Reincarnation and you!

[Aaron]

I've seen reincarnation pop up in other topics, and I really wanted to discuss it without taking it off-topic in those other threads. What I was thinking is that it would be nice to share our understanding and experiences regarding reincarnation. Since I started the thread, I'll get things going with my own brief understanding.

 

I've already given the long story before, so rather than type it all over, I'll just quote it...

 

I was twenty-two, I was very depressed, and I remember that I wanted to end it all, seriously end it all, not just a cry for help type of ending it, but a secretive, I'm not going to tell anyone and tomorrow I'm going to do it, type of depression. At that time I rarely prayed, but for some reason that night I did. I knelt before my bed with tears in my eyes and I prayed, "God, I can't take this anymore. If there's a reason for me being here, please show me, or else I'm going to kill myself tomorrow."

 

Yes I know, very dramatic and twenty-ish. What happened though was amazing. I had a dream. In this dream a man came up to me and stabbed me. I remember the pain was very real and I felt very much like I was dieing. As my final moment passed, I found myself fading away, no body or anything else, just my self, for lack of a better explanation. I suddenly found myself in this vast space, not darkness mind you, just space. There seemed to be no direction or point of reference, just vast open space. Then slowly, balls of light appeared all around me, stationary, not moving, but just sitting there. After a brief period a voice suddenly spoke to me and I realized someone or something was with me.

 

This voice said, "Aaron, you are on the Earth for a reason. You must learn a lesson. If you die you will come here. There is no time or space here, this place exists outside of the world, but it can reach the world. When you come here, you will then return to the world and be born again. You can be born in the past and in the future, it doesn't matter, because you will not remember anything from your previous life. You will keep coming here until you learn your lesson, then you will pass on from the world and this place."

 

Now as this voice spoke I felt an overwhelming peace and serenity, unlike anything I had experienced before or since. I cannot even begin to describe it, my skin tingles when I remember it. It was the most amazing sensation I've ever had in my life, better than any drug or drink, it was absent of want or need, it was as if there was no want or need, just a complete sense of satisfaction, as if there were no wants or needs at all. Again, it's hard to explain.

 

Anyways, I was trying to absorb what I had just been told, because it seemed to defy everything I had believed up until then as a good Christian. When I had finally understood what I had been told the voice asked me, "Do you understand."

 

I thought, "yes."

 

And that was that. I suddenly woke up the next morning, alive and well with the burden of depression lifted.

 

Anyways that's the skinny on my own view and experience. I know it's way out there and I have no way of proving it. You don't have to believe me, nor do I try to pose this as the one true account of what happens when we die, it's just my experience. With that said, I'd like to hear what other people have experienced. If you have a view on reincarnation, an experience, or just want to share your own ideas, feel free. I look forward to hearing what other people have to share.

 

Aaron

Edited March 19, 2012 by Twinner

[InfinityTruth]

An akashic record reading is good for getting an understanding of your past lives. You can also connect to it yourself which can be really fun.

 

A genuine reader can put you on the right track. Then you can check them for yourself to confirm. That's a subject I have always been curious about is past lives.

 

When I had a reading done one of my most memorable characters, was I was told I had been a pirate in a past life.

 

I almost didn't take him seriously until I checked it myself. All you have to do is connect to your subconscious and keep your conscious mind from interfering.

 

I saw this middle eastern looking guy. Not what I was expecting for a pirate, but that's a sign I was on the right track. He had this scimitar which I thought was a middle eastern weapon also, but then I later found out scimitars were commonly used by pirates.

[mewtwo]

yes i believe in reincarnation. i dont have memories but i have habbits that are lion like and i believe i was a lion in my previous life. life for instance i sleep like 12 plus hours a day.

 

Its funny you say that it happened to you when you were 22 well i am 22 atm so your story resonated with me.

