Using Wooden Oracle - 2 Days Before Spring 2016

2 days before spring 立春，my wife told me that the coffee shop lady (Aunty) at our temple building seems kind of troubled lately. She described to me that she seems to having greyish tone to her face and also she lost about 5kg in 1 week.

The aunty asked my wife whether she can come and consult our temple on spiritual matters as she is worried that she has either exposed or bump into some spiritual entities. My wife relay to her that Kam Dong San temple did not have spiritual consultation anymore as it is already so close to Chinese New Year. When I heard about it, I ask my wife to inform aunty to come up to the temple and consult using the wooden oracle.

Using the wooden oracle in the temple could sometime be more accurate than enquiring through medium because it totally eliminate the emotional, value and belief systems of the medium. Therefore the answer is always without prejudice.

The aunty have also gone to the local General Hospital for check up, because she was worried that it was something medical. After whole body check up, with exception to her kidneys (as she was supposed to be back in the hospital between that few days to complete it) . All results showed that she is normal. 

However she does not have appetite and can barely sleep at night due to restlessness for unknown reason. She has also relay to my wife that her brother have enquired about her condition at another temple that has a medium. According to that medium, she has no spiritual problem.

On the day before Spring, I was on my way to the temple to consecrate the new Jade Emperor statue. Aunty is schedule to come up to our temple after the consecration to enquire the Deities on her problem. While driving, I went into meditative stabilisation and enquire about aunty's condition. Some of you reading this will be wondering, how to get into meditative stabilisation while driving? If the enquiry is not too complex, usually with experience one can do it. Its just like humming a tune while driving. 

Anyhow, I know for sure aunty has bump into some spiritual entity and I was advised by the deities to give aunty some clearing talisman after her enquiry at the temple.

Aunty came up to our temple and do the usual offering of joss sticks, and I have advised her on how to inform and request the deities for help. After she has inform on all her particulars and also her questions, I then told her to use the wooden oracle.

Wooden Oracle  (POSITIVE) @ Puak Puay in Hokkien Dialect

If the Deities answered her oracle in 3 positive throw (consecutively) - 1 wooden oracle must face up and the other face down which is called 圣杯 Sheng Bei, then it would be confirmed that she has spiritual problem. If anything else 2 oracle face up or down, then it would not be a confirmation.

She did 3 throws consecutively and it was all positive to confirmed on her condition. I asked her to throw another one after her 3 confirmation to asked whether 'other than spiritual problem, does she have a medical problem to add on to it' and the throw came back negative.

Once it was confirmed as to my enquiry during meditative stabilisation, I later passed aunty 5 talisman for her to ingest and 1 for her to wash. On the day of Spring, my wife met aunty again at the coffee shop and she was glad to say that she felt much better after ingesting the first talisman and felt like a big weight was lifted off her chest from the past week.

Today on the 4th day of Chinese New Year, her coffee shop was open and she told my wife, she felt great and have a very good appetite during Chinese New Year.

Finding the Perfect Cup for Cultivation

A lot of people that I have came across, often told me they would like to spend more time doing cultivation either meditation, practice of dharma, learning of dharma or even just have more spare time to attend Taoist events at the temple.

Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. Each of us choose to spend the 24 hours differently. Why? Because each person's value is different. What you value as important will be very different from the next person. Whatever you value that's where you put your time into it.

That's not all. Then comes the set of conditions in which we want to put time into it. I call it finding the perfect cup.

Some I have met, told me they will be able to do dharma only when they have more time when they retire, until then they choose to put cultivation aside. Some told me when their children grows up, then they will have the time to cultivate. There are also some that told me when they have enough money, then they will have time to cultivate. And the reasons are as much as the individuals, such as having the perfect space for altar, less distraction in work then only they can focus, when they have not so busy schedule then they will do it.

This is all about finding the PERFECT cup for cultivation. Then for some TIME is not one of the conditions for the cup, the type of temple, the type of lineage, they type of people, they type of activities and so on.

When a person highlight all those factors, it is about finding the PERFECT cup. However the biggest important factor is the water that will be in the cup. Because when you are thirsty or almost dehydrated, you don't go looking for the perfect cup, you just need a container. The liquid or water is the important factor for your survival spiritually. A lot of people miss the water for the cup.

A perfect teacher, a perfect lineage, a perfect temple, a perfect deity, having ample time, the right group of practitioners and more. All these are still just the cup, you need to drink the liquid, survive spiritually then worry about the design and type of cup.

