How to confirm the Supernatural and not just my mind playing tricks on me

[Roberto]

I have read up on the Removing Curses and Negativity post here

http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=767.0

And no doubt what people are experiencing will be real for them, but to the intense skeptic in me I would like to know what is there that can be done to really confirm whether the experiences are real or not.

Not everyone has a Lama, or Dharma Center, or Mahasiddha to turn to, leaving the only avenue available, such as your psychics, and those new age gifted people. I read that this is also to approached with extreme caution as usually the methods used by these people can irritate / challenge / cause more harm than good.

If there is a negative entity, how can it be confirmed, I mean, they are unseen right to the majority of us out there.

thanks

[KhedrubGyatso]

Hi Roberto,
No one can confirm anything other than yourself. All of us have our own experiences and perception of things around us , hence building up our own little world which is unique to each individual, although there may be many common grounds.
In Buddhism, based on the Cittramatrin view that everything comes from one's mind, then what you believe or don't believe is valid for you.
Eg, if you think that a coiled rope in a dark room is a snake, then it is a snake for you and you will experience fear etc associated with a real snake.It does not matter if the owner of the house or the whole world say you are wrong. If nobody pointed it out to you, you will live your life recounting this memory of encounter with a ' real' snake .

A phenomenon can be supernatural or mere coincidence depending on the observer. If we have an accident and we survived , it is up to us to think if its a blessing , miracle or its bad luck. If we ask those who have such experiences , we will have different perspectives from each person.

Hence, to address your question, everything is a play of one's mind. But that is just the theory. More important is whether whatever our mind believe in or whatever that appears to us ,is beneficial or not , or disturbs our mental peace.There is no simple way to sort out the confusion and fears.
We have  to understand one's mind through study and meditation to gain insight into the workings of one's mind. If you sincerely want to find out where things are coming from , the nature of reality , you will have to commit to study and best if you can find a Guru as spiritual guide.

[Klein]

My Guru said that if we see a being in a form of a deity appearing before us and we're not sure whether it's real, just call on the deity and ask the deity to enter the being. If the being is the deity it will become brighter. Otherwise, it'll just go away or fade away.

[Positive Change]

Well I believe we "belief" in what we perceive and that perception becomes reality whether or not it is in fact "real". However, psychologist believe that regardless of what is real or imagined, if we think it to be real, it becomes real.

Perhaps this in itself is a delusion and thus we wont know unless the very fabric of our reality is challenged? Doesn't this sum up samsara in a nutshell? Believing something so strongly that it becomes our reality and we pursue it to the end of of existence?

Sorry for this whole train of thought but it has been a trying couple of days... lots to contemplate on... Death being one of them!

[vajraD]

I guess at our level we can’t really see Buddha’s. But we are able to see spirits when our energy is low. How to confirm that it is real or not. I’m sure when that happens there is surely some difference in the surrounding. I remember there were a few times that I feel very uncomfortable with the surrounding and I could not move … what I did I chant from my heart and then push my self to chant knout loud… after repeating the prayers these problem went off.

[jeremyg]

I would say that for the most part your mind can often play tricks on you. I mean how many times have we been scared because we heard something that wasn't supposed to be there. It is quite easy to scare yourself sometimes. Having said that I feel that if it is a recurring event, then perhaps there would be some validity in the experience. I for one have sometimes seen orbs, in the air. I passed it off in the beginning as my eyes, playing tricks with lights. But it happened on multiple occasions, so i am quite intrigued by the experience. Yet i still do not know if it is just my mind, or there really is something happening.

[Manjushri]

I guess we can't proof to a real sceptic that something is real, because for most sceptics, seeing is believing, and if you don't see you don't believe. So until they really experience it for themselves, then it's harder to proof.

Not all of us are sensitive, but there are times, when the energy is really negative and you can't help but to suddenly feel scared and uncomfortable. Yes, it might just be the mind, but why is it that you feel this way in a certain place, and not the same way in other places, at the same time?

Learning Dharma confirms that there are negative entities everywhere for us because we learn about the lower realms. We learn that our negative karma leads us to the lower realm, we learn that attachment leads us to the lower realms. We have people affirm of the existence of other beings through their experiences, we have possessions evidently presented to us through youtube/friends/word of mouth etc.. What more do we want, for our minds to accept that they exist? The only thing stopping us from believing its existence is our own ignorance. Learning the Dharma, we strive to not be born in the lower realms, not to be a spirit. Therefore, if we don't believe because they are unseen to us, are we saying that we do not believe the teachings of the Buddha, or the teachings in the Lamrim? The lowest scope of the Lamrim, is to avoid ourselves from being born in the lower realms.. so it does mean that we are avoiding being spirits hence we cannot dispel their existence.

[sonamdhargey]

I believe there are many methods to identify such experiences as real or not. But which methods depends on the individual. Many use mediums or psychics to confirm such things. If you have a Guru, assuming you're a Buddhist, i suggest you ask your Guru as your Guru will be the best person to advise you not to use negative methods and use compassionate method to avoid creating problems with that entity. If you don't have a Guru, i suggest you look for a Monk, Lama or a Buddhist master for help. Problems may arise if you seek help from mediums or psychics (no offence) to get rid of the negative entity because method used may offend the negative entity or that method may generate more negative karma in the process.

[ratanasutra]

Our level which mind full with delusion therefore we do not have ability to see Buddha even he appears in front of us. Some people can feel and see spirit and some do not feel anything.

If there the oracle take trance in the monastery which have the high lamas present, definitely there will be the deity that they invoke as the oracle have been train, prepare body to received such as buddhas to be channel on them.

In other case, you must see what is the actions and what they want in return, just come to give people the blessing, give suggestion/advice for people for benefit people more, do some healing for people or just come in a very funny action or require something in return..

We are the person who see it so will know the best but apply how it can be and think about it and we will be able to know is the mind trick us or not.

[DSFriend]

I have read up on the Removing Curses and Negativity post here

http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=767.0

And no doubt what people are experiencing will be real for them, but to the intense skeptic in me I would like to know what is there that can be done to really confirm whether the experiences are real or not.

Not everyone has a Lama, or Dharma Center, or Mahasiddha to turn to, leaving the only avenue available, such as your psychics, and those new age gifted people. I read that this is also to approached with extreme caution as usually the methods used by these people can irritate / challenge / cause more harm than good.

If there is a negative entity, how can it be confirmed, I mean, they are unseen right to the majority of us out there.

thanks

Dear Roberto

Your question is a valid and popular one... especially for those of us whose senses are dull in picking up energies/entities. Furthermore, for people who are logically inclined, whatever which are not quantifiable or measurable are simple hard to be accepted.

There are many phenomena in this world which we may never accept and some are far from being proven with any validity. But negative entities are pretty much well researched, documented in the scientific world. Well, does the scientific world agree on every theory? Obviously not. Would it require for the whole world to have seen negative entities before we believe it? Well, we may still not believe just because we don't see it.

So, my thought is even if you don't see any negative entities  and maybe finds it hard to just believe by faith, you do not have anything to loose by considering and live each day as though they exists just like any other beings around whom you can see.