Giant Doll Biscuits (公仔饼)

Taiping giant doll biscuits can only be purchased on or before Mid-Autumn Festival. But if you craze for one during normal times, you can purchase ordinary ones or just get your hands dirty and make some!

For a change, I thought of writing something about Taiping which is an old Malaysian town situated in the state of Perak. If you happened to drop by and if the timing is right, then you could probably pick up some of Taiping old tastes while they are still available.

This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) falls on September 27^th. This festival is not only celebrated by the Chinese, it is also a festive for Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese as well.

As with the traditions, there are many types of foods specially made for the festive season for the Chinese. The above picture shows three pieces of extra big ‘doll biscuits’ (公仔饼) that is the ‘old time flavour’ (古早味) of old town Taiping. These biscuits measures about 11cm in length and 11cm wide. Although there are many makers of doll biscuits but they seldom match the Taiping ones.

I have never missed to taste these biscuits since my school days. Even now days, I will travel specifically from Penang to Taiping to buy a kilo or two from an old shop situated opposite RHB Bank in Jalan Kota.

These doll biscuits are good to have with a cup of thick hot black coffee or a cup of green tea while sitting in the coffee shop looking at the street scene. This is the only way to enjoy tranquil Taiping life; which I can assure you that is pretty different from busy city lives.

However, if you are the ones who like to get your hands dirty, then you can try the recipe in the below blog:

http://bakingtaitai.blogspot.my/2014/08/fish-doll-mooncake.html

Of course, the purchase doll biscuits are ‘not halal’. But I am sure anyone can make their own doll biscuits accordingly and then everyone can have a taste of Mid-Autumn Festival too!

Religion As Means To Weaken Resistance (宗教愚民政策)

Throughout human history, politicians have used religion as means to weaken or fool internal resistance forces. There are just so many examples around us currently and historically. Let us just refer to the historical case of how Manchu (满洲人) uses religion as a mean to reduce Mongols (蒙古人) population from 12,000,000 strong to just a few hundred thousand heads during the end of Ching Dynasty in China…

During Ching Dynasty, the Manchu used religion as the killer weapon to fool and weaken the Mongols. As we all know it that Lamaism (喇嘛教) was introduced to Mongol society in the 15^th century. When the Ching Dynasty was in power, Lamaism was prevailing amongst the Mongols. Almost immediately that the Manchu noticed Mongols’ weakness and they use religion to control the Mongol population. In the words of the Manchu: “It is best to build a temple than dispatching 100,000 soldiers.”

So the Manchu emperor encourages the Mongols to become monks and incentives were given to those who opted to become monks. In a fairly short time, there were a few hundred thousand Mongol monks. Indeed the Manchu emperor’s strategy worked as almost 47% of the male Mongols become the unproductive Lamas! Without Mongol next generations, the once strong Mongols continued to become minorities under suppressions until the end of Ching Dynasty.

In modern times, our governments often make use of religions to control, divide and direct the emotions of general public for their personal interests. Religious contents can be changed with the patronage of the central government so that donations can pour into the account of the religious leaders. For example, the Mahayana Schools are quite different from the Theravadas as historically the Mahayana Buddhism has the patronage of royal families and that they once allowed owning land, properties and also slaves to work the lands. A very big difference is that the Mahayana monks would stand up to receive the emperor. On the other hand, an emperor would kneel down in front of the Theravada monks as nothing is above the three gems (三宝).

Hence I would safely conclude that religions and politics are indispensable pairs and both are the works of human for gaining humans’ own interests. That is of course, my personal opinion. I am sure that if one engages more in religious activities, he/she shall see the light at one time in future. And magic practices are simply illegitimate forms of good old religion.

The Honey Bodhisattva Of Avatamsaka Sutra: (甜蜜蜜菩萨)

The mahā-vaipulya-buddhâvataṃsaka-sūtra (华严经) is one of the earlier and important sutras in the study of Chinease, Korean and Japanese Mahayana Buddhism. In the Gaṇḍa-vyūha-varga (入法界品), it is mentioned that Sudhanakumara (善财童子) wished to learn about Bodhisattva path, so he ventured to visit 53 wise ones.

Amongst the 53 wise ones, there is one female bodhisattva by the name Vasumitra. As the Sanskrit name implies, ‘vasumitra’ means ‘sweet and nice’ (甜蜜). As it is odd to the oriental world to have a ‘honey bodhisattva’, so the name is not translated in Chinese Mahayana Avatamsaka Sutra.

