JS

[Gerard]

.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Gerard

[三江源]

This is such an interesting book. I would second Gerard's recommendation, very much.

[lifeforce]

Fascinating stuff. Wouldn't mind reading this.

There seems to be a lot of cases of past lives being regressed by hypnosis.

I wonder, is the 'in-between lives state' what the Tibetans call the Bardo ?

Is it the 'land of bliss' of Pure Land Buddhism ? There are many tales of peaceful deaths in this tradition, where the 'soon to be deceased' knows of the time and place of death and of their future destination in the Pure Land.

There are too many vivid accounts of these things for them not to be true.

I'm really interested in all of this. Thanks

[Ya Mu]

I read Destiny of Souls first several years ago and really liked it. The findings correspond to my own experiences, some of which I described in A Light Warrior's Guide. I always recommend Destiny of Souls to anyone and everyone. I later read this one and did not like it as well. Destiny was, to me, much more vivid.

 

But yes, a good book. CLINICAL case histories; impressive consistency.

[Friend]

I read Destiny of Souls first several years ago and really liked it. The findings correspond to my own experiences, some of which I described in A Light Warrior's Guide. I always recommend Destiny of Souls to anyone and everyone. I later read this one and did not like it as well. Destiny was, to me, much more vivid.

 

But yes, a good book. CLINICAL case histories; impressive consistency.

 

Never mind found it

Edited April 25, 2012 by Friend

[gendao]

I read Destiny of Souls first several years ago and really liked it. The findings correspond to my own experiences, some of which I described in A Light Warrior's Guide. I always recommend Destiny of Souls to anyone and everyone. I later read this one and did not like it as well. Destiny was, to me, much more vivid.

 

But yes, a good book. CLINICAL case histories; impressive consistency.

Yes, I read that one earlier this year. Seemed to make sense and helped change my understanding about and how I choose to live my life now..

 

 

I'd also like to read Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives, if I get time too.. I believe they are quite similar, but more such accounts are always fascinating to hear.

Edited April 26, 2012 by vortex

[Creation]

I wonder, is the 'in-between lives state' what the Tibetans call the Bardo ?

Specifically, the Bardo of transmigration, since Tibetans consider all states to be a type of Bardo.

 

Speaking of which, what really strikes me is just how much this material contradicts the Tibetan Bardo teachings. In that view, the journey from one form to another is mostly unconscious and driven by primal desires, and takes a couple of months max. The idea of spending time in a spiritual place for a while before consciously choosing your rebirth is completely antithetical to this.

 

When a westerner mentioned reports of seeing long dead relatives in NDEs to the Dalai Lama, he said that it must have been their imagination because their dead relatives would have already found new bodies.

 

That makes you wonder about some things...

Edited April 26, 2012 by Creation

[johndoe2012]

But...

 

There is no soul according to Buddhism, right?

 

So there seems to be a contradiction here.

 

I have heard rebirth been explained as the birth of being moment to moment.

[Gerard]

I'm really interested in all of this. Thanks

 

Send me a PM with your e-mail and I will forward you a copy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specifically, the Bardo of transmigration, since Tibetans consider all states to be a type of Bardo.

 

Speaking of which, what really strikes me is just how much this material contradicts the Tibetan Bardo teachings. In that view, the journey from one form to another is mostly unconscious and driven by primal desires, and takes a couple of months max. The idea of spending time in a spiritual place for a while before consciously choosing your rebirth is completely antithetical to this.

 

Personally I have never been fond of the Tibetan tradition as a whole (except Dzogchen) and this is probably one of the beliefs I strongly disagree with. IMO, we experience deep amnesia from the very moment we project our original consciousness/spirit onto a new life form since this mechanism is very intense as we are adopting a new superficial mind, body, new reality, environment, you name it.

[johndoe2012]

Personally I have never been fond of the Tibetan tradition as a whole (except Dzogchen) and this is probably one of the beliefs I strongly disagree with. IMO, we experience deep amnesia from the very moment we project our original consciousness/spirit onto a new life form since this mechanism is very intense as we are adopting a new superficial mind, body, new reality, environment, you name it.

 

I wonder if the information in that book is mentioned in any sutra or other Buddhist teachings?

[Ya Mu]

...

Personally I have never been fond of the Tibetan tradition as a whole (except Dzogchen) and this is probably one of the beliefs I strongly disagree with. IMO, we experience deep amnesia from the very moment we project our original consciousness/spirit onto a new life form since this mechanism is very intense as we are adopting a new superficial mind, body, new reality, environment, you name it.

