Spiritual Experiences: My Story as a Buddhist Monk

Spiritual Experiences – Life with Spirits is a chapter from my E-Book: Buddhist Monk Saved by Jesus. You can download it for free on my Home page ⟶ Buddhist Monk Saved by Jesus

Encounters With Spirits in the Monastery

A cold season was approaching and I set up a tent inside my kuti, which had been given to me by a kind older woman. It had been about half a year since my arrival at this monastery.

One evening, as I lay in the tent, I saw for the first time two child spirits who were laughing and floating around me. I was surprised and smiled at them. From that time on, I began receiving visits almost every night. They had probably been coming even earlier, but I simply hadn’t seen or felt them before. After the initial excitement of these spiritual experiences, less pleasant visits began to occur.

Once, while asleep, I felt myself being moved around the tent— when I woke up, I saw that a spirit was holding my spiritual body and moving it. Another time, I began shaking in my sleep, and when I opened my eyes, there was an angry spirit jumping on me while another one next to him was laughing.

In my sleep, I saw a light that someone was sending toward me— it struck me like an electric shock. I sent my own light back and kept receiving stronger and stronger jolts until the impact was so powerful that I woke up and saw an old witch in front of me, with a crooked nose, a black hat, and a staff, slowly walking away into the sky.

Almost every night I woke up because spirits were grabbing me, and it felt unpleasant, like a light electric curent. if I fell asleep again right away, it would happen once more. I also saw spirits during the evening recitations of the forgiveness statement and while giving blessings with the power of emptiness. A few times I woke up and saw spirits staring at me closely in surprise. These are just a few examples; for nearly a year and a half of spiritual experiences with spirits. I had multiple encounters with spirits almost every day.

David told me that he had similar spiritual experiences—a spirit had jumped on him, and he turned around, loudly said “sooh,” and the spirit went away; then we both laughed. The teacher explained that spirits see the light of those who are spiritually open and come seeking merit and blessings. If they don’t receive blessings through the power of emptiness, they begin waking you up at night. I was told to share merit by pouring water before sleep, and then they would leave me alone. It helped for a short while, but soon things returned to how they were before.

Deception of Spiritual Light and Supernatural Powers

Having an open “third eye” and seeing the spiritual world, in Buddhism is considered a supernatural ability. But in reality is a spiritual deception of evil spirits. Many monks talked about who could see what and what was happening around them. In this place these kind of spiritual experiences were nothing unusual.

Attacks of Sexual Perverted Spirits

Once, I dreamed of two naked women. In the dream, I realized they didn’t look like ordinary women. When I woke up, I knew that spirits had caused these dreams. Later, I dreamed that I was embracing a woman in the grass. When I woke up inside the dream, I saw a spirit rubbing my thighs, trying to arouse me, while another one above my head was creating the dream. I understood that they wanted to harm me—to plant seeds of sexual desire in my consciousness at night so that I would remember and long for it during the day.

I believed the spirits wanted to harm me on my spiritual path, where sexual desire is an obstacle. One night, while asleep, I felt as if I were having sexual intercourse. When I opened my eyes, I saw a beautiful woman with long hair on top of me. It felt even more real than being with a human woman. The next day, I couldn’t believe what had happened. I felt humiliated and guilty because of this.

Humiliation, Guilt, and Isolation

After this bad spiritual experience, I noticed that whenever I thought about the incident, I could feel a spiritual presence at my sexual organ. During the day, I went to another kuti near the field on the edge of the forest. It was a peaceful and pleasant place, yet this presence followed me wherever I went. Because of it, I no longer wanted to be around people. I felt guilt and shame.

I stopped going to the meditation hall in the morning to sit with the teacher and others, also I did not went to get the food. I knew that the teacher knew exactly what was happening, but I didn’t want to face him. From a life in a radiant spiritual state, I had fallen into a condition of bodily desire and destress. That was the worst of all.

Seeking Deliverance

On the internet, I found smeone who had the same problem. She said these were sexually perverse spirits that enter the body and feed on sexual energy. Only some Christians talk about this, explaining what it is and how to be freed from it. Many Buddhists monks and nuns would internally laugh at this in accusations, it is your karma. For a week, I listened prayers for deliverance through Jesus Christ several times a day and repeated the words myself. But nothing improved.

At that time, I saw Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, and others as good teachers from whom one could receive something beneficial. After nearly a month, I happened to see my teacher. When I briefly looked at him, I could see that he knew what was going on. I immediately walked away with my head down.

That same night, he came to me in a dream. When I saw him, I offered him a banana. He then pressed two fingers into my forearm. My body began to vibrate very strong as if connected to an electric current. Then I felt the spirit jump out of my chest.

The next morning, the spirit was gone. I felt much better. I returned to the hall in the morning to join the teacher and others. I could see that the teacher knew everything and never judged anyone, no matter what happened. After about a week, I gradually returned to the same strength of the power of emptiness as before.

Conversations About Spirits in the Monastery

I visited a Thai woman named Kungan, who spoke English well and was in charge of managing work at the garbage site. She told me that one nun had locked herself in her room and hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for several weeks. They later found her naked and dead on her bed. It seemed to me that sexually perverse spirits had done that. I told Kungan about what had happened to me. She said it must have been something like that. She also said that she herself had been touched inappropriately by spirits a few times. She had lived in the monastery for years and she heard unusual stories and also had many spiritual experiences.

