Where does consciousness GO after death?

Rebirth: dying countless times: Samsara

We’ve died [countless] deaths and still don’t know why: Buddhist Abhidhamma explained

Ocean of Saṃsāra (Bhavacakra)

(Buddhist Audio books) May 17, 2025: Why have our lives always felt incomplete? This video reveals the shocking truth behind why 🌌 Samsara — the Endless Cycle of Birth, Death, and Rebirth — has no beginning.

[Samsara also has no foreseeable end, like a carousel. Like a whirlpool in the ocean, it will not stop, but it is possible to escape get off.]

Drawing from powerful Buddhist sutras like the Anamatagga Samyutta and deep insights from the Abhidhamma (the "Doctrine in Ultimate Terms" or "Higher Teaching"), let's reveal the hidden causes of our suffering and why we keep returning again and again.

🧘‍♂️ LEARN:

• What is Samsara and why does it feel endless?
• How our past lives shape our present life
• How to escape the cycle according to the Buddha.

📜 Based on the Anamatagga Samyutta and other Theravada sutras (Pali canon) and Theravada Abhidhamma teachings and ancient Buddhist meditation teachings.

We are on infinite repeat (Groundhog Day)

SUTRA: All the Foliage in a Forest

(Linked Discourses 15.1, Chapter One, "Grass and Sticks")

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī within Jeta’s Grove, in millionaire’s monastery. There he addressed the meditators, “Meditators!”

“Venerable sir,” they replied.

Then the Buddha told them, “Meditators, this Samsara (Cycle of Rebirth) has no discernible beginning. No first point is to be found of sentient beings wandering and being reborn, clouded by [the smoke of] ignorance and fettered [and being burned] by craving.

“Suppose a person were to strip all the grass, sticks, branches, and leaves in the Black Plum Tree Land, gather them together into a single pile, chop them into pieces, and lay them down, saying:

“‘This is my mother, this is my grandmother...’ The grass, sticks, branches, and leaves of the Black Plum Tree Land would run out before that person’s mothers and grandmothers were all counted. Why? Samsara has no discernible beginning. No first point is to be found of sentient beings wandering and being reborn, clouded by ignorance and fettered by craving.

“For a long time have we all undergone disaster, disappointment, and agony, swelling the cemeteries. It has been more than long enough for one to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed from all conditions.”

🙏 The Buddha realized the endlessness of Samsara through his fully awakened wisdom on the night of his great enlightenment (maha bodhi). With the divine eye (dibba cakkhu) he developed, he gained the recollection of countless past lives, his own and others'.

He saw beings being born and dying over vast aeons (kalpas), across uncountable realms (on 31 Planes of Existence, which are divided into three spheres), with no discernible beginning point to the impersonal, impermanent, and impossible-to-satisfy cycle.

The Buddha taught in the Anamatagga Samyuththa, “The beginning of this continued wandering on is not to be discovered.”

This is stated not based on faith but direct knowledge. Samsara is endless because each life is caused by previous karma (deeds), which are willed and carried out due to ignorance and craving and aversion. These in turn arise from previous conditions, in a chain of 12 causal links beginning with ignorance.

Thus, the Buddha clearly saw that there was no ultimate creator, no first cause [or prime mover], only a wheel of conditional existence turning without beginning. More

ABOUT: 💡 From emotional stories and ancient wisdom to rare teachings of the Buddha, this is a journey through time, karma, and consciousness. Whether one is new to Buddhism or a deep practitioner, this video changes how we see our lives.

🔔 Subscribe for more deep Buddhist wisdom and life-changing insights. 👉 Remember to like, comment, and share if this moved your heart. #buddhism #samsara #WhySamsaraIsEndless #buddhateachings #rebirth #Karma #Abhidhamma #AnamataggaSutta #CycleOfLife #spiritualawakening #PastLives #Theravada #BuddhistMeditation #EscapeSamsara #DeepWisdom #LifeAfterDeath #SpiritualJourney #DhammaTalk #Mindfulness #BuddhistPhilosophy #Theravada Buddhism #Abhidhamma Teachings #realms of Rebirth Buddhism #spirituality #buddha #Buddhism Afterlife Beliefs #BuddhistCosmology #Abhidhamma #HeavenAndHell #MindAndReality

• Buddhist Audio books, May 17, 2025; Dhr. Seven (trans. based on Ven. Sujato, suttacentral.net), Wisdom Quarterly

Beth Upton: The mind, nama, heart

The mind, nāma, and heart

This is not mind, but the mind base is near here.

