Are they still Buddhists without Karma and other fantastics?
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maybe their past lives really talk to the buddhist.. in his own mindOriginally posted by Isis:Maybe God really talk to George Bush.. in his own mind.
I do not know
I do not know either -
haha.. only when you walk the path yourself, can you truly know.Originally posted by january:maybe their past lives really talk to the buddhist.. in his own mind
I do not know either -
haha.. only when you walk george bush's path yourself, can you truly know tooOriginally posted by Isis:haha.. only when you walk the path yourself, can you truly know. -
if rebirth exist, then where is Newton, Socrates, Einstein, Hitler, Winston Churchill, our past late presidents, Edison, Da vinci and my grand mother?
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believer in reincarnation
that young children sometimes report details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any other way than reincarnation
believer in flat earth
There is no way the earth can be round, look around you, its all flat.
This is what i call jumping into conclusion.
again, extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence -
Stevenson published only for the academic and scientific community, and his over 200 articles and several books—densely packed with research details and academic argument—are in places difficult for the average reader to follow. His research, over 3,000 study cases, provides evidence suggestive of reincarnation,though he himself was always careful to refer to them as "cases suggestive of reincarnation" or "cases of the reincarnation type." [8]
Professor Stevenson himself recognized a problem with his argument for reincarnation: the absence of any evidence of a physical process by which a personality could survive death and travel to another body.[9] Further, some have questioned his objectivity in drawing conclusions from his research. -
Unless they are liberated, they are somewhere in the 6 realms of existence.Originally posted by january:if rebirth exist, then where is Newton, Socrates, Einstein, Hitler, Winston Churchill, our past late presidents, Edison, Da vinci and my grand mother? -
Believing in flat earth is obviously just a conclusion.Originally posted by january:believer in reincarnation
that young children sometimes report details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any other way than reincarnation
believer in flat earth
There is no way the earth can be round, look around you, its all flat.
This is what i call jumping into conclusion.
again, extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence
But the research on past lives are certainly not just a conclusion and are supported.
"Extraordinary" is just a perception. In the past if you tell the people that the Earth is round, you will look very "extra". -
Originally posted by january:
It need not be a physical process, because consciousness is formless and empty, arising out of conditions.
Stevenson published only for the academic and scientific community, and his over 200 articles and several books—densely packed with research details and academic argument—are in places difficult for the average reader to follow. His research, over 3,000 study cases, provides evidence suggestive of reincarnation,[b]though he himself was always careful to refer to them as "cases suggestive of reincarnation" or "cases of the reincarnation type." [8]
Professor Stevenson himself recognized a problem with his argument for reincarnation: the absence of any evidence of a physical process by which a personality could survive death and travel to another body.[9] Further, some have questioned his objectivity in drawing conclusions from his research.
[/b]
http://home.btclick.com/scimah/formlessmind.htm
The fact that the mind is formless means that it is unconstrained, and hence has immense potential. The mind can comprehend all objects including its own creations. The description of the root mind as 'formless' doesn't just refer to its non-material nature, but it emphasises that it is unlimited, non-mechanistic and totally free from any structure or topology. So it it is free from steps, loops, branches, strings, tables, stacks, queues, datastructures and all the other algorithmic constraints . In Buddhist psychology the root mind is non-physical and non-algorithmic. The mind cannot be understood in terms of circuit diagrams and flowcharts. It is pure awareness. -
If Stevenson is largely ignored by his mainstream peers, in some circles he is a scientific legend. His dogged collection of cases -- closing in on 3,000 now -- his meticulous documentation and cross-checking, his prodigious and scholarly publication have made him a hero to many people who would like respectable reasons to distrust the radical materialism of Western science. For his own part, Stevenson has reached this conclusion: "I think a rational person, if he wants, can believe in reincarnation on the basis of evidence
Even if reincarnation is true, we still do not know if everyone goes through it or not. We still do not know how it happens precisely.
Children has memories of past lives, but after adulthood, they still develop their individual identity isolated from the past life. Therefore, in essence, their past life is still dead.