 

Thanks

[Fū Yue]

The universe is the cradle of an infant desperate for play, and the mind is it's womb. He saw the shadow of himself playing just beyond the nursery bed, and fell out reaching for the apparition. His head was scraped, and blaming it on the shadow, said all manner of terrible things to it, unknowing that it was a mere reflection. He looked back and there was no more cradle, but a quiet stream by a grip of trees. The man could no longer discern the look of his shadow from the ground, for the trees were large and the water seemed murky. His mother was nowhere to be seen. He wanders still, unable to rest in peace.

 

At least, that's my take on it.

[chi 2012]

I went to one of those past life hypnotherapists once and had a regression. I sat in this chair and told the lady all this stuff that came to me about my past life. She told me how that life connected to this life. The thing is - I don't know if what I was telling her really happened - or whether I made it all up. It's probably a combination of the 2. I'm not really interested in past lives anymore. I think it was a phase I went through.

[Thunder_Gooch]

This is a repost but I thought it might be more relevant here.

 

 

“Spirits are bound by space and time the same way as anything that exists, but on a different level because they are part of the yin world. We ourselves are yang; they are yin.”

 

“But we have yin energy in our bodies too, right?” I asked.

 

“Correct,” he replied. “However, a pure spirit exists in a different space-time continuum than we do. One year for us is one day for them, and they are not limited by the present moment but exist in the immediate future and past as well.

 

 

“You know how in meditation we slow down our breathing and our pulse? It’s because we move more and more into our yin consciousness.”

 

“I see. But are you saying that we have two separate bodies, a yin body and a yang body, and that our consciousness can move from one to the other?”

 

“No. It is not so simple and easy as that. What I said is that everything on the earth is yang, though the earth itself is yin. We, as human beings, are yang creatures, but we have yin energy as well. It is the combination of the two that gives us life. When we die, when we cease to have life, our awareness moves to the yin state of being.” He paused. “But it does not remain unaltered in the process,” he continued.

 

“I see. Sifu, what about what we are told about the afterlife—heaven and hell, reincarnation, that sort of thing?” He was silent for a very long time and I thought that I had offended him. Finally he spoke. “I don’t know,” he said. “But you have seen so many spirits, spoken with your Master after he died, and. . . .” “I didn’t say that I haven’t had experience with life after death,” he interrupted. “What I said is that I don’t know what the final state of the afterlife is like.”

 

John lit up a cigarette. “I will tell you what I do know,” he said. “There appears to be an intermediate state between this life and the next. I call it the white wave and the black wave. The spirits of those who have been good in their lives go into the white wave, those that have been evil into the black wave. It is very much like the concepts of heaven and hell except for one thing—neither condition is permanent. At some point all spirits shoot straight up to God. What happens to them at that point, I don’t know. It depends on whom you ask, I suppose.” “You mean to say that there is a heaven and a hell?” I asked, astonished. “That’s not what I said, is it? I said that there seems to be an area characterized by a field of white yin energy into which the spirits with a positive karma enter. There they are given all that they desire, and they do desire. I have entered into the white field; people were gathered around celebrating, eating and drinking, only there was no food really present. It is all an illusion for their benefit; they just think that they are eating and drinking. Maybe they have to enjoy what they were denied in life in order to go on, I don’t know. Perhaps they think that they are still human.” “But they are not?” “No. The mental and emotional perspectives of the average spirit are very different from those of a human being.” “But not your Master’s. He looked and sounded the same dead as he did alive.”

 

 

“Yes. A spirit with even a little yang energy is very different. A spirit like my Master retains all its human characteristics.” I thought about the classic lines from the Tao Te Ching, lines that had caused so much controversy among scholars in the past: Those who retain their center endure. Those who die but continue to exist are immortal. Their meaning was clear to me at that moment. According to Taoist thought, to continue being human after death, you had to bring some of your yang energy with you. Was the “center” that the Lao Tzu referred to the dantien, which filled up with yang energy in Level One? And according to Chang Sifu, to remain completely human after death, you had to bring all your yang energy with you—that is to say, to complete Level Four. Like Liao Sifu. Like my Master. A shudder ran through me. Was evolution at play here? Was humanity no more than the breeding ground for higher spirits? I thought about how an embryo came into being: Out of millions of sperm only one became a baby. Was this the case for us also, that from a million humans only one was destined to become a hsien? And was it for entities of this sort that all the fuss was about? Or were we evolving as a species to the point where all of us could live on without our physical bodies?