The saddest part are too many people die of dehydration looking for the cup while the water was in front of them all along.  In samsara, time moves without our realization, some of us can remember our childhood so vividly as if it was yesterday, while a look in the mirror or at our children, instantly it will dawn on us that so much of our life have pass by. Illusions are moving on and very soon a different dream will take over. Have you drank? Or are you still looking for the perfect cup?

Secret of How to Fill Up Your Merit Tank to Request Effectively for What You Want.

Chinese New Year is just a stone throw away. Everybody is hoping a beginning of a new year will bring about improvements and also better change for current situation in all parts of our life.

What are the driving force for better changes in a person's life spiritually? What are the crucial factors that boost up your already good luck or decrease your bad luck tremendously?

Spiritually where did money, good relationship, good health and also good luck manifest itself? What is the source?

The source is ............. merit and specifically charitable merits. Things, money and action that you have given out generously in the past (this life and many lifetimes ago), those are the very things and factors that keep coming back as the good stuff you enjoy and experience in this life. The universe and karma never forgets, our continous and endless mind/soul do not forget, we may have change body but the mind/soul still remembers the affinity.

Without charitable merits, life of hardship is the reward. With too much charitable merits, the punishment is not enough time to enjoy it all :)

How to fill up your merit tank for this coming year? Donate, donate and donate. How to donate effectively and what to donate?

Spiritually, the best thing to donate is for building of a temple. Temple is a place where people gather to do only good actions, to affect other people in a positive way and also a place where people gather merits.

Then what type of temple you should donate? Well you should donate to a temple that is close to your community. It is the place then for you to establish the connection and also positive affinity with those who are close to you. People whom you will have a higher chance to bum into. Why is that? A simple bum of shoulders in a crowded place requires 5 lifetimes of affinity. Imagine if you have sponsored on a cause that can benefit people whom already have possible affinities with you?

Since we solved the location on where to donate, second factor that comes in to consideration is the temple actively generating positive vibes in the community or is it once in a blue moon type of schedule. This is money for value of merits -  for those of you who are expert in cost/value ratio. A place that constantly have positive activities for the community, affecting the community, generating more affinity with the public, these are the places that you should help them expand. Because each person that they in turn help or affect for the better, you will also share the merits.

Kam Dong San Temple, Penang has launch its temple building initiative last year June http://www.facebook.com/kdspg . It is also the temple where I contribute and volunteer my time for the past 10 years. Some of our milestones

1. Hosting Dharma activity for esteemed Rinpoches and helped more than 100 people taken refuge in Buddhadharma.

2. Collectively dedicated more than 7,000,000 mantras

3. Released more than 100,000 lives and continue to do so every month non-stop for the past 5 years

4. Distributed more than 5000 vegetarian dinners meals to surrounding community.

5. Hosted more than 100 Celebrations for various deities in Kam Dong San.

6. Started yearly distribution of 1000 bags of rice to local 1000 needy families.

There is at least 50 activities in a year for Kam Dong San Temple. https://www.facebook.com/kdspg/photos_stream

Our temple building project is called Square Feet for Boundless Merits.

Each square foot for our temple building would cost about RM888 (about USD202 at current rate) which includes all fixtures and fittings. A person can donate 1 square foot each month, or 1 square foot a year. Donors can also opt to donate for a temple pillar which is the cost of 20 square feet x rm888 = RM17,760. There are many options to refill up your merit tank in your contribution for the manifestation of Kam Dong San Temple Building.

Donor of each square foot would be entitle to have their name listed on the specific hall that they have donated. Some hall require at least 2 square feet to have the name of donor engraved.

How and what to do when I donate? Should I just donate and forget about it? This is what the whole purpose of this article. The secret to fill up your merit tank and request effectively for what you want. Between what you request (logical request ok, not I want to be an astronaut when you cannot even handle the roller coaster ride) and its manifestation, there is a gap. That gap is usually due to lack of merit. If you have the merit, then you would have gotten it. There will be no request in the first place.

I have many people that comes to me with their problems, and ask me spiritually what they can do. Because they have exhausted or have done all the things possible on their side but still they cannot manifest it. For example, someone wants to sell of a luxury piece of property and cash out. They have tried all the ads, all the agents all the required commission but still they cannot connect to someone who is willing to buy their property. What is lacking here? Merits. The merit to have that high amount of cash in their hand from the sale of their property.

