Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: wheel of existence

Showing posts with label wheel of existence. Show all posts

Friday, December 22, 2023

Survival After Death: Dr. Stevenson on rebirth

ArtNetworkTV, May 27, 2018; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Cycling through Buddhism's 31 Planes of Existence, simplified to six more general realms

Reincarnation research movie: Survival After Death

(ArtNetworkTV) This is an excellent science film from 1980s, a 40-minute documentary about rebirth research. It features American Prof. Ian Stevenson of the University of Virigina the 14th Dalai Lama, a rinpoche (high lama) reborn, Native American reincarnation traditions, children born with past life recall.

Now I've already been reborn.

The late Dr. Ian Stevenson was a pioneer in scientific research on reincarnation (which should really be called rebirth as it is not an eternal soul again and again taking on flesh as it seems).

The film is summarized in Science, the Self, and Survival after Death: Selected Writings of Ian Stevenson (rowman.com) by his colleague, Emily Williams Kelly:

Ian Stevenson was a prominent and internationally known psychiatrist, researcher, prolific author, and well-regarded figure in the field of psychical research. Science, the Self, and Survival after Death: Selected Writings of Ian Stevenson is the first book devoted to surveying the entirety of his work and the extraordinary scope and variety of his research.

He studied universal questions that cut to the core of a person's identity: What is consciousness? How did we become the unique individuals that we are? Do we survive in some form after death? Stevenson's writings on the nature of science and the mind-body relationship, as well as his empirical research, demonstrate his strongly held belief that the methods of science can be applied successfully to such humanly vital questions.

Researcher Eben Alexander continues this work

Featuring a selection of his papers and excerpts from his books, this collection presents the larger context of Stevenson's work and illustrates the issues and questions that guided him throughout his career.

Our esteemed colleague, Emily Williams Kelly, is the editor of this collection of Dr. Stevenson's writing. He founded The Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, VA. (medicine.virginia.edu/clin...)

A presentation of him is here: • Scientific Reincarnation Evidence by... An evaluation of his rebirth research is here: Reincarnation Evidence in Ian Stevenson's Research by Robert Almeder •

Follow up on this ground-breaking reincarnation research is done by Dr. Jim Tucker: • Reincarnation research by Ian Stevenson... • Scientific Evidence of Rebirth by Dr. Stevenson

Selected Ian Stevenson Bibliography

(1974). Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (second revised and enlarged edition). University of Virginia Press.
(1974). Xenoglossy: A Review and Report of A Case. University of Virginia Press.
(1975). Cases of the Reincarnation Type, Vol. I: Ten Cases in India. University of Virginia Press.
(1978). Cases of the Reincarnation Type, Vol. II: Ten Cases in Sri Lanka. University of Virginia Press.
(1980). Cases of the Reincarnation Type, Vol. III: Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey. University of Virginia Press.
(1983). Cases of the Reincarnation Type, Vol. IV: Twelve Cases in Thailand and Burma. University of Virginia Press.
(1984). Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy. University of Virginia Press.
(1997). Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects. Volume 1: Birthmarks. Volume 2: Birth Defects and Other Anomalies. Praeger Publishers.
(1997). Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect. Praeger Publishers (a short, non-technical version of Reincarnation and Biology).
(2000). Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation (revised edition).
(2003). European Cases of the Reincarnation Type. McFarland & Company.

Rebirth from an Early Buddhist perspective:

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Obsessed with Eating (sutra)

The Four Nutriments of Life An Anthology of Buddhist Texts with introductory essay by Ven. Nyanaponika Thera; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Eliza Darcey (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Four Nutriments of Existence

§ 1. One Thing... Meditators, when a meditator becomes entirely dispassionate towards one thing, when lust for it entirely fades away, when one is entirely liberated from it, when one sees the complete ending of it, then that person is one who, after fully comprehending the goal (nirvana), makes an end of all suffering here and now.

What one thing? "All beings subsist on nutriment." When a meditator becomes entirely dispassionate towards this one thing (ahara, nutriment), when lust for it entirely fades away, when one is entirely liberated from it, and when one sees the complete ending of it, then, O meditators, one is one who, after fully comprehending the goal, makes an end of all suffering here and now.

