Demons

Demons en vogue

Demons. They seem to be en vogue of late with many paranormal shows high-lighting their appearance in hauntings as signaling a truly horrible turn of events for those who are being visited by the unseen. Furthermore, many sects of Protestant Christianity view any and all ghostly phenomena as a result of demonic influences but is this truly the case?

Origin of the Species

The spiritual beings we refer to as demons haven't always gotten such a bad rap. In Ancient Greece, the eudaimonae were thought of as being like one's personal Jiminy Cricket or muse. According to Wikipedia demons in Greek thought were:

good or benevolent nature spirits, beings of the same nature as both mortals and gods, similar to ghosts, chthonic heroes, spirit guides, forces of nature or the gods themselves...Walter Burkert suggests that unlike the Judeo-Christian use of demon in a strictly malignant sense, “[a] general belief in spirits is not expressed by the term daimon until the 5th century when a doctor asserts that neurotic women and girls can be driven to suicide by imaginary apparitions, ‘evil daimones’.” 

 In Vedic and later Buddhist thought demons were not the purely evil beings they would come to be described as in Christianity  Islam and Judaism. Rather, they could be likened to asuras, devas, yakkhas or pretas depending on the circumstance.

Demons in Abrahamic Religions

So, how did demons come to get such a bad wrap? Well, in our next post, we'll take a deeper look at how demons came to be regarded as foul and contemptible beings rather than the nature spirits they were originally conceived of by the Greeks and Indians.

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Psychometry and Psychoscopy

Psychometry and Psychoscopy

After our recent post on Kirlian photography I got to thinking about the disciplined known as psychometry--although for the longest time I kept looking up the word "psychotelemetry" and didn't find anything. SO, known that I've got the right word let's take a look at what is meant by it?

Origins of Psychometry

The word "psychometry" comes from the combination of the Greek psukhē, "spirit, soul" with the word metron meaning "measure". It is also known as token object reading and is a way of extra-sensory understanding recognized by the capacity to make accurate associations from an item of unidentified provenancce by making physical contact with that item. Followers claim that an item may have an energy area that exchanges information regarding that object's record.

Psychometry in the Literature

There have been many cases recorded in para-scientific literature in the past century. The following excerpts are take from The Secret Science Behind Miracles, by Max Freedom Long, [1948], at sacred-texts.com:

Psychometry, Crystal Gazing and Related Phenomena
The Cases:
(A) A piece of lava was psychometrized by Mrs. Cridge, and the impression she received of the volcano was so vivid and frightening that she was seized with a feeling of terror that lasted for over an hour.
(B) Mrs. Denton psychometrized a fragment of mastodon tooth and described the sensations which resulted: "I feel like a perfect monster, with heavy legs, unwieldy head, and very large body. I go down to a shallow stream to drink. I can hardly speak, my jaws are so heavy. I feel like getting down on all fours. What a noise comes through the wood. I have an impulse to answer it. My ears are very large and leathery, and I can almost fancy they flap my face as I move my head. There are some older ones than I.… They are dark brown, as if they had been completely tanned. There is one old fellow, with large tusks, that looks very tough. I see several younger ones; in fact, there is a whole herd."
Note: Ossowiecki, one of the foremost psychometrists of our time, gives an excellent description of his sensations during the practice of this form of magic:
"I begin by stopping all reasoning, and I throw all my inner power into perception of spiritual sensation. I affirm that this condition is brought about by my unshakable faith in the spiritual unity of all humanity.
p. 133

More to the Story

My interest in psychometry has been piqued by my own repeated and diligent use of malas (Buddhist rosaries) in my meditation practices and the idea of imparting spiritual energy into objects. I hope to return to this theme in more detail with especial regard to the energy fields of religious artifacts. Until then, every good blessing!

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A Theravada Buddhst View of Hell

In the Devaduta Sutta, the Buddha describes how a being can fall into hell by not heeding the divine messengers (the facts of birth, aging, sickness and death). I find it extremely interesting that many of the punishments that the Lord Buddha mentions as being included in Hell can be found in accounts of other people two thousand years after the fact and with no knowledge of the Teachings of the Buddha. 