(Beth Upton) Feb. 24, 2025: Here British Buddhist meditation master Beth Upton, formerly the successful Burmese Theravada Buddhist nun Sayalay Anutara, gives a brief overview of what is meant by the terms "mind," "nāma," and "heart" during a meditation retreat Q&A.

• VIDEO: Knowing and Seeing with Beth Upton

Diving into the Pa Auk Forest to meditate

These educational Dhamma videos are made possible only by the generous donations of viewers. Please consider supporting the extraordinary work of making the historical Buddha's Teachings known in the English-speaking world:

• bethupton.com/support
• Patreon: bethupton
• Info: bethupton.com

• Beth Upton (bethupton.com), video shot by Alexis P.N. (alexispn777@gmail.com) and Zsolt Batar @GuavaFunk: YouTube/laffcotchtv; edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

What is consciousness? (Ananda G.)

• What in Brief is Buddhism: Ambassador to the US, Dr. Ananda Guruge PhD | Buddha's Light Publications (blpusacorp.com)
• What in Brief is Buddhism? by Guruge, Ananda W. P.: Very Good+ Softcover (1999) 1st Paperback Edition. | P.C. Schmidt, Bookseller (abebooks.com)

Rick Hanson: Intro to Neurodharma Workshop

Dr. Rick Hanson, Ph.D., LionsRoar.org; Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Very understandably these days, the person we long to be -- and already are, deep down -- could be covered over with distractions, stresses, frustrations, and fears.

But we’ve all had a sense of being calm and clear, loving and happy, wide open and fully present. The good news is that we can develop these qualities further in a step-by-step path of personal practice.

Join Dr. Rick Hanson on September 10 for An Introduction to Neurodharma Online Workshop. Discover this path and learn practical methods based on modern brain science and ancient wisdom. This live, daylong workshop will explore how to:

• Steady the mind
• Warm the heart
• Feel more satisfied
• Embrace the whole self
• Be more present
• Feel more connected to everything
• Rest in stillness and possibility

Lion's Roar (lionsroar.org)

Dr. Hanson has pulled together some profound and powerful insights and tools for inner freedom, sweet joy, a radiant heart, and sublime peace.

Sign up by August 31, 2022 and use coupon code LIONSROAR50 with the current discount to get a total of 40% off the regular price.

• courses.rickhanson.net/courses/introduction-to-neurodharma

Ajahn Chah: Natural state of mind (video)

Ajahn Chah; TheSilentWatcher; Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

How can we know anything? Epistemology

When we talk about study, we can understand it like this: Our eye is a subject of study, our ear is a subject of study -- everything is a subject of study.

We can know that form [body, physicality, matter] is like this and like that. But we attach to form and don’t know the way out.

We can distinguish sounds, but then we attach to them. Forms, sounds, scents, flavors, tactile sensations, and mental impressions are ALL like a snare that entraps beings.

To investigate these things is our way of practicing Dharma (Dhamma). When some sensation (feeling) arises, we turn to our understanding to appreciate it.

If we are knowledgeable regarding theory, we will immediately turn to that and see how such and such a thing happens like this and then becomes that… and so on.

If we haven’t learned theory in this way then we have just the natural state of our mind to work with. This is our Dharma. If we have wisdom then we’ll be able to examine this natural mind of ours and use this as our subject of study. It’s exactly the same thing.

Our natural mind is theory. The Buddha said to take whatever thoughts and feelings arise and investigate them. Use the reality of our natural mind as our theory. We rely on this [directly observable] reality.

Consciousness and Matter EXPLAINED

Dr. Rewata Dhamma (Pariyatti.org, PDF); Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.) Wisdom Quarterly

"Mind" (cittas) is not in the brain but rather in the whole holographic body and beyond.

The ultimate constituents of matter (kalapas) are fast but can be perceived directly.

What was the Buddha thinking under the bodhi tree after enlightenment? The Abhidharma

.

Kindle (amazon.com)

What must the Buddha have been thinking under the bodhi tree? The ascetic Siddhartha after choosing to pursue the absorptions and emerge temporarily cleansed was contemplating Dependent Origination to gain liberating insight and permanent purification.

But the Buddha (Siddhartha after enlightenment) spent weeks contemplating how to make the Dharma known to the world, a doctrine that includes the "Higher Teaching" or ultimate truth called the Abhidharma.

This book is intended for all serious students of Buddhism interested in that "Higher Teachings."

It is a supplement to Bhikkhu Bodhi's A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (Pariyatti Press) and it explains the process of consciousness and matter.