People suffering from demetia as their memories all wiped out. The do not have self knowledge already. only their physical body and normal functionng remains. -
your proof? Or are they just your assumptions.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Unless they are liberated, they are somewhere in the 6 realms of existence. -
so how to explain the cases of demetia people who could not remember names because their memory cells are eroded?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:It need not be a physical process, because consciousness is formless and empty, arising out of conditions.
http://home.btclick.com/scimah/formlessmind.htm
The fact that the mind is formless means that it is unconstrained, and hence has immense potential. The mind can comprehend all objects including its own creations. The description of the root mind as 'formless' doesn't just refer to its non-material nature, but it emphasises that it is unlimited, non-mechanistic and totally free from any structure or topology. So it it is free from steps, loops, branches, strings, tables, stacks, queues, datastructures and all the other algorithmic constraints . In Buddhist psychology the root mind is non-physical and non-algorithmic. The mind cannot be understood in terms of circuit diagrams and flowcharts. It is pure awareness.
Root mind totally free from any structure? that is a tall theory indeed.
Without the physical cells in the brain, do you think humans can remember and talk and explain things. -
scientist have a millions of large data of mentally disabled people who certain disability and memories loss, speech loss, sight loss and others that corresponds to a damage to a corresponding physical part of the brain.
And you are telling me that the mind is formless stuff?? -
Originally posted by january:
Rebirth will happen for everyone alike because the principle driving rebirth is the same, and that is the law of dependent arising. I think I have spoken about this previous in one of the threads.
[b]If Stevenson is largely ignored by his mainstream peers, in some circles he is a scientific legend. His dogged collection of cases -- closing in on 3,000 now -- his meticulous documentation and cross-checking, his prodigious and scholarly publication have made him a hero to many people who would like respectable reasons to distrust the radical materialism of Western science. For his own part, Stevenson has reached this conclusion: "I think a rational person, if he wants, can believe in reincarnation on the basis of evidence
Even if reincarnation is true, we still do not know if everyone goes through it or not. We still do not know how it happens precisely.
Children has memories of past lives, but after adulthood, they still develop their individual identity isolated from the past life. Therefore, in essence, their past life is still dead.
People suffering from demetia as their memories all wiped out. The do not have self knowledge already. only their physical body and normal functionng remains. [/b]
Everyone is to certain degrees affected in some ways by our past lives even in behavior and thinking, as well as our karmic fruition. We can also bring habits over from previous lives. Our forummer Longchen has told me many things about his own past lives and how he was able to trace many of his causes of his present lives (such as his interest in spirituality) to a cause in a previous lives.
Also, for example, being an artist in Belgium in the previous lifetime when he fought in WW1 in France, he continued his interest and talent in art in this lifetime, and he is now a teacher in design. Also when he previously visited those countries like Belgium he could feel a sense of familiarity as if he has been there before.
Also, Good and bad habits can also be brought over from past lives... therefore we should transform our habits into good ones, and drop our bad ones lest they continue to a future lifetime.
So anyway though we can have quite distinct personalities in this life, there are some influences.
But, that doesn't matter really. Personality changes... people change.. nothing is the same. There is no separate, permanently existing self or personality. In Buddhism, we say there is no such self to be found.. no Atman nor an ego-entity. -
to say reincarnation is real, for example, i have to be able to have complete and persisting memories of say, Socrates plus Chinese emperor Chin Shi Huang and could go about talking to people about what i did for leisure when i was these 2 characters and tell them tell builders how certain building looks like in the past so that they can rebuild them.
Talk to historian and tell them this and this happen and counter check with their current facts to give them more correct info.
When i am 45 year old, i can still write two books on, the life of socrates by socrates and life of chin shi huang by chin shi huang because i still have the memories cos i am their reincarnation. I would go on countless Media shows like BBC, ABC, CNN, channel newsasia sharing the intricates of the past lives because nobody in the world except me can give a real life account of these past characters.. I would be a hell of a rich fellow with all media interviewing me.This is what i call proper reincarnation.
