How the power is passed on in various Daoist sects

[flowing hands]

I have been in conversations with a TDB member about his school and their practices. It hasn't been easy dealing with him. I have tried to stick to showing this person what is very wrong with his practice. I have explained it based on many years of teaching by Immortal Masters and being around the culture and a lot of research into spirit based practices.

Many Daoist sects pass on 'power' (fa) in various ways. Many sects originate from the old wu practices and many wu's were involved with these sects at the very beginning. These sects though developed away from the core practices of the wu and went their own way. But the core power of the sect still remained and it was passed on to a trusted student to use wisely. How this was passed on was done in various ways. Sometimes the Master would hit the student and then transfer the power, sometimes an amulet was drawn and taken and sometimes it was passed on in water. Sometimes a command was drawn on the floor and around the recipient of the power.  Which ever way the power was transferred to the new student, Instructions was generally given to the chosen student on how to use and what to do with the power and what to expect and what it is.

 

Now this is a very old practice. In shamanism, it is the Immortal master who donates their power to you and then trains you. When one is inexperienced, the power that now resides in you can very easily play all sorts of games, make you believe that you are being taught by the Immortal spirit, when in fact you are not. To know the difference takes time, because this new and unusual power that you have been given can easily be the source of your own mind games and nothing more.

 

So here's the crack and use this as a parallel. Now I want to spread the fa (power) and I am of the belief that this will make people believe that they are being taught by the divine and as a student I am told that I can call upon the spirit master and instantly they will answer my request. So I set up an alter to an Immortal in name only, I don't go into a trance (I wonder why I wouldn't and is explained away as a base action) of that Immortal and then I get the paying guests to stand in a line and to shut their eyes. I use my power (fa) and give all those people that power. That power inside all those vastly inexperienced people is a cocktail for disaster, their minds which are full of all sorts of pre-conceived ideas and images makes that power then start to take over their bodies and the more they practice this the more this power keeps fooling them, until there is no turning back. Now I could very easily do this, each student does not have to make any effort and I am making them a student instantly of the chosen Immortal master. Unfortunately they are not, the passed on fa on initiation is only just that and depending on what command is used when it is passed on will depend on the effect on those unsuspecting people. People will do all sorts of things, thinking that it is an Immortal master teaching them and so we clearly see a shen gong demonstrated that has nothing to do with shen gong, hand and postural movements from chan Buddhism that have nothing to do with much earlier Daoist practices. Why, because they simply come from the mind. I have compassion for these people, because I have experienced what they are doing and know how easy when inexperienced and  a master has given you some fa, how without the very source being the teacher it can fool and then create its own self perpetuating circle of self deceit. If this person demonstrated a real shen gong and used hand and body postures that were concurrent with what they claimed, then it would be a different story. But hey didn't it was a mish mash of all sorts of different ideas and combined with the  way in which students are taken on and then given the fa is concurrent with self deceit that is self perpetuating, because the core Immortal master is not giving the fa, it is the organ grinder.

For example, I once was begging the Immortal master to come when I had only just started and I wanted to learn martial art. The fa given to me, as I recited the Immortals names, was stimulated and for all intense and purpose the Immortal had come and was teaching me the 'drunken art'. I showed what I had learnt to a much more experienced person of the same sect and he told me that it was just my fa fooling me and my mind using images that I had seen in the past of the art. He then worked with me to show me how to control the fa and then to recognise when the Immortal master had come in person. This indeed was an eye opener. What I showed as a drunken art that was nothing like it at all! It took me another year or so to then be able to learn martial art from the Immortal master, I then knew when he had really come to teach me and when I was fooling myself with the power he had given me.

[flowing hands]

Ok here are some facts about fa.

 

1 Idols are dangerous things, people go and buy an idol of some God or Immortal, they place it at home or even in a temple. They start burning incense and saying prayers to that idol and they believe that the idol will help them in self knowledge and their lives and the God who's idol it is will hear their prayers. 

Big mistake, many un-blessed idols (using fa) even in temples are inhabited by evil, who see the opportunity to gain power over the persons who pray to that idol. Proper idols or images must be properly baptized by a medium fully in trance of the idols God, who then places marks on the idol and 'open eye' the idol so that it is then a vehicle for the God to see through. This can never be moved from its alter, once this has been done.

2 If this has never been done one might as well put an idol of Elvis or Batman or anyone else for what use it is. Sadly the Daoist folk religions are full of superstition and folk are very easily led because of this and fear.

3 Like many other cultures around the world, not all what the Chinese believe is right or factual, so through ignorance and fear people are led down a path that involves control. We see this in all sorts of religions and sects and this is very un-Daoist.

4 In Effilangs sect, we see an un-blessed idol, the teacher does not go into a trance of the Immortal to bless the initiates, so he/she is using their own un-cultivated fa. This fa will not be a pure fa as it does not come directly from the Immortal. It may have all sorts of commands and impurities in it, so when it is given to the initiates they will receive whatever is in that fa. 

5 There is one instance where fa can be used without the Immortal master coming to give it in person, but this can only be done by a shaman who was originally baptized by another in a trance of the Immortal Master. Therefore the fa is pure. So the shaman can use his/hers fa and do it in the name of the Immortal master, say if an urgent healing is needed or something needs to be blessed ready for when the Immortal Master is invited. People or animals cannot be baptized in this way, nor idols/images etc be blessed in such a way. Keeping the fa (power) pure and without taint is the key. Ordinary humans are not pure or enlightened, so if they keep using their fa without the Immortal master it will become deteriorated. Some shamans will use their power for self gain and improper use, so this becomes tainted and the assignation to the Immortals fa is very much lost.  

Edited October 8, 2017 by flowing hands
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