Saturday, July 31, 2004

Exorcism, Black Magic, Voodoo and Buddhism - 3

In response to the point that the western, scientific point of view is ignorant and impotent to deal with demonic possession.. they don't even acknowledge that such a thing could happen.


My own experience in both the East and the West is that certain experiences respond better to exorcism, and certain ones respond better to some sort of psychiatric treatment. Neither seems to me to be the correct approach and the other the incorrect one, just different in view and methods, and therefore more or less effective in different circumstances. And a further method of dealing with some of these situations is with spiritual practice, which can also resolve the situation in approapriate ways.

very best wishes to you in the Dharma,

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Buddhist answer is that psychiatry /psychology can help people with recognised mental illness. Excorcisms can help those who are possessed by spirits and it is not always clear which person is in which group. However, true Dharma can help eveyone (including the spirit) see: http://removeblackmagic.110mb.com/buddhistapproach.html

Chodpa said...

Thanks for your comment.

Not sure I'd agree at all with 'The Buddhist answer .... ' .... as there isn't a single, unitary answer to complex questions, nor is there a unitary thing such as 'Buddhism', let alone a unitary 'Buddhist answer'!

:-)