Then i show people how i walk and how people live at that time even when i was 10, 20, 30 or 50 or 70 year old. Those children recollecting someone else past and can verify some facts but go on to become adult not retaining and expanding their knowledge is considered superficial and useless reincarnaiton bah. -
They are not just assumptions and you can experience and see for yourselves... in the meanwhile you shld remain an open mind.Originally posted by january:your proof? Or are they just your assumptions. -
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
then i think he can go to channel newsasia for an exclusive interview already.
[b]
Our forummer Longchen has told me many things about his own past lives and how he was able to trace many of his causes of his present lives (such as his interest in spirituality) to a cause in a previous lives.
Also, for example, being an artist in Belgium in the previous lifetime where he fought in WW1, he continued his interest and talent in art in this lifetime, and he is now a teacher in design.
[b]
well, a person who sees a number in a tree and he strike 5 million toto next day will also believe that the tree is god which wants to give him money.
Then i think i am hitler because I eat meat for so long but yet not have not think about the pain these animals experience when they are being killed. Crap. -
you too should remain an open mind. If I could be wrong, then you could be wrong too.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:They are not just assumptions and you can experience and see for yourselves... in the meanwhile you shld remain an open mind. -
Hmmm...
I think it doesn't matter if people doesn't believe in past life or not. Life still rolls on. Loads of people and animals doesn't care a damn whether there is past existence or not.
Ants are all busy with their daily activities, doing what they are programmed to do... oblivious to all the other things that goes on around them. A single rainfall, will kill them in an instance and their myopic obsession and plans will come to a meaningless grinding halt.
Likewise, all the activities of the world rolls on with blind ignorance and stupidity... seeking meaning in the meaningless.
This is the world for you and me. Doing things that will eventually come to a rude and grinding death. All the fame, glory of the world come to such eventual dissapointment and end. -
The ability to perceive memories and think is reduced by brain damage, but not the memory itself! Brain is just an organ, but it does not mean that mind is just the brain. Brain and body has no awareness.. Like a plant or stone, the body has no nature.Originally posted by january:so how to explain the cases of demetia people who could not remember names because their memory cells are eroded?
Root mind totally free from any structure? that is a tall theory indeed.
Without the physical cells in the brain, do you think humans can remember and talk and explain things.
Mind is our pure experience of the moment, it is pure awareness as everything arising in that moment.
The brain is needed for sensory and proper mental functioning.
But 'particular' memories are not stored simply stored in 'particular' brain cells! If that is the case, why are there cases such as http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/CellularMemories.html, "According to this study of patients who have received transplanted organs, particularly hearts, it is not uncommon for memories, behaviours, preferences and habits associated with the donor to be transferred to the recipient."
Therefore the normal way we think of memories as having location must have flaws.. as if they are material physical things located at particular locations. Reality is non-local!! We do not know the formless and holographic nature of consciousness.
Do look into this:
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~sai/hologram.html
...Bohm is not the only researcher who has found evidence that the universe is a hologram. Working independently in the field of brain research, Standford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram has also become persuaded of the holographic nature of reality. Pribram was drawn to the holographic model by the puzzle of how and where memories are stored in the brain. For decades numerous studies have shown that rather than being confined to a specific location, memories are dispersed throughout the brain.
In a series of landmark experiments in the 1920s, brain scientist Karl Lashley found that no matter what portion of a rat's brain he removed he was unable to eradicate its memory of how to perform complex tasks it had learned prior to surgery. The only problem was that no one was able to come up with a mechanism that might explain this curious "whole in every part" nature of memory storage.
Then in the 1960s Pribram encountered the concept of holography and realized he had found the explanation brain scientists had been looking for. Pribram believes memories are encoded not in neurons, or small groupings of neurons, but in patterns of nerve impulses that crisscross the entire brain in the same way that patterns of laser light interference crisscross the entire area of a piece of film containing a holographic image. In other words, Pribram believes the brain is itself a hologram.