It was researched and written by the pundit Aggamahāpaṇḍita Bhaddanta Dr. Rewata Dhamma and edited by Aggamahāpaṇḍita Ven. Dr. Kumarabhivamsa (2004).

Mind and Matter

But how can the knower know that s/he knows or, moreover, know what knowing is?

 
INTRODUCTION

Real spirits and real psychological factors

The Abhidharma deals in detail with all mental and material phenomena and their interdependence.

In Western philosophy there is no detailed treatment of consciousness as a separate entity. Instead it is spoken of in terms of the way the brain uses consciousness. Even modern Western psychology does not tackle the nature of consciousness itself but instead is limited to the study of behavior (be it human or animal).

Abhidharma Studies (Ven. Nyanaponika Thera)

In Buddhism a human being is regarded as being mind and matter and nothing else.Therefore, the Abhidharma looks at mind and matter in great detail. In fact when we see what we call a “human being,” we are really seeing a manifestation of a deeper underlying reality, that is, that certain mental and material phenomena have combined together. The Abhidharma enumerates 28 different kinds of matter, and it also describes subtle particles known as kalāpas.

These subtle particles cannot be seen with the naked eye or felt by touch but one can experience them in the body as qualities or energies. The Abhidharma describes how states of consciousness, states of mind, and states of matter arise and pass away millions of time each second.

One whose mind is developed through the practice of meditation can experience these realities, how they arise and pass away on a moment by moment basis. In fact during each moment the consciousnesses and material elements arise and pass away many millions of times. Someone who does not know about the Abhidharma will have great difficulty understanding this incredibly rapid process.

 

Monks and devotees under bodhi tree (WQ).

To draw another analogy with modern science we could say that if one reads a book on theoretical physics, then one could develop a better understanding of say the structure of the atom. However, to pursue this analogy with science a little further, we must realize that the knowledge of the theoretical physicist is just that, it is only theoretical intellectual knowledge.

It is only when physicists use the correct equipment (such as particle accelerators) to directly observe matter that they will actually have direct experience of the phenomena of the material world that they so want to understand.

A biologist or a biochemist must go to the laboratory and use a microscope or some other equipment in order to actually see for themselves the microbes and complex molecular structures that they have learned about in the lecture hall.

People like the story as an allegory better.

In a similar way, if one studies the Abhidharma, then yes, certainly one’s intellectual understanding of the realities that it talks about in such fine detail will certainly deepen. However, it is only by the practice of meditation that these realities can actually be experienced.

In this book I am trying to explain the process of consciousness and matter according to the Buddha's Abhidharma teachings. I fully appreciate that a reader who does not have some prior knowledge of the language and terminology, in which the Abhidharma is expressed, will not be able to understand what I have

to say.

It is rather like someone who has not studied mathematics trying to read a theoretical treatise on quantum mechanics, which is chock full of mathematical equations and abstract terminology that may seriously discourage a person. However, it is my hope that if the reader puts in the necessary groundwork and studies the Abhidharma seriously, their understanding will gradually deepen.

Studying the Higher Teachings

A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma

Buddhist readers or those who have had some prior contact with Buddhism will know that the Abhidharma represents a very important (if difficult) part of the Buddha’s Dharma.

Many people who find that Buddhism is a tremendous source of inspiration may yet not have actually studied the Abhidhamma, so they have not been able to benefit from its wisdom and potential to give rise to liberating insight.

However, as Buddhism spreads all over the world, there is renewed interest in the Abhidharma. Many groups in Europe, America, and Asia are now studying the Abhidharma very enthusiastically.

In the early 1990s the American Theravada scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi asked me to write a short introduction to his book, A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma (Pariyatti Press).

The book was subsequently published in 1993 by the Buddhist Publication Society of Sri Lanka. He had specifically asked me for only a very brief note, since he knew that my own book on the subject (written in Hindi) was very long, over 1000 pages.

Bhikkhu Bodhi’s book was greatly welcomed by Western students of the Abhidharma and has been reprinted several times. One aspect of A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma is that it describes the process of consciousness... More

• Acknowledgement: This book is a "gift of the Dharma" (dhamma-dana). It has been sponsored by generous donors. Triple Gem Publications thanks them for making this book available for free distribution. (See list of donors on p. 200). Special thanks to Pariyatti.org for making it available online as a PDF and to Wisdom Quarterly for bringing attention to this vital Buddhist topic.
• First released by Triple Gem Publications (2004), Chino Hills, California and the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara (2007).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
1.1 The 52 Mental Factors at a Glance
 