 

 

 

I desperately wanted to change the subject, but there was no dodging the issue. I thought about the metaphysical “waves” of reward and penance John had spoken of. Concepts such as heaven and hell, the Elysian Fields and Hades, were as old as the human race. Were they real? “And what about the black wave?” I asked. “If you ever reach Level Four, remember that I said never to go into the black if you can help it. It is not a pleasant place. The spirits there desire, they hurt, they cry, and are denied everything; it is pitch dark, you cannot see a thing. The only good point about the black wave is that it does not last forever; after a time those spirits are freed, when their karma has been fulfilled.” “Sifu, what is karma?” “The consequence of their actions, thoughts, emotions, and desires—of their lives, if you want.” It was getting to be too much, too anthropomorphic for me to swallow, like something out of ancient mythology, or the most esoteric beliefs of the world’s major religions.

 

 

He seemed to guess my thoughts. “I don’t have any final answers for you, Kosta, no dogma to respond to the questions people have about their existence. I can only tell you what I have seen; you can choose to believe me or not. Consider me a metaphysical scientist. I have not told you anything of my own religious beliefs, and I will not.” “Why not?” “Because I don’t want to interfere with anyone’s religion,” he said. “Sifu, what you described is so . . . basic, so primitive a model that. . . .”

 

 

"It's too hard to swallow in our scientific age where everything has to be complicated and mathematical? Well, you can judge for yourself. Maybe the whole problem with our day and age is that we’ve stepped too far away from the primitive, rejecting our essential nature.” “And God, Sifu? You’ve mentioned God many times, both today and in the past. Is there really a God, a force that cares for us, the center of our existence?” “I know there is.” “Why? How do you know there is a God?” “Some other time, Kosta.”

 

Kosta Danaos - The Magus of Java

 

 

 

 

 

“I finally wound up in the jungle, along the border between Malaysia and Borneo. The closest small village was a three-day march away; I was isolated from society. I hated the place at first. When night fell, I could not see my hand in front of my face; if I tried to light a fire, so many mosquitoes came that they would eat me alive! But it was there that my teacher had insisted I go.

 

“There was not much to eat; I had to hunt wild boar and scrounge for berries and fruit. The funny thing was that there was a tribe of Dayak natives there who harassed me and finally attacked me openly with spears, and on one occasion arrows. I pulled down a large tree and set it ablaze with my ch’i; after that they left me alone. It must have been very frightening for them. I bet they are still scaring naughty children with stories about me!”

 

 

We all laughed; I could imagine John the practical joker relishing the occasion. Poor natives.

 

 

“Anyway,” John continued, “it was there that I stayed and meditated, living in a cave. It rained frequently, and food was scarce. Despite that, after a month I could stand it reasonably well; after six months I did not want to leave.

 

“In time, something very strange happened. I could spend longer and longer periods in meditation; once I did not move for eight days. And my consciousness would fly all over the world as I desired. I saw my family in their home going about their business; I saw my friends and relatives, everyone and anyone I wanted to. All I had to do was wish to see something and I was there; if I closed my eyes, actual events would flash across my mind as if I were watching television. I wrote letters to family and friends telling them what they were doing on specific days, then made the trek to the village to mail these letters to them. They were very surprised when they received them! I remember even watching them as they received these letters—seeing the look on their faces when they read what I had written.

 

“In that mountain I saw many spirits; indeed, spirits and animals were my constant companions. And when my consciousness had expanded, I could see spirits going up regularly. One day I became curious and decided to follow them, to see where they were going. I sent my awareness out of my body and accompanied them as they went.

