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Buddhism + ghosts...
Sorry guys, I'm always asking questions. My google search obviously needs improvement 
I was in the bath this evening + was thinking of Buddhism + its theories + I started hearing the same noises I here whenever i am in the house alone. Now I don't really believe in ghosts but these noises are just like footsteps, + there is never an explanation for them. I don't maintain they are ghosts but I never know any logical explanation for them either. So i just got to thinking do Buddhists believe in all that seeing as its believed in the re-incarnation theory? If so how? I'm guessing not? + I have read a little about the "hungry" ghost but that's not really the same thing is it.
thanks guys, you'll start to love me + my annoying threads soon
:rolleyes:
I was in the bath this evening + was thinking of Buddhism + its theories + I started hearing the same noises I here whenever i am in the house alone. Now I don't really believe in ghosts but these noises are just like footsteps, + there is never an explanation for them. I don't maintain they are ghosts but I never know any logical explanation for them either. So i just got to thinking do Buddhists believe in all that seeing as its believed in the re-incarnation theory? If so how? I'm guessing not? + I have read a little about the "hungry" ghost but that's not really the same thing is it.
thanks guys, you'll start to love me + my annoying threads soon
:rolleyes: 0
Comments
Sometimes, that's where such things belong. in the "I don't know" file.
I have a relatively tiny thin file, titled "This I know for sure..." Then a whacking huge massive file titled "Things I haven't a clue about". It's massive. If my brain was the Bodlean library, that's what virtually every book would be called....
Sometimes - unless it's harmful, or disturbs us in a negative way - it's best to just observe and accept.....
Before I decide to embark on a huge diatribe on reincarnation/rebirth - what do you understand of reincarnation/rebirth? Let's start from what "you know" or have taken in, and move on from there....Remember - we don't ascribe to a transmigrating soul, or anything tangible moving on from 'one life' to 'another'...
Eerrrrr...... No.
Is that a promise?
hmm I think this is something I need to remember + get my head round; advised inspiration rather than forced teaching. + I actually read that last night :rolleyes:
I like this post a lot
then again, it is about remembering advised inspiration rather than forced teaching..
Maybe not promise then.....
a) visit your loved ones, watch your kids grow up and get married, maybe comfort them with the knowledge that there is life after death;
or
b) wait until elvis has a bath and walk up and down the stairs to freak him out?
but, I hope it is my stepdad....
That's a part of Buddhist cosmology. Buddha didn't teach it. It was collected from a variety of Buddhist sources and is mostly a product of cultural beliefs. If you wanted to collect 'An American View on Cosmology' you could find and collate all things about cosmology written by Americans and then they that is an American teaching. It's a silly example, but that's how it is with Buddhist cosmology. I have a feeling most Buddhists would disagree with me on this and I am new though.
Source?
Well here's my reasoning... I just watched the PBS documentary mentioned in one of the other threads and they say when Buddha was asked why he didn't provide the answer as to what happens when we die he said it's because he never aimed to answer that question. He just didn't see it as an aspect of the practice. However obviously there are some sutras which have little pieces here and there. I share the same perspective as described at the bottom... basically it's a matter of interpretation (literal vs. symbolic). I try not to take everything literally... unless I can experience something directly, it's logically self-evident or it has been scientifically proven, I can't internalise it as fact. I set these things aside, but I can see how they can be helpful models for understanding. That's all cosmology and reincarnation is - simplified models.
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/reincarnation.htm
The few books I’ve read about the history of Buddhism and the compilation of the Tripitaka have shown me that almost all of the teachings were collected from a variety of Buddhist sources with many cultural beliefs. It was a couple hundred years before all of this was written down, then it went through different translations so the intact versions are different, so unless we are to start sounding like fundamentalists, it’s pointless to argue about what teachings in the Tripitaka are actually words of the Buddha and which ones are from a variety of sources and products of culture. The majority of Buddhist scriptures are not words of the Buddha- most don’t even claim to be, including the entire third of the Tripitaka. So can we cherry pick like that and say that because there is not a definitive text that has the words coming right out of the Buddha’s mouth then it doesn’t count as Buddhism but rather as a cultural byproduct?
