被鬼压床 Pressed by ghosts in sleep

Ever experienced being pressed by ghosts in sleep?
Common symptoms are:
1. you wake up in the middle of your sleep
2. you are stationary and however you struggle you cannot move
3. you may open your eyes and look around but you can't turn your head/neck
4. you open your mouth to scream but no voice comes out



Scientist argues that this is caused by pressure/stress before sleep
or probably pressure on your chest during sleep
or unconscious state of mind being unstable.
Paranormal or Medical? You decide!

I believe in 鬼压床 because I often experience this when
many years back, continuously for years
The last time it came, it lets me see its appearance.
It was a lady in red with long hair that floats in an anti-gravity manner.
Then it never came back..
I supposed I had offended her in my previous life, maybe I took her life.
Another Catholic friend of mine saw a old male spirit
with skin likened to tree bark during her sleep.

I came across this article
and thought it would be helpful for those who are in this situation;
pardon me for the bad translation though.

[SOLUTION]

晚上常常梦到恶鬼、家亲眷属，或受到魇鬼压身，或者共鬼神游，
Often dreaming of
1. ferocious ghosts/spirits
2. spirits of deceased family members
3. resentful ghosts pressing one's body in sleep
4. touring/floating around with spirits.

这一类的，第二天早晨，在佛菩萨像前，将地藏菩萨本愿经恭恭敬敬地念一遍，回向给他，非常有 效。
For people who are suffering from the above symptoms, you may read the Ksitigarbha sutra respectfully once, in front of a bodhisattva statue the next morning. Dedicate the sutra recitation to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva will prove very useful.
(Ksitigarbha Sutra is available here - http://www.dizang.org/xj/dz01.htm; for those who are poor in mandarin and requires pinyin assistance like myself, you may visit here - http://www.chandao.com/zangchuanfojiao/79/106951.htm)

第二夜就非常平安，再也不会梦到鬼神。
The following night will be peaceful, he/she will not dream of spirits.

我出家两年受戒后，有一个过去的同事，他太太是佛教徒，曾经告诉我，她在一星期中曾梦到邻居的太太三次。
Two years after accepting monkhood, an ex-colleague's who is a buddhist once told me that she dreamt of her neighbour's deceased wife thrice a week.

邻居也 是同事，全家信基督教，太太过世了。她梦到过世的这个太太很可怜，好像生活很困难的样子，求她帮助，向她要钱。
The neighbour was also her colleague, whose family are Christians. She dreamt that the deceased neighbour was in a pitiful and difficult state and begged her for help and money.

她在梦中忘记她已死了，问她：‘你应该向你 先生要钱，怎么向我要呢？’这个太太告诉她：‘我先生没有钱，求你帮助。’一星期梦了三次，她忽然想到，她先生是基督徒，不烧纸钱。
In the dream, she had forgotten that the neighbour had already passed away, asked her "you should ask your husband for money instead, why do you approach me instead?"
the neighbour replied "my husband doesn't have any money, please help me."
Having the same dream thrice a week, she recalls the family being Christians and does not practice buring of incense paper/money.

我告诉她，给这个太太 烧点纸钱。此后就不再梦到了。所以，这个基督徒没有生天，还在饿鬼道，找学佛的人要钱。这是真实的事情。
I instructed her to burn some paper money for the deceased neighbour to cease the nightmare. This incident reflects that the Christian neighbour failed to go to heaven and still lingers in the Hungry Ghost Realm, looking for Buddhists to seek monetary aid. This is a true story.

烧纸钱对饿鬼道有用，其他道没用。印光大师对于这 桩事情，不反对也不赞成。为什么不赞成？因为佛教不烧纸钱。
Burning paper money only works with spirits in the Hungry Ghost Realm, it is not applicable to other realms. Monk Ying Guang responded that he does not agree or disagree with the solution.
Why disagree? Because Buddhists does not practice burning paper money.

不反对是因为万一他堕在鬼道，对他就有用处。有人过世，替他诵经念佛回向才是正确的，也要替他 做好事。
Why agree? Becaue if the deceased happen to end up at the Ghost Realm, he would have use with the paper money. The correct procedure/solution is to chant Buddhist sutras and dedicate the merit to the deceased; in addition, do good deeds with/under the name of the deceased.

article taken from
http://www.dizang.org/dzjd/qishi/p23.htm
poorly translated by
your humble blog author T_T


[Additional Information]
I have also read from Ksitigarbha Sutra that upon dedication of merits to the deceased,
the deceased can only receive 1/8 of the merit
7/8 of the merit will be received by the family members who chants the sutra or does the good deeds
From here we can see that it is a very difficult and tedious process
to transfer merits to the deceased (kind of like bank interests, yes?)
So the morale of this post is -
Accumulate merits when you are STILL ALIVE!