? There is a teacher who has a Taoist technique that allows you to escape from the earth at night to hunt for treasures. You can see where certain treasures are buried, especially the treasures in tombs. Generally he does not appear easily. When he escapes in search of treasure, he must light a lamp where he meditates and never extinguish it. He will escape and disappear from the house in an instant. Several disciples took turns guarding the lights in the house. In the middle of the night, because the disciples were sleepy, the lamps went out several times. After they were extinguished, they found out and lit them again.
?The teacher suddenly appeared when the sky was about to dawn. He asked his disciples: "I walked some nights, did you leave the lamp unattended?" The teacher was able to tell how many times the lamp had been turned off and how many times it had been lit. The disciples were surprised. It turns out that the light from the lamps lit here is useful for the teacher "outside".
? Is there any escape technique? When I was a child, I heard an old aunt in my family say that her brother had practiced Qimen Dunjia and knew how to escape. He would draw a door on the wall, go in, and people would leave. If you read books like "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", you will find that there are many similar stories written in ancient books. For example, "Laoshan Taoist" talks about escape techniques. I have met Yang Degui, a modern man who knows one of the "escape arts" called "portation technique". Many people exposed him on the Internet, saying that his escape technique is fake and a magic trick. On the last day of 2011, Yang Degui performed a escaping skill at my house. All the props were provided by me. He also took off his shirt. There was no possibility of cheating. He moved an antique out of thin air into the porcelain pot used for cooking rice and soup in my house. . I wrote about this in my blog post back then. Last night, I was looking for a poem I wrote in 2011 in my document home, and I also found an article I wrote about Yang Degui performing escaping arts at my house. Yang Degui told me that his teacher Zhu Yuangao knew the escape technique that makes people disappear in an instant.
?Is there such an escape technique? There are many ancient novels, Taoist materials, and folk rumors. Don't talk nonsense, just listen to it. When I tell you the escape story told by Mr. Wang, the drunkard’s intention is not to drink. ?
I thought of the folk custom that after death, the lamp in front of the coffin to attract spirits must never be extinguished. According to the ideas of the older generation, as well as Buddhist and Taoist magic, the light that attracts the spirit in front of the deceased's coffin and above his head cannot be extinguished before burial, but must always be on. In this way, the soul of the deceased will not walk at night and fall into darkness. The old people say that after death, the soul will walk a dark road, just like falling into an abyss. If the lamp that guides the soul does not go out, the soul will see the light. This emphasis has always been there. When I was in the countryside, I kept the light that led to the spirits of the deceased members of my family, and it seemed that it could not be extinguished.
? From the perspective of the idealism of the Dharma Realm, if the lamp is lit in the human world, there must be a light in that world to illuminate the path of the dead. It's just like the lamp that illuminates the way in the escape technique that Mr. Wang's teacher and friend talked about. The secret of many Taoist techniques is that certain things and practices in the human world will have corresponding information and energy in the legal world. In particular, many folk beliefs, such as offering meals, burning incense, and burning paper money to the souls of the dead, will also be displayed in some form in another world.
? However, this is only true for unenlightened people. If you are an awakened person, you don’t need all of this. In the great light of your own nature, everything is sufficient, and there is no need for these rituals and practices in the human world. Among all living beings, who is the awakened one?
There is a big difference between what is awakened and what is not. For those who are not yet enlightened, because their body and mind have not shown light, the soul of the dead is naturally in "darkness". That "darkness" is nothing but the manifestation of karma and "ignorance". "Ignorance", from a literal perspective, means there is no light. , without arising and entering into the light, it is naturally darkness. But for those who are meritorious or have awakened, they have broken through the limitations and illusions of their minds. After death, they immediately enter into the light of their nature, and there will never be any darkness. Everything is spiritual, this is the truth of the Dharma Realm. If you have light in your heart, you will show light; if you fear darkness, you will show darkness. This is the true meaning of Buddhism’s path to liberation.
Let me explain this through a story told by Mr. Wang. Furthermore, if the body's yang energy is insufficient and the person is in a trance, there will also be dark scenes. Here is the wonderful use of cultivating Yang Qi and cultivating light in Buddhism and Taoism. You can find out by reading the story of his teacher Shen Taixu who rescued several meditators who fell into superstition in Min Xiaogen's "The Difficulties of Cultivation Debate". Those who came out of trance said they felt cold, darkness, wind, and even the entangled arms of dead souls (which were actually illusions), and they could not break free. Suddenly there was sunlight and heating, and they came out of trance. The so-called sunlight and warmth refer to the sunlight visualized by Shen Taixu and the true Yang energy delivered in the form of air distribution.
The subtlety lies here. Shen Taixu saw those people falling into a coma, their bodies running cold, and they looked like they were about to die. Shen Taixu visualized the sunshine and the sun, and those people immediately saw and felt the sun's yang energy in their spiritual realm. This is the wonderful use of the Dharma Realm principle of creating a state of mind and consciousness. When people's thoughts are moved, the Dharma Realm responds. People who truly practice the Golden Light Curse will never fall into darkness and coldness after death, but will be in the great light. .........The mind has a great power in creating the environment. If you read the self-narrative of the moonlight boy who cultivated water in the Shurangama Sutra, you will understand the principle of "mind only and consciousness only". When the Moonlight Boy was looking at the water, the disciple opened the Zen room, but saw water everywhere but the Moonlight Boy was missing. The disciple playfully threw a piece of tile into the water in the Zen room. Moonlight Boy's heart ached after he came out of concentration.
