Toyols: The Child-Spirits
Dear friends,
Tales, myths and folklore are embroidered into the very fabric of society, especially in Southeast Asia. There is a wide spectrum of ghost myths in the region, especially in Malaysia as the result of the remnants of old animist beliefs that have been shaped by Hindu-Buddhist cosmology, the Islamic religion, as well as influence of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Arab cultures.
I am sharing some of these common mythical spirits with you as many have grown up hearing about these creatures, but do not know much about them, or what to do if they encounter such beings. It may also help you to gauge if your family members or friends are afflicted by these beings. By reading this article, I hope that more people understand the nature or functions of these beings, and to not disturb these creatures or cause further sufferings to their already miserable existence. Engaging these negative spirits to do non-virtuous actions, such as stealing or harming others will create negative karma for both the person giving the instructions and the spirits themselves. Therefore, it is best if we do not engage these creatures to do negative deeds and instead, we should develop compassion for them.
For those who have been affected by these negative beings, you can do the practices of Singdongma and Dorje Shugden for self-protection.
Pastor Shin Tan
What is a Toyol or Tuyul?
A Toyol, or Tuyul is a mythical spirit in the Malay mythology of Southeast Asia, and especially well-known in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. It is said that a Toyol is a child-spirit invoked by a bomoh, a Malay witch doctor, from a dead human foetus using rituals and black magic, while there are also myths that describe Toyols as lost children of Pontianaks or Kuntilanaks, the spirits of women who died during pregnancy or childbirth.
Toyols carry out instructions from their masters or owners who control them. These spirits are usually used to steal or to do mischief. Older Toyols are more vicious, and more inclined towards violence compared to their younger counterparts. If you encounter constant disappearances of money or jewellery from your home, it could be the work of a Toyol.
Origins
Malay mythology expert, Dr. Mohd Taib Osman said that the tradition of keeping Toyols originated from Mecca, near the Kaaba Muazzama (Grand Kaaba), a building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram. Other sources said that there is a pillar in Al-Masjid al-Haram that can be embraced in order to own a Toyol or Genie (or Djinn).
Appearance
Toyols are commonly known to have the appearance of a small child or baby, naked with a big head, pointed ears, sharp teeth, small hands, clouded or red eyes and usually greenish or grey skin. They are similar to goblins. They can be seen with naked eyes, but they are very good in hiding in order not to reveal themselves.
There are also other accounts of their appearance as young children around five years old, with rough patches of skin all over their faces.
How Toyols Disturb Us
According to old village tales, people keep Toyols for selfish but petty reasons. They are used to steal, create disturbances, and perform other minor crimes. Serious crimes, such as murder, are usually beyond the capabilities of these Toyols.
There are no known warning signs that a Toyol is around, except when things go missing often enough and other factors have been ruled out. Toyols who are hungry or without an owner may also drink the blood from the big toes of people who are sleeping. Therefore, sometimes small bite marks on the big toes are also indications that a Toyol was present.
Toyols are also known to steal or kill other babies, possibly due to jealousy for not being given the opportunity to live. Toyols and Pontianaks/Kuntilanaks are known to be very much attracted to pregnant women due to their precarious state of being. Thus, pregnant women are advised to be careful of these supernatural beings during their pregnancies. In Asia, pregnant women are often warned against going out at night to protect themselves from these beings.
Recently, there was also news that a lady, Mariam, had her money withdrawn from her bank account without her consent after a Toyol stole her ATM card. The case became widely known after Mariam reported the incident to the police.
Mariam showing her police report relating to the case of her missing ATM card and cash withdrawal from her bank account
Invoking a Toyol
In order to be the master of Toyol(s), a potential owner should obtain a still-born foetus or a body of a dead child. After that, he/she needs to engage the services of a bomoh to call the spirit and resurrect the body of the dead child. Thereafter, the Toyol will obey the owner after a pact or ‘contract’ is made between the owner and the Toyol.
The ownership of Toyols is transferable from one person to another. Sometimes, Toyols also roam freely without owners, making them vulnerable to bomohs who would like to catch them using relevant black magic.
The Toyol is either bound to its reanimated body or to parts of it – the bones – or other objects infused with a special ‘corpse oil’. In most accounts, a Toyol spirit is housed within a static effigy. The effigy is usually encased individually in a bottle, jar, or urn. Some effigies can be in the form of the actual corpses of dead children. However, there are also claims that carvings from certain types of wood, metal or clay in the shape of a child can also be used for this purpose. Rituals are then performed on the sculpture to invite the spirit into it. There are also cases where wooden tablets are used to house Toyols.
“Captured” Toyols in bottles
Keeping a Toyol
Toyols will do every bidding of their owner or master, ranging from doing petty mischief to causing problems for the master’s ‘enemies’. However, they do not work for free, and their wages should be equal to the task at hand.
A Toyol is mischievous but yet has the characteristics of normal children. Hence, objects common to the pleasure of normal children, such as milk, clothing, candies, toys and so forth, can be used as offerings to keep the Toyol happy and entertained.
It is said that to enhance the power of the Toyol or to keep the Toyol under control, the owner must feed the Toyol with blood. Some literature states that a Toyol must be allowed to suck blood from the big toes of its owner, or from the breasts of a female relative of the owner, or the owner herself (if the owner is female).
Blood feeding has to be done regularly or most likely daily. Although some less fussy Toyols may be satisfied with blood from chickens, many would request human blood. The danger of blood feeding is that the Toyol’s appetite would increase as it performs more tasks, until the point when it may require fresh blood from an entire human adult to satisfy its craving.
