stays for too long in our body then it may cause cancer.

Just want to point out that if the spirit has a karmic link with a person, then this person shall not be able to find a physician to cure his illness in this life time; unless the karmic link is broken.

Conclusion

I supposed it is safe to say that dramatic spirit possessions such as depicted in western and eastern movies do not exist and will not happen now or in future.

Demon Of The Heart: Mental Illnesses (心魔与精神病)

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Majority of current day said spirit possession cases in Penang amongst Chinese are actually mental illnesses such as melancholy. Many of the cases especially amongst women are due to misinterpretation of religious doctrine and practices; and some cases are when people just have nothing to do such that their boredom causes their mental state to be instable.

Sadly, these mental illnesses are normally attributed to spirit possessions causing unwary people to be molested, sexually harassed or even raped in addition to the loss of money.

Facts about spirit possession

Although spirits do possess human beings but most of the time, they have no intention to stay in human bodies for a long time. So, these spirits would be happy to go with small amount of offerings and a deliverance service. Even possessions concerning karma issues can be taken care of in time through religious rituals.

Causes of demon of the heart

Modern psychologists have derived many theories about mental illnesses. However, according to my personal experiences, there are two elements that play important roles in materializing demon of the heart; they are basically our mind (心) and chi (气).

It is precisely when a person’s mind is unsettled that has stirred up the entire chi in one’s body that give rise to this illusive ‘demon of the heart’. As the name implies, there is no remedial methods to eliminate one’s hallucination except the person himself/herself.

Nature of our human mind

The nature of human mind in a balancing state should be calm and peaceful. It is in this state, a person is calm and happy. Such is also the balance state of our universe when the Yin and Yang energy coexist in harmony. Disharmony occurs when the Yin and Yang energies are biased and this imbalance causes havoc to our universe and also to our human body and mind.

When a person is in calm and joyous mind states, his/her body is filled with positive energy. However, when the person is in a continuously confusion and sad; he/she would be filled with negative and destructive energy.

It is precisely that when negative energy overcomes the positive energy that a person’s mind becomes unsettled. Having said so, it would also not good to become too positive. When our mind is stirred up, it becomes impulsive and that too causes our chi to be in turbulent state. Consequently this unsettling chi continues to churn up more negative energy.

As the negative energy accumulates in one’s body, the person becomes passive and prone to failure and seemingly always in pain. Then precisely at this point that produces the so called ‘demon of the heart’ which is actually the person’s negative subconscious mind. Gradually this demonic force would be taking over the person and causes him /her to do bad things.

In addition to this negativity, the person’s face would be always dark and he/she may be possessed by spirits and constantly in bad luck. Well, at this point, it should be clear that the demon is only a reflection of one’s subconscious mind.

Exorcising demon of the heart

Since demon of the heart is only a reflection of our subconscious mind which is the product of excessive negative energy, the only method is to increase one’s positive energy.

In order to stop a person from non-productive day dreams (胡思乱想) which is the source of all kind of illnesses, demon of the heart and bad luck; a person need only be ‘hardworking’ and perform more workout. That’s all to it folks!

Conclusion

It is apparent that many mental illnesses can be cured through physical workout or productive work. Hence for those folks who continue to think that they are ‘controlled’ by ghosts; they should first review if their living style is actually the culprit and not to resort to any magical unnecessary and useless magical means.

Theory Of Bad Luck (厄运的理论)

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I supposed this is for the first time you may hear such a theory being presented openly. So, what is the theory of bad luck really about?

What causes bad luck?

Well, bad luck in the eyes of an oculist is a combination of events that may strike a person. Perhaps you already noticed that disasters come in pairs or series? For example: a consecutive occurrence of earthquake followed by monsoon rain then flood and epidemic besieging a village.

It is of an oculist's interest to investigate what really brings bad luck. In my humble opinion that many reasons constituted to bad luck. Below are some factors bringing about bad luck:

·         Human factors

·         Spiritual factors

·         Environmental factors

Human factors

Human factors that could bring bad luck again are:

·         Ignorance

o   Human can be at time too engrossed in their own worldly work that they have ignored of the presence of dangers. For example: landslides and flash floods all have signs before occurrences. If one purchase a house built behind a slope then he/she is taking the risk of facing landslides in future if not now.