So the story goes that Sudhanakumara went to see this Honey Bodhisattva and asked her about her way of practising bodhisattva path. This is what Vasumitra said to her visitor:

“Virtuous man, I attain bodhisattva status and become liberated through the method of abstention from lusts. I shall appear myself according to enjoyment and lusts.”

In another words, this Vasumitra would make a lustful person ‘enlighten’ by:

“Temporarily see her, talk to her, holding her hands, go into her bed, looking at her, looking at her face, looking at her eyes, hugging her, kissing her and having intimate contact with her…”

It is in such a way that the lustful person shall temporarily stay in this lust and forget about lust. In this way, he shall enter the land of bodhisattva and attain all wisdom and hence become liberated (somehow).

I am sure that I don’t have to explain explicitly the above description already mentioning the steps of fondling and love making this ‘Honey Bodhisattva’ uses to ‘liberate’ her visitors. Isn’t this an interesting find? Hahaha…

Apparently, intimate contact to achieve liberation not only mentioned in Tantric texts, it is also mentioned in Mahayana sutra texts too! The different lies in if a person can read between the lines and  ‘pick’ up the ‘hidden messages’ by the previous translators!

Invoking The Essence Of Kong Tao (魔王佛祖精贡)

By now you should be familiar with the term 'Kong Tao' which tends to refer to 'Thai Black Magic' in general. As with other magical systems, Thai Kong Tao makes use the power of spirits generally, but for more potent magic; a demon king can be summoned so that a magician can borrow its power to perform magical rituals. 

There is a law on how to borrow power from a demon king. The ritual should be started by chanting the below khata starting at 12 noon on a Thursday and ending the ritual at 9pm on a Friday night. After the ritual is completed, then the magician can use the demon king power for a total of 108 times for minor rituals, or 9 times for major rituals.

Just for your reading pleasure, not that I encourage it:

PI TI SU AH LA HANG,

SAMA SAMPA KARA PAYA JIMPA,

RAKA KARTA RAKA.

YIRA LIM LU KARA,

MANA JA OM MA TA,

RA TA SITA TE PUTRA, PUTPUT WU,

MANJU TATE PUTI,

SUHA KATO,

PATI MANRA SI PITI,

PATI MANRA TAJI PUTTO,

SONGKA, SONGKA,

TATI LAMRONG,

KONG SULE, KALO TA LANG,

MANG PA, MAI PUT ROKASITA,

SI PUT LAUTUN LOKA SITA,

MOPUT LAUPUT LOKASITA.

I don't know what will happen to an uninitiated person after trying the above khata. But since a person would need to recite the khata repeatedly for a long time, so I am sure no harm can come to anyone who just want to have a try. However, unless you have a guru to bill you out in case of trouble; don't try this ritual please.  

Problems Of The Tendons (筋病)

‘Problems of our tendons’ is a relative new terms in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as strictly speaking, one can feel discomfort with tendons related problems; but there is no medicine to cure this type of ‘illness’. The only way to treat tendon problems is to perform proper stretching exercises or having chiropractic or a physiotherapist to treat the patient. However, the western ways of dealing with tendon issues can take a long time to see result.

In TCM, bones are frames of our body, the tissues and muscles hold everything together; and the tendons controls every part of our body in day to day activities. All would be fine if we have carried out our daily tasks in a balance order. For example, instead of keep using our right hands for carrying loads continuously, we switch to use our left hands instead. Of course, not many people would consciously perform the switching. Result of the constant use of one side of our limbs, one part of our body are more developed that the other. So it figures that a right-handed person would have his/her right hand muscle developed that the left hand; likewise true for a left-hander.

If our muscles are developed one sided, then they will cause our body to incline to that side hence tensioning the tendons of the slacker sides. This explains why a right-handed person would feel his/her left shoulder pain and stiff. The more rigorous one works out his/her body, the stiffer his/her body muscles are and more pain of unknown sources would besiege the person. Many athletes suffered from tendon problems in addition to other physical injuries and yet they are forced to retire early.

I have a friend who likes to play badminton and won many tournaments. Despite his excellent physical conditions, he suffered from severe body pain of unknown sources. As he told me that he has fix appointments with physiotherapist two sessions a week and that each treatment sessions costs about $60. So this friend of mine spent about $480 a month; and he told me that his ‘treatment’ has been going on for years! We can imagine how much money he has spent over the years!

