How do I see my past lives
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just meditate?
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is it possible?
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yes when you enter samadhi u can recallOriginally posted by Cenarious:just meditate? -
nice..how to meditate?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:yes when you enter samadhi u can recall -
Yup indeed and there are people in our forum who has remembered their past lives.Originally posted by hatemeifuwantto:is it possible?
Anyway here's an article on it, part of a long dialogue on Buddhism & Science:Originally posted by concerned_man:Remembering Past Lives
Buddhism is founded on meditation, and meditation can reveal many, many things, especially deep memories from the past. Monks, nuns, and ordinary meditators can reach such deep meditations that they can not only levitate, but they can remember previous lives! Many people can actually do this. When you come out of a deep meditation you have incredible energy. Afterwards you won't be able to go to sleep, nor will you be able to go and watch TV, because the mind will be too full of its own joy and happiness. Moreover, the mind is so empowered that you can make suggestions to it, suggestions that you would not normally be able to fulfil. But empowered by deep meditation, you can follow the suggestions. I've actually taught this special meditation to people on meditation retreats, because on meditation retreats some get deep results. People sometimes get memories of when they were babies, and then of being in their mother's womb. If they are lucky they get memories of when they were a very old person, i.e. memories from a past life! One of the important things with those past life memories is that they are very real to the person experiencing them. It's as if you are back there experiencing it. Anyone who has had a memory like that has no doubt in their mind about past lives. It's not a theory any more. Such memories are like remembering where you were this morning when you had breakfast. You have no doubts that that was you this morning, having that breakfast. You didn't imagine it. With the same clarity, or even greater clarity, you remember that that very old person was you, only it wasn't a few hours ago, it was many decades ago. It was a different time, a different body and a different life. Now if people can do that on nine day meditation retreats, imagine what you would do if you were a monk or a nun, who meditates not just for a weekend, or for nine days, but nine years, twenty-nine, thirty-nine, or fifty-nine years. Imagine how much power you could generate in that meditation. Now imagine how much more power you could generate if you were a Buddha with an Enlightened mind.
Now you know what to do to discover for yourself if you've lived before. Meditate. I don't mean just meditating to get rid of stress and make your self calm. I mean really meditate, deeply. Meditate to get your mind into what we call the Jhānas. Those are deep states of absorption, where the body disappears. You don't feel. You can't see. You can't hear. You're absolutely inside the mind. You have no thoughts but you are perfectly aware. You are blissed out. The method, the instructions for the experiment, are very clearly laid down. Even in my little book "The Basic Method of Meditation" all the steps are there. Follow them, and invest the resources necessary for doing that experiment not just one weekend retreat, but many weekend retreats, and sometimes many years of meditating. If you want to follow that 'scientific method', you have to enter into a Jhāna. And then, after you emerge from that state, you ask yourself, "What is my earliest memory?" You can keep going back in your mind, and eventually you will remember. You will see for yourself the experience of past lives. Then you know. Yes, it is true! You have had the experience for yourself.
The Buddha said he did remember past lives, many past lives, many aeons of past lives. He said specifically that he remembered ninety-one aeons. That's ninety big bangs, the time before and the time afterwards, huge spaces of time. That's why the Buddha said there was not just one universe, but many universes. We are not talking about parallel universes as some scientists say. We are talking about sequential universes, with what the Buddha called sanvattati vivattati. This is Pāli, meaning the unfolding of the universe and the infolding of it, beginnings and endings.
The suttas even give a measure for the lifetime of a universe. When I was a theoretical physicist, my areas of expertise were the very small and the very large; fundamental particle physics and astrophysics. They were the two aspects that I liked the most, the big and the small. So I knew what was meant by the age of a universe and what a 'big bang' was all about. The age of a universe, the last time I looked in the journals, was somewhere about seventeen thousand million years. In the Buddhist suttas they say that about thirty seven thousand million years is a complete age. When I told that to the state astronomer he said yes, that estimate was in the ball park, it was acceptable. The person who was the convener of the Our Place in Space seminar made a joke about the fact that a hundred or two hundred years ago, Christianity said the universe was about seven thousand years old. That estimate certainly isn't acceptable, the Buddhist one is!
It is remarkable that there was a cosmology in Buddhism twenty-five centuries ago that doesn't conflict with modern physics. Even what astronomers say are galaxies, the Buddha called wheel systems. If any of you have ever seen a galaxy, you will know there are two types of galaxy. First, there is the spiral galaxy. The Milky Way is one of those. Have you seen a spiral galaxy? It is like a wheel! The other type is the globular cluster, which looks like a wheel with a big hub in the middle. 'Wheels' is a very accurate way of describing galaxies. This was explained by someone twenty five centuries ago, when they did not have telescopes! They didn't need them, they could go there themselves!