What would happen at the end of the “contract” between a Toyol and its master is not very clear. It could be that the body, effigy, tablet, or the urn of the Toyol would be buried in a graveyard (with the relevant rituals), and the spirit would then be laid to rest. An alternative method is to dispose of them in the sea. If these methods are not performed, the Toyol would haunt the family members of the masters.
Puspitasari from Dusun Joho Clumprit, Jombang, Indonesia who allegedly caught 11 Toyols and kept them in plastic containers.
How to Protect Yourself from Toyols
Although seemingly mischievous, Toyols are supposedly not very intelligent. It is said that like children, they are easily distracted and deceived by marbles and sand, strands of garlic hanging on the doorpost, live crabs and so forth. The Toyol would start playing with these items and forget its task in the intended victim’s house.
Money placed under mirrors has the potency to ward off Toyols because they are afraid of their own reflection. Needles can also be placed under cash to ward off Toyols because they are afraid of being pricked/harmed by the needles.
For those who have been affected by these negative beings, it is good to apply either one of these two methods, Singdongma or Dorje Shugden to protect themselves. You do not have to be Buddhist to engage in these powerful methods from Tibet for protection from these supernatural beings.
True Stories
There are many accounts of eyewitnesses or true stories online about Toyols. Below are some to share with you.
Bomoh Aunt & Toyols
When he was around 8 or 9 years old, Sylvester’s friend was called to his aunt’s bedside, an aging bomoh who suffered from asthma and bronchitis. The boy was given the instruction to go to the kitchen and look below the stove where his aunt’s Toyols were kept. Under the stove, his friend found four small glass jars. Inside each jar, there was an entity that reminded him of a bat, but it was not a bat, he said. They were naked…no hair, and they were only six inches in height, with little fingers, like you would see on a human foetus…and he could see them moving around inside the jars. They were blackish or dark brownish with a little pinkish tone in colour, Sylvester said. His friend opened the jars, and as each jar was opened, the Toyol would disappear and vanish into thin air. Several hours later, the old woman, the Bomoh, died.
Source: http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/the-toyol-asian-money-stealing-ghost.15165/
Toyol in the Village
When she was a child, Tan was familiar with the stories about Toyols as some people in her village were rumoured to keep them.Toyols are believed to be dead babies that have been revived through some demonic rituals. These small creatures, which serve the person who revived them, are said to be green in colour with red eyes and need to be fed small amounts of blood regularly.
Toyols are also believed to be somewhat mischievous and would suck the blood from the big toes of a sleeping person. If instructed to steal, it will only take half of the victim’s treasure.
“Usually they were kept inside a tempayan (a clay jar) and placed under a stilt house, away from everybody. My mother would remind us not to run and play in that area under my neighbour’s house.’’
Curiosity made her want to see the creature, she said, “but the consequences of my action always stopped me at the last moment. Personally, I accept these ghosts or hantu as one of life’s mysteries.”
Source: http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/the-toyol-asian-money-stealing-ghost.15165/
Toyol from Mecca
Indeed, it may sound like nonsense, but the story is not fabricated. This story happened about 10 years ago in one village. I would not mention the name of the place. I would tell the story so that we all can learn from it.Mr. Aji brought back a Toyol from Mecca. I know this because he lived not far from my village. Plus, I used to go to that village to visit my relatives there. So I knew the background and the real story. The man was in his 50s and had a family. Life was not difficult for him, but he wanted to get richer, so he went to Mecca with bad intentions. He was there because he wanted to find Toyols, and not for pilgrimage!
When he arrived in Mecca, the first thing he did was not to go on pilgrimage, but instead he went to look for a type of sharp iron rod that could be used to attract Toyols. Upon returning to his house in the village, he used incantations and spells together with the rods. He then installed the rods at the four corners of his two-acre farm as a ‘fence’. As a result, anyone who came into his farm without asking permission would be possessed by spirits.
After his fencing effort, his farm that previously could only earn him about RM2,000 to RM3,000 a month started to produce amazing results. It was said that he could earn RM8,000 to RM10,000 a month. People were asking as to who was working on his farm? Around the same time, many villagers also started to complain about losing money. In fact, some of the villagers saw the Toyol ‘thief’ flee to the man’s house.
Presumably after enjoying a more luxurious lifestyle, the man could have forgotten or did not want to honour the requests of his Toyol. From what we know, the Toyol could have demanded either milk or blood from the owner’s wife, or blood sucked from the owner’s big toes. Because the Toyol’s demand was not fulfilled, the Toyol then started to become enraged and disturb the residents in the neighbourhood. Even my brother-in-law had also spotted the Toyol before. The incident happened in the morning when he was sending his son to school, and he saw the Toyol perched on a tree. He was not the only one, many in the neighbourhood also saw the Toyol. There were also school children whose feet were bitten by the Toyol.
When the man was holding a feast, the villagers would not attend. When the villagers held any feast, they did not invite him. In short, wherever he went, people would avoid him. The man was totally isolated in the village, living in his own world, with his Toyol.
What this man committed and the resulting chaos that swept the village finally reached the ears of his siblings and relatives. They were embarrassed by the man’s actions. One day, his brother came and scolded him. The brother urged him to immediately repent, ask for God’s forgiveness, and return the iron rods taken from Mecca that were used to fence the farm.
The man then admitted his mistakes because despite living in luxury, he could not stand being ostracised by the villagers and his family. Finally, he brought the iron rods back to Mecca and repented in earnest in front of the holy mosque, regretting his past actions. Since then, there were no longer complaints of Toyols being sighted or petty thefts in his village.
Maybe there are those who think that the story is superstitious nonsense, but I want to stress once again that the incident was real. And I think I have to tell you this story so that we are all aware that properties amassed through illegal means will be punished by God.
