Stories about paranormal
4 Buddhist wisdom stories about paranormal from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Edgar Cayce and the medicine on the third shelfStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Edgar Cayce, a devout Christian medium in 1930s America, would diagnose and prescribe in trance. Once he named a medicine no local drug store had heard of; back in trance he said…
Read full story
There was a medium, in United States between the 1st and 2nd World War called Edgar Cayce C A Y C E Many people claim all sorts of stuff but he was investigated a lot. He was a real deal. Cayce. Amazing stuff if you read some of his books. But he was a Baptists I think, a very devout Christian. This was 1930s. A very devout Christian and once he'd go in trance, and then he'd be able to diagnose all sorts of incredible treatments which were true. OK I will tell this one story which really blew my mind. People would come to him and say my grandma, she is very very sick He would go on trance first of all what can we help her with. Sometimes he says... you can't she is going to die. Other times, take this medicine. And this was not normal treatment it was weird medicines or weird combinations and doses which were not usual at all. So one day somebody took their son or somebody to see him when he was in a trance he said "Oh yeah that can be cured with this medicine" - gave the name. And then came out of trance, and when they went to the drug store drug stores in those days, United States. They said "we have never heard of that medicine". So they put him back in trance again. He said "oh you will find it in (this was in Virginia somewhere) "You will find it in a drug store in St. Louis, in Missouri I think is it in Missouri any way St. Louis on the Mississippi. So they didn't have email then and had telegram, telegraph. So they sent a telegraph, half an hour later the telegraph came back. We don't know that medicine anywhere in that drug store. Put him in trance again and he said: you'll find it in that drug store in the second room in the back third shelf from the left in the back--whatever it was. So they sent that telegraph. The telegraph came back half an hour later Found it! Incredible stuff this guy was up to. But one day they asked him in a trance "What is the most important law in the universe?" This was about 1932 or something. A devout Christian. And he said Kamma, the law of kamma. When he came out afterwards, that devastated him! I am a Christian I don't believe in Kamma but that's what he said in trance.
- 'Goodnight, Paul'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A non-Buddhist couple in Perth came to the monks, bewildered. Home from hospital with their newborn second son, they asked the older boy to say goodnight to his brother.…
Read full story
that uh couple in Perth, they weren't Buddhist, but they came to see us because, you know, their young child, second boy, just came out out of hospital with the mom, just been born, and they asked the older boy, "Please say goodnight to your brother." And the older boy lent over the the pram and said something like, "Goodnight, Peter." And Peter replied back, "Goodnight, Paul." He was only a couple of weeks old. And then, of course, they were stunned. They're not supposed to be able to speak at that time. But then, uh Paul said once more, "Goodnight, Peter." And Peter said the second time, "Goodnight, Paul." And they were so confused. That's why they came and saw the monks. And thought we could understand. Yeah. Just the baby's being reborn. He's using his mind, not his brain. Brain is not capable of that yet.
- King Rama IV opened the royal gateStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Peace Corps American arrives too early at Wat Bowon in Bangkok to ordain; a Thai man with keys shows him the locked royal ordination hall and explains every mural, then sends…
Read full story
This young man, he got over to Thailand to do Peace Corps work. So two years over in Thailand, doing Peace Corps work. And then, before he went back to the United States and just... get a job, get married, and all of that sort of stuff, he decided to try to be a monk. A Buddhist monk just for a short time. But he didn't know what to do. How do you become a monk? In Thailand. And so, he was staying at a hotel on the outskirts of Bangkok, and he asked the concierge. The concierge knows other places to send Americans, but not, sort of, monasteries. But he did hear that there was one monastery in the centre of Bangkok, Wat Bowon, which sometimes had Western monks. So he said: Go there, go to this place Wat Bowon, in the centre of Bangkok, and go there early in the morning, take some food and wait for the monks to come out and put some food into one of the monks' bowls and just ask them.' He knew a little bit of Thai, not that much. Ask them he wants to become a monk. So that's what he did. The advice wasn't very clear or precise. So he went there really early in the morning. About 4 o'clock, 4:30 or something. And the monastery was all locked up. It was closed, no one was around. So he was walking up and down outside this monastery Wat Bowon, not knowing what to do. And this Thai man came up to him and asked him: 'Who are you? How can I help?' Because Thais are, certainly in those days, were very polite and very helpful. So he said he was American, he wanted to become a monk, and the Thai man said: 'You're really early, you've come a couple of hours too early.' But the Thai man said: 'Never mind. I've got the keys, I can let you inside.' So he took this Westerner inside the monastery. He opened the doors, it was a metal door in front of the Uposatha hall, the boat. You're Thai, it's called the Royal Gate. I'll tell you why afterwards, if you don't already know. And then went into the main hall, turned on the electric lights, he had the key, opened the main hall, the holy of holies there, and he described all the paintings, all the murals on this 200-year-old hall. And who painted them, why they were painted, and the story which those murals told. And if you know that Thai art in those days, every one of those murals told a story, it's like a cartoon, but cartoons in the West they would start from the left and they go to the right, then the next level... These go around all sorts of different... trajectories. If you know the story, you can actually tell what they are, but even sometimes I know those stories, but I can't actually figure out how they all connect together. But the two hours went past so quickly. He was so fascinated by all this history of the temple that this Thai man knew. Then the Thai man said: 'It's about time now, to... the monks will be coming out any minute, so go out the gate again, turn right, and then wait for this old monk – he's the one you should speak to.' That's what this Westerner did. This American. I know this American. It's a true story. Happened in my lifetime, in Thailand. And soon that monk came out and he put some food in the bowl, asked him he wanted to become a monk, and this American was told to wait and was taken to start the training, being a monk. And after a few days, the American said: 'Look, the monk you've given me to teach me all the chanting, and the rules and stuff, I can't understand him, his English is no good. And the other monk said 'This is the best English speaker we've got in the whole monastery'. And that is where this American said: 'What about that temple attendant who I met on the first day?' 