question regarding a phenomena..

woodworm

Are there any occurences in Buddhism regarding smell and spirits or the smelling of loved ones who have passed away?

thanks,
woodworm

Deshy

woodworm wrote: »

...smelling of loved ones who have passed away?

:-/

shenpennangwa

woodworm wrote: »

Are there any occurences in Buddhism regarding smell and spirits or the smelling of loved ones who have passed away?

thanks,
woodworm

The sense of smell is deeply associated with memory.
That could be it. I havent heard of any stories about smelling the deceased in Buddhism.

federica

I think this is what you're getting at.

The perception of smell consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves but of the experiences and emotions associated with these sensations. Smells can evoke strong emotional reactions. In surveys on reactions to odours, responses show that many of our olfactory likes and dislikes are based purely on emotional associations.

AFAIK, this phenomenon is not touched upon at all in Buddhism.
Nor is there any reason why it should be, given that it is simply a process of the mind.

aMatt

I have heard of this before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantosmia

I haven't come across anything specific in Buddhist scriptures or history, but sense projections are not unusual, though mental and visual are more common.

Is there a story you'd like to share about a loved one?

With warmth,

Matt

Deshy

Is this a specific kind of mental disorder or something?

aMatt

Well, it can be a manifestation of schizophrenia, depending on the severity. It can also just be a strong memory arising with an associated smell... being encoded in the brain together.... ie whenever the encoded schema for one is triggered, the associated schema is triggered as well. I would say that a heightened stress level would increase the potency of the response, such as grief.

Its viewed as a kind of hallucination. Normally though, auditory hallucinations are more common in the west, while visual hallucinations are more common in the east. I have no idea where olfactory hallucinations are common, if anywhere.

shenpennangwa

Deshy wrote: »

Is this a specific kind of mental disorder or something?

:-/

woodworm

Thank you for your responses. The reason I ask is I seem to remember something somewhere about manifestations of smells associated with spirits and the like in Buddhism though I cannot recall. I could be wrong but it seems I read something somewhere. I work in mental health so I aware of the possible mental associations and problems. I would also like to point out although there a many possible explanations especially the modern day present view, which is quite popular, and I am not so sure I agree. Being that I work in the mental health field diagnoses depends on the subjective view of a mental health professional usually falling upon a therapist and supervised by a doctor. However, seeing the various bad diagnoses it appears to me that the mental health field is not vary reliable. I am extremely skeptical when it comes to personal experience and I am aware of what was experienced. So knowing that no family history or personal trauma exists then I am leery of a mental health approach.