Source: Mastika, July 1997, http://jalanakhirat.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/toyol-dari-mekah/
Toyol in a Bottle
In Pekan, Malaysia, villagers had discovered a bottle containing what they described as a Toyol. The black figurine measured 15 centimetres in height and was as large as a human fist. The villagers described the figurine as having a greenish tint with blood-red eyes. The bottle also contained sand, a yellow string and slices of onions. The figurine was exhibited in a museum in Pahang, and later on released into the sea.
Source: http://andhikatharuna.blogspot.my/2006/03/toyol-di-pahang.html
In this video below, several young people share their Toyol encounters or stories, and their thoughts:
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/TuyulDocumentary.mp4
There is also an Indonesian movie that tells a story about this mythical spirit. I have included the trailer here:
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/Tuyul2015.mp4
Conclusion
The existence of Toyols may not be scientifically proven. However, these mythical beings continue to live in the psyche of the people in Southeast Asia where there are occurrences of petty thefts or other events that cannot be explained. In the Philippines, there is a similar type of child-spirit called the “Tiyanak”. In Cambodia, they are called “Cohen Kroh,” and in South Korea, “Do Yeol”.
It is best not to contact or engage in any activity with these supernatural beings. However, as Buddhists, we should develop compassion for all beings, including spirits. Although we may not be able to help them at this time, we can always dedicate our merit and prayers daily so that these beings would find better rebirths in the near future.
References:
- http://www.answers.com/topic/toyol
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyol
- http://zakticonsultancy.blogspot.my/2010/11/what-is-toyol-or-tuyul.html
- http://ghostmalayculture.blogspot.my/2011/10/toyol.html
- http://www.theparanormalguide.com/blog/toyol
- http://www.dunia7misteri.com/2015/08/asal-usul-tuyul-dan-bagaiman-cara-menangkapnya.html
For more interesting information:
- Trakze to Dispel Black Magic and Spirits
- Protection from Black Magic and Spirits
- Dharma Protectors of Tibetan Buddhism
- The Power of Prayers
- 10 Paranormal Pictures
- Paranormal Collection
- Spooky Haunted Hotel Experiences
- 10 Japanese Folklore Creatures
- A Case of Karma and Possession
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It’s really sad to see this child spirits being used by the bomoh or anyone for bad intentions. The spirit child may not understand what they are doing but just follow the order from the master. By right we should do more prayers for them to take good rebirth but there is always someone out there trying to do something harmful for their selfish benefit. Just imagine if we have our unborn child being used as such or ourselves fall into such condition and being so helpless but just to follow the instruction from the master.
Really hope that people will stop this kind of activity. Instead of using the little one for bad intention, make more prayers and offering to the enlightened one to collect merits for the kids to take good rebirth.
There are sometimes no easy short cut to success, we have to work put in the time and thought to the work to achieve any form of success.
Shortcuts such as leveraging other worldly beings using dark arts, creates karma that we will be slave to other people in future lifetime as well. There are no free lunches in samsara
Being a toyol, they do not have a choice. The most scary one is not the toyol, is those who created this and those who carry this out. They are child spirits that not even have a chance to live yet these bomoh used them just to fulfilled their selfish needs. I hope whoever that read about this article, do share this with your friends so that more people know about it stop doing this.
The “Toyols” must be suffering so much, just because they are abandoned, young and immature. Human beings get used of them to feed their greedy, selfish and short term needs. In the end of the day, we are going to pay back for doing such negative activities that bring no benefits AT ALL. etc., reversely control by the “Toyol” when we are weak due to high blood loss and finally realized that it does not worth it to involve in such negative activities.
Everything we do, we will need to bear with the consequences, negative or negative.
I had witness few cases of people keeping toyols to fulfil their wishes since my childhood time. But the result of this practice are horrible causing more damage that you can imaging. Until i study buddhism and understand the cause and the effect to be born as spirit. Sometime i think human greed are the most scary than spirit. To fulfil our greediness, human can using such practice to get what they want. Whose doing this practice when they dying time come, due to their negative karma, they cannot pass away easily. Just imaging when the child spirit seeing their owner passing,they lose dependency from their owner and wondering to get support, they will find next target. I had witness a women posses by child spirit and keep sucking her own blood. If people ready have compassion must stop this practice immediately and do prayer for the child spirit have better rebirth.
While reading this article, it just kept reminding me of how selfish and cruel human are, to fulfill our selfishness, we harm the people around us, we torture the animals and kill them, we did black magic and used the spirits, just to fulfill our extremely selfish wish, luxury life, money, properties, win money from gambling, get good career, etc. They wanted to have great achievement with minimal effort spent.
It is very unfortunate for baby to passed away before even step into their human life, after they died, their spirit was used to harm others, they were used to create more negative karma for themselves without knowingly, how sad.
I wonder will there be a day where human noticed the damaged they have done and stop doing it, the day they can feel what the animals and spirits feel and decided to stop harming more life being. I hope this day will come.
It is sad that beings like Toyol are manipulate by human to fulfill their greed and desire. Just like what Pastor Shin mentioned in the beginning, these non-virtuous actions will create negative karma for both the master and the toyol and both have to pay off for these negative karma eventually. I wish that this kind of selfish practise will stop with the grow of dharma knowledge and compassion in people.
While reading this article, I just feel very sad that the child spirit was just kept like this and being used to harm others. All this is just because of a human’s greed. Wish all of us when doing our daily dedication, please dedicate to them for the good rebirth.
Thank you Pastor SHin Tan for this article which is very information and educational.