 

“The earth receded below me, and somehow there was a shift; I cannot explain what I felt. I was suddenly in a wave of blackness; around me there was much pain and anger and hate and jealousy. I left that place quickly to find myself in a field of white; there I saw many spirits around me who were very joyful. Some of them were making motions as if they were eating and drinking and invited me to join in. Okay, I thought, I’d like a piece of chicken. Without warning, a tasty drumstick appeared before me; when I grabbed it, though, I saw that it was not real, that it was an illusion for the benefit of the spirits in that place who thought they were still human. Still, I saw other souls going higher and higher. I followed them through two more levels of white energy, and beyond that point I could pass no farther.”

 

John paused, and I checked an urge to interrupt him. There were so many questions that I wanted to ask. He was, after all, describing heaven.

 

“After a while,” John continued, “I became worried about my physical body, because I knew that time passed very differently in that place, and I had no idea how long I was gone. I decided to return to the earth. In doing so, I passed once again through the black wave. I was curious; you cannot see anything at all in that place, but you can hear the spirits moaning. So I approached one of them and asked him, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ (Yes, Kosta, as simple as that!) He said, ‘Oh, I hurt, I’m in pain.’ Suddenly I became very afraid, and with that strong emotion I woke up back in my body.”

 

 

What do you say in response to a story like that? I had heard it in short form in the past, but that had not had the impact of this longer narration. That he had called spirits before me I no longer doubted; on three separate occasions he had spoken to the shades of the dead with me as the silent witness. While I could not, as a scientist, swear in court that he was not producing an illusion for my benefit through his undeniable powers, I would have to question the motivation for producing a fraud of this sort. He certainly had no need to trick us. I did not doubt that John could make me see something that was not there should he choose, but why would he do so?

 

 

I recalled the shamanistic origins of Taoist practices;14 what he had just described was very similar to the journey of the shaman into the spirit world, including the various levels. I was very sure that John had never read Joseph Campbell; he was describing what he had seen. And he gained nothing by trickery. Indeed, he sacrificed much because his powers were very real.

 

 

“Is there any way of telling if someone will become a white or black spirit?” I asked.

 

 

 

 

John shot me a piercing look. “You are thinking of your father,” he said. “Well, yes, if their passage is not due to violence or accident, then usually you can tell by the look on their faces what will become of them. They get a glimpse of what lies in store for them before they completely leave our world.”

 

 

 

My father had died with relief after fighting the cancer for half a year. Indeed, he had died consciously, waiting for all of us to gather around him before letting go of his final breath. I said as much to John.

 

 

 

“Your father is probably a white spirit now,” he said. “But you know, because he had no yang to take with him, his nature is much simpler than you think.” “What do you mean, Sifu?” I asked. “I mean that a typical spirit is basically like our unconscious mind. He cannot think deliberately, make decisions, or create. He is subject to whatever he has brought with him.” John was silent for a time, then caught my eye and held me with his gaze. “For example,” he said, “your father can remember everything about you. He knows that you are his son. He remembers holding you in his arms when you were born. What he cannot remember is what it was like to love you.”

 

 

We were shocked, all of us.

 

 

“They have only yin,” he continued softly, “so what defines their continuation is simply their karma, good or bad. That is why it is so important to have yang to take with you when your time comes.”

 

 

 

“Because that way you retain your humanity,” I whispered. John nodded approvingly. “Does having yang ch’i in our dantien somehow lessen the effects of karma?” I asked him.

 

 

“No. You still have to pay for what you have done—or be rewarded. But having yang with you makes it easier all around, and more deliberate either way.”

 

 

“Heaven and hell,” Andreas said.

 

 

“Not really,” John answered. “None of the conditions I described is permanent. After a time all spirits return to God.”

 

 

 

And there it was: the big question that I had danced around since I had come to know him. I could not resist. “Sifu,” I dared, “tell us about God. You mention Him frequently.” And mentioning God was not very Taoist, I thought; perhaps this was the distinction between John’s teaching and mainstream Taoism.

 

 

John leaned back and looked at us one by one. “All right,” he said. “Before I went up to the mountain, in my heart of hearts, I did not really believe in God. Oh, I used to go to church every Sunday, for I am nominally a Christian, but I had no faith; I went to church matter-of-factly. When I was up in the mountain, I wanted to experience God for myself, to see if He was real or not.

