Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

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Kusala
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by Kusala »

Buddhist Prime wrote:Has there ever been a demonic possession ever recorded in Buddhism?
And if so has there ever been a Buddhist Exorcism that expelled the demon?

I'm just curious as to why Christianity is so full of them,
yet I have never heard of Buddhism ever having anything like it.
I always concluded that maybe Christianity had demons in it
already that's why it has had such a bloody history, I dunno.
Because I read this book, The Dark Side of Christian History:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Side-Chr ... 610&sr=8-1

On Yahoo Answers, anytime somebody asked about how to cast a demon out,
I would copy and paste this answer:
Buddhism has never had a case of demonic possession, or a need for Exorcisms, or problems with ghosts or demons, that should tell ya something. The cross thing-a-ma-jig doesn't work like people think it does, ya need something more powerful.

Acquire the Protection of the Buddha.
Wear a Buddhist Swastika Necklace for protection. You can get them from here: http://www.ezluxe.com/accessories/index ... 18c387352a
Of course, I really don't know, so to be sure, I figured I ask and see if anybody knows anything.
You might want to listen to "Buddhism And Psychic Phenomena" by Ajahn Nyanadhammo.

http://www.dhammaloka.org.au/downloads/ ... omena.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Wesley1982
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by Wesley1982 »

Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?


Yes, but its only done by lamas or teachers who actually know what they are doing.
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by Cittasanto »

Sylvester wrote: I've not located the primary source in the Vinaya though. Anyone care to try?
The third Parajika against Murder.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
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alktheone
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by alktheone »

Sylvester wrote:From Ajahn Thanissaro's notes on the Vinaya -
I've not located the primary source in the Vinaya though. Anyone care to try?
Hello!
It is from Pārājika of Vinayapitaka:
Tena kho pana samayena aññataro bhūtavejjako bhikkhu yakkhaṃ jīvitā voropesi. Tassa kukkuccaṃ ahosi…pe… ‘‘anāpatti, bhikkhu, pārājikassa; āpatti thullaccayassā’’ti.
where it is said that one bhikkhu deprived a yakkha of life and fall under thullaccaya but not parajika.

With the corresponding commentaries, explaining two methods of how to release a person, seized by yakkha:
Bhūtavejjakavatthusmiṃ – yakkhaṃ māresīti bhūtavijjākapāṭhakā yakkhagahitaṃ mocetukāmā yakkhaṃ āvāhetvā muñcāti vadanti. No ce muñcati, piṭṭhena vā mattikāya vā rūpaṃ katvā hatthapādādīni chindanti, yaṃ yaṃ tassa chijjati taṃ taṃ yakkhassa chinnameva hoti. Sīse chinne yakkhopi marati. Evaṃ sopi māresi; tasmā thullaccayaṃ vuttaṃ. Na kevalañca yakkhameva, yopi hi sakkaṃ devarājaṃ māreyya, sopi thullaccayameva āpajjati.
It is also interesting to note from this commentary, that not every yakkha incurs thullaccaya in the case of killing him, but only a sort of high-rank yakkha (sakkaṃ devarājaṃ).
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by SarathW »

My understanding is that demons can’t possess us. But they can affect us. The same way another human or animal can affect us.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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gavesako
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by gavesako »

You can read this funny blog entry about pabbājaniya kammavāca, or the "formal act of banishment," in Burma:
http://thebahiyablog.blogspot.com/2013/ ... -east.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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gavesako
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by gavesako »

Red shirts to drive away ghosts

When 10 healthy men died one after another last month, villagers realized they were under attack by a "widow ghost" so red shirts went up to protect each house.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/lea ... way-ghosts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

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drun
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by drun »

carlosm wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:12 am
Moggalana wrote:Ajahn Chah knew how to deal with demons ;-)
love this story, thanks for sharing it!


Hi. Where is the story? The link doesn't work !
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JamesTheGiant
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by JamesTheGiant »

drun wrote: Thu Nov 29, 2018 5:11 pm
carlosm wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:12 am
Moggalana wrote:Ajahn Chah knew how to deal with demons ;-)
love this story, thanks for sharing it!


Hi. Where is the story? The link doesn't work !
It was 5 years ago, so it's probably gone now. When you reply to a topic on dhammawheel, have a look at the dates... You asked a question on a topic that hasn't been active in five years. :namaste:
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Sam Vara
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by Sam Vara »

JamesTheGiant wrote: Thu Nov 29, 2018 6:06 pm
drun wrote: Thu Nov 29, 2018 5:11 pm
carlosm wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:12 am

love this story, thanks for sharing it!


Hi. Where is the story? The link doesn't work !
It was 5 years ago, so it's probably gone now. When you reply to a topic on dhammawheel, have a look at the dates... You asked a question on a topic that hasn't been active in five years. :namaste:
There ought to be a Buddhist rite for resurrecting a thread that has been dead a long time...
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AgarikaJ
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by AgarikaJ »

Moggalana wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:47 am Ajahn Chah knew how to deal with demons ;-)
drun wrote: Thu Nov 29, 2018 5:11 pm Hi. Where is the story? The link doesn't work !
Probably it was this event from a book of Jack Kornfield, The Wise Heart. By chance, this excerpt contains the story:

https://jackkornfield.com/the-sacredness-of-form/
Sometimes people make the mistake of clinging to the universal level. Like the always open hand, this is a problem. Buddhist texts say that form arises out of emptiness, yet the world of form must be met on its own terms. This is sometimes called suchness. Things are the way they are. From the universal level, we have to return to the world of form and particulars, without being caught in them.