Since at my very young age i have been heard a lot of stories regarding about ” child-spirits ” and peoples are using ” child-spirits power ” to look for money, love and etc.. And these ” child-spirits power ” mostly are from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Always advice peoples or customers in Kechara Paradise outlets never ever deal with spirits.
PST added a very good point in this article :
It is best not to contact or engage in any activity with these supernatural beings. However, as Buddhists, we should develop compassion for all beings, including spirits. Although we may not be able to help them at this time, we can always dedicate our merit and prayers daily so that these beings would find better rebirths in the near future.
Thank You PST _/\_
Eric kksiow
It’s dangerous when one getting too attach to their greediness and being ignoracne to their selfish action come up to the point making harmfull action not just towards others but also themsleves. They may not realise the consequenses from having a Toyol as their greed being fed but in long therm it will not serve them better.
It’s sad to see thia small being being totured in such a way even after they have passed away. They are just another child that we hope they can take good rebirth. If we can’t help them but at very least we should not toture them in such a way. When our greed control our mind there are so many unresoanble act we will engange.
Religious learning and practice is important to train our main just like Dharma for example. We should focus in it not only for our own benefit but also able to share and help others.
It is best not to dabble in the occult to get something temporary that cannot be good or beneficial in the long run. For such practices always resulted in the persons having to give more than they got. The desire to have more without working hard for it and the means of achieving it is very detrimental. Along the way, others got hurt. And the karma comes back to the persons who hurt others.
I used to hang out at my primary school best friend’s house after school. In her house, there is a room which has a huge altar. Her uncle follows Thai Buddhist tradition and some other things I do not understand. There was one time she showed me a small bottle with a child figurine inside and told me it’s a child spirit. I even took the bottle and looked at it for quite some time. There were quite a lot of them on the altar. I didn’t understand then but now come to think of it, quite scary.
Her uncle is still practicing the tradition till today. But I am not sure whether he still keep them.
Whatever it is, I feel that it is not right to keep those beings and make them suffer more. We should be kind to them and release them instead.
What is disturbing about Toyol or spirit child is not so much the spirit itself but that it is a testament of the extent of human greed and lust for power, control, wealth and revenge.
As part of KFR team discussion on this topic we watched an episode of The Paranormal Zone Season 1 entitled “The Curse of the Ghost Child”.
It is very information and educational. This knowledge gives us understanding about the cruelty we are doing to these spirits by keeping them and that the kind thing to do for them is to release them and let them go back to their world.
It is even more compassionate if we can dedicate our merit and prayers for these beings to find better rebirths in the future.
This is very scary. To use a foetus for your greed or desire is so bad. Nobody can expect something positive from such a practice. We have seen the TPZ Tsem Paranormal Zone episode together with the Kechara Forest Retreat Team on child spirits and in this episode the master released the child. This is something positive but I hope that such practice will disappear for the benefit of all.
Thank You Rinpoche for giving us always Dharma and thank you Pastor Shin for this article. And thanks to Li Kim for the interesting TPZ episode.
Thanks Rinpoche and Pastor Shin for this informative post about Toyols. It’s very interesting Toyols or any names in similar form appear in only Asia.
With materialism is getting stronger in our time, people greed for things that most of the time don’t mean to be theirs. Using Toyols is one of the way they can fulfill their desire but it’s not a deal without terms. This deal itself is not a healthy thing as the motivation of it is solely selfish.
What I can see for this Toyol phenomena is people who have power utilize the wandering child spirits to do bad things. It not only something bad from the person, it forces the innocence spirits to do something bad too. This bad circle will go on and on, and the owner will not enjoying what they get for long.
May people have more compassion to these innocence child spirits. Om Mani Padme Hum!
Very interesting write up on Toyol. All these while i thought it was something that was made up by those old folks like folktales. Now I know it really exsist.Thank you for sharing this knowledge with us Pastor Shin. Hope to read more great stuffs from you again! 🙂
Very interesting article on child spirits. When I was little, I lived with a family member who had a child spirit which we’d call him, ah Boy. He lived in a doll house, and we were not allowed to touch the house at all. The only time when I saw the interior of the house was when this family member opened up the door to place some offerings. I didn’t know what it was until these recent years, I am sure that the child spirit was kept to ‘help’ improve the business.
Thank you Pastor Shin for this interesting article, Its is very sad to know someone souls got controlled to create so many bad things and negative karma. I feel so so sad for the unborn babies got used by those people because of their greed and selfishness.
Frankly it seems scary but I don’t think they will be harmful as they are just a child and a lost soul, they still need love and care. its true we can’t help much but at lease we can recite DS mantra and dedicate for them to have a swift and good rebirth.
May all beings be blessed by Dorje Shugden and remain unharmed.
Thank you Pastor Shin for this interesting write up about child spirits. While I reading this blog post it keep make thinking that this unborn baby is very pity because they have to be used in such a way to commits even more negative karma , of cause the person who keep them is even commits more bad karma there is samsara to us, so for us as a buddhist we should practice whatever the Buddha have taught us in order for us to avoid this kind of rebirth.
Dear Pastor Shin,
I have never heart about Toyols and can not imagine that anyone would keep one. There is no way to want to be richer would be a reason because not only they steal but the owner of the Toyol has the karma of using a child-spirit on top! That is so bad!
I feel so lucky to know about Karma, Reincarnation and Dharma! We can protect us against negative energies with the Dorje Shugden mantra Om Benza Wiki Bitana Soha. I rejoice for more people to know about Dharma, Paranormal, Spirit realm and much more through this webpage.
Thank you Pastor Shin for this interesting article!
Thank You Rinpoche for making this available to us.
