Swimming Against The Current

[camerata]

"The Buddha discarding theology adopted psychology, instead of being theocentric He was anthropocentric. Through this non-traditional approach He understood the problems of man, how they are caused, how they could be solved and the way leading to their solution in a way never heard of before. His analysis enlightened him with regard to the truth that dukkha is not something thrust upon in by some external force, but our own creation and therefore lying within ourselves. From this He concludes that the solution too has to sought within ourselves.

Man was declared to be his own master, responsible both for his purity and impurity. The Buddha's thus enlightened knowledge went against the accepted pattern of thinking in the world about spiritual life. The Buddha Himself said that His is a teaching that is going against the current (patisotagami)."

from How the Buddha's Enlightenment changed the world's thinking.

[rodcourt49]

Why is it then I cannot recall my previous lives so as I may improve on them in this life..so I may then be able to break the cycle and find freedom and Nirvana?

[camerata]

Why is it then I cannot recall my previous lives so as I may improve on them in this life..so I may then be able to break the cycle and find freedom and Nirvana?

The Dhamma is as it is. It wasn't designed by someone for our convenience. The reason we don't have continuous memory from life to life is because we don't have a soul that carries those memories. How it all works isn't exactly clear, but doing good in this life is supposed to set us up in a good situation to continue being good in the next life. At the same time, because we don't know exactly what we'll do in the next life, it makes sense to strive for enlightenment in this life.

I suppose I could say that if I remembered I was striving for enlightenment in my previous life, I'd continue in this life. But if I was a villain who got away with murder in the last life, I'd feel inclined to keep doing it in this life.

Another view is that since we don't know for sure about anything after death, it makes sense to go for enlightenment in this life. It's the only way we can cheat death.

[fabianfred]

Memory of past existences is all recorded and never lost...in our subconscious...but few are able to access it. Sometimes meditation allows access.

Habitual karma is like creating habits...if we create the habit to do good or evil then we are inclined to continue. One who habitually is interested in music during many existences could be reborn with what are considered to be skills of a musical prodigy, because they have trained themselves.

One who follows the Buddha's teachings and tries to practice the dhamma in this lifetime are creating the karmic probability to be reborn so as to meet the dhamma in their next existence.

Many highly respected Thai monks who are classed as having reached Arahant have probably attained to Sotapanna in a previous existence which has helped them to 'fast-track' in this existence.

[phetaroi]

Memory of past existences is all recorded and never lost...in our subconscious...but few are able to access it. Sometimes meditation allows access.

...

One who follows the Buddha's teachings and tries to practice the dhamma in this lifetime are creating the karmic probability to be reborn so as to meet the dhamma in their next existence.

Many highly respected Thai monks who are classed as having reached Arahant have probably attained to Sotapanna in a previous existence which has helped them to 'fast-track' in this existence.

How do you know all this, Fred?

[fabianfred]

Memory of past existences is all recorded and never lost...in our subconscious...but few are able to access it. Sometimes meditation allows access.

...

One who follows the Buddha's teachings and tries to practice the dhamma in this lifetime are creating the karmic probability to be reborn so as to meet the dhamma in their next existence.

Many highly respected Thai monks who are classed as having reached Arahant have probably attained to Sotapanna in a previous existence which has helped them to 'fast-track' in this existence.

How do you know all this, Fred?

My own understanding of things...not something I can point to and show proof of..

My understanding of the workings of the law of karma comes mostly from reading many books in Thai about the life of Luang Por Jaran, and other monks.

I understand it is extremely difficult to reach Arahant in a single lifetime. So when i read that a certain monk, when he was a child and playing with his friends and siblings in the rice-fields of his native Isarn, would never catch creatures for the family pot, like the others, and never tell lies, so that his father nicknamed him 'Ai Sin' (one who keeps the precepts), I tend to think that he has probably attained Stream-entry in a previous life and that gives him a kind of natural tendency to keep the precepts without realising why.

I have also studied books about the life and work of Edgar Cayce whose readings often mentioned karma and past lives.