When the disciple explained this matter, Moonlight Boy looked at the water again and entered concentration. The disciple saw the water again, walked in and took out the tiles that had been thrown into the water. After Moonlight Boy came out of concentration, his heartache and illness were cured. The Surangama Sutra says: "The Moonlight Boy stood up from his seat, bowed at the Buddha's feet, and said to the Buddha: I recall the past, a eon of sand in the Ganges River, when a Buddha appeared in the world, named Water Heaven, and taught all Bodhisattvas how to practice water contemplation. , enter the samadhi. Observe that the water nature is not taken away from the body, and the body fluids, essence, blood, and urine are exhausted for the first time. There is no difference between the water and the sea. When I first realized this vision, I was a monk and meditated in the room. I looked out of the window and saw clear water all over the room. There is nothing to see. As a child and ignorant, I took a piece of rubble and threw it into the water. It made a sound and looked away. After I came out of concentration, I suddenly felt heartache, like Sariputta being harmed by a ghost. I thought about it. I have attained the path of Arhat and have been away from illness for a long time. Why do I suddenly feel heartache today? Then the boy came to me and said the above thing. I said: If you see the water again, open the door and come in. The rubble was removed from the water. When the boy followed the instructions, he saw the water again. When he opened the door and removed it, his body remained as before. " Any method or spell is a dharma after all. Still not clear. Understand this truth, do good deeds, accumulate virtue, follow the Tao, and practice light, and you will naturally have good virtues and bright information and realms in the Dharma Realm that correspond to your mind. Therefore, those who develop bodhicitta, correct the path of goodness, practice light, and accumulate negative virtues will inevitably open up their nature and achieve the ultimate due to these good information. Because: mind and consciousness are the fundamental principles of the Dharma Realm.
...Although Mr. Wang is from Beijing, he worked in Sichuan when he was young. Because of his good Taoist skills, he met many people, listened to many stories, and saw many Dharma methods. Spend less. When he was earning 18 yuan a month in the 1960s, he dared to spend half of his salary to learn Taoism.
? Some of the Taoist stories he told were things he had heard but had not witnessed, some were things he had witnessed, and some were things he had practiced. For example, he talked about "the art of exorcising corpses", which he heard from his elders when he was working in Sichuan. I read it in Qing Dynasty documents. In the past, people had a strong sense of locality. When a person died, he had to return to his roots and be buried in his hometown. If he could not be buried in his hometown, it was called "dying in a foreign land." Later generations did not even have a place to sweep graves and offer sacrifices. People in the old days had a strong concept of incense and believed that if no one burns incense to offer sacrifices, they will become lonely ghosts. Although this is a common concept among people in the old days of China, in Buddhism, it is the liberation of one's soul from prejudice and personal opinions. "Concepts constrain the soul" is not a lie. If a person is not awakened and does not break certain cognitive barriers while alive, then after death, that stubborn cognition will confuse, constrain, and hinder the liberation of the soul.
? Some people died in a foreign land. In the past, when transportation and information were not developed, and it was not possible to bury them on the spot, there was the "dead exorcism technique", which used spells to make the corpse walk on its own at night, thousands of miles away. I have to walk home every day and settle down in peace.
?Among the old people Mr. Wang knows were engaged in this industry. What the principle is is unknown. In recent years, due to the development of the Internet and film and television, such stories have been written in various fantasy novels and even appeared in some films and television. Taoism does have such magic. Alchemy solves problems and is relevant to the times. In modern times, such Taoism has lost its meaning of existence. Legally, people who die in a foreign land must be cremated on the spot. Even if you don't cremate on the spot, you still have to go to the public security department to go through the formalities. There are special vehicles for transporting corpses, and the vehicles are equipped with air-conditioning equipment. There are even planes transporting passengers overseas. It’s just that the cost is extremely high. A Taoist priest I know had a senior sister who was preaching Taoism in the United States and died in a foreign country. The junior brother transported the senior sister’s physical body to China via air, and he returned to China and inherited the Dharma lineage.
Because Mr. Wang is good at Taoism, he knows many Taoism stories and has seen many Taoism performances. For example, when he was in the factory, someone knew how to move things. The director didn't believe it, so the workers performed it for him. The director put an important document in the safe. The worker who knew how to move said to the director: "Open it and take a look." , is it still there?” The director opened it and saw that it was gone. The document is already in that person's hands. In an instant, the man said, it's not here with me anymore, it's in another cabinet. Sure enough. Seeing is believing, which aroused Mr. Wang's Taoism. I have also seen performances of porting skills, but I have never been obsessed with them, let alone been obsessed with them for decades. The concept of "all magical powers are small skills, only emptiness is the great road" is deep in my heart. Bai Yuchan's concept of "internal use can make elixirs, external use can become skills" has a great influence on me. I pay attention to the body and the Tao body.