Pastor Antoinette
I definitely believe in the existence of Toyol. I have heard quite a few stories of it, I have also heard that many people would travel hundreds of miles to shamans in Thailand just to buy Toyol from them. People often use them to steal money, but in some cases, the owners would use the Toyol to attract the people they like. And some owners of the Toyol feel that they no longer need it or it does not serve any purpose anymore, they would just toss them away. They were also stories where some people would abort their babies and sell it to shamans for money.
I really have no idea what is actually going on in people’s mind. How can they allow their greed to take over? Because of their greed, the poor child spirits have to go through all of these sufferings. It’s just not fair to the spirits. Although they are dead and they are spirits, they still have feelings just like any other human being. Their lives are already hard (being a spirit), so we shouldn’t be adding more pain or making their karma worse.
I honestly pity the Toyol for having to take such rebirths. Thank you Pastor Shin for writing this article, this article surely has increased my knowledge about Toyol and how to protect ourselves from them.
In the West we have the “The Familiar” spirit. It is the witch’s helper & he gives his blood to his familiar. Seems the Anglo-Saxons are the ones who mention it most maybe from Celtic origin.
Interesting, I haven’t heard of “The Familiar” before. I did a Google search and it seems a familiar spirit may also appear in animal form. In this way, it differs from the Toyol which appears in child-like form. And it seems like the owners had an almost affectionate relationship with their familiars… I haven’t heard of stories where people have had a similar kind of relationship with their Toyol.
I’ll do a little more reading on this, thank you for bringing it up. By the way, you may also be interested in this other recently-released post about ghosts and spirits: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=102477 It was written by an author who also sighted a Toyol herself.
Toyol is a mythical spirits we heard of when growing up. It is disturbing to know that human beings cannot leave these spirits/ creatures alone. Human beings resort to manipulating or controlling these spirits / creatures for selfish purposes.
From this article, I learnt that Toyol is actually a child spirit, used by their human masters to steal or do mischief. Even though they might not possess the ability to do large damage or kill, but the malevolent nature of these deeds are expanding the negative karma of both the human masters and Toyol endlessly.
The several accounts of true story of Toyol is very interesting. I particularly like the story of Mr Ali. The moral of the story basically emphasize that selfish material gain in the expense of fellow villagers will not bring happiness. Fellow villagers eventually find out and see through him.
The facts on how we know Toyol is around us (money goes missing) and what they feed on (milk or blood by sucking the big toe of the master, etc) can be handy for us to identify & recognize such beings. It is very new to me that Toyol originated from Mecca, the heart of Islamic belief.
Thank you Rinpoche and Pastor Shin for this informative article. I learnt something new about mythical being, Toyol.
Humbly, bowing down,
Stella Cheang
I have never had any experiences with toyols or child spirits. I have heard many people in Malaysia talking about their experiences. As mentioned in the article, toyols are usually kept by “masters” who use them to help steal something such as money, jewellery or to get more businesses.
I was told that businesses in the gambling and prostitution industries usually keep toyols to help them bring in customers. That’s why we see gamblers throwing candies under the gambling tables to distract the toyols who are supposedly making them lose money.
I don’t believe it’s a good idea to keep toyols as there are heavy karmic repercussions for using spirits to obtain things. There are also dangers to the “masters” when the toyols become out of control. This is an example of what people will do to satisfy their greed.
Thank you Rinpoche for the post . I heard about toyols before I heard it from a cartoon called “Upin & Ipin”They said they can count to ten only.
Another interesting and educational article I have learned a lot from. Thank you, Pastor Shin!
I first came across Toyol when I was helping out at a family’s friend’s canteen business. The Toyol was kept in a small glass bottle and I was told a bone of a dead foetus was in there. I remember the owner and his family used to offer incense and milk few times a day. The family had it for the business.
I remember when I first learned about it, I thought very naturally that this was not a good thing to do. It is rather unacceptable to hurt a spirit in this way. Being reborn as a spirit is itself undesirable and bitter. A spirit suffers from many conditions which differ due to negative actions did previously. Imagine one has a huge amount of negative karmas to be dealt with and continue to generate more. There is no end to it.
I urge everyone to not engage with spirit for any reasons. Nothing is free and it is not worth the while to do anything that might cost our life. Persistence, hard work, care, positive thinking if we want stable and guilt free results.
Erk I’ve never seen one before. But thanks to someone who can see them, I know my old neighbour kept child spirits in his home. I used to burn Protector incense on my driveway and he left me a note asking me not to do that because the smoke bothered him. I told my friend about this and she said, “It doesn’t bother him lah. It bothers the child spirits.”
I asked her what she meant. She said in the wee hours of the morning, around 5-6am, she can see the child spirits playing in his driveway. She asked me to consider why he never locked the gate to his driveway when he went out, and it’s because the spirits protect the house in his absence and he’s confident of that. Even though I couldn’t see the spirits for myself, I stopped burning the incense anyway. I didn’t need an unnecessary dispute with a neighbour over smoke…
Anyway, you brought up a good point Pastor Adeline, which had not crossed my mind before. Using the Toyol is actually trapping them in that kind of existence whereby they are forced to perform negative actions and hence accumulate a lot of negative karma.
Thank you for sharing this scary information about toyols/child spirit. Felt very sad for the spirit ..wonder if the child have a chance to take rebirth again because it is being under controlled or bind. I don”t think all toyols are bad, it all depands on the owner.if the owner use it for a good purpose then it is good eg. if a person is lost and send the toyol to go help find that person then it is for positive purposes but if the toyol is sent to steal ,kill or harm people, then it is really bad.It is advisable not to engaged in this type of practice because it is dangerous and not beneficial in the long run. You might gain something at first but you might lose your life in return.
Very interesting, thank you for sharing these information about Toyol.
