Unlocking the devil within

[negra orquida]

Recently there are 2 pretty horrifying stories of human behaviour.. one of which was a "zombie" eating a homeless man's face in Miami. 

Watch the news coverage here: 

ZOMBIE ATTACK in Miami man eats face like cannibal even after multiple shots fired. Apocalypse 2012	Small | Large

I first caught the news on Twitter in the early morning when the news first broke out and couldn't believe it, I thought it was a hoax.  But it turned out to be horrifyingly true.. Investigations point towards a certain type of drug which triggered the incident.  It was reported that the drug causes a normal person to turn into a monster possessing superhuman powers.

Not sure how much which is reported is true (media exaggeration is not surprising) but i found it intriguing how drugs could turn a "normal person into a monster". Yet when they interviewed the zombie man's family, he was not really "normal" at all.  He had a history of violence.  It seems that there was so much deep seated delusions in the zombie man and the drug amplified them and brought them out to the surface.

Wonder if it could ever be possible to create drugs that could turn a normal person into an angel instead.  Until then, say NO to drugs! I imagine it would be like being instantly reborn in the animal realm where whatever instinct the drug dredged out takes control of the mind.

[Vajraprotector]

This is indeed disturbing. However, I do not think that drugs could turn a "normal person into a monster". It could enhance or bring out what was suppressed and caused a person to react negatively to the situation.

It is interesting to see what “demon” is in Buddhism. The term Mara derives from the Sanskrit word meaning to murder. So, Mara is what murders or causes interference to us limited beings and to our constructive actions leading to the three spiritual goals of one of the better rebirths, liberation, and enlightenment.

There are four types of Mara:

1.   The Mara of death (the Lord of Death)
Death is the greatest interference to our spiritual practice. It is not certain that in our next lives we will have precious human rebirths with all the respites and enrichments allowing us the most unhindered practice.

2.   The Mara of disturbing emotions and attitudes
When we develop the disturbing emotions and attitudes, they cause enormous interference to our spiritual study and practice. For example, these are longing desire or attachment, hostility or anger, naivety, pride, disturbing indecisive wavering, and disturbing attitudes with an outlook, such as a deluded view toward a transitory network.

3.   The Mara of the aggregate factors of experience (the five aggregates)
The Mara of the aggregates refers to the tainted aggregates, as the example of the all-pervasively affecting suffering of samsara.

4.   The Mara who is the son of the gods.
In Buddhism, this Mara is the deluded views.

[hope rainbow]

Well, well...

If we needed drugs to become monsters, it would be very easy to live in peace: NO MORE DRUGS.
But reality is not like that: Hitler did not take drugs, neither did Vlad Dracul, nor Pol Pot...

The real drug here, I say, is IGNORANCE of IGNORANCE.
We don't know that we don't know = we think we know it all.
sighhhhh....

At least if we could get to that stage in which we know that we don't know, well, that'd be a start.

My point here is this: the real poison is our IGNORANCE, because ignorance deludes our mind infinitely more than the most powerful LSD drug, and it does not fade easily, it pervades, and the deluded views of our poisoned mind becomes the only reality we know.

[Positive Change]

This reminds me of a book I read when I was much younger. I cannot remember the title of the book or what the subject matter was but I recall a rather bold statement which went something like this.

We are all innately good AND bad because one cannot exist without the other. We recognize what is good because we know that is good and because there is a comparison which is bad... and vice versa.

It made sense at the time but it makes much more sense now being in Dharma as that is precisely how one should view another, without the prejudices, assumptions or readiness to judge because we ourselves have the very faults (or good points) which enables us to recognize and "pick up" on.

The reason I brought this up is to illustrate that we have it in us to be either good or bad and that the title of this post is very apt because it is up to us which side we unleash. I do not believe a drug can make us violent if we did not have the inclination to begin with. Sure we all have it in us to be violent (in the sense we are physically able, and also have the faculties to be) but how we live our life and the choices we make either suppresses or encourages these tendencies.

Case in point: Drunk people... We have people who are happy drunks, some stupid drunks and some violent drunks too. It is not the alcohol that makes them that way is it? If so, why do the effects vary? Same logic!

[dsiluvu]

The title of says it all >>> Unlocking the devil within!

Everyone has their imprint of positive and negative karma... what triggers it will bring out the good or the bad actions/imprinted in them before even this life. Hence it is same logic for positive actions to arise.

The guy has probably done a lot of bad/negative actions hence it is more prevalent then the good imprint...which led him to take a drug that enhanced and bring out his negative action. This action will obviously cause him to add on to his pile of negative karma which multiplies and grows overwhelmingly large up until his next rebirth to the lower realms. This is indeed very sad and explains why it is so important to nurture the positive in us to bring out the positive imprints, so when the conducive conditions arise, all we need is a trigger to open up the positive imprints.. could be from chanting Om Benza Wiki Bitana Soha.

Yes I agree with u hope rainbow... it all stems from IGNORANCE, ANGER & DESIRE... the 3 poisons! Isn't Buddha just the best psychiatrist

[bambi]

I am truly saddened with what happened. Everyday we hear news of bad things happening around the world but this one is really scary. And the poor homeless man have to cling for his life in pain and have no idea why it happened. It is really tough for people who have no Dharma knowledge and hold onto to so much sufferings. Yes, the homeless definitely have strong negative karma to have it happened to him.  Even if it is not Dharma, one should not take drugs for anything. There are some news here but don't worry, no scary pictures. http://www.ryanmews.com/tag/miami-zombie/

[Jessie Fong]

We all know how our behaviour is affected under undue influence of drugs.  To think that that zombie had superhuman strength must mean that it was not any simple drug that induced that kind of behaviour.  It must have clouded his mind many times over not to realise what he was doing, gnawing away at that poor man's face as if he was sinking his teeth into burger of sorts.