'What temple attendant?' 'The guy who opened the door for me.' 'You can't go through that door. That gate is the Royal Gate. The only people allowed through that gate at Wat Bowon are members of the royal family.' You know how much they hold their tradition. And you can't turn the electricity on there. And, and... not even the Abbot knows all the stories behind those paintings. They took him straight to the Abbot. That was Somdet Nyanasamvara. He became the Head Monk of Thailand. But at that time, he was the Abbot of the temple. The Abbot was listening to all of this and stopped him. And said: 'Wait' and called in the secretary, 'This needs to be recorded.' And this is pretty much a true story. I did tell this story in the Thai Embassy in Singapore, once. And the Ambassador there, interrupted me. Eventually afterwards he said 'Yes, I've seen that story written down, it's true, it actually happened.' But anyway, the Abbot wrote it all down. Or the secretary, rather. But the end of the story. Of course, they asked the question: 'What did that man look like? That temple attendant we don't know, exists. The one who opened doors which only royal family can open.' No one's got the key, no temple attendant's got the key to the main hall. Only a couple of monks have that key. Not even the old Abbot knew all the stories behind the paintings. He said: 'What did he look like?' You know what happens when you have to try and describe a person, especially if you're from a different country; 'I don't know, he just... was Thai.' 'He was wearing traditional Thai clothes,' he said. That was one interesting thing. Not modern clothes. Traditional Thai clothes. 'But what did he look like?' And this American couldn't think exactly what this guy looked like. So he was scratching his head, literally, because that's what Westerners do, Thais don't do that. Scratching his head. And he stopped. He was looking at a portrait in the Abbot's office. 'It's him!' 'That's the one.' 'That's the one I met'. That was a portrait of one of the sponsors of that temple when it was first built. His Majesty King Rama V who died about 150 years prior to that incident. That went down in the books. A heavenly being coming down to help a young man become a monk
- The tsunami ghost who gave a phone numberStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Three days after the 2004 tsunami, a Thai woman in Krabi dreams of a battered English girl from Phi Phi who names the Bangkok temple where soldiers have just laid her body, asks…
Read full story
True Story 3 days after the tsunami hit Thailand there was a Thai girl who lived in the town of gby had a dream in the middle of the night and the dream was of this English girl coming up to her but this English girl her hair blonde hair was all tangled and tousled and her face she must have been quite a young girl 19 20 or whatever was all bruised and gashed and her body was all broken with huge gases and blood in it IM made see that this bloody bruised corpse coming to in your dream but because it's in a dream you know you're too sleepy for actually to be too afraid and the ghost kept saying help me help me help me and the ghost said I was on peee Island when the wave hit I'm dead and at this moment she said Tai soldiers are lifting up my body and they're placing me in a temple a Buddhist temple in Bangkok and she said the name of that Temple and my mother who lives in London is desperately trying to call me on my mobile phone but my phone is at the bottom of the ocean please help me can you do two things for me said the ghost first I want a Buddhist funeral I'm not a Buddhist but I want a Buddhist clation can you arrange that for me this is my name this is the temple where my body is right now and number two can you please ask my mother not to come until the cation is over I don't want her to see me like this please can you do this for me and here is my mother's telephone number and she gave this long list of digits after which this TIG girl woke up middle of the night she was married to an English man maybe that's why this Ghost came to see her so she woke up her husband and told her the dream which she had perfect recall of and the husband was surprised because the telephone number was a legitimate London phone number so he said call it she said no call him so they rang the number middle of the night in Thailand late afternoon early evening in London a woman picked up that phone it's true story woman picked up that phone after a short conversation it was the mother of a girl who was missing on people Island it was that ghost mother the name description was perfect so the mother was thankful at least now she knew for sure what she expected deep in her Hearts if you are a mother sometimes you can feel whether your child is alive or dead when they go missing so she gave permission for them to do the funeral service and to let her know when it was completed so she could come and collect her daughter's ashes the next morning they went to puket found the temple found the body got permission through the ceremony and cremated the corpse it said that to the body looked exactly as it did in the dream and having done the creation the mother from London came on an aircraft from Heath Road they met at puket airport handed over the ashes cried and then the mother went home and the tig girl went home with her husband to graby and a couple of nights later they had another dream and in this dream the girl came to the this English girl came to this tire girl again in a dream but this time her hair was Immaculate as if she'd been to Elizabeth ardens or something I don't know are they still in business Elizabeth ardens been a long time since I went 20 hairdresser I do my own but I the best hairdresser in town just beautiful hair and her face no bruises no Cuts as if she had like makeover and her dress white and shiny Immaculate and she said in a dream look what's happened to me look what you've done for me I'm a Heavenly being an angel thank you so much for arranging that ceremony for me and thank you so much for letting my mother know I've come here one more time to say thank you to you thank you so much to express my gratitude said this angel in the dream here is another set of numbers which she also remembered when she woke up but they never tried to dial those numbers cuz if you all suspect that was not a phone number that was a lottery number which won and they made quite a substantial amount of money and that is a true story the mor of that story is if ever you see a ghost don't run away yet ask it for some numbers first and then run like hell we going to do dream don't get afraid come on let's have some numbers please but remember because you heard that story in DCA Buddhist center 10% of your winnings should should go to the temple