Here is a short excerpt from that very sutta: 

"Then the hell-wardens torture [the evil-doer] with what's called a five-fold imprisonment. They drive a red-hot iron stake through one hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through one foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the middle of his chest. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens lay him down and slice him with axes. Then they hold him feet up & head down and slice him with adzes. Then they harness him to a chariot and drive him back & forth over ground that is burning, blazing, & glowing. Then they make him climb up & down a vast mountain of embers that is burning, blazing, & glowing. Then they hold him feet up & head down and plunge him into a red-hot copper cauldron that is burning, blazing, & glowing. There he boils with bubbles foaming. And as he is boiling there with bubbles foaming, he goes now up, he goes now down, he goes now around. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted. [4]

"Then the hell-wardens throw him into the Great Hell. And as to the Great Hell, monks:

It's four-cornered & has four gates set in the middle of each side. It's surrounded by an iron fortress wall and roofed with iron. Its floor is made of red-hot iron, heated, fully blazing. It stands always, spreading 100 leagues all around.

"The flame that leaps from the eastern wall of the Great Hell strikes the western wall. The flame that leaps from the western wall strikes the eastern wall. The flame that leaps from the northern wall strikes the southern wall. The flame that leaps from the southern wall strikes the northern wall. The flame that leaps from the bottom strikes the top. The flame that leaps from the top strikes the bottom. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the eastern gate of the Great Hell opens. He runs there, rushing quickly. As he runs there, rushing quickly, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his tendons burn, even his bones turn to smoke. When [his foot] is lifted, he is the just same. [5] But when he finally arrives, the door slams shut. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the western gate of the Great Hell opens... the northern gate... the southern gate of the Great Hell opens. He runs there, rushing quickly. As he runs there, rushing quickly, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his tendons burn, even his bones turn to smoke. When [his foot] is lifted, he is the just same. But when he finally arrives, the door slams shut. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the eastern gate of the Great Hell opens. He runs there, rushing quickly. As he runs there, rushing quickly, his outer skin burns, his inner skin burns, his flesh burns, his tendons burn, even his bones turn to smoke. When [his foot] is lifted, he is the just same. He gets out through the gate. But right next to the Great Hell is a vast Excrement Hell. He falls into that. And in that Excrement Hell needle-mouth beings bore into his outer skin. Having bored into his outer skin, they bore into his inner skin... his flesh... his tendons... the bone. Having bored into the bone, they feed on the marrow. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Right next to the Excrement Hell is the vast Hot Ashes Hell. He falls into that. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Right next to the Hot Ashes Hell is the vast Simbali Forest, [with trees] reaching up a league, covered with thorns sixteen fingerbreadths long — burning, blazing, & glowing. He enters that and is made to climb up & down them. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Right next to the Simbali Forest is the vast Sword-leaf Forest. He enters that. There the leaves, stirred by the wind, cut off his hand, cut off his foot, cut off his hand & foot, cut off his ear, cut off his nose, cut off his ear & nose. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Right next to the Sword-leaf Forest is the vast Lye-water River. He falls into that. There he is swept downstream, he is swept upstream, he is swept downstream & upstream. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens pull him out with a hook and, placing him on the ground, say to him, 'Well, good man, what do you want?' He replies, 'I'm hungry, venerable sirs.' So the hell-wardens pry open his mouth with red-hot iron tongs — burning, blazing, & glowing — and throw into it a copper ball, burning, blazing, & glowing. It burns his lips, it burns his mouth, it burns his stomach and comes out the lower side, carrying along his bowels & intestines. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens say to him, 'Well, good man, what do you want?' He replies, 'I'm thirsty, venerable sirs.' So the hell-wardens pry open his mouth with red-hot iron tongs — burning, blazing, & glowing — and pour into it molten copper, burning, blazing, & glowing. It burns his lips, it burns his mouth, it burns his stomach and comes out the lower side, carrying along his bowels & intestines. There he feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet he does not die as long as his evil kamma is not exhausted.

"Then the hell-wardens throw him back into the Great Hell once more. [6]

"Once, monks, the thought occurred to King Yama: 'Those who did evil actions in the world are tortured in these many ways. O that I might gain the human state! And that a Tathāgata — worthy & rightly self-awakened — might arise in the world! And that I might attend to that Tathāgata! And that he might teach me the Dhamma! And that I might understand his Dhamma!'

"I tell you this, monks, not from having heard it from another contemplative or brahman. On the contrary, I tell you this just as I have known for myself, seen for myself, understood for myself."

That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that, the One Well-gone, the Teacher, said further:

Warned by the deva messengers, those youths who are heedless grieve for a long, long time — people entering a lower state. But those here who are good, people of integrity, when warned by the deva messengers aren't heedless of the noble Dhamma — ever. Seeing danger in clinging, in the coming-into-play of birth & death, they are released from lack of clinging, in the ending of birth & death. They, happy, arriving at safety, fully unbound in the here-&-now, having gone beyond all animosity & danger have escaped all suffering & stress.