— AN 10.27

§ 2. Similes for the Four Nutriments

The Son's Flesh Sutra and Similes

Thus have I heard. At Savatthi. The Buddha said: "There are, O meditators, four nutriments

[Note 7: Pali: ahara, from aharati, "to take up, to take on to oneself, to bring, carry, fetch."]

for the sustenance of beings that have been born and for the support of beings seeking rebirth.

[8: Of "beings born" — bhutanam, literally, of those who have come into existence. Of "beings seeking birth" — bhavesinam, lit.: "of these seeking existence." The latter term refers, according to the Commentary, in the case of egg-born and womb-born beings, to the in between period before they have emerged from the shell or the membranous sheath in the case of humans. Beings born of moisture (sedaja) or "spontaneously" (opapatika) are called "seeking birth" at their first thought moment.]

"What are the four?

edible food, coarse and fine [9: kabali'nkaro aharo, lit.: "morsel-made food." Commentary: "It is a term for the nutritive essence (oja) of which boiled rice etc., is the (coarse) basic (vatthu)."]
sense impression [10: (or "contact," phassa) is sixfold, through the: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.]
volitions [11: "Volitional thought" mano-san-cetana, is according to the Commentary identical with cetana, "intention," and refers here to karmic volition.]
consciousness [12: "Consciousness" (viñña'na) refers to all types of consciousness, which is of six types: eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, and mind-consciousness.]

I would eat you alive, son. - I know, Dad, and I bet you want to be eaten, too. - Hell no!

1. "How, O meditators, should the nutriment of edible food be understood and considered?

"Suppose a couple, a wife and husband, have set out on a journey through the desert, carrying only limited provisions.

"These parents have with them their only son, their dearly beloved child. Now, while the two travel through the desert, their limited stock of provisions runs out, comes to an end, yet there is still a stretch of desert to be crossed. The two think:

"'Our small stock of provisions has run out, come to an end, and there is still a stretch of desert to be crossed. Should we not slaughter our only son, our dearly beloved child, and prepare from his corpse both dried and roasted meat? By eating our own son's flesh, we might cross in that way the remaining part of the desert. Otherwise, all three of us might perish.'

Beloved baby steaks for drying and roasting

"And these two, husband and wife, kill their only son, their dearly beloved child, prepare dried and roasted meat. And eating their son's flesh, they cross in that way the remaining part of the desert.

"While eating their son's flesh, they beat their breasts crying: 'Where are you, our only son, our beloved child, where are you?'

"What do you think, O meditators? Will they eat that food for pleasure, for enjoyment, for the sake of becoming more beautiful, for (the body's) embellishment?"

[13: The same phrases occur in the Buddhist monastic's reflection on alms food, e.g., at MN 2; explained in the Path of Purification or Visuddhimagga (trans. by Ven. Nanamoli, p. 31 ff.).]

"Certainly not, O venerable sir!"

"Will they not instead eat that food merely for the sake of crossing the desert?"

"Yes, just so, O venerable sir!"

"In the same way, I say, O meditators, should edible food be considered:

"O meditators, if the nutriment of edible food is comprehended, LUST for objects of the five senses is (thereby) comprehended. And if lust for objects of the five senses is comprehended, there is no bond fettered by which a noble [enlightened] disciple might come again to this world.

[14: That is one has become a non-returner (anagami), the third of four stages of enlightenment, by eradicating the fetter of sense craving desire (kama-raga-samyojana) which, according to the Commentary forms a unit with those other fetters (samyojanas) that are abandoned (pahanekattha) at this stage, i.e., personality belief, skeptical doubt, attachment to rites and rituals, and ill-will.]

Can you make them stop eating me?

2. "And how, O meditators, should the nutriment of sense impression be understood or considered? Suppose, O meditators, there is a skinned cow that stands close to a wall. The creatures living in the wall will nibble at the cow.

"If the skinned cow stands near a tree, the creatures living in the tree will nibble at it. If it stands in water, the creatures living in the water will nibble at it. If it stands in the open air, creatures living in the air will nibble at it. Wherever that skinned cow stands, the creatures living there will nibble at it.

"In that manner, I say, O meditators, should the nutriment of sense impression be considered. If the nutriment of sense impression is comprehended, the three kinds of feeling

[15: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feeling or sensation.]

are thereby comprehended. And if the three kinds of feeling are comprehended, there is, I say, no further work left to do for the noble disciple.

[16: This refers to the attainment of arhatship or sainthood," full enlightenment, liberation from the Wheel of Life and Death (rebirth) and all suffering.]

