How to subjugate a ghost

A young wife fell sick and was about to die. "I love you so much," she told her husband, "I do not want to leave you. Do not go from me to any other woman. If you do, I will return as a ghost and cause you endless trouble."

Soon the wife passed away. The husband respected her last wish for the first three months, but then he met another woman and fell in love with her. They became engaged to be married.

Immediately after the engagement a ghost appeared every night to the man, blaming him for not keeping his promise. The ghost was clever too. She told him exactly what had transpired between himself and his new sweetheart. Whenever he gave his fiancee a present, the ghost would describe it in detail. She would even repeat conversations, and it so annoyed the amn that he could not sleep. Someone advised him to take his problem to a Zen master who lived close to the village. At length, in despair, the poor man went to him for help.

"Your former wife became a ghost and knows everything you do, " commented the master. "Whatever you do or say, whatever you give your beloved, she knows. She must be a very wise ghost. Really you should admire such a ghost. The next time she appears, bargain with her. Tell her that she knows so much you can hide nothing from her, and that if she will answer you one question, you promise to break your engagement and remain single."

"What is the question I must ask her?" inquired the man.

The master replied: "Take a large handful of soy beans and ask her exactly how many beans you hold in your hand. If she cannot tell you, you will know that she is only a figment of your imagination and will trouble you no longer."

The next night, when the ghost appeared the man flattered her and told her that she knew everything.

"Indeed," replied the ghost, "and I know you went to see that Zen master today."

"And since you know so much," demanded the man, "tell me how many beans I hold in this hand!"

There was no longer any ghost to answer the question.

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Zen koans such as that above offer a way to approach happiness indirectly. Strategically subvert unhappiness. Readers areinvited to go beyond what they imagine.

Additional Zen koans can be found at www.ashidaKim.com/zenkoans

5 Revelations to expand inner vision

Some people fear when they run out of questions, they run out of hope. Other people do not choose to ask questions or hope. They are indifferent, miserable or, attune deeply to energy. At some stage, you tap into free-flowing images and sensations you are unable to explain. To become aware is to know you have choices. Consider five revelations to expand inner vision;

1) Acknowledge the mind must transform. Sounds and images congest mental space. Background noise distracts focus. Inside, your mind is occupied and undisciplined. You nurture illusion of hope for something other than what you perceive, want experiences other than those where you are. As you become disillusioned and feel the futility of desire, you experience senselessness and suddenly shift gears.

2) Believe your can exist without self-deception. As you recognize the human mind feeds on lies, you realize you are ready to begin to systematically notice, identify and dissolve them. To feel directions, emotions and events confuse you, means you struggle between thoughts of dissatisfaction and hope for gratification. As you identify and dissolve ego, you prepare to merge with the unseen and unknowable.

3) Recognize the mind feeds on dreams. At some point, you convince yourself dreaming is necessary.  The mind conjures illusions even as you look and listen to a point of reference in the physcial world. You consciously forget dream is complete auto-deception. Hoping still exists. Discipline is the capacity to learn and know. But you cannot know or learn, unless you have attained the capacity to just be in the now.

4) Empty your mind. As you detach from beliefs, you are slowly learning to empty the mind. To experience bliss means absolute silence. You hear snow. This is possible only when there is harmony, that is, when all the discordant fragments of your personality have become one. When you are alone in the house of your mind without distraction, you are blissful.

5) Nurture courage to experience. Yoga is a method used to develop a non-dreaming mind. Its the science of being in the now. To engage fully means you are ready to detach from time, a sense of past and future.  You are willing to reframe hope, and agree not to jump ahead of your being. Yoga means to encounter reality as it is. This path makes it meaningful to uncover and apply depth of mental powers. Learn how to control them and not be controlled by them, and how to use them in the service of others. Do not permit new insight to distract the mind with sensations and focus on form.

What if you could explore future life dream recall?

If you believe a supersensible substance pervades all space and forms the substance of a second body (astral body) belonging to each individual, then you may be willing to believe you could explore future life dream recall. People will speculate that clues to oncoming lives must exist in fragments within dreams you have.  How would you proceed?

Uncharted pools of consciousness contain details of present and future consciousness.  Your level of awareness now permits you to reflect on choices you have made, but what if you have future insight already?  Would you choose to bring it to surface?What if you had ability to live out different futures and decde among preferred outcomes, then, rewind?

To choose among options in front of you in different areas of your life, to then explore a prospective choice on one level, and to deviate to another, could theoretically launch you into a different probability.  You may wonder if you might not get lost among realities and lose your way back to where you started.  And what if you changed your mind about a probable reality after the choice was made? You do not need a time capsule.

All of this reminds you why the conscious mind uses great restraint toward knowing future lives or possible experiences. Many people would choose not to know about the exact circumstances and timing of their eventual death before it happens.  Why?  Human beings develop a concern about what could be unpleasant or worriesome. Fear turns into very real mental blocks that inhibits awareness of dimensions of future lives.  

You may be aware past life regression therapy is a tool that benefits people in healing processes and quests for deeper self-understanding.  Whether or not reincarnation is scientifically-proven beyond any doubt, belief systems are such that this practice serves to empower some people to more effectively tackle perceived present struggles. 

Now, that said, your present is a perspective of future from the framework of your past.  Similarly, your present is your past from the perspective of a future.  Anyone who believes in past life regression,  is exploring future life dream recall already.  From the position of the past, the present is the future.  Human beings build bridges to interconnect past and future and travel between them more often than consciously realized.  What you are prepared to admit and remember, is something else.

"Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions." -Edgar Cayce

What are your International business development ideas?

You may know individuals who have branched out their businesses from local to regional, national and international.  Maybe this was a conscious plan or maybe the clients shaped the evolution of the business. You may dream of developing or branching out a business too.  Everything begins and ends with your initiative, resourcefulness and ingenuity.

Coaching is one business that can draw clients from anywhere.  Technology enables one to provide global service.  Yet, this is not the only business that benefits from Skype, internet, phone and other technology.  Ponder the options.  What examples do you notice in the world around you? What stands out? How does this inspire you in your own developing business ideas and ventures?

I invite you to share your stories and dreams.  Who or what inspires you? What specific topics or hurdles have you experienced? What would you like to learn more about? What are your related fears? What hold you back?