I remember when I was studying in college, the apartment unit that I lived in had some supernatural disturbance. It never occurred in my room, and I believe it’s because I have an altar with Lama Tsongkhapa and setrap in my room. However my other housemates experienced some disturbances in their rooms. Things would move by itself and eventually, one of them had a scratch on her leg, which looked like tiny fingers scratched them. After that incident, they got afraid and consulted a witch doctor who told them that there’s a toyol in our house, possibly left behind by it’s owner. My friends that thought back when they first moved into the apartment, they remembered removing a verse from the quran that was pasted on the wall by the previous tenant. It then occurred to them that the previous tenant must have had the same problem, and the quran verse was to protect them.
The witch doctor, to test his theory, he asked my friends to leave green beans at every corner of the house and all the way out to the corridor, with the hope that the toyol will play with it and be led out of the house (like hansel and gratel… lol). But when we came back after college, we saw the greenbeans was a mess inside the house, as if someone played with it (we closed all the windows in the house).
When I told this incident to one of my Dharma sister at that time, she advised me to print out Dukkar pictures and paste it all over the house and inside my friend’s rooms. After we did that, I never heard another word about my housemates being disturbed again. Not sure what happened to the toyol… poor thing.
Thank you Pastor Shin for this article to give us more information on Toyols. Growing up in a Malay village, i used to hear some stories about Tayols but my mother used to warn me to not get closed to it as it may harm us. This is the first time i get to know that it is originated from Mecca according to the Malay tradition, interesting.
It is really sad to know that the Toyols are made from the pre-matured or aborted or miscarriage fetus / child spirits and are used to do work assigned by the “Master”/”owner”. Some masters from the Thailand or Taoist said they help the Toyols by assigning them work so that they can collect enough merits for reincarnation. However, it is not really logical or according the Buddhism. If we want to give them more merits, we should do prayers and dedication for them for good rebirth. Besides, most of the time, the “work” assigned to the toyols are non-virtuous, eg stealing or tasks that for the owner’s personal gains eg wealth, fame, relationship, etc. These tasks will cause more negatives karma to them and cause more sufferings to them. 🙁
As it is highlighted, Toyols are spirits and are not enlightened and their clairvoyant are limited. We would not know their help will benefit us or harm us in the long run. When we request them for help, in return, we have to give back something too. Besides, Toyols also have anger, attachment & jealousy. If the owner do not do what they have promised to the toyols, they may in turn be disturbed by the Toyols. So, it is best we do not get any Toyol or seek for their help. Would be better to do more good deeds in accordance to the law of karma and right livelihood to get what we want. Or seek for Buddha or Enlightened Dharma Protector such as Setrap or Dorje Shugden’s help as we know at least they are compassionate and will not harm us.
Thank you Pastor for your sharing.
In Thailand, there is lukok which is also made from a dead foetus. Just like toyol these are very powerful beings which can cause very serious harm.
A few years ago, I went for the The Paranormal Zone’s Season 1 (http://www.vajrasecrets.com/the-paranormal-zone-season-1) first ever documentary shoot and the topic of focus was on toyols, the child-spirits. The version between the Malay mythology is different from the Taoist version. I witnessed the Taoist version where the bomoh was performing a ritual for the child-spirit to be released from its bound to its owner. In this scenario, the child spirit was used to keep a loved one at bay. However, the older it gets the more uncontrollable it became and the owner got scared.
These fetuses were usually obtained from abortion and they have to be at least 4 months old when aborted. They were then sold for approximately RM6000 to bomohs who will use them to do their biddings according to a potential owner’s wishes thus collecting negative karma even as a spirit.
The whole situation spells SELFISHNESS on all levels with a driving factor for money predominantly. What drives a potential owner to use child-spirits while hurting many others during the quest are usually for wealth, relationship, fame, power and revenge. What they want can only bring temporary “happiness” while plunging deeper into samsara and creating heavy negative karma.
Like what Rinpoche has taught before, negative karma leads to more negative karma. We can never cheat the working of karmas, so it’s best to stay away from using supernatural methods or any means at all to gain wealth, relationship, fame, power and revenge.
Dear Pastor Shin,
Thank you for this interesting article about Toyols. I had enjoyed it very much.
Toyol is one of the most popular supernatural beings being talked about when I was young. However, there is this mystery and spookiness surrounding the topic and no one actually knows much about this being. ALL I know is this being is a child being resurrected and bound by magic to serve the master.
Involving in black magic that bounds spirits and cause harm to others create great negative karma. It may seems beneficial when they get their dirty deeds done, but in nature the master is creating suffering for himself and the child spirit. We should not exploit these beings as their are suffering already and we are adding to it. Plus, nothing will ever come out good from involving with these supernatural beings.
I too heard from my friends who came from the countryside where black magic is still being practice. The people there have various way of using spirits and that child spirits are used to steal money. When money suddenly gone missing family members would take notice. After checking no family members being mischief thus external being would be suspected as the cause.
I was told that the local custom of chasing the child spirits, one such way, is whipping the living space with a horsewhip. Being a Buddhist a prayer would better though because prayer will generate merits for the child spirits to have better chance of good rebirth instead of being trapped and continue to suffer. Imagine myself being imprisoned in such small bottle indefinitely without family. It is very sad.
In reading this article, (apart from benefitting from the well-organised information on Toyol), it becomes apparent that when consumed by greed and desire, people can really conveniently ignore the repercussions for dabbling with the “supernatural”, in this case, Toyol, to satisfy an immediate materialistic need or as a quick fix. Perhaps it is even fuelled by the misguided notion that it is “safe” to do so as there are “ways to control” those beings. However, in life, rarely there is such thing as a free lunch and there are consequences for everything. From a secular view, currying favours from the Toyol appears to be like a carrying a ticking bomb as the “price to pay” for such “services” arbitrarily compound on its own and it might reach to a point where it becomes too much to pay (thus blowing up in your face).
