Banishing a Ghost

December 4, 2003

Namaste All,

I found this story in a Zen site. Was just curious to know how you

interpret this story.

Love

Latha

====================================================================

The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to

him, "I love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't want

you to betray me. Promise that you will not see any other women once

I die, or I will come back to haunt you."

For several months after her death, the husband did avoid other

women, but then he met someone and fell in love. On the night that

they were engaged to be married, the ghost of his former wife

appeared to him. She blamed him for not keeping the promise, and

every night thereafter she returned to taunt him. The ghost would

remind him of everything that transpired between him and his fiancee

that day, even to the point of repeating, word for word, their

conversations. It upset him so badly that he couldn't sleep at all.

Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived near the

village. "This is a very clever ghost," the master said upon hearing

the man's story. "It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every

detail of what I say and do. It knows everything!" The master

smiled, "You should admire such a ghost, but I will tell you what to

do the next time you see it."

That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master

had advised. "You are such a wise ghost," the man said, "You know

that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question,

I will break off the engagement and remain single for the rest of my

life.Ask your question," the ghost replied. The man scooped up a

handful of beans from a large bag on the floor, "Tell me exactly how

many beans there are in my hand."

At that moment the ghost disappeared and never returned.

December 5, 2003

Here is the correct interpretation of the parable.

The ghost kept coming back because the man was always impressed by

how it seemed to know everything. It had power over him. But when he

finally stood up to it, and challenged it, the ghost disappeared

forever.

, "Latha Nanda" <lathananda>

wrote:

> Namaste All,

>

> I found this story in a Zen site. Was just curious to know how you

> interpret this story.

>

> Love

> Latha

>

> ====================================================================

>

> The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to

> him, "I love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't

want

> you to betray me. Promise that you will not see any other women

once

> I die, or I will come back to haunt you."

>

> For several months after her death, the husband did avoid other

> women, but then he met someone and fell in love. On the night that

> they were engaged to be married, the ghost of his former wife

> appeared to him. She blamed him for not keeping the promise, and

> every night thereafter she returned to taunt him. The ghost would

> remind him of everything that transpired between him and his

fiancee

> that day, even to the point of repeating, word for word, their

> conversations. It upset him so badly that he couldn't sleep at all.

>

> Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived near the

> village. "This is a very clever ghost," the master said upon

hearing

> the man's story. "It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every

> detail of what I say and do. It knows everything!" The master

> smiled, "You should admire such a ghost, but I will tell you what

to

> do the next time you see it."

>

> That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master

> had advised. "You are such a wise ghost," the man said, "You know

> that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one

question,

> I will break off the engagement and remain single for the rest of

my

> life.Ask your question," the ghost replied. The man scooped up a

> handful of beans from a large bag on the floor, "Tell me exactly

how

> many beans there are in my hand."

>

> At that moment the ghost disappeared and never returned.

December 10, 2003

Long time no read! Namaste:) I'm catching up but there is no way I

can read all the posts, so I'm sifting thru many messages but the

mention of Ghost and I was interested.

I have a few tibetan shamanic friends who call fragmented aspects of

one's ego 'ghosts'. The disowned and out of control part of a person

gets fragmented thru denial and then the energy manifests appearing on

the outside of a person. Then we project and call it a ghost.

In this story, I see something entirely different. I see the ghost as

the fragmented part of this man. This man knows his own stories and

they were being projected from him as another outside source, which

was really his own reality and guilt operating in the guise of a

ghost. When one does not know how to understand the depths, the need

to go into denial from uncomfortable feelings, in this case guilt,

manifests appearing on the outside of him to confront him, control

him. His own shadow was confronting him.

See, the ghost knew all about this man and wife because this man knew

those stories and they were coming from the inside. His

consciousness was manifsting in an outer way and he was seeing signs

of his own guilt, and no one wants to feel guilty, so they call it a

ghost. Guilt cannot exist without fear. Fearful manifestations from

mind form ghosts. Of course the ghost knew all about this man. The

ghost was the man, but when the man picked up a handful of beans, the

ghost didn't know how many there were....AND NEITHER DID THE MAN!

Finally the man outwitted his own guilt and thinks that by

confronting the ghost, the ghost left. I think the man had a deep

need to invalidate the ghost(fragment) and so if he could test 'this

fragment of himself' then he could prove the outer manifested

fragment was not smart and could let go of the guilt by projecting

and banishing the 'ghost'.

When we attract ghosts in our life, we need to look at what fragment

we are projecting outside of ourself so that we can understand our

inner life. Fragments appear as ghosts so we can see them and this

frightens us. The very act of fragmentation is based in fear and

nonacceptance of an uncomfortable emotion, in this case, guilt for

loving another.

I'm sure his wifes spirit was in heavenly inbetween bliss. The man

was tormenting himself by his own guilt.

Thats' my take... I don't beleive in ghosts. If an energy

intelligence comes my way, I embrace it, accept it and then it moves

on and integrates... because I did the inner work. Ghosts love fear

and ghosts are created from fragmented fear. We need to ask

ourselves why a ghosts wants to hang around if we are attracting

them. Birds of a feather flock together??? The ghost is shadow.