Pribram's theory also explains how the human brain can store so many memories in so little space. It has been estimated that the human brain has the capacity to memorize something on the order of 10 billion bits of information during the average human lifetime (or roughly the same amount of information contained in five sets of the Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Similarly, it has been discovered that in addition to their other capabilities, holograms possess an astounding capacity for information storage--simply by changing the angle at which the two lasers strike a piece of photographic film, it is possible to record many different images on the same surface. It has been demonstrated that one cubic centimeter of film can hold as many as 10 billion bits of information.
Our uncanny ability to quickly retrieve whatever information we need from the enormous store of our memories becomes more understandable if the brain functions according to holographic principles. If a friend asks you to tell him what comes to mind when he says the word "zebra", you do not have to clumsily sort back through some gigantic and cerebral alphabetic file to arrive at an answer. Instead, associations like "striped", "horselike", and "animal native to Africa" all pop into your head instantly. Indeed, one of the most amazing things about the human thinking process is that every piece of information seems instantly cross- correlated with every other piece of information--another feature intrinsic to the hologram. Because every portion of a hologram is infinitely interconnected with every other portion, it is perhaps nature's supreme example of a cross-correlated system.
The storage of memory is not the only neurophysiological puzzle that becomes more tractable in light of Pribram's holographic model of the brain. Another is how the brain is able to translate the avalanche of frequencies it receives via the senses (light frequencies, sound frequencies, and so on) into the concrete world of our perceptions.
Encoding and decoding frequencies is precisely what a hologram does best. Just as a hologram functions as a sort of lens, a translating device able to convert an apparently meaningless blur of frequencies into a coherent image, Pribram believes the brain also comprises a lens and uses holographic principles to mathematically convert the frequencies it receives through the senses into the inner world of our perceptions...
As Thusness said in Buddhism cannot be discussed openly?
quote:
________________________________________
Originally posted by casino_king:
Consciousness exists with the human brain, that is clear...
________________________________________
Perhaps if we were to live in the 17th centuries applying the Newtonian viewpoint, what you said might still be acceptable in the scientific community. Unfortunately, we donÂ’t. In light of quantum mechanics and neuroscience, I think that is a bold statement and you may want to substantiate it with some valid scientific findings.
Last but not least, unlike Taoism or Christianity, immortality is not Buddhism’s main concern. Even if there is no continuity of consciousness after death, true Buddhist practitioners will not be overly disturbed as they are thoroughly trained to understand the meaning of emptiness and doctrine of no-self. This practice of mental detachment is what that brings about a true scientific spirit that prepares Buddhists to see “What is” in their journey towards enlightenment. -
Originally posted by longchen:
Yes... and the Buddha knows there are those who just couldn't accept past lives and clings dogmatically to his own views... and yet for them to not practise the dharma will be a pity. So he said in the Kalama Sutra,
Hmmm...
I think it doesn't matter if people doesn't believe in past life or not. Life still rolls on. Loads of people and animals doesn't care a damn whether there is past existence or not.
..."Now, Kalamas, one who is a disciple of the noble ones — his mind thus free from hostility, free from ill will, undefiled, & pure — acquires four assurances in the here-&-now:
"'If there is a world after death, if there is the fruit of actions rightly & wrongly done, then this is the basis by which, with the break-up of the body, after death, I will reappear in a good destination, the heavenly world.' This is the first assurance he acquires.
"'But if there is no world after death, if there is no fruit of actions rightly & wrongly done, then here in the present life I look after myself with ease — free from hostility, free from ill will, free from trouble.' This is the second assurance he acquires.
"'If evil is done through acting, still I have willed no evil for anyone. Having done no evil action, from where will suffering touch me?' This is the third assurance he acquires.
"'But if no evil is done through acting, then I can assume myself pure in both respects.' This is the fourth assurance he acquires.
"One who is a disciple of the noble ones — his mind thus free from hostility, free from ill will, undefiled, & pure — acquires these four assurances in the here-&-now."...Ants are all busy with their daily activities, doing what they are programmed to do... oblivious to all the other things that goes on around them. A single rainfall, will kill them in an instance and their myopic obsession and plans will come to a meaningless grinding halt.