From a karmic perspective, basically if the Toyol is in that particular form, it is definitely not due to good karma (especially considering that it had a human rebirth but the life was cut so short that it didn’t even lead a life as a human before it is enslaved). Then, logically the results cannot be overall positive. Further, how would capitalising on the suffering of the Toyol and perpetuating it translate to good karma? Even if one supposedly intends to use Toyol for good deeds, the first thing to consider is really how “pure” such motivation is? In addition, it is dangerous to liaise with Toyol (or the master) since both can be quite volatile since they are governed by their own emotion/delusions and any help given can turned out to cause problems instead. At the end of the day, if we really want to seek such assistance, much better to place our trust in enlightened beings who are not only reliable but have the clairvoyance to deliver assistance best suited to us overall.
Thank you Pastor Shin for such an informative piece.
I live in Malaysia and I grow up with this kind of stories, even though I have not seen one myself. Luckily (or not) I have not had the chance to meet a toyol, as I have heard so much “horror”/”evil” story about them.
I am sure Toyol has some sort of power as so many has relied on them. However, as these beings do not have full clairvoyance, they will do things which they think is good, but not necessarily good for us in the long term.
The toyol had the karma to become a toyol, and they probably have no choice, so instead of just seeing them as harmful being, we need to be compassionate to them as well. We should not “use” them and make them collect even more negative karma.
As I grew up listening to stories about Toyols, Pontianaks, Polongs and Langsuyars, this post immediately caught my attention.
I find it interesting that tradition of keeping Toyols originated from Mecca, near the Kaaba Muazzama (Grand Kaaba), the holiest place for the Muslims. It would be interesting to see how this tradition came about.
Thank you, Pastor Shin for this fascinating write-up on Toyols! Looking forward to seeing more of stuff like this.
First I heard about toyol when I was young. There was a man stayed in the next residential area near my house died. He died in a sudden, did not leave any message to the family. After his dead, wierd things happened – there were stones throwing out from his house, to anyone trying to go near the house. it happened for few days. At first we did not know what was happening. Later we were informed that that was the act of toyol owned by the man. When he was died he did feed the toyol and his family have no knowledge about he has kept toyol in their house all these years. The hungry and unhappy toyol got angry and throwing the stones out of the house. Later, the family asked some bomoh and solve the problem.
Keeping toyol and instructed the toyol to do some misdeeds, whether you are a Buddhist or not, with the motivation to further one’s own interests, is something we should not be doing. What goes around will comes around.
For us, we should not rely on toyol or spirit to fulfill our wish, even the owner or the spirit is “good”, with the intention to help people so to collect merits. Because unenlightened beings like spirit does not have ability to see that far to get a solution that is benefiting you in long term. Therefore we should not rely on them.
By the way, for those interested to learn more about Toyols, watch Season 1 Episode 1 of The Paranormal Zone starring Phng Li Kim. The episode is called ‘The Curse of the Ghost Child’ and Li Kim actually has an honest-to-goodness run-in with a ‘live’ toyol. Watch on Syfy Channel or get the DVD here: http://www.vajrasecrets.com/the-paranormal-zone-season-1
Agreed, this is my favourite episode for the The Paranormal Zone – Season 1. I like to watch especially the part that Li Kim put her finger into the mouth of the Toyol….. ee…. Must watch!! 🙂
The first thought that incurred to me is that it is such disheartening to know that the “TOYOL’ are a beings of small baby that have passed or die prematurely, and have suffered, as being not able to be born and lived. Much sufferings have they encountered, and yet they are kept as beings that roams around and doing task that is not ethical and harmful to people. The selfishness of the people who creates this toyol is so great, not considering the cause that they have created for themselves. The consequences of this act is so great that it also effect the family members and the surrounding community. It is great that this article is shared and research, and to have this awareness that “TOYOL” existence is real and it is something that we should take it lightly and play with.
Fortunately, I’ve never encountered a toyol myself but I’ve known childhood friends whose families cultivated them. Actually when I was younger, i used to be fascinated with local spirit beings like pontianaks etc and would sometimes glance out of the window at night to see if there was one floating outside. Luckily there never was one!
I enjoyed this short and sweet article about toyols, especially how such beings are common all around the world especially in Asia. I guess mankind always looks for unseen help and usually, the easiest is calling upon the assistance of spirits. What most people don’t understand tho, is that by engaging the help of spirits, we actually run the risk of harming not just them but also ourselves. I dont mean just the harm caused by the negative karma that we and the toyol accumulate through engaging in negative actions, but also the harm caused by borrowing good karma from the future to get something that we should not get.
In this part of Asia, many people consult seers, mediums, soothsayers etc to get advice, to have their wishes fulfilled etc but it is really dangerous to do so as either we nor they have the foresight to see what harm may befall us when they intervene to help us. So bottom line is, don’t seek help from any being unless they are enlightened!
I believe many of us have heard about toyol before, the stories always ended up with the master giving up the toyols (if they are lucky enough to give up earlier), or the master were dead directly caused by the toyols.
Spirits is always a big no no for us. The spirits would seems to be nice and helpful to some of us at first, later we always lose control, the spirits will always trick us and eventually harm us. We should never connect with these beings, and never use them for any personal benefits.
For those who has encounter toyols, a remedy was mentioned by Pastor Shin in engaging Singdongma or Dorje Shugden practice.