 

 

“I prayed and I prayed for weeks, asking God to reveal Himself to me. Finally I sat down in deep meditation and sent my awareness out as before. Every day, every moment, I kept asking, ‘God, please tell me the truth about the afterlife; which religion is correct? Please, Lord, tell me.’ I received no answer, but I kept at it with persistence.

 

 

“Without warning, one day a voice boomed in the air above me. It was like a thunderclap, and it said to me: “‘Religion is like a walking stick. When you are young, you need help from your parents to walk. When you are old, you need a cane. When you are a healthy adult, you have no need for a cane; if you try to run, it will only hinder you. All religions are like that; touch God directly, and you will have no need of them.’

 

 

 

“I came out of meditation with a start; it was so strong and so real! I had felt the words like a vibration inside me. At first I was ecstatic, but when I tried to reach the voice again, there was no answer. So after a time I began to doubt; finally, I no longer believed that it was God, just some strong spirit having fun with me. I had had many experiences of the sort with Liao Sifu, remember, and I knew that there were many such beings out there. Finally I became very angry. I roamed around the mountaintops like a madman screaming up at heaven.

 

 

 

“‘Talk to me, God,’ I screamed. ‘If You do not talk to me, I will not believe in You!’”

 

 

John chuckled to himself. “You cannot imagine what I was like,” he said. “I was very thin because I didn’t have much to eat; my beard and hair were long because I had nothing to shave with. My clothing hung on my body, and I must have smelled very bad. I moved from times of extremely deep meditation to moments of extreme rage as if someone were throwing a switch inside me; I often sat down in the lotus position in meditation and then suddenly leapt up all in one motion to go running around the mountaintops. All that time I had only one thought in mind: to speak with the Lord God. I wanted proof that He was real.

 

 

“Eight days later it happened. I was in meditation at the moment and begging God to let me come to Him. Suddenly a star brightened incredibly, like a second sun, and fell out of the sky with a crash to land before me in an explosion of earth and dust. It made a huge hole and lay there, burning. A wind like a thousand hurricanes buffeted my body and shook the ground.

 

 

“‘You are not yet clean enough to come to Me!’ a voice said, and I knew it was Him.

 

 

“I came out of meditation with a start and opened my eyes. In front of me was a large crater in the ground. And I knew one thing in my heart that made me happy beyond belief: The voice was still with me! God was allowing me to speak with Him.

 

 

“Many things I asked Him in the days that followed; I wanted to know what sort of behavior was right and what was wrong. For example, I wanted to know if fighting was okay, since I was a kung fu Master and had been in many fights. The voice told me that it was all right to defend myself, but I should never initiate aggression; many things were judged by how you felt inside. If I was afraid for my safety, I could even attack first to protect myself and my family, but there were no fine lines governing behavior; it all came down to how you felt inside.

 

 

 

“I asked Him about hunting and killing game. I detected amusement in His voice when he answered that question, because He said: ‘You are asking Me about this because you killed a wild boar last week to eat, didn’t you? It’s okay to kill for food; all of nature is a struggle for survival. But you must never kill for sport or for pride, because all of nature belongs to God.’”

 

John bowed his head. “Anyway, many things like that I asked Him; to some questions I received answers, to others not.” He looked up at us and smiled.

 

Andreas broke the silence. “Sifu, are you saying that you spoke to God?” “I think so,” John said. “I spoke to an unbelievably powerful sentience. Whether it was God or some kind of angel or other spirit, I really don’t know to this day. But something came and answered my questions, and stayed with me for a long time.”

 

 

“How long were you up in the mountains?” I asked.

 

 

“Two years,” he said. “I came back down because my son developed rheumatoid arthritis. Western medicine could do nothing for him; my friends took him to a native healer, who simply said, ‘Only the father can cure this boy.’ So I came back.”

 

“Did you cure him?” “Yes, with acupuncture, within two months.”

 

“And you just knew he was ill; no one sent you a message?” “I have already told you that, when I was up in the mountains, I could see people and places far away during the time I spent in meditation. I watched my family a lot; it helped me feel less lonely.”

 

 

A servant came out with tea, which we gratefully accepted. No one was willing to start up the conversation again. What we had just heard had shocked all of us more than anything John had ever said or done. Here was a man who stated very simply and directly that he had spoken to God; it was the pinnacle of human experience, and there was not much anyone could add to it.

 

 

There were a thousand things that I wanted to ask him. We have lost the luxury in this day and age of being able to speak in such personal terms when describing the eternal, society and science being what they are. People don’t just sit down and ask God questions!

 

The Lord God Himself?

 

Why the hell not? I believed my teacher. At least I believed that he was neither a liar nor delusional. He had seen . . . something.

 

 

I dared the question. “Sifu, when you spoke to God, did you ask Him what happens to our souls after we die?” He looked puzzled. “I have already described the black wave and the white wave to you,” he said.

 

 

“Yes, and you said that neither condition was permanent, that after a time all spirits went up to God.”

 

 

 

“Yes.”

 

 

“So what happens next? Do we reincarnate? Do we live only one life? Do we cease to exist? What’s the story?”

 

 

 

“I have already told you that I don’t know.”

 

“But. . . .”

 

 

“He never answered that question.” John pulled out a cigarette, lit it up, and leaned back. “I can tell you what I myself, as an individual, believe. This is not something that I teach; I have students who are Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, skeptics like yourself, and more. Neikung has no basis in religious theory. If you want my own opinions, you are welcome to them, but remember, they are nothing more than my own opinions.”

 

 

“Okay.”

 

 

“I believe that it is logical for reincarnation to exist, since God is very just and very fair. Why should someone suffer for something that they haven’t done? Why should one man be born a cripple and another with everything? It doesn’t seem fair or even logical. So either the universe is unjust or, if you believe in a just God, then He has planned for justice in our lives. So I believe in reincarnation.”

 

 

I did not want to debate him; different religions in the history of humanity have even postulated the existence of an unjust God to explain life’s disparate distribution of blessings.

 

 

“You have mentioned karma to me in the past,” I continued. “The consequence of our actions?” “Action and reaction. People paying for bad actions and being rewarded for good ones. Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

 

 

“Do you believe that someone carries their karma with them from one life to the other?” Andreas asked.

 

 

 

“Yes. I personally as an individual, yes,” John answered.

 

 

 

I had studied Buddhism for many years; one of the issues not addressed sufficiently by that religion (in my opinion) is the very obvious evolution of the species going on continuously around us, as if by divine plan. And man’s presence and development on the planet cannot be accounted for with satisfaction, even by modern science, giving rise to theories of little green men performing experiments on primates and what not. “Sifu, is evolution directed?” I charged to drive the point home.

 

 

 

“Sorry?”

 

 

“Does God have a plan for man and the earth? Is there a guiding intelligence behind everything?”

 

 

“In my opinion, yes.”

 

 

And there it was: the core of religion’s debate with science.

 

“And is this God a judge?” I continued. “Does He decide everyone’s karma?”

 

 

“No. We decide our own karma. God Himself interferes very little in our lives and in the judgment of our consciousness after our deaths.”

 

 

 

“But what about the white waves and the black wave you described?”

 

 

“What about them?”

 

 

“Doesn’t God decide whose spirit goes into which area and how long he remains there?”

 

 

“Not really; karma decides that. God basically intercedes very little in the course of affairs. We call the will of heaven jodo in Chinese. For example, that you Kosta, and you Andreas, are here is jodo. Do you know how many people have come searching for me and could not find me? It is the will of heaven that you are here.”

 

 

 

We looked at each other. We had certainly both found our teacher under unusual circumstances—impossible circumstances, statistically speaking.

 

 

 

“Sifu,” I insisted, “Why isn’t finding you merely just good karma? What is the difference between jodo and karma?”

 

 

“Jodo comes from God,” he said. “Karma comes from us.”

 

 

“So God has a plan, but it is up to us to live up to it,” Andreas said.