·         Laziness

o   If one sleeps in his/her house and refuses to work out his/her body; then the person’s luck would not be good. A jobless person should ideally perform some charity work in order to boost his/her luck.

Spiritual factors

Bad lucks can be caused by spirits as well:

·         Weak guardian spirits

·         Ancestral spirits

·         Earthbound spirits

·         Spirits possessing a person

·         The person’s previous bad karma

Environmental factors

A change in one’s environmental situation can also causes bad luck:

·         Changes due to marriage

·         Changes due to moving house

·         Changes due to house renovations

·         External environmental changes due to new building, bridges, telecom towers etc being built in the vicinity

·         House built on previous cemetery or battlefield

Conclusion

Perhaps now we can safely define ‘bad luck’ as the resultant force of human, spiritual and environmental factors. In fact, all of the above factors can be dealt with to minimize the effect of bad luck. Of course, a person must have perseverance and hardworking also.

  

Issues With Stillborn Spirit (婴灵的问题)

Stillborn spirits are very controversial thing. It is believed that stillborn spirits have severe hatred especially those were aborted so these types of spirits should not be given a name since they are not yet born. They should not be worshipped along with one’s ancestral sprits too as this action will increase their hatred towards the parents. The best way to treat stillborn spirits is not to deliver them to the spiritual world where they will stay for another 50 years or so as this would be too cruel to the stillborns. Hence it is more suitable to send the stillborn spirits to stay with one’s ancestral spirits until their time is up.

If stillborn spirits are treated correctly, then they will cause the below problems to their parents:

·         Hard to have babies

·         Other children being bullied in school

·         Domestic violent against the mother

·         Habits of stealing

·         Road bullies

·         Bad luck

In fact, stillborn baby spirits would continuously passing messages to their parents and siblings. If these massages are ignored then they would create troubles to the parents, sisters and brothers because if these spirits are being ignored continuously, they will continue to make troubles for another 50~70 years or until their parents and siblings kaput. However, if one worships his/her ancestor spirits faithfully and consistently making offerings, then the ancestor spirits shall take care of these stillborn spirits until they are again being reincarnated.

Of course, it is best not to have abortion unnecessarily to avoid the above problems. This brings us to the problem of Kumanthong or Thai kid spirits. So, is it appropriate to worship Kumanthong in one’s shrine?

Since Kumanthong is a kid spirit, it is best not to worship Kumanthong if one has already performed abortion or miscarriages. Kumanthong will not like what this owner has done and it shall create troubles to the caretaker.

However, in the view o Taoism and Shinto; there is no reason to worship other’s kid spirit in one’s house as each is mutually non related and this would bring bad luck although the Thai folks only meant to create merits by keeping these homeless kid sprits until they are being reincarnated again. Whatever the case that may be, please do not take abortions likely or one may find he/she in a spree of bad lucks and troubles.

  

Notes To Occult Consultancies (玄学咨询笔记)

If you are serious about occult sciences and that you are also giving consultancy services, then I would like to share some of my experiences for your reference.

A problem with occult sciences is what I call ‘repeatable advices’. If one ever visited a spirit medium, then you shall find that at times the predictions giving out by the medium is ‘inconsistent’. This is not a problem if one wishes to remain as a ‘spirit medium’ but when one wishes to be a little ‘professional’ and that this professional occultist consults of more than 5 persons at one time, then a very reliable prediction and repeatability are essential.

For example: a businessman would suddenly gives me a call requesting reading of a particular time as he would need to make an urgent and important decision. So it become important that what I told this gentleman a month ago is the same as what I am telling him at that moment.

Basically all forms of forecasting methods such as crystal ball techniques up to the soul palace visiting method are pretty illusive and vary according to individual magician. Now what I need is a method to solve this ambiguity. I would normally choose to use astrology as a method to guide my subsequent rituals.