If he had been "not normal", could it be that the drugs or maybe it was the medication that didn't go well with him?   We can sympathise with the poor victim, but do we also feel the same for this zombie?

[Dorje Pakmo]

Very shocking news indeed. How can one chew and eat on another person's raw flesh (not saying it's ok after being cooked). Leads me to think, what has the world become? What have the human race evolve to? With the advancement of technology, many things are fast forwarded. Everything is instant and easy, hence many people look for quick fixes to their problems. In this case, LSD. How can drugs solve PROBLEMS? It diverts one's attention away, from the problem. But when the effect is over, the problem becomes BIGGER, and then what? More drugs? Yes... Sadly.... That's how drugs ruin lives of those who cannot face REALITY.

The problems that each and everyone faces, are actually from our own doings. That is, our own Karma. We can either choose to ACCEPT it, or to IGNORE it. Accepting the problem and finding ways to resolve it means we accept the negative Karma of our previous action and will move on to become better and stronger. Avoiding and running away from it, will cause the negative Karma to become stronger every time it's being IGNORED. IGNORANCE is the biggest enemy of all human being. Nobody can run away from Karma.

The devil within, is actually our DESIRE, ANGER and IGNORANCE. If kept unchecked for a long time, and fed with fuel of NEGATIVITY will in time, CONSUME US FROM INSIDE OUT.

[Big Uncle]

Well, I heard from a student of a my Lama who was discouraged by her Lama from taking recreational drugs. His reasons were because in her hallucination, she was beginning to see very scary things emerging and getting closer to her. According to my Lama, he said that drugs does open a portal to the other side and that once the portal is opened wide enough, they can come through and disturbed us, sometimes take possession of us.

In this case of this man, I believe that a being from another plane of existence has come through and taken over the man. I can't think of any other reason why this man would commit such a heinous act? I don't think it is so simple that the drug made him go berserk like that. I think it was definitely a flesh-eating being from another plane of existence. I know this sounds like a lot of hocus-pocus but I genuinely believe that something paranormal happened.

[ratanasutra]

i feel sad for both men who is the victim and the drug addicted. The trigger point might be from drug as the report say or not we won't know but the fact is both men are suffered.

The homeless lost his eye and the doctor try to safe his another eye. To become a homeless is already show how his bad karma is and for this to happened with him is worst.

May all this strange scene happened trigger people mind that life is so short and fragile and we should not create more of bad karma in our daily.

[sonamdhargey]

Well, I heard from a student of a my Lama who was discouraged by her Lama from taking recreational drugs. His reasons were because in her hallucination, she was beginning to see very scary things emerging and getting closer to her. According to my Lama, he said that drugs does open a portal to the other side and that once the portal is opened wide enough, they can come through and disturbed us, sometimes take possession of us.

In this case of this man, I believe that a being from another plane of existence has come through and taken over the man. I can't think of any other reason why this man would commit such a heinous act? I don't think it is so simple that the drug made him go berserk like that. I think it was definitely a flesh-eating being from another plane of existence. I know this sounds like a lot of hocus-pocus but I genuinely believe that something paranormal happened.

Hi Big Uncle,

Thanks you. I find your opinion interesting. I always thought that drugs make us do crazy things but i didn't know that drugs can open a portal to other side like the spirit realm. I was just wondering if the portal can open up to spiritual beings with drugs, does it also mean that the portal can be open to Enlightened beings? I've heard from friends that when they take certain types of drugs they saw "God" and they were not harmed or did any crazy stuff.

[Benny]

I think that is really interesting  and possible too . In south American shamanistic culture it is a common practice that the "witch doctor" or shaman to ingest hallucination inducing drugs in the form of herbs and mushrooms to communicate with their gods or ancesstors !

These drug induced rituals had been used since time immemorial . Whether they are communicating through an opened portal or allowing beings from another plane of existence to come through and take possession of the "medium" or shaman has never been proven by modern day scientist or paranormal investigators. Many documentaries show that the drugs being used were definitely very potent in inducing hallucinations and of late many curious western investigators did experiment with them and discovered a revival of sorts in these practices in areas of medical sciences.

Some western new age gurus have even adopted these practices for healing purposes ! This revival has brought more attention from medical scientist to investigate these drugs and their potential in saving lives. Lets just hope these discoveries are put to good use.

[pgdharma]

This is indeed very shocking news. According to his family,  this zombie man had a history of violence and when he took LSD this behaviour is triggered and amplified  He is under the influence of drugs and hallucinating. No normal person can eat another human being uncooked? It is so unfortunate that the victim had to encounter such gruesome attack. We should sympathies the zombie and the victim as they are suffering from heavy negative karma which will multiple if not purified and that will lead them to the three lower realms.

[dondrup]

There are countless karmic seeds, currently dormant in our mind but waiting to ripen upon meeting with suitable conditions.  It is possible that cannibal man had triggered one of these bad karmic seeds in his mind to ripen when he took the LSD drug.  When it ripened, it had caused him to become violent and committed this terrible act!  These negative karmic seeds are potential time bombs waiting to explode! Hence, it is important for us to purify all our negative karmic seeds as much as we possibly could before they ripen.

[DSFriend]

We really don't need to ask if hell and ghost realm exists! It was hell for the victim and the nature of the zombie man is not of a human being..be it induced by drugs or not. As much as we are disgusted and affected by this incident, we all have the potential to be a "zombie man".

There has been many who have committed atrocities and killed multitudes in other various ways. There could be all kinds of reasons to propel one to kill ie., in the name of religion, in the name the country, in the name of love, in the name of drugs etc., etc.,

What i am saying is we have the capacity to commit much negativities with our body, speech and mind... and it really starts with us individually to end it.