 

 

“Yes,” John answered. “And you will reap the consequence of all your actions, whether good or bad. Karma is purely natural law, like biology and physics; jodo is the will of heaven. I cannot make things any clearer than that. For most people, jodo simply decides the time and place of their birth and the time and place of their death. But bad karma can also make your life shorter; if you are destined to live a hundred years, you may wind up living fifty instead.

 

Kosta Danaos, The Magus of Java

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I spoke with master Wang LiPing (Longmen Pai) I was told if I wanted to end rebirth I could either cut the root of my spirit/soul ( I assume this is like a soul suicide ) or fuse my yin and yang spirits into something new.

Edited May 14, 2012 by More_Pie_Guy

[Wells]

When I spoke with master Wang LiPing (Longmen Pai) I was told if I wanted to end rebirth I could either cut the root of my spirit/soul ( I assume this is like a soul suicide ) or fuse my yin and yang spirits into something new.

Yea, isn't it GREAT to get such clear instructions by a master...?

 

EDIT: Therefore my question: Did he tell you how to do that (CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS!)? If not, did you ask him for clear instructions? If not, why not ("assuming" won't help you)?

Edited March 19, 2012 by Dorian Black

[Thunder_Gooch]

Yea, isn't it GREAT to get such clear instructions by a master...?

 

Really it's my fault. I should have brought a translator to ask my questions for me. This wasn't his fault at all.

[Wells]

Really it's my fault. I should have brought a translator to ask my questions for me. This wasn't his fault at all.

I see...a shame! You said somewhere that you would like to go into a "limbo" or so, free from reincarnation (if there is something like reincarnation!), isn't it?

I seek a similar goal: Conserving my personality as an free non-incarnated entity forever, without being endangered through death, sickness and not imprisoned by reincarnation, karma or more powerful entities (GOD(S)) or laws to go to heaven, hell or so.

Anyways, you'll need power to break free from a prison.

[Thunder_Gooch]

I see...a shame! You said somewhere that you would like to go into a "limbo" or so, free from reincarnation (if there is something like reincarnation!), isn't it?

I seek a similar goal: Conserving my personality as an free non-incarnated entity forever, without being endangered through death, sickness and not imprisoned by reincarnation, karma or more powerful entities (GOD(S)) or laws to go to heaven, hell or so.

Anyways, you'll need power to break free from a prison.

 

 

If I could exist as a mind as I am now, in a limbo with nothing else, forever, never being reborn I would be in my idea of heaven.

 

The next best thing would to become a spirit which doesn't reincarnate, and continue my training.

 

 

 

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

 

Neo: What truth?

 

Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.

Edited March 19, 2012 by More_Pie_Guy

[Wells]

If I could exist without being reborn as I am now, in a limo with nothing else, forever, never being reborn I would be in my idea of heaven.

 

The next best thing would to become a spirit which doesn't reincarnate, and continue my training.

You mean like an incarnated person who doesn't age, get sick or so?

...therefore I love TV series with no development at all, where all and everything stays the same, everybody is happy!

Well, I know someone who is member in a very old true taoist sect (it's even on wikipedia!) and he seeks physical immortality. I asked him what he will do when a car runs him over, an asteroid destroys earth, the environment finally collapses? He had no answer to that!

You know, the highest goal in the six yogas of naropa (tummo), tantra and in taichi is "to raise your energy so high that you can take your body with you" or dissolve your body into energy and take it with you (therefore my new avatar! )...

You know, the guys where only the hair and nails stay here here after their "ascending".

 

So why choose when you can have both, lol?

I guess when you achieve THIS than you have achieved EVERYTHING!

Edited March 19, 2012 by Dorian Black

[Thunder_Gooch]

Sure I mean if I could achieve physical immortality and be a healthy superhuman forever, sure. If I could become immaterial at will, sure why not.

 

But I doubt I will even be able to fuse my yin/yang spirits. The odds are like 1 in a billion I will.

 

I would have a better chance of winning a $500 million dollar lottery.

 

I'll give it my best shot though

 

That's all any of us can do.

 

 

 

You mean like an incarnated person who doesn't age, get sick or so?

...therefore I love TV series with no development at all, where all and everything stays the same, everybody is happy!

