"sometimes, you gotta hit 'em with your umbrella."

(For those here taking a more Buddhist approach with neg. entities, I've found Sharon Salzberg's story to be a great help in navigating the experience and wanted to share this in case anyone else had fallen into the same trap I had - the idea that "hitting them with your umbrella" can't be a wise choice.)

A while back a story was told to me about Sharon Salzberg, a Western Buddhist author and teacher. Apparently she spent some time in an ashram in India. While she was there, she had taken a vow of non-violence. While driving through a market one day, a man tried to pull her out of her vehicle. The one thought going through her mind as she struggled was, "How can I avoid doing this man harm?" She tried to free herself without causing him pain, and while she was able to extricate herself from the situation without harm coming to herself or the man, her question continued to trouble her, and she soon took it to her spiritual teacher.

His response: "Why didn't you hit him with your umbrella?"

Sharon's guru trusted that his student would not strike out against an aggressor with malice. Knowing that her intentions were well-considered, he advised her to defend herself - even though hitting the man is a pain-causing act.

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To strike out does not "feel" loving. Yet if we did not strike out, would not negative people and entities only continue to abuse, gleaning only the lesson "I can get away with it"? To allow other beings to take advantage of us only encourages them in perverse behaviors, thus ensuring that they degrade their spirits. As long as we check our intentions, fighting can be a beneficial choice, not only for us, but for them and their karma.

On a more personal note:

For a long time I have struggled with the idea of "causing pain." I believed that the only way to rid myself of negative entities' influence was to cultivate compassion. I persisted for a long time in compassionate practices, heeding the Tibetan scriptures, "driving all blames into one." Without a fighting spirit, cultivating my ability to feel lovingkindness towards cruel beings only opened me up to their endless abuses.

I recently did cause some pain to someone who had been psychically harrassing me for days. I sent it to their heart via the extant connection, with the message "Don't you dare do this to me again," and the warning that I was capable of sending more. I held the intention as I did this that the pain would be relatively "soft," capable of being dissolved by their natural processes, and not durable or lasting, concealing this consideration from them lest the message be diluted. Then I cut the string on which the pain had been delivered, and let go of things.

To my surprise, they stopped sending their nonsense. A few hours later they came back around (psychically) with a "sullen" energy - "How dare you defend yourself!" While it's still troubling, I can tell I had an effect on their initial reckless impulse.

Sometimes, you gotta hit 'em with your umbrella. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seeuzin

I recently did cause some pain to someone who had been psychically harrassing me for days. I sent it to their heart via the extant connection, with the message "Don't you dare do this to me again," and the warning that I was capable of sending more. I held the intention as I did this that the pain would be relatively "soft," capable of being dissolved by their natural processes, and not durable or lasting, concealing this consideration from them lest the message be diluted. Then I cut the string on which the pain had been delivered, and let go of things.

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Hi Seeuzin,

Can you explain this process a little more? I'm curious how you "sent" in addition to how you sent such a specific message.

As for the whole post, I agree. I am not a Buddhist per se, but practice the Path so far as I see sense and truth here and there, and this very issue is often a thorn for those of us that prefer absolute non-violence or intent in any form.

Thanks,

Soul

:lol2: I keep my umbrella with me at almost all times, which is well within reach even as we speak! :lol2:

What do you think that spot of Yin, right in the middle of the Yang is for? Having said that when one punches a true follower of The Way, the attacker comes away with a broken, bloody hand and the feeling that he has been punching a tree, while the disciple feels little or nothing, and doesn't even bruise.

I have just now understood that I also have an umbrella...and I am considering to start to use it...:-)

Good thread... I think a lot of projectors don't understand the concept of having compassion for negs. Most of them are simply ignorant. And let's not forget, they are part of the same Source as the rest of us.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seeuzin

On a more personal note:

For a long time I have struggled with the idea of "causing pain." I believed that the only way to rid myself of negative entities' influence was to cultivate compassion. I persisted for a long time in compassionate practices, heeding the Tibetan scriptures, "driving all blames into one." Without a fighting spirit, cultivating my ability to feel loving kindness towards cruel beings only opened me up to their endless abuses.