So true and well said...
Likewise, all the activities of the world rolls on with blind ignorance and stupidity... seeking meaning in the meaningless.
This is the world for you and me. Doing things that will eventually come to a rude and grinding death. All the fame, glory of the world come to such dissapointment... and better still ... you will not be there to feel the disapointment because you will not be there when death comes.[/b]
I also wrote before... In reality there are only 4 things that can be brought over to the next life. They are Wisdom, Blessings (fu2 de2), Cause and Conditions (yin1 yuan2), and Karmic Strength. Therefore to cultivate Zhi4 (Wisdom), Fu (Blessings), Yin Yuan (cause and conditions) is most important.
Yet most people simply ignorantly live their lives in vain. -
Like what the article said, formless doesn't mean it is a non-material formless mysterious something like a ghost in the machine, or that it has no effect on matter.Originally posted by january:scientist have a millions of large data of mentally disabled people who certain disability and memories loss, speech loss, sight loss and others that corresponds to a damage to a corresponding physical part of the brain.
And you are telling me that the mind is formless stuff??
But rather that it cannot be defined or located as an objective reality!! Mind/Awareness cannot be defined as an objective reality. Yet it can be fully felt, and is very real... you know you are not just a machine. That is why that article said but it emphasises that it is unlimited, non-mechanistic and totally free from any structure or topology and it is pure awareness. And it is non-local by nature (such as what the holographic universe describes)
What this means is that if there is an out-of-body experience, it does not mean that consciousness is an entity that has moved out of the body. Or some people have abilities such as remote viewing, does that mean consciousness as an entity has moved to another location? No! Consciousness is not an Entity but a conditioned-arising-process! And conditioned arising does not require a 'who' or a 'where' or a 'when'.
As Thusness said before, ...Next is her experience of ‘astral traveling’, if she is in a stage of absorption and then out of a sudden awareness, the eyes of awareness may allow her to witness something that is altogether different from the physical place but this does not necessary mean that ‘consciousness’ has left and re-enter the body. Consciousness is propelled by causes and conditions. According to her conditions of absorption and clarity, just IS...
Our sense organs function merely as organs, but our mind cannot be limited to particular locations nor particular material organs.
Anyway,
...What Lashley had done was to train rats to perform a variety of tasks, such as run a maze. Then he surgically removed various portions of their brains and retested them. His aim was literally to cut out the area of the rats' brains containing the memory of their mazerunning ability. To his surprise he found that no matter what portion of their brains he cut out, he could not eradicate their memories. Often the rats' motor skills were impaired and they stumbled clumsily through the mazes, but even with massive portions of their brains removed, their memories remained stubbornly intact.
For Pribram these were incredible findings. If memories possessed specific locations in the brain in the same way that books possess specific locations on library shelves, why didn't Lashley's surgical plunderings have any effect on them? For Pribram the only answer seemed to be that memories were not localized at specific brain sites, but were somehow spread out or distributed throughout the brain as a whole. The problem was that he knew of no mechanism or process that could account for such a state of affairs.
Lashley was even less certain and later wrote, "I sometimes feel, in reviewing the evidence on the localization of the memory trace, that the necessary conclusion is that learning just is not possible at all. Nevertheless, in spite of such evidence against it, learning does sometimes occur." In 1948 Pribram was offered a position at Yale, and before leaving he helped write up thirty years of Lashley's monumental research...
...At Yale, Pribram continued to ponder the idea that memories were distributed throughout the brain, and the more he thought about it the more convinced he became. After all, patients who had had portions of their brains removed for medical reasons never suffered the loss of specific memories. Removal of a large section of the brain might cause a patient's memory to become generally hazy, but no one ever came out of surgery with any selective memory loss. Similarly, individuals who had received head injuries in car collisions and other accidents never forgot half of their family, or half of a novel they had read. Even removal of sections of the temporal lobes, the area of the brain that had figured so prominently in Penfield's research, didn't create gaps in a person's memories...