Lady Gaga in her "meat dress," thinks Leo (Die Antwoord "Hey Fatty Boom Boom")

3. "And how, O meditators, should the nutriment of volitions be understood and considered? Suppose, O meditators, there is a pit of glowing embers, filled to cover a human's height, with embers glowing so brightly there are no flames or smoke.

"Now a person who loves life and wishes to live, who wishes for happiness and detests suffering, comes along. Then two strong men seize both of that person's arms and drag the person to that pit of glowing embers.

"Then, O meditators, far from it would that person's will recoil, far from it that person's longing, far from it that person's inclination. Why? It is, of course, because that person knows: 'If I fall into that pit of glowing embers, I'll meet death or deadly pain.'

"In that manner, I say, O meditators, should the nutriment of volitions be considered. If the nutriment of volitions is comprehended, the three kinds of craving

[17: sensual craving, craving for (eternal) existence, and craving for self-annihilation.]

are thereby comprehended. And if the three kinds of craving are comprehended, there is, I say, no further work left to do for the noble disciple.

The life of a ruler is beset with bad karma.

4. "And how, O meditators, should the nutriment of consciousness be understood and considered?

"Suppose, O meditators, people have seized a criminal, a robber, and brought that person before the ruler saying: 'O majesty, this is a criminal, a robber! Mete out the punishment you think fit!'

"Then the ruler would tell them: 'Go, and in the morning strike this person with a hundred spears!' And they strike him in the morning with a hundred spears.

"At noon the ruler would ask them: 'How is that criminal?'

— 'That robber is still alive, your majesty.'

— 'Then go and strike that criminal again at noontime with a hundred spears!' So they do, and in the evening the ruler asks them again: 'How is that criminal?'

— 'That robber is still alive.' — 'Then go and in the evening strike that criminal again with a hundred spears!' And so they do.

"What do you think, O meditators? Will that criminal -- struck with three hundred spears during a day -- suffer pain and torment owing to that?"

"Even if that person were to be struck by only a single spear, that person would suffer pain and torment owing to that. How much more if struck by three hundred spears!"

"In that manner, I say, O meditators, should the nutriment of consciousness be considered.

"If the nutriment of consciousness is comprehended, mind-and-matter are thereby comprehended. And if mind and body are comprehended, there is, I say, no further work left to do for the noble disciple."

— SN 12.63

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

The Philosophy of BoJack Horseman (cartoon)

Wisecrack; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Written by Charlie Caplan. Narrated and directed by Jared Bauer. Edited by Ryan Hailey (ryanhaileydotcom.com). Assistant editing by Andrew Nishimura. Motion Graphics by Drew Levin. Produced by Jacob Salamon. © 2016 Wisecrack, Inc.

The Philosophy of BOJACK HORSEMAN – Wisecrack Edition

Watch Wisecrack's quick take on Bojack Horseman. Season 4: youtube.com/watch?v=T_JSk... Welcome to this special Wisecrack (subscribe at bit.ly/1y8Veir) edition on The Philosophy of BoJack Horseman, exploring the dark existential undertones of this seemingly light-hearted cartoon. Behind the colorful animations and snarky one-liners is a show that's astonishingly deep -- a series that ponders important philosophical questions about living life in a meaningless universe. From Pascal to Sartre, let's dive into the thinkers and philosophies that are foundational to the show's underlying message.

More TV Philosophy: Philosophy of RICK AND MORTY
Philosophy of SOUTH PARK
Philosophy of HOUSE OF CARDS
SOUTH PARK on RELIGION
facebook.com/WisecrackEDU
Twitter @Wisecrack
wisecrack.co/store

Saturday, July 28, 2018

The True Nature of Existence ☸ Bhikkhu Bodhi

Bhikkhu Bodhi; Buddhism for Beginners Group; Eliza Darcey, Wisdom Quarterly

☸ The True Nature of Existence ☸

(Buddhism For Beginners Group, Dec. 17, 2017) A discourse on The True Nature of Existence by Bhikkhu Bodhi (American Theravada Buddhist monk, aka Jeffrey Block). Here is the full, uncut lecture, Recording 3, "True Nature of Existence."

Friday, May 18, 2018

Discourse on Crying (sutra)

A. Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Assu Sutra (SN 15.3) Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), Wisdom Quarterly

You mean this continues in future lives!?