Once a villager came to Ajahn Chah to ask for help with a woman who had lost her mind. In the west we might call her manic or delusional. For days she had been wildly spouting obscenities mixed with Buddhist teachings on emptiness, running around, up all night, disturbing everyone. Many of the villagers felt she was possessed by an evil spirit. Ajahn Chah said he would see her.

He told his monks to quickly dig a big hole next to where he sat. Other monks built a big fire. “Put a huge water pot on the fire,” he said. Soon a group of men and women pulled the poor woman to him and asked him to rid her of the evil spirit.

Ajahn Chah tried to talk to her, but she continued shouting obscenities and talking about emptiness and meaninglessness. He told the monks to hurry up and make the fire hotter and dig the hole deeper. He said that the only way to get rid of such a spirit was to put the woman in the hole, pour boiling water on her and bury her. That should do it, he said. As the water got hot, he said, “You can carry her there in a minute.”

All of a sudden the woman became very quiet and docile. She sat up and talked a bit to him. He sent most of the people away, and began to ask what had happened, listening with real compassion. He heard her whole story. Later he told the superstitious villagers that fear of boiling to death had released her from the evil spirit. What it had really done, he told us, was awaken her self-preservation. Then he could begin to listen to her and direct her to the help she needed.

This is not to suggest that such a radical intervention would be right in our circumstances. Within his cultural context, Ajahn Chah was a kind of shaman. He knew that something in her life had to die. Because Ajahn Chah knew that form is empty, he could play within it in an intuitive and wise way. Yet he never forgot the importance of honoring the tangible realities of the world. On one level everything is like a dream. On another, what we do matters immensely.
The teaching is a lake with shores of ethics, unclouded, praised by the fine to the good.
There the knowledgeable go to bathe, and cross to the far shore without getting wet.
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by justindesilva »

Wesley1982 wrote: Wed May 30, 2012 4:46 pm
Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?


Yes, but its only done by lamas or teachers who actually know what they are doing.
When the desciple monks of lord budda entered the forest to meditate , they were disturbed by demons who were inhabitants of this forest. On the advise of lord budda the 500 desciples returned to the forest and chanted karaniya metta sutta with compassion to the demons who were dwelling in the forest. The demons quitened after metta sutta allowed the monks to meditate and all monks were said to have attained arhant states.
This explains that it is not the demons who has to be exorcised but it is development of metta or compassion by culturing our own mind (with metta meditation ) which is an elevated status of compssion that can expel any form of demon.
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by Ontheway »

Sylvester wrote: Mon May 28, 2012 7:16 am From Ajahn Thanissaro's notes on the Vinaya -
A bhikkhu who kills a "non-human being" — a yakkha, nāga, or peta — or a devatā (this last is in the Commentary) incurs a thullaccaya. According to the Commentary, when a spirit possesses a human being or an animal, it can be exorcised in either of two ways. The first is to command it to leave: This causes no injury to the spirit and results in no offense. The second is to make a doll out of flour paste or clay and then to cut off various of its parts (!). If one cuts off the hands and feet, the spirit loses its hands and feet. If one cuts off the head, the spirit dies, which is grounds for a thullaccaya.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... .ch04.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've not located the primary source in the Vinaya though. Anyone care to try?

For a portable exorcism device used by laity in Thai Buddhism, you do have the meed-mors (special knives). These are consecrated to invoke -

1. Sakka's Vajirāvudha
2. Vessavana's Gadāvudha
3. Ālavaka's Dussāvudha
4. Yama's Nayanāyudha
5. Vishnu's Chakra.

The first 4 are mentioned in the Commentaries, but the fifth probably snuck in during the Puranic period.
Ah, the incantation... I know the incantation goes like this:

"Sakkassa vajiravudham
Yamassa nayanavudham
Alavakassa dussavudham
Vessuvannassa gadhavudham

Cattaro va avudhanam
Etesam anubhavena
Sabbe Yakkha palayanti"

Or

"Namo Buddhaya
Ma Pa Tha Na Pha Ka Sa Ca
Sabbe deva pisaceva
Alavaka dayopiyakhaggam
talapattam disva
Sabbeyakkha palayanti.

Sakkassa vajiravudham
Vessuvannassa gadhavudham
Alavakassa dussavudham
Yamassa nayanavudham
Ime disva sabbe yakkha palayanti."

The Visnu Cakra is included in another version. But that version not really that famous.

Often, particularly in Thailand, the exorcism will always include this verse invoking Vessavana Maharaja:

"Puttakamo labhe puttam, Dhanakamo labhe dhanam; Atthi kaye kayañāya, Devanam piya tam sutva. Itipi so bhagavā, yamaraja no, Thao Vessuvanno, Maranam sukham, Arahaṁ Sugato Namo Buddhaya."
Hiriottappasampannā,
sukkadhammasamāhitā;
Santo sappurisā loke,
devadhammāti vuccare.

https://suttacentral.net/ja6/en/chalmer ... ight=false
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Are ther any Buddhist rites for Exorcising Demons?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

A different way to Exorcise Evil Spirits.
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