Mr. Wang has seen many spells. A friend of his knows a spell to cure wasps. If he tells you the spell, you will laugh. If you don’t believe it, it’s just a few simple sentences, like “The sun rises in the east, and the sun shines brightly. When the golden rooster comes out, the wasps suffer.” There is another person. The hand trick is to pinch the thumb, middle finger, and index finger into a chicken head shape. You need to use force and cannot relax. Mr. Wang and his friends tried it and it was very effective. By chanting the mantra, even if you "stoke a hornet's nest", the wasps will not sting you. Once, a friend really poked a hornet's nest. It was okay at first, but because his hand was loose, a wasp came over and stung him. He quickly tightened his hand and the wasps flew away.
? It doesn’t matter if a wasp stings them. They also have Taoism. They write seven weird characters on paper, and then use a needle to prick one needle at the tip of the last stroke of the seven characters. It can reduce or stop swelling. It is very effective and can also be used to relieve pain. After Mr. Wang told me about it a year ago, my friend and I tried it. It was effective. Even if a mosquito bites, using this method will not itch or swell. It's just troublesome to write those seven weird characters and find a needle to prick the tail of the last stroke of those seven characters. One year I suffered from dental disease, which caused pain and swelling. Mr. Wang came and treated me using this method. The pain relief was good and the swelling was minimal. I also published this method in a certain issue of "Yi Sheng Culture".
What interests me is not Taoism itself, but the principles and functions behind Taoism. For example, the mantra and mudra used to control wasps are actually the effect of conscious intention. Human consciousness activities can also be sensed by other living beings. If you have evil thoughts towards a dog and stare at it, the dog will naturally sense your unkindness and bark at you. When we were children, the elders warned us not to look at dogs in order to avoid being bitten. When a person has bad thoughts about other people, most others can sense it. Animals also have that kind of feeling. In the understanding of Buddhism and Taoism, animals are never regarded as having no thinking and consciousness. It is believed that humans and animals can communicate with some kind of consciousness. People who handle animals have a deeper experience of this. When you are reciting "When the golden rooster comes out, the wasp will suffer" and when you perform the hand gestures that resemble chicken heads, the image of the "golden rooster" has been created in your consciousness. , a golden rooster will appear. Wasps are afraid of golden roosters, that's all. In the eyes of the wasp, you are not a human being, but the nemesis, the golden rooster.
The principle of reciting mantras and visualizing is nothing more than this. It's just that when the truth is explained clearly, few people believe it. Even if you believe it, you will not be able to respect or cherish it. For certain practices, many teachers only teach the methods to their disciples without reasoning. They are afraid that if you understand the principles, you will become arrogant and think that "it is like this" or "it is just like this". Once you have such thoughts, you will not be able to cultivate. For a person who understands the mind and nature, once he understands the principles, it will be easier for him to practice.
A relative of a friend of mine is a caster. In the past, there was a kind of "fire caster" in the countryside. The castrate knife was burned red with a fire. The caster licked the red-hot knife with his tongue to feel the heat of the knife. You You can hear the slurping sound caused by the contact between the tongue and the flaming red knife. I saw such a firefly when I was in the countryside, and saw a relative of my classmate "going to the market" (special craftsmen go out to work, which is called "going to the market" in the dialect). My classmate was curious and asked why the relative was not afraid of being burned? Relatives said they had recited a spell. My friend asked what spell? Relatives said: "Ice is ice, ice is ice." If you repeat these six words repeatedly, you will not be afraid of being burned. Looking at those "Crossing the Sea of ??Fire" performances in the Yunnan-Guizhou region, there must be similar spells. I've seen ethnic minority artists perform "Crossing the Sea of ??Fire" on TV, walking back and forth on the red coals with bare feet, and it was fine.
The most basic practice is to create an environment consciously through mantras, and the creation of an environment through consciousness induces a certain function and achieves a certain effect. This is the foundation of the teachings of the twenty-five Bodhisattvas in the Surangama Sutra, but those Bodhisattvas ultimately lead the practice of the teachings to the realization of emptiness and the path to liberation. This is the key point. Any Taoism that leads to the realization of emptiness will naturally transform into the path to liberation. There is no superiority or inferiority in the Dharma, only superiority or inferiority in understanding. For people with high understanding, any method may lead to the realization of the Tao.
? If someone recites and holds the Golden Light Mantra every day, "The golden light shines in the house, and the auspicious energy fills the courtyard", if you firmly believe that practicing the Golden Light Mantra can control your home and practice truth, and practice it in a reasonable and legal way, All your wishes will come true, and over time, your home will be auspicious, and your body and mind will be overflowing with golden auspiciousness. The principle is the same. The predecessors said: "Gods are made by mortals, but mortals' hearts are not strong." Any practice, whether it is Taoism or a higher practice of the path of liberation, has the same basic principles, and the most important thing is the perspective. Only when you are free will you not be confused. There are principles behind any mysterious Taoism, and these principles will all be attributed to the Taoist body. Only when you practice "get the basics and don't worry about the end" can you achieve great success without limiting yourself.