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Ghosts
Hi folks
I'm going on a ghost hunt soon and I'm trying to remember that buddhism doesn't believe in souls so I'm not sure what the official position is as far as ghosts are concerned. But I've grown up in the Western/Christian tradition in which we are conditioned to crap our pants when confronted with the supernatural so how should I approach it in a buddhist way?
I'm going on a ghost hunt soon and I'm trying to remember that buddhism doesn't believe in souls so I'm not sure what the official position is as far as ghosts are concerned. But I've grown up in the Western/Christian tradition in which we are conditioned to crap our pants when confronted with the supernatural so how should I approach it in a buddhist way?
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I'm not sure where you get the idea that there is anything "Christian" in the idea of being scared of the 'supernatural'. It is more likely that such a scared attitude comes from the terror that the materialist experiences when confronted with the collapse of their presumptions. Christian cosmogony acknowledges that there exist dimensions to existence that go beyond the immediately observable. It is only wise to investigate such aspects with care, just as we would approach (for example) any other experiment with the poorly-understood. Imagine the physics lab and early electrical experimentation.
As for the question of 'souls', nobody has yet provided adequate evidence that the reported phenomena can be so described. Remember that methan flares in marshland used to be classed as 'dead lights' until the chemistry of methane was understood. I tend, when on 'ghost watch', to dismiss any theory until there is enough evidence.
The matter of the fear that we feel is even more interesting. As William James describes when he recounts fainting at the sight of blood even though he did not know what it was, fear in the dark is an ancient response of the diurnal animal.
So how does one explain that? In this case, there is still no fixed, unchanging entity that exists in and of itself. The consciousness is still part of our constantly changing, impermanent sense of self. Mind (big M), however, is beyond time and without limit. It is our primordial wisdom state. Everything we are and everything everyone else is and everything we think of as "out there" exists in this Mind, including our deluded sense of self. Since the Mind is deathless, so our consciousness is deathless because it is contained in the Mind. Does that make sense, sort of? Kind of a half-assed way of describing it, but sometimes words fail.
Anyway, now we come to the ghosts. If we can get that there is a consciousness that survives death and "travels" from life to life, then perhaps the understanding of ghosts becomes a little easier. What I have been taught is that ghosts are consciousness that has been stuck, so to speak, in what can only be described as a local hell realm. Often they don't know they're dead, and they keep repeating certain actions that they were obsessed with in life. In one case I know of personally, one of our sangha members in Maryland had a sister who died suddenly and didn't realize she was dead. Her ghost inhabited her home (which was her parents' home as well), getting increasingly frustrated and angry because she couldn't communicate with anyone. Finally she became violent and started throwing things, which, of course, the inhabitants of the home definitely did see. The case was reported in the newspapers as an apparent poltergeist. It only ended when the lama was able to somehow convince the poor woman that she was indeed dead, and she was able to move on.
Now, that may sound like the script for a Hollywood movie, but that's the way it was described to me. And it makes some sense if you think about it. So what to do if confronted by such a spirit? Difficult to say, not being a lama. I think what I'd do is repeat the Amitabha mantra - OM AMI DEWA HRI - and hope that the spirit can hear it and respond to it. I'd also make sure to make a prayer request for that poor unfortunate ASAP. (We have a prayer request form on our website, www.tara.org, if you don't have your own sangha.) Certainly there is nothing to fear if you yourself are repeating mantra.
Anyway, hope that helps.
Palzang
i feel very easy in excepting your view. as iwould think along the same lines
for sure.
to carry this further or ask you ... would you feel a conciousness could come
and visit a day or so after death? they may not understand they have passed
as buddhist believe and just come to visit/?
i do have a story of my neice that was 2 1/2 and passed away.. and to make a
long story short.. she sat and played with toys and babbled with another 3 year old.
we watched him played with her, ( like she was there in his eyes ).. and later that
day he seen a picture of her and got excited sayin she was the lil girl he played with.
and.......... they never played with each other prior to that.
that was presious to the family let me tell ya!
*Biting nails to the bone in anticipation*
Yeah, I'd say that's very possible, Colleen. Children are much more open to these experiences because they haven't yet learned to filter them out like adults do. Their minds are open to all experiences, not just the socially acceptable ones. And the niece that died was also a child, so she wouldn't be so locked into a concept of death and life being different things, or even a concept of death or a concept of life. I've heard lots of stories of young children who vividly describe past life experiences, but then a few years later have absolutely no recollection of them. Unfortunately.
Palzang
Don't forget to take pictures! LOL
Palzang
I'll try to remember that. Cheers :woowoo: