what influences if any do you think pass life experiences have on this life
mushin
hull New
hi its me again, I know I'm new and I've got so much respect for you guys that you wouldn't believe. My first discussion maybe wasn't the best approach, even thou I've been a Buddhist for 40 odd years I've never really talked to other Buddhists , so I was curious on your thoughts. I believe learned from pass life experiences brought forward a strong sense of compassion at an early age which set me up well for the reincarnation I choose. humbly I really am interested on your thoughts, what you think not what you have read or been told by others. In the future some of my questions are really going to be outside the illusion. I really don't have a ego to feed and respect everyone's thoughts on the subject even if there not mine, isn't that how we grow.
Comments
As a zen practitioner I am only concerned with the here and now. No gods or reincarnations for me.
By trying to be as present in the here and now as possible, the past fades, the future takes care of itself.
Ive been slowly leaning towards the tibeten tradition. I took refuges in Zen but I honestly dont know anything about Zen, especially Vietnamese Zen where we have patriarch, bodhisattvas, and many Buddha's we give respect to.
A tibetin monk finally decribed what consciousness and mindsteam meant. I feel that what I do in this life affects the future. When our physical body dies, our mind continues. What we think is ourselves from body and mind "the I" changes and decays. The nature of our mind-potential to enlightenment-doesnt decay. We are born into a new body and each body we are born into we may have more or little advantage to pracrtice The Dharma. All are influenced by our actions today. When the earth turns there is no destination. Circles dont have a beginning nor an ending point. So too is life. No beginning. No end. Life goes on without us.
My past life? I never thought of it. Nowadays, Im thinking if my actions today and situation where results of a pastlife. I mean, my actions today affect my situation in the future. Since death is a continuum, I see no difference. I keep having Holocoast dreams and I wonder if my pastlife have to do with that. Though Im not that young, so maybe a similar situation where my religious freedom is limited.
I mean, it makes sense. If our goal is to end going through samsara and our life/mind is a continuum, why wouldnt we think our actions now dont affect us after rebirth? Im learning to see a bit further in advance in that light so I wont be running a treadmill.
I can only echo what @Hozan said.
I am here and now.
I may be the product of past karmic seedlings that are ripening now.
But I am concerned with the only moment and place I can do something about: here and now.
Do good things, think good thoughts.
Actions have consequences.
Let them be as dukkha-free as possible.
@mushin -- Try not to concern yourself with a future you have no control over in the first place. Try not to assume that being good today means you will get a gold star tomorrow.
Do try to breathe in and breathe out -- no point in dying before your time.
I don't worry about it much. Whatever influence it might have, I am unaware of, and focusing on that just takes me out of the present. Do I think there is an influence? In some way, sure, but my beliefs on it don't really fall in line with Buddhism. But there is probably good reason why we don't recall our past lives and the influence they have on us today. Also, it's no good to use that line of thinking to beat ourselves up, wondering what we did in past lives to deserve suffering we have today.
I think that’s well said. I’m not sure if reincarnation is precisely what we think it is — something may be communicated but this mind/set-of-memories and this body didn’t participate in what happened, so exactly whose karmic load have I inherited? What makes it mine?
But in any case we try to live as skilfully as we can manage. You get certain things from your parents, genes and upbringing, your inclinations and choices are where your karma feeds the world’s cause and effect I believe, you carry it within you.
You don't choose your reincarnation.
I've mentioned before, @mushin, that Reincarnation is a purely Tibetan Buddhist premise (if talking specifically about Buddhism) and as such, the choice of reincarnation is only for those Buddhist lamas who are highly advanced or considered Enlightened Spiritual Masters.
For all and anyone else, there is no reincarnation.
There is re-birth.
And that re-birth is largely a shot in the dark.
To be born a human is likened to a blind turtle swimming aimlessly, and surfacing in the vastness of an ocean, and happening, perchance, to put its head through a floating ring of wood.
As for my own rebirth?
I'm too busy doing 'now' as mindfully and skilfully as I can (and all-too-often failing dismally) to concern myself too much about rebirth, and when, how or whether it will happen.
@mushin, do I think past lives influence this one? Yes, I cultivate a belief that volitional actions from infinite past lives brings all this to be, but I have no direct knowledge of them, so I can’t comment on it outside of what I’ve heard.
What I’ve heard is that the Buddha saw this wandering. Understanding the complexity of its perpetuation, he understood how to direct it to cessation. Understanding that, he did that. That’s why he’s called Buddha. Then, he taught others how to do it. He called that Dhamma. Following his Dhamma, they began doing it too. That’s why they’re called Sanga. I have no direct knowledge myself, but I look to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha for guidance in directing this perpetuation to cessation.
I presently understand that as skillfully extinguishing a massive wildfire, here dowsing it with water, there containing it with a controlled burn. It might take a lifetime. Or a lot of them. Probably been at it a very long time already. But I've heard that was true of the Buddha too. Persistence. That’s how to put out a really big fire.
I think I see the spirit in which the thread is intended but the category seems off. To answer the question is to lay Buddhism aside for me but that's ok.
I'm not quite sure what resonates most with me when it comes to past lives or rebirth. I have this odd feeling we are all carnations and aspects of the same process of being. That if we follow my lives back far enough, they would also be yours. Following that causal chain of logistics leads me to a scenario where Taoism and Hinduism intersect and we are the infinite aspects of the Tao rather than the 8, 9 or 10 aspects of Vishnu. Or as if we are each living a Jataka Tale (a past life of Buddha)
I had a quite convincing dream memory of being a Jamaican American mother getting ready for work and having to deal with my son trying to rush me out of the bathroom. It really seemed like that was the last life experienced before this one when I woke and to be honest it still does when I remember it. During the dream, nothing was out of the ordinary. It would have been weird if the kid wasn't trying to rush me. That is, it was perfectly normal that I was this woman.
I must say I don't put too much stock in beliefs about what happens after this life even if I sometimes entertain scenarios. I figure that if I'm here to learn a lesson then I'll learn it but at least I was born into circumstance that led me to the dharma.
I prefer to remain agnostic on what happens at death because I don't want to limit my options if there are any.
These conversations are always going to bring out differing opinions and the occasional shitfight. People always tend to be adamant one way or the other in regards to reincarnation vs rebirth.
Personally I do believe in reincarnation. How much of it influences our present life? I've no idea. What I can say is that we can choose how we let that belief influence this life. But as Buddhists I believe our focus should be on cultivating the Dharma in our lives and being the best we can be.
Hey man. I have never experienced anything that can confirm or deny past lives.
However, as far as my practice goes, I like to remain open minded as I find it helps me to keep focused on the bigger picture when I get stuck on things eg. my kids are only my kids in this lifetime. My enemies are only my enemies in this lifetime. My gender is only my gender in this lifetime etc.
Something to bear in mind:
Musical Interlude ...
and now back to the life song ...
None
I was sooooo infatuated with Adam Ant in my teens...
Ah, the Prince Charming whose life was anything but Charmed...
The time is now, the place is here.
Adam Ant has had a previous life. We all have.
Every moment past, is a previous life.
There is no better place than here.
There is no other time, than now.
Past life experience[s]?
Would that include past experiences in this life? Good karma vs bad karma?
I think so. I think that that would be the gist of it for me.
BTW, wishing Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip a joyous 70th anniversary! I can hardly believe it.
Love is the best life experience of them all.
"Love is the Opening Door
"Love is what we came here for
"No one could offer you more
"Do you know what I mean?
"Have your eyes ever seen?"
I view teachings regarding rebirth as allegories that describe the flow of psychological changes during this only life that we know. Yes, I can listen to the Tibetan book of the Dead, overlook the otherworldly stuff and still find the imagery helpful to make sense of this present life's mental and emotional turmoil.
If you think of life as a continuum birth and dying the transition between dying/suffering to being born again/suffering, then there wouldn't be a phrase "past lives." Our actions would still affect us in the future after death because everything is linked together. Since the mind doesn't die in rebirth what is the difference between this life our past and our future lives? What makes what a past live if all lives are affected by our actions without break from one life to another?
It's interesting to consider, when a karmic stream takes a rebirth, when that moment happens. Charlie Manson died yesterday, perhaps his karmic stream is someone's new bundle of joy today. (yes, I know that doesn't mean Charlie is being reborn, it's just a curious thing to think about in light of the thread and his death).
Thanks. I needed that, it clarified something for me. It’s given me a lot to think about...
Funny how song lyrics can sometimes be inspired with truth.
Really?
We don't grow. Rather we are lessened or removed as the impediment ...
https://puredhamma.net/dhamma/what-is-buddha-dhamma/power-of-the-human-mind-the-anariya-or-mundane-jhanas/
There is somewhere for my thoughts ... ?
T-Shirt!
Getting a t-shirt is as good as the moment needs ... eg:
meanwhile ... 'Live, don't long and Prosper'
Vulcan Dharma
Humans are on the top of the food chain thanks to the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaures, and I can remember clearly that day, when I was a mouse running around 65 million years ago. How can I remember that? Its just a day you cant forget.
I believe that knowledge from past lives, ancestors, and interconnectedness resides within us all. Sometimes it manifests as "intuition." I don't think that our brains are capable of grasping the knowledge in its true form, but it still resides within.
This reminds me of instinct.
I think instinct is fascinating.
interesting coincident.im somewhat returning to my instinct again.or instinct awareness again.it seems my eyes know when to look...like during work my eyes would instinctually at the soda can on the back bumper on the trunk before i take off on to the next job site. i believe we all have to some degree of instinctual awareness.stuff like this grows the faith in dao and dharma.
i mean truck not trunk.sorry.crappy speller here.
The idea is that karma ripening works as a sort of past conditioning, habits of experience and unconscious narratives.
Very much like the Freudian "It."
My teacher (an old lama/geshe from Tibet) tells us that if we want to know who we were in a past life, we only need to look at who/how we are today.
Because who/how we are today is a continuation of who/how we were in our past lives.
We continually set imprints within our Being. We are either strengthening prior imprints or deliberately creating new ones. And these imprints, these habits, are what passes on from one life to the next.
In this way, we ARE the person we were in the past, whether that past is 5 minutes ago or 5 lifetimes ago.
So our past life/lives ARE who we are now.
Except to whatever extent we have deliberately and consciously set about creating new imprints and habits (whether through cognitive-behavioral therapy or through the practices of Buddhism).
Good point @FoibleFull
Thus did I learn the lesson:
"If you wish to know what you were in the Past, look at your body, today.
If you wish to know what you will become, look at your Mind, today.....
Which neatly demonstrates the Wisdom of the first 2 verses of the Dhammapada....