getting rid of demons – lecture notes

[Guest guest]

Introductory notes

 

Here's a sketch of what my notes from Jeffery Yuen's lectures:

" Possession " (Oct 8, 2005, at AUCM/SF), with some from a talk on PTSD

(early 2006), and the Ghost Point lecture (CAA, 1994).

 

This is a work-in-progress, towards a paper to be submitted for course

credit; and, of course, interpreted according to my own understanding

and expression. Any inaccuracies or errors are my own.

 

The term " shen-disturbance " was used, putting it in a context we all

have some idea of. Otherwise, possession could be seen

psychologically, as abnormal distractions, obsessions,

pre-occupations, being taken-over by, chronically " bugged " by

something, habitual, addictive behavior, etc.

 

In that Jeffery is presenting material from writings, he often uses

the terms " ghost " , " worms " , etc., according to the writer cited.

Writers across the tradition seemed to preserve the demonic

terminology (as was dominant in Zhou times), although many of them

acknowledged that imputing causation to what are now called " entities "

was a matter of belief, and that there were also rational

explanations. (Whereas in Zhou and times, the demonological framework

appears to have been dominant. According to Unschuld.)

 

The discussion:

 

Jeffery did a survey of terms and concepts from back at least as far

as Shang times, and followed into Zhou, Han, Buddhist influence (after

Han), and of course Tang (Sun SiMiao). With Song, neo-confucianism,

interest waned somewhat in medical circles. I won't try to lay all

this out, but rather present some of the cardinal themes, and then tie

them into the stuff on diagnosis and treatment.

 

Other early terms (besides the common term gui2 / ghost, devil, demon

(what looks like the " field " character, with a stroke above and two

feet below, with hook above the foot to the right) are used, including:

 

Che (possibly Jeffery's Cantonese for xie2) - a perversity that can

become a yao4 (goblin, sorcerer, temptress (has the woman radical));

often a nature spirit, as in mountains, trees, lakes, and foxes.

 

Mo2 / demon (disease radical enclosing two mu/tree radicals over the

gui radical), like a fallen angel, or someone off in the wrong

direction on a spiritual path, e.g. trying to become immortal.

 

Gu3 / " legendary venomous insect " (three chong/insect radicals over

the bowl radical), kind of chong / worm; often thought, in more modern

times, to be intentionally introduced by outsiders, especially to harm

children.

 

Shen-disturbances, as invasions into the blood (experience) are

categorized etiologically as:

IPFs (intern pathogenic factors) / the " 7 injuries " (emotions)

EPFs (external pathogenic factors):

a) pestilent factors (liqi – the term used in WenBing for

pestilential epidemics)

b) chong / worm or parasite (gu3 if intentionally introduced)

 

Morphology of the world and the body

 

(After discussion of the emergence of the idea of tian/heaven by the

Zhou, as in the " mandate [ling4] of heaven " )

 

" 3 Treasures " (significant in exorcism, realignment of the individual)

tian / heaven Du-20

ren / humanity Ren-17

di / earth Ki-1

 

Later, in treatments, a prominent feature is the use of points at all

three of these levels – above, central, lower, usually in terms of

head, trunk, and legs.

 

Not only respect for ancestors (earth) is important, but also the

temple of heaven, i.e. at the throat and " windows to the sky " points.

(Change of voice is a frequent symptom.) So burn incense to the temple

of heaven; altar is the region of the chest, moxa to fumigate up the

chimney (Ren-22) to open the sensory portals, awaken seeing and

hearing. (Numbing of the senses also an early symptom.)

 

Formation and dissolution of living human spirit

 

Commonly, possession by an entity is seen as a take-over of the person

leading to death. One such idea (I don't recall from which lecture) is

that if someone dies in some horrific way, his/her Po can't properly

dissolve back into the earth, and hence haunts around (as a gui). It

seeks a living target, usually one with weaknesses easily taken

advantage of, in order to take over that person and drive them to

death for the purpose of completing its own journey. (We could frame

this, e.g. as the effect that the experience of other people's

not-so-good deaths might have on a survivor, e.g. soldiers' PTSD, or a

child who discovers his/her parent's body after suicide.)

 

Ghosts / gui are considered very yin, trying to extinguish yang (and

shen), dragging down to the earth.

 

So it's important to understanding how the various spirit concepts

work in the creation of human life, and, conversely, the process of

its dissolution or death. (The formation aspect is emphasized in the

literature on possession in pediatrics, shen-disturbances in the

infant and childhood stages of development. Jeffery discussed this

area, but I omit it here.)

