For some people who practice black magic or white magic, after they die, they still linger around, still stranded, staying around that kind of… We can say that it’s the state of “having nowhere to go,” not belonging to any place. Or, in Esoteric Buddhism, we call it “the intermediate state.” After one dies, he doesn’t belong to this world, but he also does not belong to another world yet. Not belonging to anywhere, drifting around like a ghost. Sometimes we say that we see demons, it’s them… (Wandering ghosts.) Wandering ghosts who are not yet liberated. They cling to this world but cannot return. This is very agonizing. But they have magic power. They can go very, very far in an instant; once we think of them, they come. That’s why it’s best not to think of them.
I tell you, there was a monk who used to cook for me, though not very often. Sometimes they took turns to cook. Sometimes he cooked. One time I took him to somewhere to cook. I didn’t take him there to cook; just by the way. It happened that he could cook, so he cooked a little. But one time, he kept thinking of his father who had just died while cooking for me. I didn’t know that he was thinking about that. When he brought the meal to me, wow, it smelled so fishy. I didn’t want to eat. I was hungry, so I had told him to bring the meal. He brought it, but I couldn’t eat it at all. I just said that I didn’t want to eat, but I couldn’t say why. The fishy smell was too strong. It was like a meal that was offered to the deceased. You don’t know; some spirits did come to eat, and then the food would smell very fishy. (Very dirty.) Very dirty. If you could see it, it looked like there was mud mixed together with the food. I didn’t see; I didn’t see anything. Just the smell was too fishy to bear. Eww! Couldn’t bear it; it was as if there was a fish(-person) inside. There was some weird stuff in there, like it had been offered to the deceased.
Because sometimes when we think of someone, he’ll also bring along his friends and relatives. For example like that. Or those who are together with him, who are not liberated, happen to come. For example, he comes to tell them, “That person is not around. Now is it OK for us to eat this?” For example, at your wedding, or if you organize a banquet, and you invite a friend but he is not around. His brothers and sisters then come and say, “He’s not home, and so we came.” This happens sometimes. Therefore, it may not be that person who comes to eat. Maybe he’s been liberated. The ghosts nearby can hear that we’re thinking of that departed soul because they’re also departed souls. They are the same kind. Companions. They also come. It means that we have sunk into that realm. Having sunk into this realm, we can attract those departed souls in the same realm.
Because, even though he was a monk, he had no idea about liberation, about the elevation of five generations; that meant his level was very low, always thinking of impermanent birth and death. The departed soul was gone, yet he kept thinking of him, kept indulging in those kinds of depressing thoughts, instead of thinking about liberation, or that the departed soul had happily gone. Then, of course, our level is very low. A renunciate should deserve that title. Do you know or not? “Renouncing the world” means one has realized that the four elements are all empty. It means having seen through the impermanence of life and death, and recognizing that the emotional ties and relationships with relatives and friends are but illusions – the results of karma. As we practice spiritually toward liberation, everyone will be liberated along with us. Only then can one be considered a renunciate. It isn’t enough to simply put on the monk’s robe. That’s why some who wear the robes of a monk aren’t true renunciates just yet.
Alright, I don’t mean to speak ill of anyone. I simply want you to know about some different levels. OK. The food had a very fishy smell. He had been thinking of that departed soul while he cooked, crying while he cooked. And because of that, I had no appetite for it. But strangely, when I gave the food to another monk, he said, “Wow, it’s very delicious.” Tong, is he here? (He’s outside.) Was it not so, Tong? (He’s hiding.) He’s hiding, hidden away, alright. Good, good for him. We won’t look at him. Maybe he had more blessings than I did. Yeah. In the “Lotus Sutra,” or perhaps another, it’s said that any food would taste good to a person who has great blessed rewards. I don’t have that many blessed rewards. (The food was purified.) Huh? (You looked at the food, so it was purified by You.) (You had blessed the food.) Really. She said that since I had seen the food, it had been purified. And that’s why he felt it was tasty. Why couldn’t I purify it for myself to eat? Why is my life so tough? I purified it for others to enjoy while I myself couldn’t eat it. (This is Your sacrifice and dedication.)