[camerata]

Memory of past existences is all recorded and never lost...in our subconscious...but few are able to access it. Sometimes meditation allows access.

...

One who follows the Buddha's teachings and tries to practice the dhamma in this lifetime are creating the karmic probability to be reborn so as to meet the dhamma in their next existence.

Many highly respected Thai monks who are classed as having reached Arahant have probably attained to Sotapanna in a previous existence which has helped them to 'fast-track' in this existence.

How do you know all this, Fred?

Pretty much all of this is stated or implied in the Pali Canon or Commentaries. The Buddha and all his major disciples are presented (in the Jataka Tales, etc) as having perfected their practice over multiple lifetimes and having made a determination in the past to be disciples of the next Buddha (see Great Disciples of the Buddha: Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legacy by Nyanaponika Thera).

"Reading" one's past lives while in the 4th jhana ( I think it's the 4th) is what the Buddha did on the night of his enlightenment and is the standard "proof" of rebirth, although I suppose one could also argue that it is simply visions produced by the mind. Ajahn Brahm says "it's so real you have to believe it." The explanation for this is buried somewhere in the Abhidhamma, but I've never read the original text. Basically, the last mind-moment of one life conditions the first mind-moment of the next life and so accumulated "experience" is transferred. In modern terms this would mean that previous experience is buried deep in the subconscious. Some people say that the trauma of birth buries these past memories but I don't know if that view is supported in the scriptures.

[Shotime]

"His analysis enlightened him with regard to the truth that dukkha is not something thrust upon in by some external force, but our own creation and therefore lying within ourselves. From this He concludes that the solution too has to sought within ourselves.

Man was declared to be his own master, responsible both for his purity and impurity."

I'm not sure that this was a new concept. Maybe not widely accepted because it's much easier to rely on whatever church's forgiveness, and not have to accept responsibility for your actions, and not really have to do anything redemptive. It's always nice to deal with an intermediator than look inside yourself.

[rockyysdt]

<br />Memory of past existences is all recorded and never lost...in our subconscious...but few are able to access it. Sometimes meditation allows access.<br />Habitual karma is like creating habits...if we create the habit to do good or evil then we are inclined to continue. One who habitually is interested in music during many existences could be reborn with what are considered to be skills of a musical prodigy, because they have trained themselves.<br />One who follows the Buddha's teachings and tries to practice the dhamma in this lifetime are creating the karmic probability to be reborn so as to meet the dhamma in their next existence.<br />Many highly respected Thai monks who are classed as having reached Arahant have probably attained to Sotapanna in a previous existence which has helped them to 'fast-track' in this existence.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

The Dalai Lama wrote that a few of his acquaintences, focused practioners, have very clear memories of former lives that have emerged from their meditation practice. He also quotes many instances which were investigated & published by Ian Stevenson of University of Michigan, finding quite a few instances of previous lives which can be validated.

The Dalai Lama contends that such past lives are the case for all of us, whether or not each of us remember them.

He poses the question of whether there was an inital birth that began re birth. He believes this would be absurd as initial consciousness would have to have been started from non consciousness.

It was said:

Because the non conscious cannot be the essential cause of consciousness, the beginninglessness of cyclic existence is established.

[agent69]

Have to love you, phetaroi, for asking all the direct questions.

Pretty much text book knowledge. But when one is inspired enough by something, one will practise accordingly.

Then comes another question of when one could be inspired. I guess it depends on how receptive one is. Text book knowledge would say one could be receptive when they have the concentration and the awareness. And meditation might just fit in here somewhere.

Medition and hold on to all five precepts, it's not that hard. That ah-ha moment might happen in this lifetime.

[camerata]

Because the non conscious cannot be the essential cause of consciousness, the beginninglessness of cyclic existence is established.

But this is based on an unprovable premise. As far as modern science knows, a fertilized egg is not conscious. But at some point this non-conscious piece of tissue becomes conscious as physical development takes place. The premise only works if you accept the Buddhist idea that there is a type of consciousness that links one life to the next.