getting rid of demons (things that bug us)

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Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:02:34 0800, " " <zrosenbe wrote:

 

>>… the only issue raised by demonology is

whether one feels that evils that effect

consciousness arise from external malevolent

forces, or from within oneself. Even what we call

'demons' can be malevolent influences from media,

brainwashing, toxic people, or family dynamics,

as much as disembodied entities 'floating in the ether'.

 

Z'ev,

 

" Demonology " is properly just what you say, a

focus on the disembodied, etheric, or " numinous " ,

as Paul Unschuld puts it. This too, I believe,

has been a continuous theme in the

literature that the phenomena of possession, or

somehow peculiar behavior (shen-disturbance) can

be ascribed to ghostly entities, or also to

rationale, albeit often metaphorical events,

situations or relationships. I was just reading

Donald Harper (MaWangDui) this evening, on how

the existence of these spooky things (in people's

beliefs) has been accepted by Chinese throughout

the tradition. (Unschuld has made this point

also.) But they (the authors we notice) tend a

draw a line as to its permissible practical

influence. Harper cites instances, in Han times,

where people were taken to task (fired, banished,

killed) when they tried to invoke ghostly matters

in a way that impacted imperial authority or the

social order (including, for instance, medical

treatment). But he cites also instances where

magical rituals were acceptably prescribed (maybe

in a sort of where-all-else-failed scenario).

 

What fascinates me is the possible relevance of

their discussions of theory and application

regardless of what they may have thought the

cause was. I.e. whether their interpretations,

understood metaphorically, can provide us with

insight into things we are confronted with, such

as habits, addictions, obsessions, negative

experiences, etc. Jeffery's discussion on

" possession " was framed like this; and similar

ideas came up in his more recent workshop on PTSD

(similar to what Stefan Chmelik also brought up earlier today).

 

>> I still wonder if the 'demons treatment' is

an accurate translation and/or transmission of Chinese concepts.

 

Good point. I will ask Jeffery, next month, more

specifically what terms people like Ge Hong, Chao

YangFeng, or Sun SiMiao (or even contemporary

Daoist practitioners) used. He did cite the term

" jie zhu " (release and expel) for exorcism,

noting that both terms were virtues or actions of

the lungs. That was in a detailed discussion of

Sun SiMiao's ghost points and their use, with

differential diagnosis, in actual treatments.

 

 

 

 

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