Chapter N: Vampire Corpse

One of my students named Shi Yi came to my place. He told me the strange dreams that he had.

Here was his story, "I dreamt that I was standing right in front of the tombstone of my late father, who had passed away six years ago. Suddenly, gray clouds filled the sky, thunder roared loudly, and the soil where my father was buried started to crack. My father even stood up from his casket!  His face was yellow and golden, same as when he was alive. My father's eyes were shining with yellow golden light. I woke up frightened."  

Shi Yi continued his story, "Not long after I woke up, I fell asleep again. Then again, I dreamt of my father. My father was sitting on the tombstone, facing the sky. With each exhalation, a tablet would emit from my father's mouth into the moon and with each inhalation, the table would return to his mouth. This went on for a while. I was puzzled by this dream."

Shi Yi asked me to interpret this dream.  I also found this dream puzzling and therefore told Shi Yi that I would tell him the meaning of his dream the next day. That night, a vision appeared during my meditation. An old man was lying in a casket, his tangled black and white hair growing down to his hip, his hook-like fingernails and toenails extending to about half foot long.  His body had been preserved but he still had heartbeats.

The next day, I told Shi Yi that the corpse of his father had become a vampire corpse. ?quot;What is a vampire corpse?"  Shi yi did not understand.

I said, "Vampire corpse is when a body which has been buried for many years but would not decompose, the body is preserved and thus the hair and nails would keep growing. These are the indications of vampire corpse."

"Is a vampire corpse good or bad?"

"As far as I know a vampire corpse can suck the chi from its descendents. Therefore the fate of the descendents would be inauspicious.  The best way is to either cremate the body or move the body to a different burial site. If the body was to be buried, do not forget to sprinkle alcohol and clumps of dirt inside the casket to hasten the decomposition of the body"

Shi Yi listened to my advice, nodded his head and left.

Unexpectedly, Shi Yi then went to the Feng Shui expert who chose his father's burial site and asked for his advice. The answer he gave was far from what I have told Shi Yi.

The Feng Shui expert told Shi Yi, "The thunder was caused by the movement of the wind and therefore foretold good fortune. Also, the exhaling and inhaling of the tablet indicated the fortunes of the sun and moon flowing into your father, which signifies good fortunes for his descendents. This is similar to the brightness of the sun and moon. Just wait for the good fortunes to come."

Shi Yi responded, "Grand Master Lu's explanation is totally different from yours."

"What did he said?"

"Grand Master Lu said that my father's vampire corpse will bring misfortune to future generations. He recommended that the body to be moved to anther burial site."

"Bastard! what does he know?"

The Feng Shui expert became very emotional.  Moving the body away from the current burial site would be an insult to his profession since he was the one who chose it. This would mean losing his reputation and face.

He yelled, "Sheng-yen Lu, how dare you stand against me. I will teach you a lesson. I will ruin your reputation. You are a liar! The site I have chosen is impossible to create vampire corpse."

The Feng Shui expert wanted evidence. He ordered that the casket be opened.

Shi Yi has told me everything that the Feng Shui expert has told him.

I blamed Shi Yi. I said, "All these is because of you. You shouldn't have asked for other people's advice. Difference in knowledge and opinion is common among Feng Shui experts. Similarly, ten people seeing a block of land may produce ten different opinions!"

I continued, "I told you that your father has become a vampire corpse. Whether I am correct or not, you can verify that when the casket is opened and the body moved to a different site. We both know that we do not want to insult the Feng Shui expert. Telling him my explanation means that I have insulted him. Now that you have provoked him, I would have to add one more enemy, hence, in future my life will be more sorrowful."

Finally I said, "If you intended to open the casket to prove whether I am correct or not, I will not go."

I was not angry at all. I just do not want to contradict the Feng Shui expert. I would rather stay, however, to prove that I was correct; I decided to go with Shi Yi to visit his father's burial site.

Apparently, the burial site was on top of a mountain. The path to get there was a bit rocky. There were so many turns, cliffs everywhere, with creeks flowing along the way and many strange flowers growing. The place was treacherous. With great difficulty, we finally reached the burial site of Shi Yi's father. Surprisingly, at the top of the mountain, it was very flat. The scenery was very beautiful. From there, one can see the wilderness, creeks and other mountains.

The Feng Shui expert told Shi Yi that the mountains and creeks made the place quite auspicious.

From the view around the mountain, I concluded that this land was extraordinary, but the mountain was too high. How could there be fortune when the earth energy cannot even stay? The wind was bone chilling cold. I scooped up a little bit of soil and it was hard and rocky.

