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

In the Hands of Destiny

A great Japanese warrior named Nobunaga decided to attack the enemy although he had only one-tenth the number of men the opposition commanded. He knew that he would win, but his soldiers were in doubt.

On the way he stopped at a Shinto shrine and told his men: "After I visit the shrine I will toss a coin. If heads comes, we will win; if tails, we will lose. Destiny holds us in her hand."

Nobunaga entered the shrine and offered a silent prayer. He came forth and tossed a coin. Heads appeared. His soldiers were so eager to fight that they won their battle easily.

"No one can change the hand of destiny," his attendant told him after the battle.

"Indeed not," said Nobunaga, showing a coin which had been doubled, with heads facing either way.

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Zen koans such as that above encourage readers to learn not only to "read between the lines," but also "within the words." There is always more to such value tales than meets the eye.

A koan is a story that presents a paradox, a situation that baffles or makes no sense.  Yet, as a readers evolves, he realizes it is how he thinks that is unfounded.

Koans prompt you to alter perception of reality.
Once the mind is able to simplify, the paradox dissolves.

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

Why believe in supernatural intervention?

Every human being encounters phenomena unexplainable in human terms. To what these things are attibutable remains to be seen. It may be doors mysteriously opening or closing, hearing voices nobody else around you does, coming into money, recovering from serious illness or, noticing energy vibration unnoticed before. Possible occurrences are endless.

Your reasons for believing or disbelieving the senses shape your views on physical existence. Only you know what is out of the ordinary or, very real to you. You create points of reference outside of yourself and then, detect transition to turn inside. Consider 5 reasons to believe in supernatural intervention;

1) Doubt begins to dissolve. Doubt obscures beliefs and the nature of perception. Hidden motives and fear influence what you accept.  Still, lots of people hope briefly or intermittently for supernatural intervention. Consistent believing is known to diminish doubt and bring what a person's heart desires.  Getting what you want strengthens faith.  Getting what you do not want is even more powerful.

2) Awareness shifts. You notice things within the self that went unnoticed before. Energy flowing within and around your body includes subtle nuances you now choose to discern. As you realize your body and mind are always changing beneath your conscious radar, you begin to feel layers of unexplored true self inside. You begin to see through ego personality, to discern soul motives explain everything as it is meant to do.

3) Appearances diminish. To move beyond highly-limited senses of the human body is to realize physical, earthly experience does not create discomfort or redefine freedom. To move beyond what you view as natural changes you in ways you are just begining to detect.  You observe your sense of personality evolves.  Part of you begins to see beyond the past. Part of you no longer trusts memories define core identity.

4) Labels fall away. The stage comes when you no longer view yourself as linked to a particular belief, opinion, or group philosophy. You realize differences in application and interpretation have been presenting during your perceived thought and growth process. Part of you questions the meaning of your name, the point of artifical concepts with energy vibrations you have come to define as you.

5) Something remains. You may not be able to put your finger on it or describe it, but a presence is with you. Some people would suggest you only begin to sense it fully as you learn to stop thinking altogether. As you learn to pause and hold pauses in your constant stream of human thoughts, you detect something indescribable between the energy vibrations. This explains everything, even if you have no term for it.

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.

John Geiger & 5 Lessons about guardians

John Geiger, authored The Third Man Factor. He researched a group of historic events where angelic presence is proposed as the common thread. Its up to you to discern whether this is a benign, nebulous force or, an energy truly precious or divine.

What do 9/11 survivors, mountaineers, divers, polar explorers, prisoners of war, solo sailors, aviators and astronauts have in common? All have escaped situations they viewed as life-threatening due to the presence of a guardian. Maybe you can relate? Consider these five lessons to rethink your conditions;

1) Angels have no desire to prove their existence. Humans know a bit about the physical world, but they are conscious of less about the unseen spiritual world. To be unaware of your spiritual side obscures your wider vision. Those people who demand tangible proof fail to find any, but those who start with faith, find confirmation presents itself.

2) Humans do not perceive beyond their bodily sense. Unless a being passes over, has a near death experience (NDE) or senses divine intervention, that being has no idea how alone a believer in the physical world is. For many people, a curious phenomena only becomes reality if its discovered or confirmed by Science, perceived through senses, tested with reason, is repeatable on-demand and verified by facts. To see through and dissolve ego is to recognize the former contradicts truth.

3) A divine force does not judge human beliefs. It is said higher beings allow each person to recognize spiritual error or truth by degrees. That is, your own choices are persuasive or not. Higher forces realize human beings are not equipped to discern the deepest levels of spiritual being so long as they are human. It is humanness that creates beliefs from nothing.

4) People experience divine presence without seeing it. You recognize presence beyond your human senses. This is enriching internal, spiritual sight. It is said spiritual beings transmit spiritual energy through the eyes of consciousness, not the physical eyes of a human body. Only a presence can choose to reveal himself.  Even if you concede presence is beyond your current comprehension, the truth is still felt.

5) True insight stems from expanding consciousness. To experience divine presence is to bear witness to something far more sublime and convincing than anything the rational mind can produce.  As ego dissolves or, your awareness is temporarily shifted, the soul awakens consciousness to higher understanding beyond your earthly intellect. Only divine experience itself clarifies depth and mystery beyond words.