Source: The Holographic Universe -
Originally posted by january:
Proof and evidence doesn't necessarily need to be on BBC or CNN or ABC. (and BTW, ABC already did an interview with that boy who remembered his involvement in WW2).
to say reincarnation is real, for example, i have to be able to have complete and persisting memories of say, Socrates plus Chinese emperor Chin Shi Huang and could go about talking to people about what i did for leisure when i was these 2 characters and tell them tell builders how certain building looks like in the past so that they can rebuild them.
Talk to historian and tell them this and this happen and counter check with their current facts to give them more correct info.
When i am 45 year old, i can still write two books on, the life of socrates by socrates and life of chin shi huang by chin shi huang because i still have the memories cos i am their reincarnation. I would go on countless Media shows like BBC, ABC, CNN, channel newsasia sharing the intricates of the past lives because nobody in the world except me can give a real life account of these past characters.. I would be a hell of a rich fellow with all media interviewing me.[b]This is what i call proper reincarnation.
Then i show people how i walk and how people live at that time even when i was 10, 20, 30 or 50 or 70 year old. Those children recollecting someone else past and can verify some facts but go on to become adult not retaining and expanding their knowledge is considered superficial and useless reincarnaiton bah.
[/b]
Something in scientific journals that are not well published can also be proof. Even if it is well published doesn't mean people want to accept it -- like I said there are many factors like social and religious conditionings. -
Want to add on, using what I have posted to herzog_zwei over a week ago:Originally posted by An Eternal Now:The ability to perceive memories and think is reduced by brain damage, but not the memory itself! Brain is just an organ, but it does not mean that mind is just the brain. Brain and body has no awareness.. Like a plant or stone, the body has no nature.
Mind is our pure experience of the moment, it is pure awareness as everything arising in that moment.[/i]
The brain is an important organ but it does not 'create' the mind. Mind/Awareness is not a side effect of anything --http://www.parama.com/html/process_enlightenment.html
So the body still feels pain?
No! The body is oblivious to pain. The body has never felt anything! The body is an appearance in Awareness. The contrast that happens gives rise to “I am-consciousness” in relation to the body. When any form of experiencing happens it is of this consciousness, NOT the body.
But, if you cut a finger, it bleeds. If you eat too much, the stomach bloats and feels uncomfortableÂ….
Consciousness is the animation of the body. You cut a finger and it bleeds. This is a product of that animation. Your stomach bloats, and this animation is also due to Consciousness. The body is, and always has been, an inanimate object, animated by Consciousness! The body is no different to a glove puppet without a hand in it. Consciousness is the hand, as it were, that animates the body. The body doesnÂ’t feel this animation.
Seeing, feeling, hearing, and smelling are attributed to the sense organs. These organs don’t have any experience whatsoever. They are inanimate objects animated by consciousness—the manifest expression of You. Do you “get” that?
Yes, but the mind still has thoughts about what you see and feel and experience?
No! The mind doesn’t have thoughts. The mind doesn’t experience thoughts. The mind is thoughts, a whole parade of them. The mind is a reflection of the animating principle—You. Only You, the animating principle, can be said to have, and experience, thoughts. The body does not cause it’s own animation, and cannot feel it. The mind doesn’t cause it’s own animation, and cannot think or experience thoughts.David Carse:
...Look, it's all so incredibly simple. There is no one here. This is not a figure of speech. I mean there is truly no one here, no person, no individual speaking to you. You look at me and think there is a person here talking to you, trying to tell you something. I assure you, there is not. Look at me. If there were not Consciousness streaming through this body, what would be here? What would this body be if Consciousness were not here? A corpse, of course! Dead matter. There is nothing else here. There is only the appearance of a body, and Consciousness which animates it. You, along with the rest of the world, have assumed that there is a discreet individual person here: that the Consciousness which is the animating force here is an individual consciousness, unique to this body and separate from the consciousness in other bodies.