Apparently, it was clay underneath as I dug into the soil using a tree branch.

I said, "The upper layer of soil is hard as rock whereas the inner layer is clay, this means that it is not good, as earth energy cannot be retained. The upper layer has been blown dry by the cold wind and the clay underneath is too dense therefore earth energy from the above cannot penetrate into the lower layer. Since there is no air movement in and around the buried body, it will not decompose and thus preserved, resulting in a vampire corpse. I am sure that the body has become a vampire corpse. There is no mistake about it."

I secretly employed a Tao ritual in front of the burial site on top of the mountain, hands forming a Sword Mudra and feets forming the rasi stars, I recited a mantra.

I saw an Earth God flew and landed in front of me, both of his wings flapping, he was crowned with a tiger head and his face was red with fangs protruding.

The Earth God took the shape of a wrathful being. The sight startled me.

Seeing me, the Earth God asked, "What caused Master to ask for my presence?"

"Why did you take the shape of a wrathful being?"

"This mountain is called Flying Tiger Mountain and therefore I take the shape of a flying tiger."

I asked, "Would you please tell me whether or not the corpse buried here is a vampire corpse. I need to have proof."

The Earth God answered, "It is a vampire corpse."

"When the time comes, what evidence is there?"

"When the time comes, misfortune will arrive like a tumbling mountain. All female descendents will have moustaches and beard."

The answer was clear. With that, I excused the Earth God.

Finally, I asked Shi Yi to descend from the mountain. I had secretly performed the ritual and invited the Earth God when I was in front of the burial site. Shi Yi was just an ordinary man and therefore did not know the presence of the Earth God. If he saw the arrival of the Earth God, he would have startled to death. I did not tell him about the incident and the dialogue I had with the Earth God.

The Feng Shui expert invited local government officer, two other Feng Shui experts and all of Shi Yi family members to go to the burial site on top of the mountain. He even paid to have the grave dug up and the casket opened.

This Feng Shui expert also invited me to go and see the evidence. Since, I was very busy at that time and did not want to challenge him, I let him do whatever he wanted to do.

I cancelled all my appointments to accompany him to the burial site of Shi Yi's father.

Since I gave in to his demands, the Feng Shui expert has accused me in front of the others saying that I was an "all talk no show" sort of person. He went on to say that I did not have the guts to run away. He also said that I was a black magician who surrendered to his demands.

Men using mattock and shovel dug up the grave. Soon the casket could be seen. The casket was opened and all the people were startled when they looked inside. Apart from the long hair and nails, the body looked like it was just buried. The face and body had a yellow and golden color. Both eyes were slightly opened similar to someone who had a long and deep sleep. What surprised the family members most was that the clothes were preserved, exactly what it was six years ago.

The government officer shouted in a loud voice, "This is a vampire corpse!"

Both the Feng Shui experts knew that the body has turned into a vampire corpse but dare not utter a word. Shi Yi family was not frightened but astonished by the sight of the body been preserved.

Denying the fact that the body has turned into a vampire corpse, the Feng Shui expert went on to say, "This is not a vampire corpse but sariras all over the body."

"Sariras all over his body?" exclaimed the others, as they did not understand.

The Feng Shui expert explained, "Didn't you know that years ago, Stone Bhiksu's body did not decompose? Similarly, when the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng, died, his body did not decompose. Another similar case was Bhiku Ci, he died in a sitting position but the body did not decompose. This is the same case with your father, it is called 'sariras all over the body', and it is not vampire corpse. Sariras are the result of spiritual cultivation and it is a good sign."

"Yes! Yes! This is definitely sariras all over the body", exclaimed both Feng Shui experts.

The government officer said, "I do not understand what is 'sariras all over the body', all I know is that this body is a vampire corpse."

Shi Yi's family was confused and did not understand neither, 'sariras all over the body' nor 'vampire corpse', The definitions were foreign to them.

The Feng Shui expert ordered that the casket be buried. He claimed the result of sariras all over the body meant that the land energy is perfect and signs of good fortune would follow. He went on to say that even though moonlight and sunrays shone through, the body of Shi Yi's father still laid fresh in the casket.

Shi Yi made no further comment.

Later on, Shi Yi asked me, "What is the meaning of sariras all over the body?"

I answered, "The word sarira comes from the name of a bird. In Buddhism, some say that the bone of Buddha is also sarira. When Buddhas, Bohisattvas, Arahats and Sages passed away, they will produce sariras after cremation. They come in different shapes such as diamond and flower. They also come in different colors. The white ones are from the bones, red ones from the flesh, black ones from the hair, and some are multi-colored. Sarira also has different names, such as relic seed or hard relic, which means crystallization. If it was a Buddha sarira then nothing can destroy it."