This is especially important to me as my preliminary investigations as from an astrological chart I would be able to derive 4 possible outcomes:

·         The person is lying, the case is dismissed.

·         The person is not lying; the case needs to be looked into.

·         The person is not lying; the case cannot be handled.

·         The person is not lying; there are problems with the given info.

Astrology reading will give me info of the person’s boundary limits and his/her ups and downs. So, if the person’s requests are out of boundaries; then I would need to decline the requests.

Let me just put down two examples to show what I meant:

Example 1:

Madam Chen wanted to know her fortune and relationships with her daughter. From her data, Madam Chen’s daughter belongs to ‘goat’ as recorded in the astrological chart. Strangely when I visited her soul palace, I saw a horse was tied in front of Chen’s soul palace. After some considerations and checking, I found it was true that Chen’s daughter indeed belongs to ‘horse’ and not goat.

Strangely also that Chen’s soul palace is made of weeds and that explained why Chen’s fortune wasn’t good too and that coincides with the astrological reading.

Example 2:

Mr. Lim was having many troubles in his business. So he came and seeks consultation. On checking his astrology chart, he was having too much fire elements such that all his money is burnt. Upon checking his soul palace, found his place was smoky black. So I performed cleansing ritual and asked him to dip in water for half an hour. Guess what?  One day after performing the ritual, he got new business proposal!

From the above examples, I can safely see that astrology and magic should work side by side especially when one’s customer base is large. Perhaps it is time to manage magic business systematically to build up a professional reputation.

Problematic Snake Spirits (蛇灵的问题)

Snake spirits are very much feared of in Chinese and Japanese beliefs. The all famous Chinese fairy tales of ‘legend of the white snake’ (白蛇传) describes the story of a white snake and a green snake that transform into human form and having romance with human being. However, the snake spirits we are discussing here is just ordinary spirits of snakes and their effects to human beings. The Chinese believes that if a snake spirit lives for more than 500 years or so, then it shall have the ability to transform itself in human form.

Generally speaking, it is a taboo not to worship a snake related item inside where human stays because snakes are like foxes, they will attract their kinds and as their number increases; harm shall befallen onto the dwellers of that particular house.

The reason I put much emphasizes on snake spirits is that snakes normally have very deep hatred and when they die; their spirits will transform into intense negative energy that will cause severe harm to our health. For example:

·         Diseases above one’s chest level

·         Mental illnesses such as Neurasthenia (神经衰弱)

·         Brain tumour and related issues

·         Marriage affairs

·         Domestic violence

·         Alcohol intoxication

·         Family issues

·         Skin issues

·         Etc.

Majority of wild spirits in tropics that posses troubles are snake spirits compared to other regions. However, contrary to common believes, it is in urban area that the snake spirits like to congregate so we find that fire incidents, suicides and homicides are frequent and in the increasing mode in addition to the above mention illnesses.

In severe cases, the snake spirit will possess the host and in some instances; when a snake spirit is exorcised out from the body of a person, he/she shall vomit out blood of strong fishy smell.

Snake spirits normally hide in damp forests but they can also be found in a large tree in someone’s backyard or in one’s toilet or in a wet corner of the house. The telltale sign is that snake sightings would be a frequent scene in the house. So, if one keep seeing snakes in his/her house and that he has brain tumour or head injuries; then it is a safe bet that this person is the victim of snake spirits. Actions should be taken immediately for the person may be harmed very soon.

Visiting Our Soul Palace (元神宫)

Introduction

In Lu Shan Taoist beliefs, one's soul stays passively in his/her soul palace located underworld. This palace is under the supervision of the Emperor of Eastern Mountain (东岳大帝). However, one's soul is deemed alive through spiritual practices such as the Chaya Purush (Shadow Man). In this case again, through some ritual practices, the active soul is united with one's physical body. It is said that once the soul is united with physical body; immorality shall be achieved.