Sometimes it’s like this. It’s like a doctor who cannot save himself; he cannot perform surgery on his own body and must rely on others. But he can operate on others. Such as the miraculous doctors, like Hua Tuo and Bian Que. They couldn’t save themselves. For example, if he had brain cancer or something, he could not operate on himself. Yes or no? (Yes.) Sometimes it works that way. We are all like that. Sometimes they can save others, but they have no privilege, no power to save themselves. They have to bear their own karma.
OK. So, we were talking about… Why did we talk about departed souls? (Whatever level we think of, we’ll sink to.) What you think, you create. (Light body and departed souls…) The difference between a light body and a departed soul. (Some are astral projections.) But why have we come to that topic? (You said that it’s not the real light body, but the departed soul.) Departed souls came. Yes, yes, yes. OK. OK. As for those departed souls, sometimes they come, and we cannot see them, because they lack energy. Other times, they come, and we can see them. However, “seeing” and “not seeing” fall into two scenarios. It could be that we happen to have the ability to perceive the other world. It’s not something we can see every day; it only happens occasionally. Or we may see it frequently. It depends on one’s ability.
Furthermore, the departed soul himself possesses the power to appear or reveal his presences for others to see. It’s possible. However, he must exhaust whatever power he has just to appear or reveal himself to people. Sometimes he can break things or make loud noises. Therefore, sometimes you say there’s a devil or ghost in a certain place, because at night people keep hearing a lot of noise, but there’s no one there. Sometimes a door keeps opening and closing on its own, yet there is no one there. Yes or no? (Yes.) Or in the kitchen, it sounds as if someone is cooking. You go downstairs, and no one is there. I’ve heard this once.
When I visited an initiate’s home in Taitung. It was very long ago; I won’t say who it was. He had been fasting for many days, a long time. It was not just fasting; he was suppressing his desire to eat. When I was staying at his home, every day I would hear the sound of… (Chopping vegetables.) Chopping vegetables and cooking, and then the clattering of bowls, chopsticks, spoons, and everything was making noise. It was as if many people were cooking down there. I thought he was preparing food for me. I kept waiting upstairs, starting to salivate. I kept waiting, waiting, nothing happened, and I didn’t smell anything. And so I went downstairs to have a look. It was all quiet. There was no soul at all. Going upstairs, I heard it again. So I said, “This is strange. There is something wrong.” But I didn’t know why.
I was starving that day. I snatched a zongzi (glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo) from a monk; I ate his zongzi. I waited too long and didn’t have anything to eat. But actually, he would be more than willing to let me have that zongzi. Because you always have good food, while I can only enjoy it once in a while. If I ate the whole thing, he’d still be very happy. But I was so hungry that I felt very ashamed, so I shared half of it with him. I said, “It’s strange. Why have I lost self-control to such a degree?” The zongzi was already given to him. Originally, I didn’t want to eat anything, and whatever you gave me, I’d immediately give it to the monks and nuns, one each or several for each person. That day, after giving him the zongzi, I kept hearing the sound of bowls, chopsticks, and whatnot. It made me very hungry; I was expecting to have food. Lots of gastric acid built up, maybe about two liters. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Truly couldn’t stand it. So, I took back the zongzi I had given him. I felt so embarrassed; I ended up splitting it and giving him half of it back. Wow, I was so reluctant. I had never felt that way before.
Sometimes when we are starving, it’ll also generate an atmosphere that attracts demons and ghosts to come and make trouble. It wasn’t even me; it was because he was starving, and trying to suppress his desire for food. When I went there, I felt his vibe. Oh, the whole house was filled with that kind of vibe, the overwhelming vibe of starvation. (We are one.) But, on that day I didn’t find out the reason, but much later I found out he was fasting at that time, not eating and other things. He thought that fasting would speed up his spiritual progress. Later, after I “fixed” him, I didn’t feel hungry at his place anymore. I didn’t hear that sound.