Shi Yi asked, "Then, what is the meaning of sarira all over the body?"

I explained, "Sarira all over the body only exists after the body has been buried. Lately people assumed that after a cultivator's body has been buried, it will be crystallized and will not decompose. As a result of spiritual fruitation of precept, meditation, and wisdom, the body will become as hard as vajra, that is vajra body and hence the name sarira all over the body."

Shi Yi asked me, "Do you agree when the Feng Shui expert said that my father has sariras all over his body?"

I laughed aloud, "Did your father cultivate daily?"

Shi Yi answered, "My father did not have any religious belief."

"How did he live his life?"

"He visited nightclubs regularly."

"Why?"

"Without wine, he will suffer."

I paused.

Shi Yi was nodding.

A year passed by.

The value of Shi Yi's company has dropped and hence he filed for bankruptcy. Shi Yi had kidney problems and all of his family members had strange diseases such as baldness, skin problems, rheumatic diseases, inflamed joints, bad breathe, weight problems, gallbladder stones, liver tumor and many others.

The strangest thing was that all female have moustaches, beard and thick body hair. This proved what the Earth God has told me was true.

One night, Shi Yi suddenly came to see me in a hurry. "What is the problem?" I asked.

"All family members faces are covered with dark energy. Everyone is having bad luck. I beg you to help us!"

"Why did you wait until now to consult me?" I blamed him.

Shi Yi told me a story.

"Our youngest child woke up in the middle of the night. He looked around the bedroom and saw a dark shadow. When it moved, it made some strange noises. From the shape of the face, he realized that the shadow was his grandfather’s. The dark shadow would move towards the bed and placed his face closed to those who were still sleeping and sucked their chi three times, consecutively. The little child was very scared but would not dare to scream. He only covered his face tightly with a blanket, held his breathe and would not make any sound. Only after the breathing sound of the dark shadow has finished before he would release the blanket. Then he saw the shadow of his grandfather disappeared. In the beginning, the child would not tell anyone until he couldn’t stand it anymore. We are still shock to hear his story and we do not know what to do."

I told him that this is the case of stealing the chi.

"Stealing the chi?"

"Correct, this is called spirit stealing the chi. That explains why all of you have dark energy on your faces."

"Then, what should I do right now?" Shi Yi begged for my help.

I suggested, "Open the casket again and cremate the body. This will solve your problem. Taking care of one thing will solve all problems."

"We dare not do that." Shi Yi said.

"Until now, you still not dare to do that?" I felt emotional upon hearing this.

Shi Yi told me with honesty, "It’s not that we do not want to listen to Grand Master’s advice. However, the Feng Shui expert who arranged my father’s funeral told us that he had all of our birth dates and threaten to ruin our family if we went ahead and alter the Feng Shui of my father’s burial. Because of this, we do not dare to oppose."

"How dare him?" I was really getting quite emotional after hearing this.

Shi Yi said, "Actually we do believe in Grand Master and we should listen to what you have advised us but the Feng Shui expert has threatened us. If we were to listen to you in the beginning, then the Feng Shui expert would be insulted. However, if we were to listen to him, then we know that you would not be angry with us as you are very compassionate."

"If that’s the case then the one who loses is you."

"Now, I beg Grand Master to help us."

After pondering, I said, "Alright, I will teach you how to set up burial site boundary. First, choose an afternoon at Cu day and sprinkle some salty rice in the four corners of the cemetery. Then burn a piece of mantra paper for the boundary.

The mantra goes like this:

"This mantra paper is inherited from past sages. By burning this paper, all the unholy energy will perish. Now, the mantra paper falls in the hands of Master. Heaven and earth is the place where the mantra paper will stay. Perform the duty as instructed right away."

Not even a month after the ritual, Shi Yi got better from his kidney diseases. Even the doctor was astonished by it. Shi Yi was scheduled to have his kidney cleaned but that was cancelled. Those that were suffering from baldness, skin diseases, rheumatic diseases, inflamed joints and gallbladder stones were all recovering. For those females that had moustaches and beard all regained their previous features. Dark energy has also disappeared from their faces.

Shi Yi was very impressed with what I have taught him.

As his family business grew, he wrote me a poem, which is as follows:

Have the bone of Deva and the heart of Buddha.
Come across as dignified with glorious blessing.
The efficacy of great knowledge.
The prowess of the great noble being unrivaled.

Om Mani Padme Hum.

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