Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

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Caz
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Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Caz »

So This had me wondering this evening various unseen beings are attributed as being able to cause misfortune or various events to happen to people be that for good or ill, Does anyone know what sort of abilities they have in specific ?
Abandoning Dharma is, in the final analysis, disparaging the Hinayana because of the Mahayana; favoring the Hinayana on account of the Mahayana; playing off sutra against tantra; playing off the four classes of the tantras against each other; favoring one of the Tibetan schools—the Sakya, Gelug, Kagyu, or Nyingma—and disparaging the rest; and so on. In other words, we abandon Dharma any time we favor our own tenets and disparage the rest.

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lobster
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by lobster »

Do you mean like mara?
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma8/mara.html
or Buddhist vampires that suck your dharma? Are you interested in what to feed hungry ghosts or wish to know what bait to use for naga fishing? Perhaps you wish to know about my gurus Garuda breeding program?

Not sure what you are asking? :yinyang:
Schrödinger’s Yidam
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Schrödinger’s Yidam »

Welcome Caz. Nice to see you. :thumbsup:
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
plwk
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by plwk »

You mean the one that causes mad cow madness or the pretas that visit this forum and pry on others or both or none of it? :mrgreen:
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Adamantine
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Adamantine »

Here is an overview, albeit incomplete: http://www.khandro.net/mysterious_spirits.htm
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Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Huseng »

From the beginning Buddhists demonstrated a strong concern for the activities of non-corporeal beings. This seems to have always been the case up until very recently, but even then you still find plenty of magic employed by lamas and bhikkhus alike for protecting oneself from their influences.

In the Pali we find a protection incantation for defending oneself against yakkhas:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .piya.html

There was also early on concern about offending the thirty-three devas who tour the world on specific days. See the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra (大毘婆沙論):
  • “Question – Why only speak of thirty-three devas? Answer – The devas frequently gather to discuss good deeds and misdeeds. Hence the partial discussion of them. The devas during the waxing and waning moons on every eighth, fourteenth and fifteenth always gather in the hall of saddharma to weigh the amount of good deeds and misdeeds in the world. Furthermore, the thirty-three devas always together inspect the creators of good deeds and misdeeds. Seeing one who has created good deeds, they then protect them. Seeing one who has created misdeeds, they then together resent and ruin them.”
These ideas go back to early Buddhism.

Plenty of Buddhist sorcerers also made their careers as summoners of benevolent albeit unseen beings for the benefit of the state. I wrote about that here:

https://sites.google.com/site/dharmadep ... -east-asia


Nowadays there is a tendency to see such beings as figments of your imagination or "just mind", which is agreeable to our materialist inclinations, but historically they were usually seen as beings with their own ongoing subjective sentient existences.

Fortunately, Buddhism has got a few powerful gods on its side like Indra. Here is a really good overview:

http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_n ... /sakka.htm
Caz
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Caz »

Indrajala wrote:From the beginning Buddhists demonstrated a strong concern for the activities of non-corporeal beings. This seems to have always been the case up until very recently, but even then you still find plenty of magic employed by lamas and bhikkhus alike for protecting oneself from their influences.

In the Pali we find a protection incantation for defending oneself against yakkhas:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .piya.html

There was also early on concern about offending the thirty-three devas who tour the world on specific days. See the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra (大毘婆沙論):
  • “Question – Why only speak of thirty-three devas? Answer – The devas frequently gather to discuss good deeds and misdeeds. Hence the partial discussion of them. The devas during the waxing and waning moons on every eighth, fourteenth and fifteenth always gather in the hall of saddharma to weigh the amount of good deeds and misdeeds in the world. Furthermore, the thirty-three devas always together inspect the creators of good deeds and misdeeds. Seeing one who has created good deeds, they then protect them. Seeing one who has created misdeeds, they then together resent and ruin them.”
These ideas go back to early Buddhism.

Plenty of Buddhist sorcerers also made their careers as summoners of benevolent albeit unseen beings for the benefit of the state. I wrote about that here:

https://sites.google.com/site/dharmadep ... -east-asia


Nowadays there is a tendency to see such beings as figments of your imagination or "just mind", which is agreeable to our materialist inclinations, but historically they were usually seen as beings with their own ongoing subjective sentient existences.

Fortunately, Buddhism has got a few powerful gods on its side like Indra. Here is a really good overview:

http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_n ... /sakka.htm
Thanks Indrajala that was very informative. :namaste:
Abandoning Dharma is, in the final analysis, disparaging the Hinayana because of the Mahayana; favoring the Hinayana on account of the Mahayana; playing off sutra against tantra; playing off the four classes of the tantras against each other; favoring one of the Tibetan schools—the Sakya, Gelug, Kagyu, or Nyingma—and disparaging the rest; and so on. In other words, we abandon Dharma any time we favor our own tenets and disparage the rest.

Liberation in the Palm of your hand~Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche.
Caz
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Caz »

plwk wrote:You mean the one that causes mad cow madness or the pretas that visit this forum and pry on others or both or none of it? :mrgreen:
Well we've been summoning him this evening you see. :jawdrop:
Im more interested in the abilities of others I figure that if humans are able to influence the outside world a great deal then so to can Spirits & Gods but to what extent, How would one differentiate between the ripening of Karma and the ripening of Karma due to the Influence of something unseen ? :spy:
Abandoning Dharma is, in the final analysis, disparaging the Hinayana because of the Mahayana; favoring the Hinayana on account of the Mahayana; playing off sutra against tantra; playing off the four classes of the tantras against each other; favoring one of the Tibetan schools—the Sakya, Gelug, Kagyu, or Nyingma—and disparaging the rest; and so on. In other words, we abandon Dharma any time we favor our own tenets and disparage the rest.