This is based on appearances: there appear to be separate bodies, so the assumption is that there are separate consciousness-es. The belief in this assumption blinds you to seeing What Is, and is also the cause of your experience of this life as disquieting, confusing, unhappy, and generally full of fear and suffering. But it is not the case. There is in no way an individual sitting here talking to you. This body is nothing, an appearance in the dream. All there is is Consciousness, and it is Consciousness which is streaming through this appearance.
There is nothing here that exists in and of itself. What we call the human being is not an independent being, not an originating mechanism, not a transmitter. It is a relay station, a pass-through mechanism for Consciousness, the One Consciousness, All That Is. That is what I am, talking to you. And it is the same One Consciousness listening to this, looking back at me out of those eyes you call your own. What I am when I say 'I Am' is exactly the same as what you are when you say 'I Am.'....Ajahn Brahm:
...I gave a simile to a monk the other night. Imagine an Emperor who is wearing a long pair of trousers and a big tunic. He's got shoes on his feet, a scarf around the bottom half of his head and a hat on the top half of his head. You can't see him at all because he's completely covered in five garments. It's the same with the mind. It's completely covered with sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. So people don't know it. They just know the garments. When they see the Emperor, they just see the robes and the garments. They don't know who lives inside them. And so it is no wonder they're confused about what is life, what is mind, who is this inside of here, were did I come from? Why? What am I supposed to be doing with this life? When the five senses disappear, it's like unclothing the Emperor and seeing what is actually in here, what's actually running the show, who's listening to these words, who's seeing, who's feeling life, who this is. When the five senses disappear, you're coming close to the answer to those questions.
What you're seeing in such deep meditation is that which we call "mind," (in Pali it's called Citta). The Buddha used this beautiful simile. When there is a full moon on a cloudy night, even though it's a full moon, you can hardly see it. Sometimes when the clouds are thin, you can see this hazy shape shining though. You know there is something there. This is like the meditation just before you've entered into these profound states. You know there is something there, but you can't quite make it out. There's still some "clothes" left. You're still thinking and doing, feeling the body or hearing sounds. But there does come a time, and this is the Buddha's simile, when the moon is released from the clouds and there in the clear night sky you can see the beautiful full disc of the moon shining brilliantly, and you know that's the moon. The moon is there; the moon is real, and it's not just some sort of side effect of the clouds. This is what happens in meditation when you see the mind. You see clearly that the mind is not some side effect of the brain. You see the mind, and you know the mind. The Buddha said that the mind released is beautiful, is brilliant, is radiant. So not only are these blissful experiences, they're meaningful experiences as well.
How many people may have heard about rebirth but still don't really believe it? How can rebirth happen? Certainly the body doesn't get reborn. That's why when people ask me where do you go when you die, "one of two places" I say "Fremantle or Karrakatta" that's where the body goes! [3] But is that where the mind goes? Sometimes people are so stupid in this world, they think the body is all there is, that there is no mind. So when you get cremated or buried that's it, that's done with, all has ended. The only way you can argue with this view is by developing the meditation that the Buddha achieved under the Bodhi tree. Then you can see the mind for yourself in clear awareness - not in some hypnotic trance, not in dullness - but in the clear awareness. This is knowing the mind
Knowing the Mind.
When you know that mind, when you see it for yourself, one of the results will be an insight that the mind is independent of this body. Independence means that when this body breaks up and dies, when it's cremated or when it's buried, or however it's destroyed after death, it will not affect the mind. You know this because you see the nature of the mind. That mind which you see will transcend bodily death. The first thing which you will see for yourself, the insight which is as clear as the nose on your face, is that there is something more to life than this physical body that we take to be me. Secondly you can recognise that that mind, essentially, is no different than that process of consciousness which is in all beings. Whether it's human beings or animals or even insects, of any gender, age or race, you see that that which is in common to all life is this mind, this consciousness, the source of doing.... -
you cannot say this kind of things. It does matter if xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, life still rolls on. does that means that every matter does not matter? cos life always go on.Originally posted by longchen:Hmmm...
I think it doesn't matter if people doesn't believe in past life or not. Life still rolls on. Loads of people and animals doesn't care a damn whether there is past existence or not.
it does not matter if poor people are dying, cos life still rolls on...