CHAPTER II
2.1 The Process with an Object of a Very Great Intensity
2.2 Five-Door Cognitive Process
2.3 The Cognitive Process of Eye-Door without Transitional Bhavanga
2.4 The Cognitive Process of Eye-Door with Transitional Bhavanga
2.5 First Cognitive Process with a Great Object at the Eye-Door without Transitional Bhavanga
2.6 First Cognitive Process with a Great Object at the Eye-Door with Transitional Bhavanga
2.7 The Process with a Slight Object at the Eye-door
2.8 The Process with a Very Slight Object at the Eye-door 

CHAPTER III
3.1 Cognitive Process with a Clear Object Ending at the Registration
3.2 The Process Ending with Javana
3.3 The Cognitive Process with Other Objects
3.4 The Cognitive Process in Dream State

CHAPTER IV
4.1 Dull-Witted Beginner’s Jhānic Process
4.2 Keen-Witted Beginner’s Jhānic Process
4.3 Entering Jhānic Absorption Process
4.4 Dull-Witted First Jhāna Stream Enterer Path Process
4.5 Keen-Witted First Jhāna Stream Enterer Path Process
4.6 Dull-Witted First Jhāna Higher Path Process
4.7 Keen-Witted First Jhāna Higher Path process
4.8 Dull-Witted Entering First Jhāna Stream Enterer Fruition Process
4.9 Keen-Witted First Jhāna Stream Enterer Fruition Process 4.10 Basic Jhāna Process
4.11 Preliminary Action Process
4.12 Abhiññā Process
4.13 The Attainment of Cessation Process
4.14 The Dying Process Death Consciousness Arises after Jhavana

CHAPTER V
5.1 Process of Kalāpas at the Time of Conception
5.2 Process of Kalāpas at the Time of Arising of the Vital Nonad Kalāpas
5.3 Process of Kalāpas at the Time of Arising of the Nutriment-Born Kalāpas
5.4 Process of Kalāpas at the Time of Arising of the Eye-Decad Kalāpas
5.5 Process of Kalāpas at the Time of Arising of the Five Sense Cittas
5.6 Process of Kalāpas at the Attainment of Cessation
5.7 Process of Kalāpas at the Time of Emerging from Cessation
5.8 Process of Kalāpas at the Time of Dying

Read it FREE now

Can we know what "consciousness" is?

Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

For science talk, particle physics, astrophysics, and comets, see space.com.

.

Yes, it is possible to directly know what "consciousness" (viññāna) is. The Buddha knew and he taught a path-of-practice to knowing. It is not imponderable (acinteyya). And what is it one hopes to gain by knowing? Liberation!

There are four things we often ponder that do not lead to liberation, yet we waste a great deal of time on them even to the point of becoming unhinged.

Imponderable refers to something "that cannot or should not be thought -- the unthinkable, incomprehensible, impenetrable -- which transcends the limits of thinking and over which therefore it is not wise to ponder."

The Four Imponderables

Ven. Nyanatiloka (Buddhist Dictionary: A Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines)

1. The sphere of a Buddha (buddha-visaya)
2. the sphere of the meditative absorptions (jhāna-visaya)
3. the sphere of karma-results (kamma-vipāka)
4. brooding over the world (loka-cintā), namely over an absolute first beginning of it (see A.IV.77).

"Therefore, O meditators, do not brood over the world as to whether it is eternal or temporal, limited or infinite.... Such brooding, O meditators, is senseless, has nothing to do with genuine pure conduct (see ādibrahmacariyaka-sīla), does not lead to turning away, detachment, release, nor to peace, to full comprehension, enlightenment, and nirvana..." (S.56.41).

What is mind? What is consciousness?

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

No one has to lose his or her head wondering where "mind" is (MaretH/flickr.com)

"God made Man, but he used a Monkey to do it. Apes in the plan, we're all here to prove it"

.

The brain starts at the base of the spine

Does Buddhism have an answer? The Dharmic religions are very interested in "mind," which is roughly the equivalent of heart, the seat of consciousness. We think the brain is the mind, but it is not. The base of physical base of consciousness was not spelled out by the Buddha precisely the way the other senses were. Buddhism acknowledges six senses, mind being the sixth.

 

Mike, a living headless chicken (MTHC)

But it is pretty certain, and individually verifiable, that the "mind door" is near the are of the physical heart not up in the head. If anyone considers the matter for a moment, it becomes obvious that the entire body is conscious -- informed by a gut feeling, a broken heart, a mild headache, a strange tingling feeling, and so on -- all playing a part in what we are conscious of at any moment and what we feel about it; "thought" is a minor part.

