Matters Regarding Raising Soldiers and Spirits

People are very concerned about matters such as raising ghosts, and there are quite a few admirers. Many celebrities in the entertainment industry also raise ghosts to seek luck, which is truly confusing.

Although the practice of raising ghosts has existed since ancient times, it has never been accepted by orthodox Dharma because it is ultimately not orthodox.

As the saying goes: “Those who raise them for a long time will inevitably suffer disaster.” However, this “long-term raising” is sometimes not visible within one generation; the disaster may manifest after several generations. Thus, some bold individuals act recklessly, bringing disaster to their descendants.

People who raise ghosts are mainly seeking shortcuts. For example, Thai Guman Tong or female great ghosts (also known as Nine-Tailed Fox Spirits, which are actually female ghosts) are used to quickly seek marriage or wealth. This kind of practice rises quickly and falls quickly, as the common saying goes: “What goes around comes around.”

There are many bizarre and incredible things about raising little ghosts. I have seen many speechless examples: for instance, drying an infant corpse, secretly packing it in a suitcase, bringing it back to the country, and hugging it while sleeping every day. Or bringing back a flower pot, which actually contains a buried infant corpse, and offering incense to it daily.

The latest popular trend in Thailand is even more misleading. They directly use a toy doll, claiming that the spirit of the unborn child enters it, then worship it, dress it up in various ways, attempting to boost the market for toy doll accessories. It is essentially the same old trick with a new name: Doll God.

Some extreme practitioners of raising little ghosts engage in even more unethical practices, such as collecting blood from murder scenes, directly grinding and refining infant placentas, or using the tail bones of dead infants. They then continuously control them with scriptures to achieve the goal of controlling little ghosts, before raising them for themselves or selling them.

However, these so-called ghost-raising techniques are far inferior to the traditional folk ghost-raising methods in China, because these practitioners use soldiers as their unit.

In many folk sects, there are practices involving soldiers, mostly focusing on Yin soldiers. Some claim to be Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, but this is merely wishful thinking; essentially, they are still summoning ghosts.

Soldiers usually have three sources: 1. Allocated by the master; 2. Self-recruited; 3. Snatching soldiers; 4. Borrowing soldiers from Yin temples.

There is not much to say about allocation. Generally, the master allocates some of his soldiers to the disciple, or requests the corresponding presiding ancestral master to summon and allocate them from the spiritual source, or simply allocates a quota rather than actual soldiers.

However, the soldiers allocated by many folk masters are basically deceiving their disciples. They tell the disciples they have soldiers even when they don't, providing a form of comfort. They often claim to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers, or even allocate weapons like airplanes, large cannons, and atomic bombs. Some disciples actually believe this, which is truly intoxicating.

Self-recruitment is more complex. It usually involves collecting ghosts and training them into Yin soldiers, typically in graveyards or places with large-scale deaths. Souls are summoned and then supported to be used as one's own soldiers.

There are usually corresponding rituals for this. For example, there are rituals for summoning soldiers. The number each person can summon is calculated based on their destiny. It can range from hundreds to 100,000. However, more does not necessarily mean better, as it is harder to manage more soldiers, while fewer are easier to train precisely.

After summoning soldiers, management and training are required, along with rituals for distributing rations, i.e., providing food and supplies to the soldiers. At the end of the year, there is also a ritual for releasing the soldiers to thank them and give them a holiday, and then they are summoned again the following year. This is a relatively representative practice.

The training of soldiers is the most secret part. Different sects have different training methods. For example, based on certification, a leader is given a title and undergoes specialized training. This training usually involves Five Elements sacrificial refining or Water and Fire sacrificial refining methods (similar to deliverance) to improve the quality of the soldiers, thereby making them more effective.

Individual ghost-raising commonly involves raising little ghosts. Many say little ghosts have strong resentment, but this is not entirely true. The main reason is that little ghosts are easier to deceive and control, doing whatever they are told. Additionally, delivering little ghosts is troublesome, especially for unborn spirits, as they have not fallen into the dust and have not been tainted by worldly air, so many rules for deliverance and refining do not apply. Therefore, they generally need to be cultivated to maturity before deliverance.

Little ghosts also pose a risk of backlash, but this risk is not high. Generally, for the raiser, little ghosts can be likened to animals; the docile ones are docile, and the undocile ones may bite the owner under certain conditions. Practitioners who play with soldiers generally ignore those who raise little ghosts because they are on completely different levels.

Practitioners who generally raise Yin soldiers are not as eerie as imagined in some literary works, where a surge of Yin energy hits you as you approach. This is pure nonsense. True practitioners who raise Yin soldiers well appear kind and benevolent, filled with auspicious energy, and their behavior and actions are principled, not sinister and cunning as ordinary people think.

Because practitioners who are not like this cannot suppress so many ghost soldiers. Sects that achieve this usually have their own cultivation methods. These practitioners focus more on Yin virtue. Their faith goal is not about what they can achieve in this life, but to command ghost soldiers in the afterlife to gain a higher status. The human body is merely a transitional means.

These seem far away to ordinary people, but they are not that far.

Often, some religions ask people to perform food offerings. This is actually the prototype of raising ghosts. By offering food to bless sentient beings, one can seek their help when needed through prayers, forming a良性 contract to gain Yin assistance for smoother affairs.

The original intention of this idea is good, but unfortunately, such seemingly good behavior is not always so good. These food offerings are mainly targeted at wandering spirits (also called feeding the orphaned), but some of these spirits are not morally good. When they find free food and drink, they may deliberately harass the offerer and extort them. If the offerer is a practitioner, they may harass the practitioner's relatives to gain more benefits.

Therefore, some lineage traditions require the “Three Extremes,” meaning one must obtain at least one or more of the orphaned, the夭折 (died young), and the poor. Why is this necessary? It becomes clear when you think about it.

Therefore, it is acceptable for ordinary believers to independently conduct放生 (releasing life), but performing food offerings without a practitioner's guidance should not be done casually, as it is easy to bring disaster.

These are not things advocated by orthodox Dharma. It is just that people are relatively ignorant, unable to resist these temptations, always忍不住 wanting to take shortcuts, ultimately harming themselves without realizing it.

Orthodox Dharma also has times of relief, but such relief always hides itself and does not seek returns. This is the biggest difference from utilitarian food offerings. Non-utilitarian food offerings convert Yin virtue to the practitioner; although it cannot be used, it is still accumulating merit.

Although it does not look as effective as open and direct food offerings, it avoids all risks.

The collection methods for Yin soldiers raised by practitioners vary by sect. Other articles introduce this in detail, so I won't go into specifics here.

Snatching soldiers usually involves magical battles or secretly snatching other practitioners' soldiers through summoning. This is mostly seen among shamans.

There is another type of soldier that practitioners can call upon, which is quite interesting. What should a practitioner with official rank do if they don't want to raise soldiers but need Yin soldiers? The answer is to borrow soldiers from the nearby City God Temple. This is also interesting because the City God specifically manages them, and the City God is often transformed from the spiritual remains of heroes who passed away in the local area. Therefore, the borrowed soldiers are mostly of high quality and more effective in handling matters, but the cost is not cheap; one must offer enough sacrifices to borrow them.

Soldiers are an interesting part of magic that easily provokes imagination. It is fine to learn about them as after-dinner conversation, but remember not to play with them randomly, as it is easy to cause trouble.

How to identify whether a practitioner can really summon Heavenly Soldiers and Generals?

Actually, the method is simple. Thunder can break all evil. True Heavenly Generals can summon thunder, while the Yin soldiers raised by practitioners do not have this ability.