Reincarnation: What about MY past life?

(True Lives)

My past lives are me, right? I mean, that's "me" as much as this is, isn't it? How could the answer be that, ultimately speaking, I'm neither those people nor this one if, conventionally speaking, I'm as much that one as this one -- and bear the karma (the weight of deeds done good and ill in the past) of both, of all I have been? Answer? Be here now.

REBIRTH: patisandhi, literally "relinking, reunion," is one of the 14 functions of consciousness (viññāna-kicca). It is a karma-resultant type of consciousness that arises at the moment of conception, that is, with the forming of a new life in a mother's womb.

• REBIRTH: (punabbhava) literally, "re-becoming, again-becoming, rearising, "renewed existence," is a sutra term for "rebirth," which in later literature is mostly referred to as patisandhi.

Immediately afterwards consciousness sinks into the "subconscious stream of existence [becoming]" (bhavanga-sota). It is conditioned. Therefore, ever and ever-again, corresponding states of subconsciousness arise. Thus, it is really rebirth-consciousness that determines the latent character of a person.

"Neither has this (rebirth-) consciousness transmigrated [traveled] from the previous existence to this present existence, nor did it arise without such conditions as karma, karmic-formations, propensity, object, and so on.

That this consciousness has not come from the previous existence to this present existence, yet that it has come into existence by means of causes and conditions included in the previous existence, such as karma and so on, this fact may be illustrated by various things, such as:

• the echo,
• the light of a lamp,
• the impression of a seal,
• the image produced by a mirror
• [the movement of a wave across the ocean].
• [Doesn't a tsunami wave travel, after a massive quake, from Japan to California?]
• [No, never. The influence of it travels, but never does a single drop of water move from there to here. Stare at a wave. It seems to be a moving column of water moving across the ocean. But that is not what it is. What is it? It is one water molecule compressing another next to it and so on and so on. This compression and expansion, in a sense, is the "wave," not any particular drop of water. Strange but true.]

For just as the resounding of the echo is conditioned by a sound and so on and nowhere in the process is there a transmigration of sound has taken place, just so is it with this consciousness.

Furthermore, it is said: "In this continuous process, no sameness and no otherness can be found." For if there were full identity (between the different stages, past and present), then also milk could never turn into curd. And if there were a complete otherness, then curd could never come from milk....

If in the continuity of existence any karma-result [vipaka, phala] takes place, then this karma-result neither belongs to any other being, nor does it come from any other (karma), because absolute sameness and otherness are excluded here" (The Path of Purification, Vis, XVII 164ff).

In The Questions of King Milinda or Milindapahna (Mil.) it is said: "Now, Venerable Nāgasena, the one who is reborn, is that person the same as the one who has died, or is that person another?"

"Neither the same nor another" (Pali na ca so na ca añño).

"Give me an example."

"What do you think, O King: Are you now, as a grown-up, the same as you had been as a young and tender babe?"

"No, Venerable sir. Another person was the young and tender babe, but quite a different person am I now as a grown-up man."...

"...In the first watch of the night, is one lamp burning, and another in the middle watch, and yet another in the last watch of the night?"

"No, Venerable sir. The light during the whole night depends on one and the same lamp.''

"Just so, O King, is the chain of phenomena linked together. One phenomenon arises, another vanishes, yet all are linked together, one after the other, without interruption. In this way, one reaches the final state of consciousness neither as the same person nor as another.'' More: patisandhi

• True Lives (video); Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What is panentheism? Not pantheism

Panentheism (/pæˈnɛnθiɪzəm/, "all in God" from the Greek πᾶν, pân, "all," ἐν, en, "in," and Θεός, Theós, "God") [2] is the belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time.

The term was coined by the German philosopher Karl Krause in 1828 (after reviewing Hindu scriptures) to distinguish the ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854) about the relation of God and the universe from the supposed pantheism of Baruch Spinoza [2].

Unlike pantheism, which holds that the divine and the universe are identical [3], panentheism maintains an ontological distinction between the divine and the non-divine and the significance of both.

In panentheism, the universal spirit is present everywhere, which at the same time "transcends" all things created. Whilst pantheism asserts that "all is God," panentheism claims that God is greater than the universe.