Then comes the part where people try to bypass the system of merit. They will think, okay I will make a promise to donate to the temple cause when I can sell off my property. That is the mistaken thought. The very reason the person is unable to sell their property is the lack of merit. So how can it be possible to sell it then later only donate a small fraction from the amount you received to temple building project. It is a the case of I will believe it when I see it. 

YOU WILL SEE IT WHEN YOU HAVE THE MERITS.

Taoist Deities cannot and unable to help the person connect to the buyer even though they may be very earnest in their request. Why? Because their merit tank is empty. The credit line is finished. Overdraft is max out.

Either to request for smooth luck, request for getting rid of petty people in your life, more work and career opportunities, good relationship, finding a good partner, avoiding dangerous situations - all these and more required a person to fill up their merit tank BEFORE and not AFTER it happened.

That is the SECRET. Finally, if you request for USD1 million property to be sold off, please do not donate 1 square foot and expect that it is enough merit to request that deities and heavenly marshall can help you. At least 3% or more merits need to be filled up before there is even any chance of manifestation!

For any donation, do contact Bro Fa Hong who is the admin for the temple at  +6011-1657 1418.

Do you know what's Inside the Statue?

Yesterday was doing Feng Shui audit at temple members home. It was the first time I have visited their home.

After looking through their home layout and advise them on the necessary changes, I notice that the home altar, the energy level was not very broad. Usually for a Taoist altar, that has consistent incense offering and prayers, the perimeters of the altar energy that can be felt would usually be at least 2 -3 feet from the altar.

Some who has absolute faith in their Taoist Deity and with consistent prayers, the perimeter could be as wide and expansive as the entire living room.

For their case however, I was quite curious because the energy field is narrow and not expansive. The altar has 3 statues on it. 1 of the statue was consecrated in our temple 2 years ago and taken back to their home.

The remaining 2 statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva was later added onto the altar. Because they are temple members, I then would have a look at their altar table and the conditions.

I went into meditative stabilization, and discovered that only the Deity that was consecrated by our temple has an energy presence. The other 2 statues has no presence at all. Due to this, I have decide to reconsecrate the 2 statues and also clear up the energy field of the altar with Tao Fa.

As both remaining statue is of Buddha and Bodhisattva, one is unable to consecrate it, just to cleanse and seal the statues energetically. Any form of Buddhist statue would require a 'clean' statue in order to invite the Buddha and Bodhisattva energy later on. After that was done, and also given them some advice to move the altar away from a beam on top, so that the energy field can expand further.

The interesting part of this story happen around 7am this morning. I was asleep, and in my dreams there are 2 visitors. One is dressed traditionally in Buddhist robes and the other was in lady form. In my dream, I was awake - meaning a lucid dream. I asked the guy in the Buddhist robe what did he wanted, and as I approach, I have an instinct to request and open up our Taoist protection mantra. Immediately the guy in the buddhist robe, his image change statically, just like tv with bad reception and changes a few times. Finally in my dream I was able to catch hold of his neck, push him to the ground and his shape change into somewhat like a goblin. 

I was alone in my dream, so I had to use my left foot to step on 'its' neck and warn the other in lady form to scram or I will use Tao Fa to rip her energy field. The other one left immediately and the one on my feet was released as well. After which an old man appear, was quite hunch back and wearing traditional earth god robes, in my dream I tried to look carefully on whether this one will change shape as well. However after close inspection, he looks ok, no static change and I asked him are you the house deity and he nodded. Immediately I was awake after that.

I did not make the correlation of the dream and my clients' altar until about lunch time. Initially I could not make out the sign and similarity. My clients' house also have an earth deity, however I did not do any consecration or cleanse as I do not see a need to do so.

Word of advice, any forms of statues that you wish to put on an altar, make sure it is properly consecrated. Many people believe that Buddha statues or Bodhisattva statues does not need any consecration. That is far from the truth. It may look the same, but inside may housing a total different entity. 

The Test from The Demon Within

I have met many people on the spiritual cultivation path. More often that not, after about 10-15 minutes into conversation, a lot would like to talk about spiritual attainments or spiritual powers.

Most of the people who got interested into spiritual path is also due to wishing to have extra sensory skills compare to others in modern society. Take a look at meditation class that talks about spiritual ability attendance usually would be full when compared to those meditation classes for mind stillness and so on.