The best treatment of tendon issues is just simple physical stretching exercise. Yoga postures helps but when perform incorrectly, can cause injuries instead of curing. This is especially true for those who are lacking constant exercises. I normally use the Thai ‘Ruesi Dutton’ (Thai Yoga) exercise as they are simple to learn and yet effective in curing tendon related issues.

In TCM, we can use various massaging techniques using hands, buffalo horns or even sticks to beat and strike on the painful parts. Cupping techniques (拔罐) can also relieve pains on shoulders and waist.  However, cupping should not be used around neck area and head.

At times, herbal formulae should be used in addition to the physical treatment. There is a saying in TCM:

热病伤筋

(Heat related illnesses injure tendons)

So, if it is determined that a patient is suffering from ‘heat related’ illnesses (not fever), then proper herbal medicine should be consumed in conjunction with physical treatments. Or the effect is not noticeable.

The key to effective TCM treatments is based on the ability to pinpoint the root cause of the pains and administer proper treatment.

Traditional Indirect Physical Healing (头痛医脚)

If you are the type of person who ‘better die than sick’ or in Chinese ‘可以死，不可病’; then you probably would be interested in traditional indirect physical healing that I always use to tackle some of my nagging pains unless you have plenty money to spare to pay the medical bills of course.

For example I have this minor migraine at the top left corner of my head that has troubled me for years until one day I ‘accidentally’ found a cure to my long suffering pain.

A few weeks back I got a job that needed to be completed within a fairly short time. So I had to burn my midnight oil to see to the work is done. Consequently my migraine aggravated in addition to my tooth being sore too.

I did have the thought of visiting a dentist and a doctor for my nagging problems. Somehow I got the urge of praying to my Kurba Archan to seek for guidance one night. So the story goes that as I was praying, suddenly I got the urge of picking up my ‘tongkat’ (ritual wand) and gently strike at my left temple and top of my head. The exercise lasted for about 20 minutes. Though each stroke caused acute pain, the feeling was somehow comfortable and refreshing.

I went to bed immediately after that thinking of visiting the good doc first thing in the morning. Strange feeling did occur when I woke up. My left side of the face felt numb and the toothache has subsided. So, I decided to delay my visit and repeatedly using my wand to strike at my left temple and head and miraculously my toothache was gone in a few days’ time! Perhaps that has saved me hundreds of dollars and a tooth come and think of that.

Now that my toothache is gone, I still have to deal with migraine. Although the knocking on the head continues to relieve my migraine but something told me that it was not enough. So, I prayed to Kurba Archan again and suddenly I got an urge to massage my left sole and again I found a very thick tendon that hurts when I massaged it. Somehow my instinct told me to massage the tendon repeatedly and though it was painful, I felt vigour and a sense of relief.

My migraine still gives me problems now and then, but with massaging of head and foot, the discomfort can be brought into control without any medications. I don’t know what would happen if I indeed visited doctors but I would not want to speculate. Probably you have figured out the medical bills! Again, the above method may not be suitable for everyone. So, please keep your money ready for the good docs!

Taoist Out Of Body Exercise (道家出神观)

The Taoist out of body exercise is self-explanatory.

Same as with the western magic, the Taoist also has his/her own way of going out of body. The Taoist calls this the 'soul exits' (出神). Of course, there are many different ways on how one's soul can exit one's body: though meditation, through mantra recitation and through rituals.

The most proper way of out of body (OOB) method is called the 'yang soul exiting' (出阳神). This can only be done through proper meditation methods. Only when one's soul is purified completely and it is transformed into golden body that his/her soul is able to travel freely in and out of his/her body without any hindrances.

Another method of out of body is called the 'yin soul exiting' (出阴神). In this type of OOB, a person's soul can exit his/her body through certain rituals. For example one can use a mirror, incantations, spirits and talismans to travel out of his/her body. In this case, since the person has not purified his soul into golden form; hence his soul is weak and prone to psychic attack.

A third method of going OOB is through the use of Big Dipper Steps (七星罡). This is the somehow 'restricted' type of OOB as one normally travels out and up to the heaven through the ascending of the Big Dipper to meet with his/her Taoist master for advice and guidance.

I have not ventured to use it in any other way but for a more creative you, perhaps you may travel OOB using this method and let me know your experiences. Since I am bound by my oath of not using this Bid Dipper Steps for any other purposes but not you. So you may do as you wish but please remember how you ascend, then the descending should be in a reverse order.

Another note is that, ascending the Big Dipper is normally to meat with spirits of heavenly orders and it is quite safe. But one has to be pure hearted and sincere as the gods and goddesses are at times arrogant and quick tempered. So try not offend them in any way...