Our soul palace

For majority of us, our souls stay put in our soul palace which is guarded by one's zodiac animal. The shape and size of each's soul palace varies. A general soul palace would contain an external and internal living room, a kitchen, a bedroom and a backyard. 

Deciphering hidden codes of one's soul palace

Present conditions of a person shall be reflected by the situations in the soul palace and in the backyard. For example the soul tree normally representing the life force of a male; a female would be represented by a flowering plant. If the condition of the plant is healthy with thick leafs or flowers, then the person is definitely in top health condition. However, if the plant is yellowish and withering, then the person would be in a health declining state.

Generally speaking, if the general condition of a soul palace is dusty and dirty, then the person is not doing very well in his/her present life; conversely true if a soul palace is clean, then the person is having good luck. 

Other indications can be read from the life lamp, well, kitchen, altar and bed room condition. If a person is possessed by spirits, then this spirit would also present in the soul palace too.

Cleaning soul palace

One's soul palace can be cleaned and repaired through simple rituals using joss papers through chanting. This is same as hiring artisans in human world and paying them. So, who says that when one dies, he/she no longer needs money?

Accessing one's soul palace

There is a journey to the underworld one needs to follow, some may walk and some just ride on an imaginary horse. This is a trance like journey and some akin this to hypnotic process. A person's soul palace is normally guarded by his/her Zodiac animal. The main gate of a soul palace can only be opened through chanting and ritual; however anyone can access his/her own soul palace. Only a Taoist can enter other person's soul palace.

Summary

Regardless of what you think of the concept of soul palace, it is uniquely a practice of Lu Shan Sect. To me, this is yet another way to understand the mystery of life. Unfortunately though, no photographs can be taken...

Spiritual Interferences & Illnesses According To Ages (年龄层的灵障)

A person does not suffer from similar spiritual problems throughout his/her life. Certain age groups are prone to certain spiritual problems:

1~15 year age group:

Typical spiritual problems of this age group are normally related to mental distresses; for example a youth may not want to go to school, victims of domestic violent, bully and abuses and other similar problems. The reason to these troubles is that the mental state of youth is still not yet stabilized and that they are more prone to bad karma of their ancestors. Hence young people are likely to be influenced by their ancestral and parental spiritual interferences.

20~30 year age group:

When a person enters into adulthood, his/her life becomes more complex, there shall be problems due to working and marriage. As a person’s social circle expands, the more people one mixes, then more spiritual interfaces one shall face.

Also a person’s guardian spirits summoned through religious and other practices including one’s sexual orientations could also affect one’s brain wavelength. If a person’s wavelength fluctuates rapidly, this shall give rise to the person being treated as ‘temperamental’ and a loner; he/she would feel that he/she is the ‘odd man’s out’. When a person is rejected by his/her peer group; then the person especially ladies will feel lonely and has low morale. At this point, the person shall suffer from melancholy, hysteria, dysautonomia (自律神经失调) and other syndrome. Men however are more prone to illnesses caused by mental stresses such as gastritis (胃炎), ulcer (胃溃疡), migraine (偏头疼) etc.

40~50 years age group:

When a person enters middle age, then most of his/person’s spiritual obstacles would be concerning earthbound spirits. A ‘master of a house’ shall be especially prone to troubles created by earthbound spirits. Perhaps when one enters in to 40~50 years, he/she would somehow like to purchase new properties or at least perform some house renovations; or one would engage in agricultural activities or anything related to land. Whatever case that might be, all of those activities would stimulate those earthbound spirits and this is precisely why a middle age group are more prone to be harmed by earthbound spirits.

Perhaps it is also due to overfatigue during younger days that middle aged people tends to suffer from cancers, heart disease, stroke etc.

Summary:

For many years psychics have identified certain diseases are caused by spiritual interferences; including the homosexual issues. Although psychologists of modern days think homosexual is normal behaviour. This is a sensitive issue, but perhaps we shall see what homosexuality is in Asian spiritual perspectives. 