Well, I know someone who is member in a very old true taoist sect (it's even on wikipedia!) and he seeks physical immortality. I asked him what he will do when a car runs him over, an asteroid destroys earth, the environment finally collapses? He had no answer to that!

You know, the highest goal in the six yogas of naropa (tummo), tantra and in taichi is "to raise your energy so high that you can take your body with you" or dissolve your body into energy and take it with you (therefore my new avatar! )...

You know, the guys where only the hair and nails stay here here after their "ascending".

 

So why choose when you can have both, lol?

I guess when you achieve THIS than you have achieved EVERYTHING!

[Wells]

Hello dwai!

I'm quite sure your master told you something about that goal I was just talking about!

Could you maybe please share some first-hand info about this...?

(I'm just a book reader and DVD watcher...and practicioner)

[Wells]

Sure I mean if I could achieve physical immortality and be a healthy superhuman forever, sure. If I could become immaterial at will, sure why not.

 

But I doubt I will even be able to fuse my yin/yang spirits. The odds are like 1 in a billion I will.

 

I would have a better chance of winning a $500 million dollar lottery.

 

I'll give it my best shot though

 

That's all any of us can do.

 

Yea, yea, these cryptic taoist goals like fusing yin and yang spirits...Now, I wonder how that should be practiced...or even as there is something like the spirits of the internal organs at all.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Dorian Black

[Cat Pillar]

I'm not sure how I feel about reincarnation, personally.

 

I had a tarot reader once tell me this was my eighth lifetime. (She also told me to look into Taoism as a spiritual path, interestingly enough.)

 

However, I have no memories of past lives. Therefore, I'm not sure how beneficial a belief in reincarnation is to my path. If I have no memories of past lives, it's likely any future incarnations will have no memories of this one.

 

Reincarnation may or may not exist, but without some kind of continuity between incarnations it really seems like a non-issue. I guess I look at it this way: unless I can apply the information in a practical and beneficial way to my life, I don't care if reincarnation is real or not.

[RiverSnake]

Supposedly if you want to understand your past lives then you should just look at your present conditions....that is if reincarnation is correct...i have yet to have such experiences.

 

-My 2 cents, Peace

[Owledge]

And that was that. I suddenly woke up the next morning, alive and well with the burden of depression lifted.

Why was that burden gone? What did consciously change? Wouldn't it give your insight into what kept it alive before that dream?

[Mokona]

Supposedly if you want to understand your past lives then you should just look at your present conditions....that is if reincarnation is correct...i have yet to have such experiences.

 

-My 2 cents, Peace

I.ve been in contact with someone in spirit that may have known me in a past life for some time. It would be cool to confirm but it doesnt matter.

[Gerard]

Supposedly if you want to understand your past lives then you should just look at your present conditions

 

That's basically what this is all about. You are a product of your present but past shaped mind; that is, impressions derived from past experiences that form desires which influence future responses and behavior (karma). However when you purify your mind via spiritual practices then you'll be also cleansing your karma and deleting those impressions. They are not easy to get rid of, trust me on this. I am currently working on my last desire: sexual cravings, which is deeply imprinted in my mind via gallbladder and liver organs (wood, expansive organ that is related to growth). We all have that desire but if someone wants to attain anagami and ultimately arahantship sensual desire must be ultimately overcome in order to attain these final stages.

 

How do I know this? I have recollected memories of several of my past lives, one of them being a French courtesan, Madame du Barry. It's quite clear that you get the point what is like being a libertine back in those days. In my last karmic cycle (a well-known Indian yogi) I worked hard on this samskara by testing myself sleeping surrounded by young women and being a celibate at the same time, but unfortunately this experiment failed since an significant amount of fire was stored in those internal organs. And here I am, back on track purifying all my internal organs.

 

In these sort of instances, it is then useful to know about past "lives" in order to identify what needs to be worked on, but fetters are fetters, they apply to all sentient beings, here on Earth (lower and higher fetters) or up in the higher astral realms (higher fetters):

 

http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/hindrances.htm