There is a lot of interesting stuff in the old suttas, even for those of you who like weird stuff. Some times people ask this question, "Do Buddhists believe in extra terrestrial beings, in aliens?" Would an alien landing here upset the very foundation of Buddhism? When I was reading through these old suttas I actually found a reference to aliens! It's only a very small sutta, which said that there are other world systems with other suns, other planets, and other beings on them. That's directly from the Anguttara Nikāya. (AN X, 29) -
If you want to learn meditation the best is to learn directly from a qualified teachers, and one really should, although there are guides from books that teach you basic meditation which you can look for them. Anyway if you want to meditate be prepared to take this seriously, meditate routinely and deeply, not just relaxation. And make sure those books you read comes from orthodox, authentic Buddhist traditions, not some deviant cults that would lead people astray.Originally posted by hatemeifuwantto:nice..how to meditate? -
then how come LZLS told us to sit there cross legged thats allOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:If you want to learn meditation the best is to learn directly from a qualified teachers, and one really should, although there are guides from books that teach you basic meditation which you can look for them. Anyway if you want to meditate be prepared to take this seriously, meditate routinely and deeply, not just relaxation. -
Did you meditate enough until u can see your passed life?Originally posted by An Eternal Now: -
Cos you didn't attend the talk on meditation.Originally posted by Cenarious:then how come LZLS told us to sit there cross legged thats all
Anyway I mentioned next year she will be having classes on practice and meditation. She will talk more detail on it. -
You don't exactly need to "see" it to know what your past life is like. Your current conditions in this life eg how you are living, how fortunate you are, your family background etc will tell you what are the deeds that you did in your past life which beget the present.
So.. If you're not in a good state, try to do more merits.
If you're in a good state, try to help others and do even more good deeds to earn more merits.
But at the end of the day, what you'd want eventually is to reach a stage where you are fully liberated, without any sufferings or entanglements with worldly things. -
Originally posted by nightbatman:
Heard of such theory, but not convincing until one can really see it, to reach a state of no more doubts.
You don't exactly need to "see" it to know what your past life is like. Your current conditions in this life eg how you are living, how fortunate you are, your family background etc will tell you what are the deeds that you did in your past life which beget the present.
So.. If you're not in a good state, try to do more merits.
If you're in a good state, try to help others and do even more good deeds to earn more merits.
But at the end of the day, what you'd want [b]eventually is to reach a stage where you are fully liberated, without any sufferings or entanglements with worldly things.[/b] -
did you? how will i know whether you had?Originally posted by (human):Did i meditate enough until u can see your passed life?
or u mean me? no. I'm not one of them. I'm still amatuerish in practise and still quite new to Buddhism actually. (i'm 16) I know one of my ex moderator and longchen had memories of past lives. Longchen was a Westerner in past life who fought in World War 1 in France, he did not die but his life was ruined, therefore explaining his trauma or fear of war in this life. After that he became a mystic in a Western spiritual tradition in the past life living in Belgium and making a living as an artist.. this life he is also acquinted with western mysticism (he is not really Buddhist now, although he is interested in Buddhism) This also explains why when he visited Belgium (this life), he felt so familiar like he had lived there before. Also, this life, he also makes a living doing art (more precisely, digital art). Two lifetimes ago, he was a Tibetan monk from the Nyingma sect, and that explains why he shown interest in the Dzogchen teachings (taught in Nyingma tradition).
One of my past lives of my ex moderator was the Persian king who built many famous buildings in India like the Taj Mahal. He was killed by his son. He was disturbed after remembering and did some 'healing' before returning to normal. He had remembered many many other lifetimes, even as a monk, even including one that he was a Dolphin several lifetimes ago. There could be others who had memories of past lives in this forum but did not want to discuss it openly.
My Buddhist master and teachers also certainly did remember their past lives, they were teachers in a Zen Monastery in Kyoto in previous life. Some of the japanese monks visited one of my taiwanese teachers and my taiwanese teacher could even speak Japanese to them (not that he learnt in this life, he could remember). They even brought one of their past life photo and it looked eerily similar to his current looks. My local dharma teacher has also went back to Japan to visit her old monastery too, if memory serves.
Anyway, interesting article I posted in the forum before: Boy remembers Past Life Being Shot in WWII -
Sounded interesting. Past lives can be animal? So do you still eat them?