She told me that some monks who lived near the teacher’s house would leave their bodies at night to protect the teacher from evil spirits who wanted to harm him while he slept. I learned of a Russian monk who lived next to David; he went out of his body almost every night but didn’t speak about it. David told me his story of once leaving his body, saying, “Now I know that I cannot die.”

Once, in a dream, I sensed the teacher telling me to wake up. It was around two in the morning, and dogs were barking everywhere. I heard two monks reciting the forgiveness statement. I felt a strong presence of spirits in the area, so I began reciting it as well and sharing blessings with the power of emptiness using “sooh,” and pouring water. All of this was done to share our merits with the spirits and to teach them, through words and the power of emptiness, how to let go of suffering in their minds. At least I believed in this spiritual deception at that time. As the teacher said, this helps them to move on to a better realm of existence in their next life.

I decided to help with work in the fields, which were on the other side of the monastery. Next to the field, I found a small, beautiful place in the forest with four kutis. As I explored the surroundings, I felt a strong presence of spirits in certain spots. A few times my body started trembling when many of them were on me and passed through my body. During the day, I sometimes just felt them on my body, but at night I could also see them. I didn’t hear them, but sometimes I could understand what they were saying by watching their lips move. The teacher said we shouldn’t listen to them or respond, but only bless them.

Daily Life Surrounded by Spirits

Even though there were more spirits in that area, I found a small empty kuti and moved there. Nearby lived a monk named Pijawat — he was very kind, had a nice wooden hut, and a car. He told me there were no spirits here. The same said a layman who lived very close to him in a long steel hut with a green tin roof, surrounded by a green net. He said he slept very well and didn’t notice anything unusual. I told him that sometimes I missed the times when I could sleep that well too. However, I added, just because you don’t see or feel spirits doesn’t mean they’re not there.

The teacher said our work was to bless all beings — human and spiritual — boundlessly and impartially. Whoever is spiritually open has a greater power of blessing. He said that how the spirits behave toward us depends on our past actions, both in this life and in previous ones. If we had harmed them, they would try to repay us; if we had done good to them, they would be kind in return. In either case, we should ignore whatever happens and only bless them. Therefore, I remained indifferent to everything that occurred. I didn’t think about it or see it as something bad. Such spiritual experiences had become part of my everyday life. If you have any spiritual problems or if you believe in this kind of spiritual deception please read here on ⟶ HOW TO BE SAVED.

At this place, I had even more frequent encounters with spirits, both day and night. Many times, I felt such strong tension around my third eye that I couldn’t fall asleep — as if there was a hole through my forehead that I could feel spiritually. Usually, I covered my forehead with my hand, which helped me relax and sleep more easily. When I lay down at night with my eyes closed, I often saw visions of forests from above; it was so real, as if I were watching them during the day.

I began to recognize more precisely the thoughts and emotions that came from spirits, although I perceived them as if they were my own. If I hadn’t been so sensitive to their presence, I would have believed they were my own thoughts and feelings. This happened most often when I rested in the hammock in emptiness — suddenly, my state of mind and body would shift into stress because of thoughts and emotions that came from the spirits. With an exhalation of “sooh” and radiating the power of emptiness, all thoughts and emotions would immediately leave me, and the mind would return to radiant emptiness. Then they would leave me alone for a while, until I repeated it again — throughout the day and even at night when they woke me up. We all did this in the monastery and believed the teacher when he said that by blessing the spirits, we were doing something good.

I met two older nuns, Pong and Nok. They had been working in the field for many years, and we soon became good friends. Later I learned that both could see spiritual beings, and I heard some of their spiritual experiences. Near the field lived a monk named Virat. We got along well, and several times in the evening I went to see him, and we would light a fire together. We spoke little, and when I had enough words, I would simply gaze into the fire with an empty mind in perfect peace. We sat in silence for a long time, and then I would return to my kuti to sleep.

One night, a spirit woke me up. He had the body of a deer and a large human head with long blond hair tied in a braid and mustache curled upward. He talked a lot in anger. I couldn’t sleep because I felt his strong energy in my head. As usual, I recited the forgiveness statement with “sooh” and the pouring of water, but he refused to leave. After several hours I finally said aloud, “Leave me alone.” Only then did he go, and I could go back to sleep.

Living in the Illusion of Emptiness

Although spirits often gave me bad dreams and woke me at night, I didn’t make a problem out of it. I lived with indifference and an impartial mind, in an empty state, because I believed that emptiness is the end of the spiritual path. It means the end of mental fabrication, the end of self, desires, attachments, reactions, and new karma.

I no longer saw any meaning in thoughts. The empty state of mind was so strong that concepts lost all their power. But for people in worldly life, it is precisely concepts that give things meaning. So I knew that I will never leave monastic life. Even though I still dealt with spirits every day, I lived mostly in the strength of emptiness, peace, and contentment. It was something I had never experienced before. Even during all previous meditation retreats and monastic life before meeting this teacher, I had never lived in such spiritual power. It happened after at least half a year with him, when I opened spiritually.

The Realization After Salvation in Jesus Christ

It was only after I received salvation through Jesus Christ that I realized all forms of spirituality are a curse from Satan and evil spirits. They lead only to destruction. Jesus is the only way to be saved from sin and eternal ruin. The only way to God, to receive eternal life, and inheritance in heaven—all is freely given by the Most High God through His Son, Jesus Christ, by grace through faith, without spiritual practices or our own effort. It is a free gift.