I heard Toyols very long time ago especially from Thailand. Some says Toyols can help the master to bring more business or wealth .I really don’t agree with those take advantage of Toyols. S/he is in spirit /ghost realm, we should help them to transcend spirit realm. The jobs given by their master will create more negative karma because most of the job are self benefits.
Thanks Pastor Shin for the clear write up and let us know the way to tame s/he and protect ouself from Toyols by recite Dorje Shugden mantra.
Jason
Thank you Pastor Shin Tan and Rinpoche for sharing this article.
I love to read and watch supernatural stories, documentaries and also movies since I was in primary school. I read about the stories of Toyol when I was in secondary school in a Malay Novel, I couldn’t find more information about Toyol except asked my Malay friends around me. What they explain to me were similar to Pastor Shin’s write up. In fact Pastor Shin write up have completed my curiosity on Toyol over the 20 years.
Over the years I read a lot of things related to supernatural beings. The more I read or watch, the more I scared because I don’t know what can I do if one day I really meet these supernatural beings.
Thank you for Rinpoche for bringing dharma to us, with the dharma knowledge, blessings from Rinpoche and Dorje Shugden my mind become stronger and stable. Through learning, understanding and practicing compassion I am now getting better and better when I read the article, documentary and also movie regarding supernatural beings.
Thank you very much.
Thank you Rinpoche and Pastor Shin Tan for the sharing.
My understanding of the articles is as follow:
Toyol is a child-spirit invoked by a bomoh from a dead human foetus using rituals and black magic. They are commonly known to have the appearance of a small child or baby, naked with a big head, pointed ears, sharp teeth, small hands, clouded or red eyes and usually greenish or grey skin. They are similar to goblins.
Toyols carry out instructions from their masters or owners who control them.However, they do not work for free, and their wages should be equal to the task at hand. These spirits are usually used to steal or to do mischief. Older Toyols are more vicious, and more incline towards violence compared to their younger counterparts.
There is no warning on Toyol’s existence except things go missing or small bite mark on the big toe, because hungry toyols drink blood from big toe of people who are sleeping
To invoke and keeping the Toyols. A potential owner will obtain a still born foetus or body of a dead child, engages service of bomoh to call the spirit and recurrent the body of the dead child. The owner will then make a pact with toyols. In most accounts, a Toyol spirit is housed within a static effigy. The effigy is usually encased individually in a bottle, jar, or urn. A Toyol is mischievous but yet has the characteristics of normal child. Hence, objects common to the pleasure of normal children, such as milk, clothing, candies, toys and so forth, can be used as offerings to keep the Toyol happy and entertained.
For those who have been affected by these negative spirits, practise Singdongma or Dorje Shugden can protect themselves irregardless of their religious
Engaging stealing or harming others will create negative karma for both the person giving the instructions and the spirits themselves. It is best not to contact or engage in any activity with these supernatural beings and as Buddhists, we should develop compassion for all beings, including spirits. we can always dedicate our merit and prayers daily so that these beings would find better rebirths in the near future.
Thank you
Pee Bee Chong
Thank you Pastor Shin. I love your writeup here and it gave a good background to Toyols. I am sure they exist My parents had experience with toyols a long time ago before I was born in a house in Taman Desa. It left my mom extremely fearful for spirits and the paranormal for the rest of her life. She likes to relate her story but do not like to talk about it too much and absolutely refuse to watch horror movies.
But there was nothing really bad except as my parents were not harmed. There were just a lot of things that went missing. Perhaps, i might blog about that one day. Anyway, good job Pastor Shin. This writeup is indeed fascinating and I can see you have put in a lot of research especially with the real life stories. Very fascinating.
Growing up, there were a lot of such stories that abound, scaring the living daylights out of us kids. I used to check my toes every morning and was very scared to go out the front door at night, which suited my mother fine as she was very traditional and did not like girls to go out after dark! As i got older, I used to think that it was something cooked up by the mothers in the neighborhood to keep their young children home after dark.
Reading the article made me realize that our mothers were right after all. And, thanks to the kindness of Tsem Rinpoche, I now know how to protect myself and won’t even think of going near any place that is rumored to house the presence of such a being. Before, this I think my only response would be to scream and run helter skelter.
Thank you, Rinpoche and Pastor Shin for highlighting the danger of engaging with this being and the remedy should we encounter it.
Dear Fong,
Looks like everyone has got a Toyol related story 🙂 Sometimes cultural taboo or superstitions do have some truth in them.
You may also want to read this informative article from Pastor David about Paranormal Protection for ways to protect ourselves. https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/current-affairs/paranormal-protection.html
Thank you Pastor Shin for this informative and interesting story on Toyol. Being a Malaysian, I had grown up listening to stories and even now have heard of people inviting Toyol to boost their fame, fortune or for vengeful deeds.
From the Taiwanese talk show which I watch from time to time, it seems quite well known in the Taiwan nightclub circle for the hostesses to visit Thailand where they invite the Toyols back to boost their clientele and commission. Of course there are repercussions when the Toyol’s demands were not met and that’s usually how the stories became exposed when the masters/mistresses seek help to be rid of their charges.
As we learn from our Buddhist teachings, what we do bad will come around to bite us, so we should definitely refrain from engaging in this wrongful deed. We should have compassion for the Toyols as they are bound by spells to do bad things and can only be free if their owners release them or their owners dies.
Thank you Rinpoche for having this article published on your blog site.
Dear Sofi,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Indeed, there are many who are under the impression that engaging Toyol is ok, some sort of a service because of their ignorance.
I agree that we should definitely refrain from engaging in this wrongful deed and as we know more, we should also advice our loved ones and friends regarding why they should not engage in such ‘contract’ with a Toyol because of the consequences.