 

In Daoist ( & Buddhist) terms, souls (as po) float around the cosmos

(having a metal aspect), and at the moment of conception, one of them

" chooses " to incarnate. (This also has become a popular " new-age "

theme.) It becomes a living soul, term ling2 (radicals: rain over 3

mouths over 2 men in a gong-framework; the bottom part related to the

wu1 character for shaman), as the union of shen (conscious spirit)

with stuff. Ling2, we know, has a material aspect, as in its usage as

a burial mound (and in the naming of GB-34 and Sp-9). Ling2 then in

this sense is the vehicle in the living being for the shen, hun, po,

etc. – all the flavors of consciousness/spirit that most of us are

familiar with in TCM.

 

The term ling4 / mandate is both homonym with ling2, and metaphor for

the soul entering the body during gestation, at the orifice MingMen --

the mandate, fate or curriculum for that lifetime. Prior to the Song

era, MingMen was considered to be around " PoMen " , i.e. Du-1 or Du-2.

(These points were associated with symptoms similar to what we now

know as associated with Du-4.)

 

At death, the ling2 breaks up; the po and hun separate. The po (gui

radical plus white radical) should dissolve down into the earth,

decompose (recycling the physical). The hun (gui radical plus cloud

radical) should float up to heaven (tian – not paradise) [i.e. remain

present in the minds and hearts of contemporaries and descendents (as

an ancestor, ultimately)].

 

Early thought considered death, letting go of life, in terms of

elimination, e.g. defecation. So the ancient PoMen, as MingMen,

between life and death, was near the anus. And MingMen was in the root

of the spine, life seen as the movement of YangQi up the ladder of the

spine.

 

In early times, rotting of the corpse was gui; if not completed

properly, the po becomes a gui -- cloudy, white, suspended, not able

to fully release from the hun. Hence the use of cremation to release

the soul faster, more cleanly. (Confucius opposed cremation, favoring

time to mourn loss – a transition time of 3 years; 1 for the year in

utero and 2 for infancy before walking; honoring the parent for the

time they gave for you.)

 

Relates to channel vectors (later in Tx): hun / liver / wood moving

up; po / lungs / metal moving down.

 

In death, hun ascends towards tian, disintegrates in 3 phases, the " 3

pure ones " (qing4, blue/green radical plus water radical) or,

medically, 3 fields around the body (which also plays a role in the

theory of the formation of life):

1) tai qing (supreme purity), innermost ring; water clearing

blue/green liver blood stagnation, clearing experiences that

contaminate life, collecting in the daimai [ " sitting in water " –

stagnant in phlegm].

2) shang qing (upper purity), more transcendental, where seed of

consciousness implanted.

3) yu qing (jade purity), outermost ring; jade represents eternity

(inserted into orifices of the dead at burial).

 

" Method of the 3 pure ones " (a meditation, doaist/buddhist):

1) 1st open the eyes, self-reflection – what makes my life so painful?

medically: liver stores blood (life-experience), supports eyes to see

what your life is about – can I let it go? or it becomes painful,

blood stagnation, anger at world and self, hard to purify/detox;

contaminates the brain (UB, Lr, GB all go to the brain); difficult to

exorcise.

2) contact water/seed [daoist curriculum of one's life] gives birth

to liver (wood); use of moving aspect of water to purify, Ki (actually

UB used more often); popular use of UB-8, Lr-5.

3) Yuqing, acceptance of the choices (Lr/GB) in life, no blame,

understand the preciousness (jade) of life; GB-8 / shuigu.

 

Sample treatment strategy:

tian / above GB-8

ren / middle chest or back, UB (e.g. 23) or GB (e.g. 23)

di / below Lr-5

 

Another strategy, for sense of isolation at some stage of life, not

engaging with others, e.g. from severe loss:

Ren-15

PoMen/Du-1

Ki-4 moxa (fumigation).

 

Lungs are vulnerable in loss. Worms can enter mouth, lodge in chest

(Sx: heart - uncontrollable laughter; lungs - uncontrolled crying),

and can contaminate the lower orifices (Ki/UB, LI, via Lu/Ht

relationships to lower jiao); then dehydration, shock, common Sx

aversion to fluids (medically damp/phlegm), threatening

life-engendering movement of water.

 

An earlier Rx: HuangBai from a tree more than 100 years old, paler

bark, to add 20 years to life; a longevity Rx, at least up to the time

of Li ShiZhen. (Compare BaiJiRen / Biota as the tree of life in

Western herbology.)