But even if we were to start thinking that way, I'm pretty sure that the Buddha himself taught about various rebirths in the sense-sphere realm which includes humans, animals and devas but also includes realms of misery that include ghosts and demons and hell. Also there is the “wheel of becoming” which includes the hungry ghost realm- and the bhavachakra is one of the most recognizable images associated with Tibetan Buddhism anyway. There’s also the stories about how to become a hungry ghost called the peta stories in the Tripitaka and culturally there are all sorts of hungry ghost festivals and ghost exorcisms- some of these are major holidays around the world so ignoring ghosts in Buddhism for most of the world would be like saying Easter isn’t in Christianity. Or saying that Christians do NOT believe in god or heaven simply because there are some who interpret it metaphorically.
For me, yes I usually believe in ghosts and I admit it. Gives me the creeps though. :eek: But really my strategy is just to accept they are there and go on about my life. Investigating them (especially in my house alone) just seems like a sure fire way to have a panic attack. Maybe I'm just nuts though. :crazy:
its funny u should say this but my hubbys dad died a few years ago + he lived with us + it only started since he died. + i know it sounds like im being one of those crazy girls who just wants it to be true but i have never believed in all that stuff + even my hubby who is the most logical person u'll ever met said he heard it + it sounded just like footsteps. :eek: but it is only when one of us is in the house on our own....
We know Rebirth happens.. So why can't a person be reborn as a ghost???????????
If it is not a rebirth, it can just be the Karma Energy suspende(Which cannot mix into the surroundings)... And those things you hear are just results of the working of that Energy on your mind.. :P
Love And Light,
Nidish
Recently Venerable Sister Hue Can gave some talks about death/dying/ghosts/etc that may be of interest to you:
Death and Dying
Living and Grieving
Palzang
Palzang
I used to date a medium. She was a girl who was like a light beacon for spirits. She could see spirits better than normal people and since they knew this they were attracted to her. But she was terrified of them. She never wanted to talk about it most of the time, but it was very obvious.
A lot of the times I would stay with her crazy stuff would happen like doors slamming shut without wind and door knobs turning by themselves while I tried to sleep. I also heard the foot steps without anyone walking. I really have a whole list of paranormal events that happened to me. It seemed like after I spent time with this girl I started to experience more of these events.
I even recorded a spirit before on audio. It's rather creepy, but to me it's conclusive.
At the human plane of existence there are about three realms that overlap each other namely, Human, Animals and Astral Beings.
For the majority we can see animals and each other however we cannot see astral beings.
From what I've heard and know, astral beings in their realm on Earth also have their kind of ranking ladder which is entirely based on merit/de-merit. Their knowledge, ornaments, glow/shineliness and command are based on merit created when they were humans. Their state of housing (size, colour etc) also depends on their merit
If they had little merit they will be reborn as wandering ghost. If they had enough merit they might be reborn as Earth spirits who live in earth residences.
Besides from Earth spirits there are also Air spirits/Devas who live in the air and live in silver palaces. Well there are also water spirits and Nagas(Mystical Serpents who live under river beds and their natural predators being the garudas in the heavens)
If a human being created a lot of demerit and died as a spirit the hell-guards will drag him down to hell.
Furthermore there are also guardian devas who act as protectors of the good and there are also evil guardian devas(Maras) who act as protectors of the bad and serve to disrupt the work of the good).
Evil spirits can harm us but they'll get bad karma too. That is all I know about ghosts/spirits/devas etc. But because I lack insight into this matter i cannot justify their existence for anyone including myself.
Not true.
There are references to preta's (the class of beings that includes but is not limited to hungry ghosts and what we in the west think of as spirits or ghosts) in the Sanskrit and Pali canons. The preta are a class of being that are often used by example to teach and there are even specific practices that use the preta realm as a basis of development.
Buddhism most certainly deals with ghosts on many different levels.
They can be.
Preta's are a class of being that one can take rebirth as. Its not a good one.
Yeah, you're right. I made that statement a while back and obviously I was wrong.
The point you made about Buddhism being concerned with liberation was certainly true though. It is interesting to take a look at were any possible "spirits" fit into that path.