Throwing Spiritual Sucker Punch (灵性拳击)

Reciting mantra when a person is facing with a ghostly encounter might be a wise move provided that he/she has been reciting the mantra for a long time; or that this person understands the meaning behind the mantra or he/she is empowered to do so. Otherwise, pretending not to see the ghost is the best move for anyone who recites mantra on ad hoc basis would be same as throwing a spiritual sucker punch to the ghost. If a person starts to recite ‘Namo Amitabah’ or ‘Guanyimma’ in front of a ghost and he/she has no background whatsoever about the said religion; then this person is basically telling the ghost: “Suck it to me!”

When I started to learn Mao’shan sorcery, my sifu at that time asked me and a friend, Stephen to go into his altar as the master wanted to show us the power of his 5-ghosts. The 5-ghosts of old time are actually spirits of children of below 14 years old and in order to train these 5-ghosts, a sorcerer must first collect 5 pieces of finger bones from 5 intelligent kids. These bones were normally kept in 5 separate little wooden coffins which are sealed with talismans to prevent the ghosts from wandering out. Nowadays of course, the 5-ghost systems from Taiwan would be much weaker compared to old times but that was old time then.

Our sifu asked us to stand still beside his altar while he started to called upon his 5-ghosts so as to lift their individual little coffins into the air. As the sifu was concentrating with his mantra recitation, the 5 little coffins started to vibrate at first and then all of them were lifted up into the air!

Then, all of a sudden, all of the 5 coffins flung towards Stephen and hit him in his face. I was stunned by the sudden change. The sifu opened his eyes and shouted at Stephen: “What do you think you are doing?”

Stephen answered in a shaken voice: “I was very afraid, so I recite the Vajrakilaya mantra for protection…”

Sifu continued to yell at Stephen: “You want to bind, burn and kill my 5-ghosts! No wonder they are furious at you. Now, please leave my place and don’t return again for your own safety.”

Of course, I didn’t learn the 5-ghost ritual from my Mao’shan master either as I was learning the Tantric ritual and I was forbidden by my guru Rinpoche to have anything to do with Taoist magi then. When I brought Stephen’s case with the Rinpoche, he said Stephen wasn’t aware of the meaning of the mantra. Further, he must also learn the full Vajrakilaya ritual to be able to utilise the mantra for subduing demonic entities.

So, my take is just to leave the ghosts alone and pretend you didn’t see it instead of asking it to ‘suck it to you’. Then and again, the choice is still yours.