 

Me too. I have always marveled at this amnesia and the intense effort it requires to come out of it.

 

I wonder if the information in that book is mentioned in any sutra or other Buddhist teachings?

 

Yes.

3,600 thoughts condensed; Golden Summit Monastery, one of the 4 holy mountains.

Abbot-Zhou-Wang(also studied with Abbot)-Me-You

[johndoe2012]

Yes.

3,600 thoughts condensed; Golden Summit Monastery, one of the 4 holy mountains.

Abbot-Zhou-Wang(also studied with Abbot)-Me-You

 

cool, found something interesting here

 

http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?/topic/23405-emei-qigong/page__view__findpost__p__335734

[Gerard]

Me too. I have always marveled at this amnesia and the intense effort it requires to come out of it.

 

Maybe that's the reason we have that amnesia, to grow and learn from each lifetime otherwise things would be way too easy. We are constantly being tested perhaps? So this leads to the question of what really leaving suffering behind entails? Returning to the ultimate "God" itself, the core of the massive energy field governed by the metaphysical law of cause & effect and physical yin-yang polarity.

[Apech]

But...

 

There is no soul according to Buddhism, right?

 

So there seems to be a contradiction here.

 

I have heard rebirth been explained as the birth of being moment to moment.

 

Rebirth not reincarnation ... different ....

[gendao]

Speaking of which, what really strikes me is just how much this material contradicts the Tibetan Bardo teachings. In that view, the journey from one form to another is mostly unconscious and driven by primal desires, and takes a couple of months max. The idea of spending time in a spiritual place for a while before consciously choosing your rebirth is completely antithetical to this.

I think that realm is "timeless" or time there is not uniform, though?

There is no soul according to Buddhism, right?

I think there is, Buddhism would just say it's just another shell in the Russian egg of "semi-existence" like your human body.

3,600 thoughts condensed; Golden Summit Monastery, one of the 4 holy mountains.

Abbot-Zhou-Wang(also studied with Abbot)-Me-You

You lost me at 3600 thoughts?

 

Or are you saying that 3600 (figuratively) thoughts transmitted into Abbot Zhou Wang at Golden Summit Monastery (

?) to you and then this forum?

[Ya Mu]

...

 

Or are you saying that 3600 (figuratively) thoughts transmitted into Abbot Zhou Wang at Golden Summit Monastery (

?) to you and then this forum?

3600 schools of thought, techniques. Condensed into a system.

Not into this forum. Only the people who study this.

[Creation]

I think that realm is "timeless" or time there is not uniform, though?

That is one possible means of reconciliation.

 

Another might be that the descriptions in the Bardo Thodol are talking about the lower soul vs. the stuff in Newton's book is talking about the higher soul.

 

I sure don't know the details.

[gendao]

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.

[thelerner]

I found this book 'Old Souls: Compelling Evidence from Children Who Remember Past Lives' fascinating. On the phenomena of young children who remember past lives. Some even had physical marks that seemed to be leftovers from the previous life. I liked it's Western slightly skeptical investigation.

[Gerard]

Yes, children lack of the cluttered "mind" that older people have, hence have easier access to the deep "mind." Here's probably the best (and most rigorous) video on the matter, which I think was posted in the forum a while back:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdmMEKPFDTY

[Seth Ananda]

I love the books mentioned as well, and have been planning a reread soon.

 

another book that I found really Interesting, is Peter Novak's 'Lost secret of Death'. I think it may have been Serene Blue, who got me on to that ages ago. If it was, Thanks, and if it wasn't Thanks to whoever it was.

 

It boldly attempts to create a unified theory of after death experiences, buy looking at all the kinds of experiences people describe [NDE's & Regression] in the light of what he calls the Binary Soul Doctrine [bSD].

 

He points out accurately that probably every ancient theory of the soul, all over the world, has 2, 3 or more 'souls' that separate at some point after death, and it seems that all the diverse and sometimes conflicting experiences people have had can be accounted for, using the BSD model.

 

I personally think he over reaches in places, but he has done a superb job of compiling BSD teachings from all over the world in one place.

 

A big emphasis of the book is thinking about how to create a fusion or Marriage of our two primary souls, and there is also a lot of excellent research compiling how different Traditions have approached this Great Work...

 

It is very worth the read if you are interested in this subject.