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It is possible. But I am not a vegetarian yet...Originally posted by (human):Sounded interesting. Past lives can be animal? So do you still eat them?
btw i just updated my previous post a bit
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press alt ctrl del
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There is a past-life regression tape that is available in Success Bookshop in Peninsula Plaza. I have listen to them once only and have not used them sucessfully though.
The past-life remembering sometimes it is symbolic memory that is like watching a show... Sometimes... it is first-hand reliving. Warning: First hand reliving can be extremely traumatic. -
Originally posted by longchen:
What is first hand reliving?
There is a past-life regression tape that is available in Success Bookshop in Peninsula Plaza. I have listen to them once only and have not used them sucessfully though.
The past-life remembering sometimes it is symbolic memory that is like watching a show... Sometimes... it is first-hand reliving. Warning: First hand reliving can be [b]extremely traumatic.
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Last time I told Thusness about someone's meditation experience, and he said that at that stage it is advisable not to know about reincarnation or past life regression. He said that when one reaches that stage of absorption, one would gain the ability to recall the past lives. And not only that, the entire body will recall. He said that memories are not just in the mind. Therefore one should not indulge in it first, because it is not fruitful for practise as one may not be able to cope with it or understand what was remembered completely. Is that first-hand reliving? -
so my face is gonna grow different? or im gonna turn into a girl?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:What is first hand reliving? I remember that Thusness mentioned that when one reaches a certain stage of absorption, one would gain the ability to recall the past lives. And not only that, the entire body will recall. He said that memories are not just in the mind. Therefore one should not indulge in it first, because it is not fruitful for practise as one may not be able to cope with it or understand what was remembered completely. Is that what you're what you are saying? -
Yah... for first hand reliving... It is like re-experiencing the experience again... including bodily sensation and pain. If you kena tortured, the reliving is like kena torturing again...Originally posted by An Eternal Now:What is first hand reliving? Last time I told Thusness about someone's meditation experience, and he said that at that stage it is advisable not to know about reincarnation or past life regression. He said that when one reaches that stage of absorption, one would gain the ability to recall the past lives. And not only that, the entire body will recall. He said that memories are not just in the mind. Therefore one should not indulge in it first, because it is not fruitful for practise as one may not be able to cope with it or understand what was remembered completely. Is that what you're what you are saying?
Because of this, past-life remembering is not something that i actively seek. -
not like that laOriginally posted by Cenarious:so my face is gonna grow different? or im gonna turn into a girl?.. anyway that person whose experience I told Thusness about was paperflower. I told paperflower not to be too interested about it. I think she hadn't relieved any memories so far after i told her about it and anyway that wouldn't be a good idea to go into it (like longchen said, it can be traumatic)
Oh yes and Thusness shared this article with me, Sinweiy posted before but that time I rejected that idea.. but it seems Thusness thinks there is some validity over this.Originally posted by sinweiy:yes thks, all the links/stories/talks are familar to me, i already read and heard before.
currently brain transplant is not possible, only heart transplant can. but below are already the side effects:
A 47-year-old Caucasian male received a heart from a 17-year-old African-American male. The recipient was surprised by his new-found love of classical music. What he discovered later was that the donor, who loved classical music and played the violin, had died in a drive-by shooting, clutching his violin case to his chest.
A 29-year-old lesbian and a fast food junkie received a heart from a 19-year-old woman vegetarian who was "man crazy." The recipient reported after her operation that meat made her sick and she was no longer attracted to women. If fact, she became engaged to marry a man.
A 47-year-old man received a heart from a 14-year-old girl gymnast who had problems with eating disorders. After the transplant, the recipient and his family reported his tendency to be nauseated after eating, a childlike exuberance and a little girl's giggle.
http://www.sfms.org/sfm/sfm804d.htm
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Oh I see... ya I agree one shld be cautious about it... and anyway just a note to everyone here.. recalling past life (and in fact gaining any sort of powers) isnt the proper motivation/intent for spirituality. These things are secondary.Originally posted by longchen:Yah... for first hand reliving... It is like re-experiencing the experience again... including bodily sensation and pain. If you kena tortured, the reliving is like kena torturing again...
Because of this, past-life remembering is not something that i actively seek. -
then how to not see past lives while meditating
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By not trying to recall past lives.Originally posted by Cenarious:then how to not see past lives while meditating -
There are a series of stagesOriginally posted by Cenarious:just meditate?
depending on what you are learning 
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longchen,
You have personally seen past lives, you are also interested in buddhism and believe what buddha taught, why haven't become a buddhist yet? Is staying in life cycle not miserable enough.
regards,
justdoit77