Some versions of panentheism suggest that the universe is nothing more than the manifestation of God. In addition, some forms indicate that the universe is contained within God [3], like in the Jewish Kabbalistic concept of tzimtzum.

Much of Hindu thought is highly characterized by panentheism and pantheism [4, 5].

• There's also Deism and Pandeism

In philosophy

ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY

The religious beliefs of Neoplatonism can be regarded as panentheistic. Plotinus taught that there was an ineffable transcendent God ("the One," to En, τὸ Ἕν) of which subsequent realities were emanations.

From "the One" emanates the Divine Mind (Nous, Νοῦς) and the Cosmic Soul (Psyche, Ψυχή). In Neoplatonism the world itself is God (according to Plato's Timaeus 37).

This concept of divinity is associated with that of the Logos (Λόγος), which had originated centuries earlier with Heraclitus (c. 535–475 BC). The Logos pervades the cosmos, whereby all thoughts and all things originate, or as Heraclitus said:

"He who hears not me but the Logos will say: All is one."

Neoplatonists such as Iamblichus attempted to reconcile this perspective by adding another hypostasis above the original monad of force or Dynamis (Δύναμις).

This new all-pervasive monad encompassed all creation and its original uncreated emanations. Modern philosophy Baruch Spinoza later claimed that "Whatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived" [6],

"Individual things are nothing but modifications of the attributes of God, or modes by which the attributes of God are expressed in a fixed and definite manner" [7]. Though Spinoza has been called the "prophet" [8] and "prince" [9] of pantheism, in a letter to Henry Oldenburg Spinoza states that:

"as to the view of certain people that I identify god with nature (taken as a kind of mass or corporeal matter), they are quite mistaken" [10].

For Spinoza, our universe (cosmos) is a mode under two attributes of Thought and Extension. God has infinitely many other attributes which are not present in our world.

BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY

Reverend Zen Master Soyen Shaku was the first Zen Buddhist abbot to tour the United States in 1905–1906. He wrote a series of essays collected into the book Zen For Americans.

In the essay titled "The God Conception of Buddhism" he attempts to explain how a Buddhist looks at the ultimate without an anthropomorphic [androcentric] God figure while still being able to relate to the term God in a Buddhist sense:

"At the outset, let me state that Buddhism is not atheistic as the term is ordinarily understood. It has certainly a God, the highest reality and truth, through which and in which this universe exists. However, the followers of Buddhism usually avoid the term God, for it savors so much of Christianity, whose spirit is not always exactly in accord with the Buddhist interpretation of religious experience.

"Again, Buddhism is not pantheistic in the sense that it identifies the universe with God. On the other hand, the [Mahayana] Buddhist God is absolute and transcendent; this world, being merely its manifestation, is necessarily fragmental and imperfect.

"To define more exactly the Buddhist notion of the highest being, it may be convenient to borrow the term very happily coined by a modern German scholar, 'panentheism,' according to which God is πᾶν καὶ ἕν (all and one) and more than the totality of existence [17, 18]."

The essay then goes on to explain first utilizing the term "God" for the American audience to get an initial understanding of what he means by "panentheism" and then discusses the terms that Buddhism uses in place of 'God' such as Dharmakaya [the body of the Dharma], Buddha or Adi-Buddha, and Tathagata [Well Gone One, Welcome One, Suchness]. More

• Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Mindfulness in Zen Buddhism (Alan Watts)

Alan Watts (Audio Archives, KPFK.org); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Chasing satori is like herding oxen.

On being "Zen," California British philosopher Alan Watts (alanwatts.org) can explain, if anyone can. And it may well be that no one can. One who knows does not speak, and one who speaks does not know. That may be true, but one can point. It is like the movie My Dinner with Andre. What was Andre on about? It's a great movie, but he can only point. There's no direct saying that can communicate. That may not make sense, but it becomes clear with practice. When asking a spiritual question, one will get a mundane answer. When asking a mundane question, one will be given a spiritual answer. It's the custom, not a rule of the universe. Let there be suchness. (What is suchness?) Nice weather we're having? (Weather, what's wrong with the weather?) It is empty, void of qualities, fickle as a thought. (Huh?) You're catching on.

• AUDIO: Alan Watts explains Zen or something like it, Buddhist Radio, Sunday, 12/17/23, 8:00 am, KPFK Archives

No, seriously, what is Zen?