And, for those you who tire of reading, are two quick videos:

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Hinduism - Afterlife and Reincarnation

Hinduism - The World's Oldest Religion?

Anyone familiar with Hinduism will be familiar with the claims that the Vedas are the world's oldest surviving religious texts. As such, the constellation of beliefs and practices that make up Hinduism are far ranging and include a number of different philosophies and deas regarding the ulitmate nature of reality and the purpose of human life.

Nonetheless, at base, Hinduism is monotheistic (even if appearances are to the contrary) and, unlike Buddhism, posits a Creator. As such, the interpretations of NDEs and the afterlife may be familiar to those of a Judeo-Christian background.

A Brief Primer on Hindu Afterlife Beliefs

Although I was unable to find any accounts of a Hindu experiencing an NDE (I will keep looking) I did find some interesting vidoes here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1nGVSO1uJc

Reincarnation - Doesn't that Change Everything?

At first glance one might assume that belief in reincarnation would lead to a completely different conception of the afterlife and NDEs, but, as is shown in such works as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, thr process of death and rebirth seems to mirror many aspects of NDEs as reported by many in North America. 

I have included the video below as an introduction to the Hindu belief in reincarnation but am highly interested in collecting actual accounts of people who are Hindu and have experienced NDEs. Please write me at pretas.and.devas@gmail.com if you have any leads and enjoy the videos.

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The Pig-faced Ghost - A Buddhist Ghost Story

The following is a ghost story form the ancient Theravada Buddhist text known as the Petavatthu which contains 51 different accounts of Hungry Ghosts (peta in Pali/preta in Sanskrit).

THE PIG-FACED GHOST
This story was told while the Master was dwelling at Kalandakanivāpa in the Bamboo Grove near Savatthi about a certain pig-faced ghost. Long ago, in the time of the teaching of the Lord Buddha Kassapa, there was a brother who was self-controlled in body, but uncontrolled in speech, and who used to revile and abuse the brethren. When he died, he was reborn in hell. During the time intervening between the appearance of another Buddha he continued to burn there, and being reborn from thence in the period of this Buddha's appearance, through the ripening of his karma he came to life as a ghost at the foot of the Vulture Peak near Rājagaha, being tormented by hunger and thirst. His body was golden in colour, and his face like a pig's face.


Now the elder Nārada dwelt on the Vulture Peak, and early in the morning, after attending to his bodily needs, took his bowl and robe and went to Rājagaha, wandering about for alms. On the way he saw the ghost, and, asking him what he had done 1 spoke this verse:


All golden does thy body seem,
In all directions does it shine;
But yet thy face is as a pig's,
What former action hast thou done?
The ghost, thus asked by the elder what he had done, explained in a verse:


With body self-controlled was I,
Yet was I uncontrolled in speech;
Therefore in colour am I so
As thou beholdest, Nārada.
So the ghost, being asked by the elder, explained the matter, and gave the reason; and, exhorting the elder, spoke this verse:


This to thee, Nārada, I tell,
Thou hast thyself my fate beheld:
Commit no evil with thy mouth,
Become not thou a pig-faced ghost.
Then the elder Nārada went for alms, and, returning in the afternoon with his food, related the matter, while the Master sat in the midst of the fourfold assembly. 2 The Master said, "Even before now I have seen this being." And he declared the doctrine, explaining the manifold worthlessness and evil results due to misbehaviour in speech, and the blessings resulting from right speech. And his teaching was beneficial to the assembly present. (Peta-vatthu, Comm.)

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Hell - NDEs and Real Accounts of People Who've Been There

Going to Hell and Coming Back to Tell About It

Most of the accounts of visits to Hell come from Christians. We will spend the next couple of posts presenting accounts and stories of people who have experienced hell from a variety of religious perspectives. Since Christianity is the most well represented on YouTube's English channels we will start there. Here's an interesting account from a Christian here:

Traditional Accounts from Catholic Clergy

Below is an account taken from These Last Days News (http://www.tldm.org/News8/realityofhell.htm):

Sister Josefa Menendez's Description of Hell

One of the greatest mystics of this century was Sister Josefa Menendez, who died in 1923 at the age of 33. This young Spanish sister, who had a short religious life of great suffering, experienced revelations throughout much of her life, compiled in The Way Of Divine Love. More than once, she was taken to Hell to witness and feel the suffering first-hand. Sister Josefa was reluctant to write on the subject of Hell, and did so only to conform to Our Lord's wishes. Sister Josefa repeatedly dwelt on what she described as the greatest torment of Hell, namely, the soul's inability to love. One of these damned souls cried out: "This is my torture...that I want to love and cannot; there is nothing left me but hatred and despair. If one of us could so much as make a single act of love...But we cannot, we live on hatred and malevolence..." (March 23, 1922).

