jjm

Maybe I missed a post somewhere. Anybody know who this other guy is besides Micah and "Jamyang Dorje" who claims to have met Sifu Lin in person?

Formless Tao, thank you for sharing your thoughts and your personal story. I think it was very valuable for us to hear. I'm married to an Asian woman myself, and some of the things you wrote are totally the same in her family. Her parents are extremely generous, and sadly have been ripped off by relatives over and over. Yet my in-laws never complain, they see it as their duty to help however they can. And I laughed when you wrote about the silence at the table. The first few times I ate with them, I felt so awkward because it was silent! My family is loud at the table, so it took a long adjustment period. I still can't resist starting a conversation once we've gone 5 minutes without talking.

Ha! Good one, spoken like a Buddhist.

Well said, Samurai Mountain Man (OK, that sounded like a line from a movie). And welcome, DiscoUkelele! The only thing I would add to SMM's post is that you (DU) used the word "study" repeatedly in your post. Taoism is not something to be studied, it is something to guide you and be practiced. It's the difference between using just your mind, or engaging your intuition and whole being.

Ah, that is a new rule. OK, number 4 for me!

I've only asked her about the events of her life surrounding the circumstances of her death and recognizing her former family. She still has the memories now (decades later). I don't believe her memories have faded any more than general memories do. There are some researchers who have done extensive work in this area, one of the big names being Ian Stevenson - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson

I have someone in my family who, as a child of 3-4, came across relatives from a past life and recognized them. She spoke to them by name, and they were shocked. She also related things from her past life that were then proven to be true. She kept in contact with her "old family" for many, many years before moving away. She remembered dying, and I asked her what happened next. She couldn't remember, she said there was just blackness and then no memory. This family member has integrity I would stake my life on. And her story is not uncommon. For those reasons, I absolutely do believe in past lives. I believe the Buddhist concept is that we are not actually individual souls but sort of a conglomeration of energy. When we die it is at least partially dispersed (a master who had prepared for the Bardo state knows how to keep "himself" intact). When reborn, we are not the person we used to be, we are a remnant of that person's energy, combined with new energy from the big cosmic sea. The combination is dictated by the laws of cause and effect and attraction, known simply as karma. I'm not surprised that for most of us the mind is so "refurbished" that we've lost all memory of past lives.

Greetings, all!