#self-mortification

I recently acquired this 50-plus-year-old command flag (lingqi, 令旗), which symbolizes a given ritual specialist's mandate from heaven to exorcise evil. Reading from right to left, the exorcist deities listed are:

Great Sage Equaling Heaven (Qitian dasheng, 齊天大聖), a.k.a. Sun Wukong. A very, very faint chop seal print of his name also graces the bottom right of the flag.

Third Prince Nezha (Nezha San taizi, 哪吒三太子)

Lord Zhu (Zhufu qiansui, 朱府千歲)

Lord Li (Lifu qiansui, 李府千歲)

Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heavens (Xuantian shangdi, 玄天上帝). This deity is the highest exorcist in the Daoist pantheon. Most command flags carry his name or at least a seven-star big dipper pattern, which alludes to his role as a representation of the northern sky.

The symbol on the far end is "command" (ling, 令).

What's neat is that this flag is possibly written in blood, likely produced from the self-mortification of spirit-mediums (Chinese: Jitong, 乩童; Hokkien: Tangki, 童乩; literally: “Divining Child”).

I plan to have the flag framed behind glass to protect it from the ravages of time.

The Quest for Buddhism (29)

The Middle Way - the rejection of extreme asceticism in Buddhism

Siddhartha (Buddha) himself, after his ordination and before his enlightenment, he tried asceticism (self-mortification) of the type found in other Sramana religions (Jainism). However, after enlightenment, he teaches that suffering only wears out the body and mind in vain, and does not bring about the truth that is sought.

After Buddha's enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, he gave his first discourse on the doctrine of Buddhism to the 5 disciples in Varanasi, at Sarnath, a forest inhabited by deer, where hermits with divine powers had gathered. This is known as the "First Turning of the Wheel (Buddha's 1st dharma teaching) ".　

In his "First Turning of the Wheel", the Buddha said:

“There are, o monks, two extremes in the world. The ordained should not approach them. What are the two extremes?

The first is that of greed, lust and covetousness, which are vile, lowly, trivial, meaningless and useless.

Secondly, to make oneself suffer is painful, pointless and futile.The Buddha has abandoned these two extremes and has recognised the 'Middle Way'.

That is the way to attain sight, wisdom, certitude, samadhi, and nirvana."

According to neuroscience, the neurotransmitter endorphins have a euphoric effect that relieves certain types of distress when subjected to a certain level of pain. In other words, there is a danger that excessive physical training and practice can lead to 'addiction', and it is only through moderation and maintaining a 'middle way' at all times that we can achieve a high level of enlightenment.

The Buddha's teachings, preached thousands of years ago, had such a scientific basis and were advanced for their time.

仏教の探求 (29)

中道〜仏教における苦行の否定

シッダールタ(ブッダ)自身は、出家後、悟りを開く前に、ジャイナ教など、他の沙門 (しゃもん、梵: シュラマナ)系の宗教に見られるような無欲主義 (自虐) を試みている。しかし、悟りを開いた後は、苦行はいたずらに心身消耗するのみで、求めていたもの（真理）は得られぬと説いている。

ブッダが菩提樹下で悟りを開いた後(成道)、波羅奈国(はらなこく、梵: ヴァーラーナシー)の神仙(しんせん、神通力をもつ仙人のこと)が集まり、鹿が多く住む林、鹿野苑 (ろくやおん、梵: サールナート)において、最初に弟子となった5人の修行者 (五比丘)に初めて仏教の教義を説いた。これを「初転法輪(しょてんぽうりん)」という。

その「初転法輪(しょてんぽうりん)」の中で、ブッダはこう言った：

「比丘たちよ、世の中には二つの極端がある。出家者はそれに近づいてはならない。何が二つの極端なのか。

一つめは、欲と愛欲や貪欲をよしとすることで、これらは下劣かつ卑賤、つまらぬ人間のやることで、無意味で無益である。

二つめは、自分に苦難を味わわせることは、苦痛であり、無意味で無益である。

比丘たちよ、如来はこの二つの極端を捨て、「中道」を認知したのである。

それこそが、観る眼を生じ、英知を得、證智をもち、定 (じょう、巴、梵:サマーディ)、涅槃に至る道である。」

脳科学によれば神経伝達物質のエンドルフィンは、一定以上の苦痛を受けるとそれを緩和するために幸福感をもたらす作用があるといわれている。すなわち、過度な肉体的訓練や修行には「依存症」をもたらす危険性があり、常に節度をもち「中道」を維持することこそ、高度な悟りと言える。

I was running errands on Saturday in Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan, when I noticed a religious shop was selling the "Five Treasures" (wubao, 五寶). I've previously mentioned that this set of five weapons is used in the self-mortification rituals of Monkey King spirit-mediums (Ch: jitong, 乩童; Hokkien: tangki, 童乩), and the resulting holy blood is believed to ward evil. Well, I'm now the proud owner of my own set of Five Treasures. But these are just to admire; I'm not going to flog myself with them anytime soon. 

In November of 2020, I traveled with a small monkey god temple on a bus trip south. The resident spirit-mediums walked from one ritual fire to the next performing self-mortification with the Five Treasures. I was told that each fire represented one of five protector spirits called the “Five Camps Spirit Generals” (wuying shenjiang, 五營神將), who protect the five cardinal Chinese directions. I just learned that each weapon represents a direction. 

1. East (green dragon) - spiked mace 2. West (white tiger) - sawfish nose sword (I have a metal variant) 3. South (red pheasant) - seven-star crescent moon ax 4. north (black tortoise) - seven-star jian sword 5. Centre (yellow dragon) - spiked ball

On November 6th and 7th I followed the Zhengan Monkey King Temple of Shilin District, Taipei (Shilin Zhengan Gong, 士林正安宮) on a religious pilgrimage to the south of Taiwan. Before leaving, the head spirit-medium (Hokkien: tangki, 童乩; Chinese: Jitong, 乩童) channeled the Great Sage and cut his tongue with a ritual sword, creating consecrated talismans by smearing the blood on yellow strips of paper. (The blood on his back was the result of self-mortification with five ritual weapons, including the sword.) He also consecrated their new black command flag, which is the locus of their exorcistic power. 

Some of the talismans were later used to seal a metal, house-shaped altar containing holy incense ashes acquired (jiao xiang, 交香) from the oldest Monkey King temple in Taiwan, the Wanfu Monkey King Temple (Wanfu An, 萬福庵) of Tainan.

I will post more pictures and video when I get a chance. I’m currently using an internet cafe as my laptop is out for repairs.

Blood Everywhere... Self-Mortification During Thaipusam

While teens in North America get their tongues pierced so they can give better oral sex (a ball on your tongue is not the key to that, btw) or just to annoy people, in countries like Malaysia, Singapore, India and Sri Lanka, Hindu devotees give up their tongues to Lord Murugan for his brave...

http://www.cvltnation.com/blood-everywhere-self-mortification-thaipusam/