And those that walk the path of spiritual cultivation, there will always be test and exams along the way. For some, they think tests and exams are things for when you are in schools, colleges and universities. Oh yes, spiritual path is filled with tests along the way and unlike educational institutions, there is no advance notification on the tests and exams that they will give you.

Usually tests and examinations on the spiritual path will be on your weakest link either in your character or the mind or both. Then it will also be separated into small test, such as events that occur in your dreams and see how you react. There will be also real life exams, which you will walk or thrown into situations, push to the extreme to test your own fortitude, strength, commitment and also the will to walk the path. 

Small test such as when a person have taken a vow to abstain from eating certain food. In one of their unsuspecting dreams, they will be in a situation where friends or people they know offer them the abstained food. If in the dream they suddenly realised and rejected the food, then they would have passed the test. If not, then their cultivation would have to drag on further before another test comes along.

Image from www.fanpop.com

Examinations however are a whole different ball game. If you have greed, you will be tested on situations where you will have opportunities to earn a lot of money however it will be at the expense of others. You will need to do something that goes against basic moral vows. The situation is real and the money rewards are also real. However if you failed the exam, the consequences will be a down hill road on your cultivation. Some took years to recover from one failure while others do not recover at all.

Some who are weak on relationship or particularly on controlling their sexual urges, when an exam comes along, out of the blue you will meet with someone who are highly attractive towards you, and although you may have a family or in a steady relationship, then how you react, whether to follow through on your urges will determine on whether you continue walking further and higher on path or to fail miserably and lose respect of not only others but family and close ones as well.

There are even cases where those who lost their sanity as a result of being unable to get through the exam. Buddhism called it Demon/Mara Within 心魔.

The Demon Within is much scarier than the ones outside as your subconscious knows you better than yourself. No matter how far a person walks on the spiritual path, there will always be tests and exams. There is no exception and the stakes will only get higher as one progress along the path.

The only solution is to develop integrity, congruency and also honesty before ones walks the path and continue to remind oneself the higher purpose of their cultivation.

Oil of Compassion

Most common spiritual oil that many in the Asian region are familar with are  Thai Tradition Female Ghost Oil 尸油 Nam Man Prai. This type of oil is commonly used for mind control (love, submission, slave) and seduction. It is gathered from dead body of pregnant lady died in unnatural death and extracted through burning of candle beneath the chin of the body. 

We will not go into detail of it, as basically the spirit of the pregnant lady is bind to the oil and force to do the bidding of the owners or makers. Bad effects for both the user and those being used on. And the real oil(market is filled with fake and diluted version) from qualified maker does not come cheap, somewhere around USD4000 - USD5000 to have bad karma until eternity.

Well this blog post is about a totally different type of oil,  spiritual power of oil from natural sources is very powerful and have all the positive effects without the karmic side effects. Something that warrants me blog about it.

As human beings, our first sense to develop while in our mother's womb is the olfactory sense (sense of smell). Although after birth, our other immediate senses such as sight and sound took over as the main conscious sense, the olfactory sense remain as one which have the strongest penetration into our unconscious mind and also into our core memory.

Which explains why when you smell a certain smell, such as vanilla or a certain flowers it instantly brings you back to one of your earliest memory in connection to that smell. 

For a start, this Oil of Compassion have a distinct and unique smell which immediately captures attention in very positive appealing aura. Unfortunately blogs and mainstream new media are unable to let readers experience or smell the scent. I still cannot find a suitable description to accurately describe the scent. The keyword is attention grabbing, non intrusive and appealing. Some friends told me the scent is close to Tom Ford's Black Orchid Perfume

The next question is what is it made of ? The maker of this oil showed to me that it is made entirely from plant base sources. The key ingredient is this root.

And through process of fermentation with other natural plant ingredients which the maker consider it as secret, the oil is the successfully made. Some of the earliest maker of strong spiritual oils are indigenous tribes. Through observation of the mystical effects of different types of trees in nature that are able to attract different types of animals such as birds and insects that are naturally attracted to it.

Spiritually what does it do?

The function of the oil is to neutralize all negative energy of the surrounding (as far as the subtle scent can be smell). Then it naturally calms the mind and allow one to focus distinctively.

What are the effects? Well if there is a crowd or just a single individual, it will create the atmosphere of minimal negativity, more openness and also direct pleasant communication. A perfect environment to generate good rapport once the negative energy is neutralize.

It is also perfect for meditation. The oil can be burn on a heat diffuser, generate a calming and focus environment which is the perfect state of mind for meditation.