Maya is a hall of mirrors, reflecting back angels and demons of our

own making. Taking responsibility for these projections means alot

of inner work to move thru superstitious fears. The ones who don't

do this usually believe in ghosts. They are still very addicted to

thinking the hall of mirrors is real. At one stage in the game the

ghost is very real, to the person who doesn't understand their

shadow. Once the person understands and embraces their shadow, their

understanding of the unconscious and how it manifests will integrate

all the fragments and there will be no need for ghosts in their lives

shouting Boo! They won't have a need for it and won't attract it

either.

This is my 2 cents worth and from experience, I had alot of ghosts at

one time in my life, now I have none, Or the ghost will project from

another human so I can see the reflection in the hall of mirrors

until I 'get it'.

Wise Zen Story.

Latha Nanda <lathananda > wrote:

Here is the correct interpretation of the parable.The ghost kept

coming back because the man was always impressed by how it seemed to

know everything. It had power over him. But when he finally stood up

to it, and challenged it, the ghost disappeared forever.--- In

, "Latha Nanda" <lathananda> wrote:>

Namaste All,> > I found this story in a Zen site. Was just curious to

know how you > interpret this story.> > Love> Latha> >

====================================================================>

> The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to >

him, "I love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't want

> you to betray me. Promise that you will not see any other women once

> I die,

or I will come back to haunt you."> > For several months after her

death, the husband did avoid other > women, but then he met someone

and fell in love. On the night that > they were engaged to be

married, the ghost of his former wife > appeared to him. She blamed

him for not keeping the promise, and > every night thereafter she

returned to taunt him. The ghost would > remind him of everything

that transpired between him and his fiancee > that day, even to the

point of repeating, word for word, their > conversations. It upset

him so badly that he couldn't sleep at all.> > Desperate, he sought

the advice of a Zen master who lived near the > village. "This is a

very clever ghost," the master said upon hearing > the man's story.

"It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every > detail of what I say

and do. It knows everything!" The master > smiled, "You should admire

such a

ghost, but I will tell you what to > do the next time you see it."> >

That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master >

had advised. "You are such a wise ghost," the man said, "You know >

that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question,

> I will break off the engagement and remain single for the rest of

my > life.Ask your question," the ghost replied. The man scooped

up a > handful of beans from a large bag on the floor, "Tell me

exactly how > many beans there are in my hand."> > At that moment the

ghost disappeared and never returned.To from this group,

send an email to:Your use of

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December 10, 2003

Hey Kelly, Welcome back yet again ) I think we agree - the words

are different. Thanks for being the only person that responded to

this post.

My understanding too is pretty similar - the ghost is an object of

his own creation (guilt) that kept tormenting him. When he

confronted it and it didnt know the number of beans in his hand (as

he himself did not and as you too correctly pointed out ), he knew it

to be an object of his own creation that he had empowered to trouble

him.

That truth set him free and liberated the ghost as well.

Nice discussion.

Latha

, Kelly Leeper <blissnout>

wrote:

> Latha,

>

> Long time no read! Namaste:) I'm catching up but there is no way

I can read all the posts, so I'm sifting thru many messages but the

mention of Ghost and I was interested.

>

> I have a few tibetan shamanic friends who call fragmented aspects

of one's ego 'ghosts'. The disowned and out of control part of a

person gets fragmented thru denial and then the energy manifests

appearing on the outside of a person. Then we project and call it a

ghost.

>

> In this story, I see something entirely different. I see the ghost

as the fragmented part of this man. This man knows his own stories

and they were being projected from him as another outside source,

which was really his own reality and guilt operating in the guise of

a ghost. When one does not know how to understand the depths, the

need to go into denial from uncomfortable feelings, in this case

guilt, manifests appearing on the outside of him to confront him,

control him. His own shadow was confronting him.

>

> See, the ghost knew all about this man and wife because this man

knew those stories and they were coming from the inside. His

consciousness was manifsting in an outer way and he was seeing signs

of his own guilt, and no one wants to feel guilty, so they call it a

ghost. Guilt cannot exist without fear. Fearful manifestations from

mind form ghosts. Of course the ghost knew all about this man. The

ghost was the man, but when the man picked up a handful of beans, the

ghost didn't know how many there were....AND NEITHER DID THE MAN!

Finally the man outwitted his own guilt and thinks that by

confronting the ghost, the ghost left. I think the man had a deep

need to invalidate the ghost(fragment) and so if he could test 'this

fragment of himself' then he could prove the outer manifested

fragment was not smart and could let go of the guilt by projecting

and banishing the 'ghost'.

>

> When we attract ghosts in our life, we need to look at what

fragment we are projecting outside of ourself so that we can

understand our inner life. Fragments appear as ghosts so we can see

them and this frightens us. The very act of fragmentation is based

in fear and nonacceptance of an uncomfortable emotion, in this case,

guilt for loving another.

>

> I'm sure his wifes spirit was in heavenly inbetween bliss. The man