 

Categories of contracting worm/ghost infestations:

1) wandering ghosts – travel illnesses, respiratory, especially from

abandoned buildings; [interpretation: also from transitions

(wind/change) in life, getting lost and confused]

2) hungry ghosts – food, affecting lower orifices [interpretation:

also hungers as desires, longings, unfulfilled things; e.g. deaths

from SARS in HongKong/Canton resulted in families becoming cursed with

hungry ghosts; quarantine blocked the families from ritual caring for

the dying, and society shunned their funerals out of fear, so the dead

weren't properly honored. (There was a front-page article in the Wall

Street Journal about this)]

3) sexual ghosts – sexual taxation; separation from beloved

(love-sickness doting-possession), or as in difficulty letting go

after death of beloved.

 

Po opens to lower orifices, hun opens to the upper (eyes); blockage in

either can hold one back, in possession. Hence Tx strategies to open

both orifice locations.

 

Treatment principles (TP) and applications (Tx/Rx):

 

Use points addressing tian/ren/di (above/central/below) [ritual

rebalancing cosmic orientation], exemplified in the

trinities/groupings of the Ghost Points according to Sun SiMiao:

1st: Du-26, Sp-1, Lu-11 [all resuscitation points]

2nd: Du-16, UB-62, PC-7

3rd: St-6, R-24, PC-8 (should be PC-5)

 

Traditional TP (again, always using upper/central/lower):

Basic: jie3 (release, untie) zhu2 (expel, drive out) – both virtues of

the lungs.

If emphasis Sx of hun: Ki (via UB), Lr and GB.

If emphasis Sx of po: first open lower orifices, e.g.

Ki-4 moxa; St-25 (Mu pt of LI), GB-8 (chengling – cheng/order as

virtue of the St, as in ChengQiTang); Rx (used in exorcism): huopo,

with dahuang, manxiao.

 

Modify with points according to kind of emotional upheaval:

sad, melancholy: Lu-3 or 4

plus fire attacking weak metal: UB-15

plus wood insulting weak metal: UB-18

pensiveness/obsession: Sp-5 (metal in earth).

Emotions usually manifest in combinations, so also combine points.

 

Always above and below. Very often UB or GB.

UB vs dehydration [ghost tries to deprive of life-giving water],

leading to collapse, drained yangqi.

GB(Lr) as the rebirth engendered by water, and (Lr/GB) the only

primary channel pair that communicates with the brain (jing as

sui/marrow), the seat of shen-disturbance.

E.g. UB below commonly UB-63 jinmen / metal gate; above UB-7, tongtian.

E.g. GB below GB-41, shu-stream regulating in-out, here trying to move

from in to out, and affects chest and head; above GB-13 benshen / root

of spirit.

 

If there's a po/lung emotional predisposition:

Nourish-back water (via sanjiao), and settle the will / dingzhi

above; Lu-7, yuan lung qi, promote comfort beneath the skin

below; Ki-6, self-esteem [as in association with yinqiao channel;

possession displaces the self]

(Using these two, however, not in the sense of 8-extra coupled pair --

an idea introduced in Ming times.)

middle: Ren-12

 

If phelgm Sx (an aspect emphasized in Sun SiMiao's discussion), add

appropriate points from Lu, Ki, St/Sp.

 

Phasing treatment:

1) first open orifices, especially lower to enable discharges, purging

2) then deal with moving from the blood level outwards (emotional

expression)

3) finally strengthen will, sense of self, and to reduce

vulnerability, anchor the wei and the ying.

 

(Omitted here: a discussion pediatric possession, referencing from

Warring States philosophical ideas, through Han-Tang cosmology/theory,

Dx and Tx)

 

Further general theory:

 

Jing and shen combine [though a life of cultivation] to form sui /

marrow [e.g. daoist internal alchemy and daoyin (qigong): transmuting

life substance (lower, jing), through life experience (middle, shen),

into brain /sui (pure spirit, wisdom)].

Disturbance in po affects the jing [body]; disturbance in hun affects

the shen [consciousness].

Medically, liver blood (hun, experience) engenders heart qi – vision

and purpose projects into action/movement (Lr), attempting to achieve,

conquest (Ht); if affected, Sx anxiety [can't handle the situation].

 

Both Lr blood (fat-soluble fluid) and Lu fluids (water-soluble),

contaminated, can adversely affect jingshen and hence sui.

Lung yin is an instrument in generating post-natal or acquired jing,

i.e. it can nourish Ki jing/fluids. So airborne, environmental

factors, toxins (as gui) can lead (wind) to wandering ghosts

[perversity at the wei level engendering perverse yin].

Liver blood/yin also supports, mediates Ki yin in its communication

with Ht yin and qi. Liver is the emissary between Ki and Ht (Lr is the

true " ministerial fire " ).

Liver is the seat also of sexual contamination, e.g. STD, HPV, (sexual

worms).

Spleen factors in fu / hungry worms.

All three result in pathology involving jing or shen. Jing in terms of

a decline towards suicide (shifeng / death wind); Tx Ki-4 / golden

bell, which changes physical form. Shen in terms of luan (confusion),

dian (withdrawal), kong (mania), or yu (depression).