It has also been tested in sales situation, boardroom meeting, tense negotiation and even civil courtroom over a 3 year period. Each time all those involved experience positive effect and tense situation was  'diffuse' to its minimum.

Where to request for it?

Dakiniworld recently have a batch in stock. there is a strong caution, as all natural occurring energy susbtances, if the will or intention of the person to use it for harmful and negative way, the consequences will be very bad not only karmically for the user, but the immediate retribution effect will also be shocking.

My Affinity with The Monkey God

My journey in Taoism started like everybody else, from disbelieving to believing to knowing and then to letting others know.

Affinity with the Monkey God, it all started with a dream. This is long before I met my friend in London Eddie Wong. That is the part where Tao Fa begins...this is kinda like a prequel to that.

Journey into Tao Fa is here

http://yinyangjournal.blogspot.my/2009/06/journey-into-tao-fa.html

I can barely remember the dream, because at that time I have the slightest idea that one day I will be working for Taoism in this way. I dreamt of The Monkey God 齊天大聖 in my dream, flying high above the clouds and looking down on me. That's the vivid part that I can still remember until today.

After the dream, I have decided maybe it is time for me to have a statue of The Monkey God on my home altar. At that time, I was still living in my parents house. Therefore basically is to have a statue on our altar. Just starting out on my training business at that time, barely had any money.

Then out of the blue after a few days, one of my uncle asked me to go audit his house Feng Shui. I was still learning at that time, anyway I have decided to helped him out. The coincidence part was that, this uncle of mine had his own factory of making Taoist deities statue locally. After the complimentary audit, he asked me do I need any statues? The timing could not be better.

After I received the statue, I went to a local Guan Yin temple and asked the monk there to consecrate it for me. My knowledge and protocol on Taoism was almost nil at that time.

After about 3 years, I had the opportunity to buy my own home. And the first and only deity that I wanted to install at my home altar was The Monkey God. I could not move the statue from my parents house as we were not living together at that time. When the medium came to consecrate the Monkey God at my new place, he told me that the deity had been with me for more than 20 years! 

I was surprised, because my interest in Taoism was only about 3 years at that time. Prior to that, I do not even hold the joss stick except for Chinese New Year or some major celebration. Then the medium added that the affinity started when I was a child and have asked helped from The Monkey God before. When I counter check with my dad, indeed when I was child and had some illness, he remembered that he went to a Monkey God Temple in town and asked for the deity's help.

My communication with the Monkey God at my home was basically using the oracle. When I first started thinking about going to Kam Dong San in Ipoh, I have also consulted the Monkey God at my home altar before everything else.

When my eldest son was about 2 years old, he always played in front of the Monkey God altar as his toy stash were just beside the altar near the wall. One evening as he was playing there, I came home late and was just changing the water offering at the altar. Out of the blue, I had an instinct that told me to look to the right while I was facing the Monkey God altar. To my big surprise, there is a green coloured snake slithering on top of some of my son's toy. The snake end up coiling at the corner of all his toys. If I had not look to that direction at that specific moment, I would have missed it. And I could not imagine what my son or the snake would do when he play with his toys.

That's just one of the incident how the Deity protected my family. After I learned Tao Fa and have a dedicated room for all the Taoist Deities in my house. I have asked the Monkey God many times whether he would like to relocate to the altar room, his answer was a direct no - not only asking through meditative stabilization but also a direct no when I asked through the oracle.

When we finally decided to start Kam Dong San Temple, I have enquired with the main deities on the arrangement of the statues. The Monkey God was to be placed first and foremost at the front as the Head Marshall of the Temple. Which explains the reason, when a person offers incense at Kam Dong San Temple, the first urn to offer is one which belongs to Qi Tian Da Sheng 齊天大聖 The Monkey God. 

Statue of Qi Tian Da Sheng at Kam Dong San

He not only save me once when I was a child, in my most darkest and dangerous moment of despair in Tao Fa, he was the deity that pulled me out and pulled me through (well that is another blog post). 

Some Taoist scholars would like to argue that the Monkey God does not exist and only worshipped after the Wu Cheng'en work on Journey to the West. And some also said most of the inspiration came from Ramayana's Hanuman. In Tibetan Buddhism he is considered one of the protectors of Amitabha. Journey to the West could be just a story, but this deity is real.

Kam Dong San Temple would be celebrating Qi Tian Da Sheng 齊天大聖千秋 this coming Sunday 20 September 2015.