I recently did cause some pain to someone who had been psychically harrassing me for days. I sent it to their heart via the extant connection, with the message "Don't you dare do this to me again," and the warning that I was capable of sending more. I held the intention as I did this that the pain would be relatively "soft," capable of being dissolved by their natural processes, and not durable or lasting, concealing this consideration from them lest the message be diluted. Then I cut the string on which the pain had been delivered, and let go of things.

To my surprise, they stopped sending their nonsense. A few hours later they came back around (psychically) with a "sullen" energy - "How dare you defend yourself!" While it's still troubling, I can tell I had an effect on their initial reckless impulse.

Sometimes, you gotta hit 'em with your umbrella. :)

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Regarding attitudes of mind when protecting ones own space, I quite like the "spiritual teachers" response, to do it without malice. Leaves much less of a footprint for emo type follow ons.

As you have tried, there are those of dubious mindsets and ones reaching out is often treated as an invitation to continue. The obvious analogy is the behaviour of a bully, often doing what they do simply because they can and they find it gratifying. Indeed, looking around the world, it is easy to see much of the nature of some of these entities reflected on the daily deeds that naturally abhor many people, be it the useful idiots on the ground or those behind them orchestrating such things.

Your method there of informing them by illustration :) is useful, sometimes I will just place a condition near them and suggest/tell them to stay out of my space if they only come to exploit it for their own purposes. Just as you observe, this often results in a sullen response visit a little later and a complaint that one has not rolled over. Twisted logic, after that they are fair game and one keeps the umbrella within reach. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dreaming90

Good thread... I think a lot of projectors don't understand the concept of having compassion for negs. Most of them are simply ignorant. And let's not forget, they are part of the same Source as the rest of us.

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Love is boundary line too...as I do understand when the umbrella is for good use :-)

Last night, I saw something that let me feel how those feel who are simply not satisfied with the image of a Shaolin Monk, a guru who lacks subtlety and the like. This is most understandable.

When one has attained the Tao, Unity, Wholeness, Individuation, they no longer need to retaliate, as they have rule over all things because they finally have rule over their own spirit, having regained all lost soul fragments, as it is written, "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls" - Proverbs 25:28 The inverse applies, as one who has rule over his own spirit is like a great walled city, an impregnable fortress.

When one has yet to attain the Tao, they may avail themselves of true Christianity, wherein, after receiving the Holy Spirit, they may thereafter bind negative spirits with no more than a word or two, thus preventing violence in either direction, as it is written, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." One simply says, "I bind you, devil." and it is done. One may then be truly satisfied with his own actions.

"He who embodies the fullness of integrity is like a ruddy infant. Wasps, spiders, scorpions, and snakes will not sting or bite him; Rapacious birds and fierce beasts will not seize him." - Tao Te Ching 18 (55)

"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." - Isaiah 11:5-9

Quote:

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Hi Seeuzin,

Can you explain this process a little more? I'm curious how you "sent" in addition to how you sent such a specific message.

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Hi Soulsail,
It's difficult for me to put into words. I don't think I could make a write-up of a "technique" for it because it came from intuition.

As an aside, the gal kept sending "sullen" and occasionally harrassing energy, and I considered sending pain again. I extended a string towards her, and it began to give off reiki at its tip. It felt like this was guidance, so I sat and offered reiki to her for a while. Going to keep feeling this out. Feels like the initial "strike-back" energy I sent gave her pause in the midst of her bullying, and this then let her know that I had no ill intent and hopefully helped her in her learning also.

Interesting. Often I intuitively know what people are thinking or feeling toward me unless the room is crowded, and then it's just energy soup. I think we all intuit on some level, some more than others, but I can usually pin unspoken thought/intent with minimal interaction. I know when I've been loved, when I've annoyed someone, when I've been hated and whatnot, or most often: when I've been mundanely ignored. After all, it's a busy world.

But I've yet to do much work on the sending end of things. Sure, I send love, OM, that sort of thing to those that I sense needing such, but I haven't put such specific focus and intent into the work, as with the detail you shared. I'll have to experiment a bit. I'm intrigued.

Thanks for sharing,

Soul