Zen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word chan, which is China's attempt to pronounce the Pali word jhana (jhan), from the Buddhist Sanskrit dhyana (dhyan). That word means "meditation" (which originally meant meditative absorption) but Zen has come to mean what one finds through meditation, through calming and training the mind by mindfulness.

• Arriving at Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness

Jesus Revolution; Sin God won't forgive

Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; TreasureChrist; Jordan Riley

The ONE sin God will NEVER forgive?

(TreasureChrist) March 3, 2023. We were shocked to see what they did. With John MacArthur, Island Boy, Voddie Baucham, Jack Black, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, Bob Dylan, and Marilyn Manson. (1) Thou shalt spread the Truth, and thou shalt maybe (2) win a Bible wrapped in the slaughtered skin of a terrified animal. (Details: • I'm giving away $...).

First we'll ban dancing then we'll ban this hippie love Jesus freak movie

Hate talk/God talk? Jesus Revolution movie should be avoided

(Real Talk with Jordan Riley) March 7, 2023. Three reasons why the movie Jesus Revolution should be avoided are clearly explained in this [hateful] episode of "Real" Talk with Jordan Riley. Many think this is a great movie and think it's causing people to come to Jesus, but is that true? PEOPLE WILL BE SHOCKED to hear the truth about this movie and what it's not telling us. [Preaching fire and brimstone since at least 2022, but Riley does make some good points, doesn't he?] #jesusrevolution #lonniefrisbee #movie

Dharma Punx: Against the Stream (July)

AgainstTheStream.org; Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

This Weekend and Beyond...

Against the Stream in LA and SF

Tomorrow (Saturday, July 15th), Dave Smith and Chris Crotty will be offering a daylong on The Meaning of Mindfulness. During this full day event we will explore the theory, practice, and application of mindfulness as it is outlined in early Buddhism.

Using a practice-based framework, we will explore how the philosophical and psychological dimensions of Buddhism can be integrated into the exploration of present-time awareness. There will be guided meditations, educational lectures, dialog, and time for Q&A.

Q Sangha 

Q Sangha ["Queer Spiritual Community"] will meet this Sunday at 3:00 pm at Melrose. Join in for meditation and conversation. This group is open to all who self-identify as LGBTQ. Organizers look forward to seeing you there.

Silent meditation retreats 

Retreats are a good way to deepen our practice. We have three on the schedule that are currently open for registration:

• East Coast Retreat with Chris Crotty, Vinny Ferraro, and JoAnna Harper starts August 20
• Refuge Recovery Retreat with Noah Levine starts September 1
• Fall Retreat with Noah Levine, JoAnna Harper, Lucia Horan, and Vinny Ferraro starts October 22

Looking Ahead

• The Meaning of Mindfulness: July 15 
• Waking Up in Relationship: August 7
• You Are Enough: Releasing the Myth of Insufficiency: July 29
• An Exploration Into Anatta and the Nature of Identity: August 5
• The Heart of Change: Mindfulness, Compassion, and Activism: August 5
• The Five Remembrances: August 19
• LA Food Bank: August 26
• POC Non-Residential Weekend Retreat: September 15-17

Classes this weekend

• Friday - People of Color Group: 7:30 pm,  Melrose
• Friday - Living the Sutras:7:30 pm, Santa Monica
• Saturday - Saturday Sit with Mary Stancavage: 5:00 pm, Melrose
• Saturday - Refuge Recovery - 6:00 pm, Santa Monica
• Sunday - 11:00 am sit with Mary Stancavage, Melrose
• Sunday - Just Sit Community Meditation: 5:00 pm, Melrose
• Sunday - Youth Group: 5:45 pm, Santa Monica
• Sunday - Refuge Recovery, 7:00 pm, Melrose
• Sunday - Sunday Evening Meditation and Talk: 7:30 pm, Santa Monica
• DETAILS ON ALL ACTIVITIES

Science on weight, yoga, and mindfulness

SEATTLE, Aug. 14, 2009 (UPI) -- Regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread in normal-weight people, and over-weight people may drop a few pounds, U.S. researchers said. Alan Kristal and his colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle said in an earlier study, the researchers learned middle-age people who practice yoga gained less weight over a ten year period than those who did not -- independent of physical activity and dietary patterns. The follow-up study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found people who ate mindfully... More>>