 

Sexual and wandering ghosts tend to enter the spine/du (Sx chill up

the spine).

Hungry ghosts enter renmai, gagging down the throat, loss of appetite.

 

Treatments from Chao YuanFang (pre-Tang), book ShuDun, on the origins

of disease, discussed 9 worms (subcategories of the 3 types above)

 

Wandering ghosts:

Lu-3 with travel, maybe to abandoned place, talking to oneself;

plus UB-47 for ghost/sleep walking;

often with Li-6 (luo) for continuous dialog with oneself, often

associated with nasal congestion (add Li-20);

lower: Ki-4.

 

Hungry ghosts: (Sx after eating, difficulty swallowing, loss of

appetite, little/no speech)

upper: St-5, threaded towards St-6

middle: ST-24, harmonize entrance/exit of gut; Sx " sudden turmoil "

lower: St-42 (source), ascends pure yang to head, helps Ki-Ht

communication, or St-23 if disturbed sleep, excessive dreams.

 

Sexual ghosts: ( " Confucian term to discourage Daoist sexual practices " )

Ki-4 …

 

Chao YangFeng wrote about the yao / nature spirits, water, mountains,

trees, foxes (Tx Lr-5), and the dangers of pets drawing away energy

(Tx, disperse Ren-7 to reduce bond, add Du-23). General Tx vs nature

spirits: upper: disperse Du-23 (star above); middle: Du-6, earth veins

/ sinews; lower: GB-35.

 

" Planned possessions " – entering trance states, invoking spirits,

channeling – by opening at yintang, then baihui. Mediums and shamans

invite hun into their bodies. This can also attract suspended,

wandering po/gui spirits who are seeking resolution. [ " gigong disease " ?]

 

Sun SiMiao expanded on teachings of Chao YangFeng. " Prescriptions from

the Golden Cabinet " was framed as an expanded commentary to Chao's

book. Sun SiMiao's discussion of the 13 Ghost Points focuses on phlegm

(tan, first named in the ShangHanLun). His progression starts from

early, mild Sx, through to severe. For instance, begins with Du-26,

with Sx alteration of senses (between nose and mouth), the point

resuscitates yang, still available at this state (gets gradually

annihilated in the overall progression), to expel the gui. And at the

end, point haiquan in the tongue (changed later to yintang), Sx very

suicidal, depleted, socially incapacitated (total possession, the host

personality is consumed).

 

(Jeffery briefly went through all 13 of Sun SiMiao's " ghost points " .

See the 1994 lecture for extended discussion.)

 

Tang era treatment used mixture of needles and moxa. One source,

GaoHu, recommended Du-26 0.2-0.5 " , Lu-11 ca. 0.3 " , Sp-1 0.2 " , P-7

0.5 " , UB62 hot needle, 3-7x, Du-16 1 " , St-6 hot needle, R-24 0.2-0.3 " ,

P-8 0.2-0.5 " (or P-5 0.2-0.3 " ), Du-23 0.3-0.5 " , R-1 moxa 3 cones,

LI-11 hot needle 3-7x, and haiguan bled (or yintang 0.2 " ).

[Guest guest]

Chris, ditto. Thank you for the high quality, high octane notes.

All reverence goes out to the keeper of the Jade Purity School and those

ancestors of the human race, who discovered, received and transmitted this

knowledge for at least one hundred generations.

 

Interesting how Da cheng qi tang is used in the process of purging more than

just stagnant fecal matter, qi, blood and heat.

 

Does anyone know of any ghost stories that incorporates all of the four

types of 'demons' mentioned?

As I remember in studying Japanese film, this is a theme that comes up a lot

in stories and dramas.

Has anyone seen, " Kwaidan " four ghost stories about four kinds of

'demons'...:

" a quintet of Samurai Gothics based (interestingly enough) on the writings

of an American author by the name of Lafcadio Hearn. "

http://www.amazon.com/Kwaidan-Criterion-Collection-Rentaro-Mikuni/dp/B00004W3HF/\

ref=cm_lmf_tit_5/102-7184106-1248154

 

There may be a Kurosawa film that does a bit of this... Dreams, Roshomon,

Ran etc.

 

 

On 2/11/07, < wrote:

>

> Hi Chris,

>

> Great notes!

>

> > gui2 / ghost, devil, demon

>

> Wenlin has no entry for Gui2.

>

> Wenlin and WIseman have ¹í as Gui3 (not Gui2).

>

> My notes say: ¹í Gui3 Ghost; devil; spirit possession; evil entity; evil

> occupant; guilty conscience.

>

> Best regards,

>

>

>