A powerful placebo

For example, few people have been told that there are many neurons -- "brain" cells -- in the lining of the gut and in the heart. But we walk around all "scientifically minded" thinking neurons are somehow exclusive to the brain, up in the head, limited to the cranium. Neurons, ganglia, axons, and all that hardware extends down the brainstem into the spine innervating every part of the conscious body. We don't need a brain to live; a brainstem is enough -- ask anyone with microencephaly. We sure do need a heart. Some cruel/greedy humans chop off the head of chickens to sell their bodies and are surprised that they live on. Ask Mike, you know, Mike the Headless Chicken.

I'm not a monkey! My doctor takes them, too!

We are all taught, mostly by long winded drug commercials that depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders are due to "imbalances" in our neurotransmitters (actually, that's at least as much of an effect as a cause in the feedback loop of the body), but what we are rarely if ever told is that most of these transmitters are in other parts of the body. Case in point, if one has a section of the colon removed for whatever reason, one is almost certain to come down with severe clinical depression. Yet, look how we treat our beautiful colons. Why would that be? It's the brain in the gut, the brain in the heart, the brain in the glands -- the rolled up gut, which is 23 feet long, has a lot of braincells.

However, of all the sages of India and Vedic Indus Valley Civilization, no one went further in detailing the "mind," consciousness, software, mental processes, and mental concomitants (cittas and cetasikas) than the Buddha. It is what the entire Abhidharma (the "Higher or Ultimate Teachings") is about -- one third of the Dharma alongside the conventional sutras and the monastic disciplinary code.
 

Mind is more complicated than a clock.

So what is "monkey mind"? Try to meditate and you, too, will find out in about a minute. But, first of all, What is MIND?

The individual (let's say the gandhabba or Sanskrit gandharva) is body and mind, the physical-psychological process of becoming, of phenomenal conditioned-existence, the world, the process of perception. The Buddha outlined this as a conglomeration of eight impersonal heaps called the Five Aggregates. (I thought you said eight? Yes, the first four are collapsed into one category simply called "form").

"Mind" in Buddhism is defined as the remaining four categories: feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousnesses (viññāna). All of these are plural because they are heaps, aggregates, countless discrete units within each category, always changing, always impersonal, always unsatisfactory.

• The Abhidharma distinguishes 89 classes of consciousness

Clinging -- to ego, notions of self, soul, eternal existence, selfishness, possessions, likes and dislikes, strong preferences, sensual pleasures, and so on -- occurs because of this illusory separate "being" or personality which arises dependent on causes and conditions, nutriments. What are the causes and conditions? They are explained in the meditation on Dependent Origination as 12 causal links to be contemplated, penetrated, and experienced for liberation.

Shut up, monkeys are cool! - the Beebs

Traditionally, in Buddhist instruction, early teachers noted that just as a monkey going wild in a tree grasps one branch and before letting go of it is grasping at another so, too, the meditator barely gets done with one line of thought and s/he's onto another. This is called discursive thinking, a great impediment to calm and insight IF we identify with it. Just let it be. There is no reason to try to stop it; it is usually enough to detach enough by becoming an observer. It really is ridiculous and like a chattering, clambering, confused monkey, full of frenzy, restless, and craving constant stimulation and/or entertainment.

• Prozac, used by 40 million, does not work, say scientists (The Guardian) Analysis of unseen trials and other data concludes it is no better than placebo nor do similar drugs in the same class, according to a major review. Full text: the PLoS paper (Oops, sorry, suckers! So long, says Big Pharma, and thanks for all the money? No, there's still a lot of money to be made. This study was released in 2008).
• Is it Prozac or Placebo? (Mother Jones)
• History of problem drinking can lead to memory loss in later life
• Doctors and nurses told to slim down for sake of patients
• Five a day will do, larger study of fruit and veg intake suggests
• I was ill with hunger, went to prison for stealing food and became homeless 
• Five a day will do, larger study of fruit and veg intake suggests
• I was ill with hunger, went to prison for stealing food and became homeless 
• Sex trafficking is no myth – I endured it
• Catherine Bennett: No trafficking? Well, there's a hell of a lot of women suffering
• Exit strategy: how to leave the prostitution industry
  
• Beatrix Campbell: Prostitution: a crime of purchasing
  
• Sexblogger's tale: How my life changed forever
  
• "Women have a hard time accepting that I spend my life looking for underage sex slaves"
  
• Brooke Magnanti misses parts of old Belle de Jour life
  
• Can prostitutes' clients become unwitting offenders?
  
• Denis MacShane: Tackling the trafficking myths