About 24 years ago, when I was preaching the Dharma, 4 of my disciples and I were invited by a family to their home to give them initiation ceremony.
The house was in a well-to-do area of California signifying their very comfortable lifestyle. The host treated us to a vegetarian meal (at the time I advised my disciples to become vegetarian for 2 years to express devotion for the Dharma).

After the meal, the host and his wife asked to be initiated into the Mysteries of Secret Buddhism. In front of the family altar, they asked to be allowed to recite the name of Saint Ly Tien, who was an ancestor of the host; the latter had achieved sainthood after he died (not to be confused with the Spirit of Ly Thai Bach, the poet or Ly Tien Truong, the Immortal of the Cao Dai sect who used to transmit spiritual messages through a medium –a young boy, who was inspired to write them down automatically.)

They joined palms and recited the name of their ancestor and after approximately 5 minutes, both experienced physical signs as divine confirmation for their prayer: the hands moved, the body became warm and comfortable, and the face became flushed.
Afterwards, we had a conversation over tea; Mr. Cao Manh Thang started to reveal his “curriculum vitae” to me.
He said that his ancestor, Saint Ly Tien, had supernatural powers; he frequently manifested himself through a medium and advised the family during their times of hardships and upheavals. He also gave out a medicinal formula to cure various ailments for the children in the family, his descendants.
Mr. Thang further told me that when he was young, he did not do well in school (the term he used for not being bright in school indicates he comes from North Vietnam), and he often asked the ancestor for an amulet, and would hold it in his mouth whenever he went for an examination.

Mystic tales telling over, he then recounted his life: he used to be a colonel in charge of communications. The reason that he did not become a general was that he held the key to the National Secrets and could not become openly known. He also confided that at that time, any potential coup must have his participation (later on, another colonel whom I had initiated said that Mr. Thang was also in charge of the military security and had an MA degree in National administration).
After this detailed introduction, he finally came to the main story, one of mysticism which he could not understand during his whole life. At the time he was an officer in the South Vietnamese army. He accompanied a secret service mission (OSS) into the Pac Bo cave of the Resistance army to discuss a few secret matters related to the conflict between the Allied forces and the Opposition. As he was an officer of a powerful country, he could not help having a total disregard for the force of the Resistance army (General Giap’s army was still very modest in size) and regarded Ho Chi Minh as a very ordinary leader of the Resistance army.

He and the other leaders of the secret service entered the room where Mr. Ho was working. At the time, Mr. Ho was sitting at his desk and upon the announcement of our arrival; he stood up to greet us. And when Mr. Ho looked directly at him, he described that situation as: it was very strange, as if there was an invisible force pressing on his throat, preventing him from stepping forward.

Colonel Thang only met me once just as General Luong I have mentioned in the previous story. I found out that he too, passed away 7 or 8 months ago from an obituary placed in the papers by his family.

Until next time…
Old_Guru 21-08-08