OK. Let’s get back to our story. There was a woman… Now I want to explain the difference between what happened then and the light body. Just now we were talking about that fellow initiate who saw Master’s light Body. It’s nothing special, because many of our fellow initiates see that, sometimes during meditation, in the middle of a disaster, or when they are ill. It happens in all sorts of situations. Like my mother, she often saw me. She said that she saw me every day. Nearly every day she saw the inner Master. Sometimes she could not see it very clearly, which was a pity, according to what she said. Sometimes the light was very bright, so she couldn’t see the person. That’s just how she is. My mother already saw the inner Master before initiation. Before she had any idea what I was doing. So, this is also quite common, nothing special.
But sometimes we hear stories about so-and-so having a light body and traveling to certain places. Or sometimes we see someone revealing his so-called invisible body. We shouldn’t assume it’s a manifestation body, nor should we take it as a sign that the person is high in spiritual practice. A departed soul can also do that, if he has enough strong willpower. Or at the abode of the departed souls, they might bump into some spirits who have more merit, the ones who have practiced some magic power, and then teach them how to do it. They can use every bit of their power to reveal their bodies for a while. That is not the light body.
OK. I’ll tell you one more story. There was this French woman, named Alexandra David-Néel. Have you ever read about her? Have her books been translated into Chinese? She went on an adventure to Tibet. Alexandra David-Néel, a French woman. She went to Tibet at the age of 55. Have you read those kinds of books? She was talking about the esoteric spiritual practice in Tibet. Yes? Is there any translation? (No.) Ah, what a shame. (Yes.) Yes? Where did you read it? Can you buy a few copies for us? (There’s one.) Ah? (Some publisher in China has published one book.) What was the title? (I don’t remember the title, but I can look it up.) Can you find out? (Yes, yes.) If you cannot buy it, then help me make a copy and put it… (I can buy it.) (It’s available for purchase.) OK. OK. (I’ll bring it here next week.) Good. Thank you. Put it in the library for them to read. (OK.)
You can buy and bring books about spiritual practice, but first let me take a look. Sometimes you buy lousy, weird books. If you read that, you’ll end up having nightmares. I’m not being prejudiced. If I had a prejudiced mind, I wouldn’t even be telling you these unfamiliar stories or the names of other people. I just tell you whatever I know. Some of them you don’t know, and some of them you know. This means I don’t discriminate. Some books are just trash. You’d be better off reading a novel than picking up those kinds of books. Stay away from those low-level supernatural powers, low-level magic powers. If you read that stuff, it’ll drag your level down to that plane. It’ll affect you for a while, maybe not forever. But we also don’t know where your levels are. If we read a book or study any philosophy, and we don’t have enough discernment, if we just soak up those ideas, and make them our own then we’re in trouble. If that person is at a very low level, and his mind isn’t stable, his concepts incorrect, and yet we find it suits us and accept it as our own, then we’ll sink there. That’s how most people in society influence each other. It’s like that.
Mostly our thoughts are not our own, but from reading books, or from our teachers, or traditions passed down from our parents, traditions and habits. We don’t even have the slightest original power and thought of our own at all. You don’t say, “I think so. This is what I think.” Mostly it’s what others think. “My mother thinks so.” “My teacher taught me so.” Yes? (Yes.) Think about it: most of our thoughts aren’t even our own. What a shame. That’s why I tell you to be selective about what you read. Of course, I have no right to forbid you from reading anything. But it’s in your best interest that you read books of a higher level, so as to keep our mindset grounded at a higher level. Better not to sink. We definitely don’t want to sink any lower than where we are now. If you are already at a low level, it would be bad to sink even lower. Because it’s very troublesome to change our thoughts. If it’s already deep-rooted in our minds. (Ingrained.) Ingrained in our minds. It produces fruits or flowers which bear many children and grandchildren and offspring… and then they become a park inside. Very troublesome. Is it not so? (Yes.)
Have you read the… I was going to tell a story, and it turned out… Never mind. Continue to digress. (Random digressions.) Random digressions. But you have to remember my original topic, (OK.) and pull me back later. Now I’m running wild. Because sometimes when we talk about one thing, it leads to another thing. Yes or no? (Yes.) It’s unavoidable.
Photo Caption: “Growing 2gether in Harmonic Friendship”