Spiritual Influences Between Couple (婚姻的灵性影响)

When a couple gets together through marriage, be it heterosexually or homosexually; then the husband can influence the wife or vice versa depending on which party has a stronger karmic energy.

Most often than not, bad spiritual influences are mostly due to hatred of dead or living souls that are attached onto the body of a husband or wife. It is this negative entity from a husband/wife that can bring disaster to wife/husband. For example: once peaceful and calm husband may become violent and accident prone after marriage due to spiritual interferences brought to him by his wife. Unfortunately there is no other way to remove this curse unless the wife is aware that she has caused her husband to act in such a way; and that she can continuously pray for the deliverance of those spirits causing troubles for her.

In Chinese Taoism and Japanese Shinto, the wife has a tendency to attract bad karma, yin or negative energies. The source of this negative energy is so called ‘earthbound spirit’. It is when these earthbound spirits become active amongst husband, wife and kids in a family that causes problems in a household that may be extended to their work or social lives. Perhaps the health of family member is below expectation, including poor results of children in school; including the unrest of other close relatives.

Of course, spiritual influences can be good or bad. When the influence is good, we call it guardian spirit; otherwise it is known as obstacles. Unfortunately, most of us are overwhelmed by negative forces; no wonder majority of modern households are besieged by illnesses and disasters.

In normal circumstances, earthbound spirits would not create troubles. However once a person is married or moving, these earthbound forces are stirred up and hence become problems to a person. It is not difficult to diagnose if a problem is caused by earthbound spirits as most of the pains or injuries would occur at lower half or on the right side of the person’s body.

Before one seeks professional help, first thing one need to do is to make offerings to one’s ancestor spirits so that they are pacified; and then strengthen the person’s bond with his/her guardian spirits. If anyone believe that he/she is besieged by disasters after major events such as marriage or moving house, he/she can first perform the above two simple steps; then most of his/her problems could be solved.

  

Till Death Do We Part? (死后还相聚？)

Many people thought if their will power is strong, then they shall be together even after death. Well, that is what always depicted in many ghost stories anyway. So, what is the real situation like then?

What I know is that the above is not necessary true, some death souls will be fetched by his/her ancestors, some spirits would roam about in this physical world until their time are up while many of them would enter the cycle of birth and rebirth.

Another question is that would those death souls see each other when they all die at the same time? Unfortunately, even though a few souls die at the same time and at the same spot; none of them can ‘see’ each other. Most of the time the dead soul would think that it is alone as the surrounding is total dark to them, only some lucky ones would see a spot of light in front of them; unless someone has performed a soul calling or deliverance service, then there is no way for this dead soul to leave the site. This is especially true for those ones die of untimely deaths.

I once performed Phowa deliverance service for a family of 5 and when those dead souls are summoned, none of them saw each other even all were summoned at the same place for deliverance service. Below are some conversations of that time:

F = Father spirit

M = Mother spirit

S = Son spirit

D = Daughter spirit

A = Aunty spirit

Me: “Vajra Sama Jah… Jah! Father, Mother, Son, Daughter and Aunty Tonight I call upon you all to perform Phowa service…”

F: “Where are my wife and my children?”

Me: “They are all around you…”

F: “I don’t see and hear from them… are you kidding me?”

(At another corner, another female voice was heard…)

M: “Where are my husband and children?”

Me: “They are all around you… “

(Another voice of boy and girl was heard…)

S & D: “Wow~ I want my papa and mama!”

(After a while, another female voice was heard…)

A: “Where am I? I am scared…”

At this point I realized that those dead souls cannot see nor hear each other even though they are in a same room! Before things got out of hand, I summoned all dead souls in the room to enter the heart of my Yidam (本尊) and with the shout of “Phat! Phat! Phat!” they have departed to where are supposed to go…

Well… Contrary to common belief, it is not necessary that a dead soul can be delivered into pure land with Phowa deliverance method. There are records that some souls may end up in Hell if the master is not careful… So I can only let the nature take its course.

So, it is best just to let go of everything… and certainly please also forget about “I want to be with you in the next life…” for your own good! You might not like what you see in your next life.