Liberation in the Palm of your hand~Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche.
Schrödinger’s Yidam
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Schrödinger’s Yidam »

Caz wrote: Im more interested in the abilities of others I figure that if humans are able to influence the outside world a great deal then so to can Spirits & Gods but to what extent, How would one differentiate between the ripening of Karma and the ripening of Karma due to the Influence of something unseen ? :spy:
After a Mahakala initiation a lama spoke of the benefits. He said that the amount of benefit depended on you practice and your karma. If you only have a little good karma, Mahakala can't do very much. But if you had a large stock of good karma then Mahakala could do more.

But for people like us that have freedom to act, then the basic benefit is to change us. When we change internally, we change the way we live our lives. When we change our actions, the results of our actions change. That's technically not a miracle--unless you see the change in oneself as miraculous. That's the only miracle that means anything anyway.
1.The problem isn’t ‘ignorance’. The problem is the mind you have right now. (H.H. Karmapa XVII @NYC 2/4/18)
2. I support Mingyur R and HHDL in their positions against lama abuse.
3. Student: Lama, I thought I might die but then I realized that the 3 Jewels would protect me.
Lama: Even If you had died the 3 Jewels would still have protected you. (DW post by Fortyeightvows)
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Konchog1
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Konchog1 »

smcj wrote:After a Mahakala initiation a lama spoke of the benefits. He said that the amount of benefit depended on you practice and your karma. If you only have a little good karma, Mahakala can't do very much. But if you had a large stock of good karma then Mahakala could do more.
I seem to recall Zopa Rinpoche saying that Bodhicitta provides the karma for things like this to work.
Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.
Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

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Nosta
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Nosta »

Indrajala, thanks for your clear and complete information about the subject. I am reading the links right now.

Now, I would like to make a question related partially to the theme: there is a person I met who said that his wife, after waking up from a surgery, saw some evil black beings. According to her vision, the beings call themselves something like "the black tall club" and maybe caused the problem leading to the surgery. Maybe it was just a simple hallucionation but it could be also a contact with spirits. If so, does anybody know something about black evil spirits or about such a "club"? This sounds like a silly question, but since we are speaking about spirits I found this a good place to ask.
Thanks :)
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Huseng »

I personally think most people who claim to see spirits either hallucinated or are attempting to get attention with such claims.

I don't deny the existence of spirits, devas and so on, but just that there's little way of knowing their activities for certain.

As Confucius said, respect them but keep your distance.
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heart
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by heart »

Indrajala wrote: I don't deny the existence of spirits, devas and so on, but just that there's little way of knowing their activities for certain.

As Confucius said, respect them but keep your distance.
This is an excellent advise. Of course if you want to your respect can include practices such as sang, serkyem for the eight classes, sur, chö and so on.

/magnus
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Huseng »

heart wrote: This is an excellent advise. Of course if you want to your respect can include practices such as sang, serkyem for the eight classes, sur, chö and so on.
Do it at your own risk.
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Nosta
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Nosta »

Indrajala, about the woman I spoke, I dont believe she is trying to get attention. It was something that she said to her husband after getting out of a coma; since she was not used (like most of the western people) to such "encounters" she tought that was a real situation, a real spirit.

Also, I am not interested in speaking with spirits :D
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Simon E. »

Nosta wrote:Indrajala, thanks for your clear and complete information about the subject. I am reading the links right now.

Now, I would like to make a question related partially to the theme: there is a person I met who said that his wife, after waking up from a surgery, saw some evil black beings. According to her vision, the beings call themselves something like "the black tall club" and maybe caused the problem leading to the surgery. Maybe it was just a simple hallucionation but it could be also a contact with spirits. If so, does anybody know something about black evil spirits or about such a "club"? This sounds like a silly question, but since we are speaking about spirits I found this a good place to ask.
Thanks :)
A good description of a post -surgical hallucinatory state. The causes are complex but include reactions to anaesthesia, PTS ,and psychological shock.
The hallucinations take characteristic general forms, but vary in detail according to cultural conditioning.
Post-traumatic shock after even routine surgery, and its effects on healing and general well being are only just being taken seriously and responded to.
“You don’t know it. You just know about it. That is not the same thing.”

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche to me.
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heart
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by heart »

Indrajala wrote:
heart wrote: This is an excellent advise. Of course if you want to your respect can include practices such as sang, serkyem for the eight classes, sur, chö and so on.
Do it at your own risk.
Don't worry, I would never blame you.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Grigoris »

Indrajala wrote:
heart wrote: This is an excellent advise. Of course if you want to your respect can include practices such as sang, serkyem for the eight classes, sur, chö and so on.
Do it at your own risk.
Whay could possibly be the risk involved in doing these practices?
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
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"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
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Huseng
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Huseng »

Dealing with unseen forces can prove dangerous to your mental health.

Apparently Nagas are rather sensitive.
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Grigoris
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Re: Supernatural powers of Unseen beings.

Post by Grigoris »

Dealing with "seen" forces can also prove dangerous to ones mental health.

Humans can be fickle (and dangerous).
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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