Death is not death; we will not die. There is no real "self" to die. But what we cling to as self (the Five Aggregates or form, feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousness), that is perishing now at every moment. And at physical death it takes a big leap and there is the loss of everything held dear. Physical death is not the end. It has never been the end. We have undergone death and been reborn countless times. It has never fulfilled us. It is not capable of fulfilling us. Why have we continued on? We are chasing disappointing-pleasures, now here, now there, anywhere consciousness alights and is let down. So let go. Stop clinging. But how? That is what the Four Foundations of Mindfulness are for; they lead to realization that there is no self to cling to. This is liberating-insight that frees the heart/mind. The Truth will set us free. What Truth? Anatta, anicca, dukkha -- the Three Characteristics of All States of Existence. They are embodied in the Four Ennobling Truths. Noble = enlightened.
Anita Moorjani (born Anita Shamdasani) tells Dr. Mehmet Oz, M.D., about her near-death (life-after-life) experience on the
Dr. Oz Show.
Moorjani is a
New York Times best-selling author of the book
Dying To Be Me, speaker, and intercultural consultant for multinational corporations.
In 2006, after suffering from cancer for almost four years, her organs started shutting down, and she slipped into a deep coma. She was rushed to the hospital, where she claims to have crossed into
the afterlife during a near-death experience (NDE). Upon returning, her body healed from that end-stage lymphoma within a matter of days, and within months she was completely cancer-free.
The Dr. Oz Show is a syndicated television talk show created by Oprah Winfrey, hosted by Dr. Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and teaching professor at Columbia University who became famous for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He pushes the envelope on health rather than towing the AMA line. So the show has been criticized by the medical community. One study has claimed that 54% of health recommendations were not medically supported.
W.P.'s "enlightenment" story
In 2008 after doing drugs and stuff for years and after having to go to hospital because I [
World Peace] was spitting out blood a few nights after I went to sleep, and I saw a very bright light, but it was soothing. I was shown three different extraterrestrial species: a Grey type being, a Reptilian type being, and a Mantis (Insectoid) type being. Past lives? My guides? I don't know yet, but after that event I was changed [in] consciousness... I no longer liked war and stuff. I felt like I walked into a human body and was awake. I had telepathy for a while. It has since faded. I still wish for peace and love for us all.
Hindu ideas, not the Buddha's teachings, formed Mahayana Buddhism
 |
| The historical Buddha Gautama (Gandhara) |
The Vedas and the Brahmanism (Brahmin
religion of the Buddha's day) usurped Mahayana Buddhism, co-opted it,
transformed it (by syncretism) into what we now call "Hinduism," which
Adi Shankara created a eight centuries ago from traditions in India.
Shankara
considered the Buddha a "foreigner," which he was, and wanted a purely
native religion for the Bharat empire/country. He came from Scythia/Shakya Land
far to the northwest.
It is very beautiful, but it is NOT what the historical Buddha taught. Talk of "non-duality" (advaita), true self, higher self, merging with the universe, seeing oneself in the All, and so on are very beautiful. But they are not "enlightenment" (bodhi) in Buddhism, awakening, liberation (moksha), complete freedom from suffering (nirvana).
The Buddha called nirvana "the highest bliss" because it was free from all samsara
-- the Wheel of Life and Death, the endless cycling through rebirth and
suffering. One can have and relish and identify with these "cosmic"
experiences and grow attached to them feeling that the little i is
actually the Great I AM, the GOD (Brahman, godhead), God (Maha Brahma),
or a god (deva). That is not what the historical Buddha discovered, taught, or promoted.
He
discovered and taught something far greater. But Mahayana Buddhism,
parroting Hindu ideals without realizing it, sings their praises. These
experiences are apparently real. Many people from India and elsewhere
have experienced them, become blissed out and devoted to devotion (bhakti), particularly with the help of endogenous DMT. But states are NOT freedom, not deliverance, not final liberation.
 |
| I reject the Vedas and Brahmanism. |
States
of consciousness -- and their corresponding planes of existence -- can
be wonderful, indescribably awesome, penultimate, so great that we
identify them as "self." That state is my "true self," my "higher self,"
my "God Self." It is like having to choose between two prisons, a
filthy dungeon among savage killers, or a golden palace with smiling
killers. Both are a kind of jail.
Yes,
there is nearly no comparison between them. Go to the better one, but
recognize what it is: whether our shackles are made of lead or gold,
they're shackles. Whether we become addicted to toxic crack or organic cocaine extract, we would be addicted. We can clearly see that we are not one thing. Can we see that, for the same reason, we are not the other thing?
Shall
we fall into the long-lasting animal, ghost, titan, hellish denizen
repetition of births? Or shall we play in the heavens and call them our
"real home"? If forced to choose, choose the heavens, choose the
heavens! But to choose one is to choose the other as well. For we have a
tremendous store of mixed-bag karma.
Even if we are reborn into a heaven (of which there are many), live their exalted and in glory for aeons (kalpas)
or linger for the common lifespan there, when that merit (good karma)
is exhausted, we will fall and carry on being reborn according to our
just desserts. We will not have escaped anything.
We
will plunge from our high perch into the lower (subhuman) worlds and
suffer woefully and seemingly without end for an indeterminate stretch
of time. And it needn't be this way, because the Buddha revealed the
Path to Enlightenment that culminates in the unexcelled Final Freedom
(Nirvana), complete peace, security, refuge from every kind of
suffering. It is available now.
Cosby, like Harvey Weinstein and other Hollywood types, has been the subject of much publicized sexual assault allegations.
With the earliest incidents allegedly taking place in the mid-1960s,
Cosby has been accused by at least 50 women of rape, drug-facilitated
sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse (molestation), and sexual
misconduct. 