She records, too, the accusations made against themselves by these unhappy souls: "Some yell because of the martyrdom of their hands. Perhaps they were thieves, for they say: 'Where is our loot now?' ...Cursed hands... Others curse their tongues, their eyes...whatever was the occasion of sin... 'Now, O body, you are paying the price of the delights you granted yourself!...and you did it of your own free will...'" (April 2, 1922).

"I saw several souls fall into Hell, and among them was a child of fifteen, cursing her parents for not having taught her to fear God nor that there was a Hell. Her life had been a short one, she said, but full of sin, for she had given in to all that her body and passions demanded in the way of satisfaction..." (March 22, 1923).

"My soul fell into abysmal depths, the bottom of which cannot be seen, for it is immense...; Then I was pushed into one of those fiery cavities and pressed, as it were, between burning planks, and sharp nails and red-hot irons seemed to be piercing my flesh. I felt as if they were endeavoring to pull out my tongue, but could not. This torture reduced me to such agony that my very eyes seemed to be starting out of their sockets. I think this was because of the fire which burns, burns ... not a finger nail escapes terrifying torments, and all the time one cannot move even a finger to gain some relief, not change posture, for the body seems flattened out and [yet] doubled in two. Sounds of confusion and blasphemy cease not for an instant. A sickening stench asphyxiates and corrupts everything, it is like the burning of putrefied flesh, mingled with tar and sulphur ... a mixture to which nothing on earth can be compared... although these tortures were terrific, they would be bearable if the soul were at peace. But it suffers indescribably... All I have written," she concluded, "is but a shadow of what the soul suffers, for no words can express such dire torment." (September 4, 1922).

"Today, I saw a vast number of people fall into the fiery pit . . . they seemed to be worldlings and a demon cried vociferously: 'The world is ripe for me . . . I know that the best way to get hold of souls is to rouse their desire for enjoyment . . . Put me first . . . me before the rest . . . no humility for me! but let me enjoy myself . . . This sort of thing assures victory to me . . . and they tumble headlong into hell.' " (October 4, 1923)

"Tonight I was transported to a place where all was obscure. . . Around me were seven or eight people; I could see them only by the reflections of the fire. They were seated and were talking together. One said: 'We'll have to be very careful not to be found out, for we might easily be discovered.'

"The devil answered: 'Insinuate yourselves by inducing carelessness in them . . . but keep in the background, so that you are not found out . . . by degrees they will become callous, and you will be able to incline them to evil. Tempt these others to ambition, to self-interest, to acquiring wealth without working, whether it be lawful or not. Excite some to sensuality and love of pleasure. Let vice blind them . . . As to the remainder . . . get in through the heart . . . you know the inclinations of their hearts . . . make them love . . .love passionately . . . work thoroughly . . . take no rest . . . have no pity. Let them cram themselves with food! It will make it all the easier for us . . . Let them get on with their banqueting. Love of pleasure is the door through which you will reach them . . .' " (February 3, 1923).

A Doctor's Account of Dying and Going to Hell and Back

What Can We Conclude? 

All of the worlds major religions speak of the existence of Hell although only the Abrahamic faiths view it as eternal. Still, in traditional Buddhist belief, the amount of time a being may spend in Hell is incalcuably long and so may very well seem eternal.

For Next Time: Muslim Accounts of Hell.

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Pretas and Devas

Welcome to Pretas and Devas

Welcome to Pretas and Devas! We hope to bring you a weekly round up of true ghost stories, NDEs, accounts of reincarnation/rebirth and a variety of other paranormalia every week. We chose the name Preatas and Devas because pretas are, according to Buddhist comology, departed, earthbound spirits and devas are what most Christians, Jews and Muslims would consider angels (although in Hinduism and Buddhism they  are referred to as gods). 

What Can You Expect to See Here?

We intend to collect only the highest quality accounts and will do our best to vet them in order to insure that you aren't unknowingly reading fiction. And, unlike many other sites dedicated only to ghosts stories, we will try to bring a spiritual perspective to the stories and use them not just to scare our pants off but as a way to develop spiritually and understand life and death a little better.

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