Thus have I heard. The [Buddha] was once staying in Savatthi where he said:

"From an inconceivable (undiscernable, inconstruable) beginning comes rebirth. No beginning point is evident from which beings, hindered by ignorance and ensnared by craving, set off to continue wandering on.

What is the Wheel of Life and Death, the Continued Wandering On (Samsara)? Hamster Wheel

"What do you think, meditators? Which is greater, the tears shed while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting the unpleasant and being separated from the pleasant -- or the water contained in the four great oceans?"

One ocean is immense. How about four?

"As we understand the Dharma taught to us by the Blessed One, greater are the tears shed while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting with the unpleasant and being separated from the pleasant -- rather than the water contained in the four great oceans."

"Excellent, meditators, excellent! It is excellent to thus understand this Dharma taught by me.

"Greater are the tears shed while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting with the unpleasant and being separated from the pleasant -- rather than the water contained in the four great oceans.

No, not another death, not another death!

"Long have we (repeatedly) experienced the death of a mother. The tears shed over the death of a mother while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting with the unpleasant and being separated from the pleasant -- are greater than the water contained in the four great oceans.

"Long have we (repeatedly) experienced the death

of a father...
of a sister...
of a brother...
of a son...
of a daughter...
of relatives...
of wealth...
loss due to disease.

I was the killer, for what?

"The tears shed over loss due to disease while wandering on through rebirth all this time -- crying and lamenting due to meeting with the unpleasant or being separated from the pleasant -- are greater than the water contained in the four great oceans.

"Why is it? From an inconceivable beginning comes rebirth. No beginning point is evident from which beings, hindered by ignorance and ensnared by craving, set off to continue wandering on.

"Long has been the experience of suffering (the range of unpleasant, unwelcome feeling ranging from discomfort to agony), experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries -- long enough to become disenchanted with all fabricated things (formations, conditioned-phenomena), long enough to become dispassionate, long enough to become liberated."

See also SN 15.13

Thursday, June 9, 2016

How to see past lives: Ajahn Brahm (video)

Ajahn Brahm (Buddhist Society of W. Australia); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

(Ajahn Brahm Retreats) Evidence of REBIRTH: How to see past lives and why it's important

() I am obsessed with past life regression, and this adds just a little bit more knowledge to it. Amazing...

A deep meditation practice, which is the fruit of persistence rather than over-efforting, has the effect of making our past lives recoverable.

Most people are not conscious of having lived before, but we have. Some people are born remembering one or more lives. But we have lived countless times in countless forms. It is usually only possible to remember human and lowly divine rebirths, either from the recent past or because they left a particularly deep impact.

Jataka Tales: Past Life Stories of the Buddha

Human rebirths are extremely rare (when counted against the aeons spent elsewhere, often in subhuman worlds of woe and occasionally in very long lived celestial planes), whereas they seem common because if someone dies prematurely and traumatically, it is possible to be reborn on this plane quickly.

Otherwise, it will be almost a century at the earliest. Why this is is not clear. It is known from regression and meditation reports. See Dr. Helen Wambach's Reliving Past Lives for concrete statistical data from thousands of regressions.

See also the work of another American, the most famous psychic to have ever lived been born in this country, Edgar Cayce, the "Sleeping Prophet" (reborn as David Wilcock).

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Death and Disenchantment with Rebirth (video)

Dhr. Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly, Ven. Soma Thera, Disenchantment and Samsara

"Reality" (samsara)? This reality is no reality; it is unreal (maya)!

Uninstructed worldly minded people do not want to think of DEATH and do not like any pointed reference made to it by others.

(They would be right if there were nothing that could be done, no way to awaken from this illusion of endless life, death, rebirth, redeath...)

Such uncontemplative, uninstructed people deliberately shut their minds to the fact that death is right there waiting. We reject the possibility of a future life. And occupying ourselves only with things pertaining to this life, we seek to immerse ourselves in the ephemeral joys of the five strands of sense pleasure in a futile attempt to find lasting satisfaction.

So tired of this unconscious life, this useless wandering on in search of sense-satisfaction

To make such people think seriously about what is perhaps the most decisive event of life we have to reckon with -- an event that will determine our future lives -- the Buddha stated: "Every householder (lay disciple) and every one who has gone forth should constantly reflect, 'I am subject to death.'"

The uninstructed worldly-minded person sees others dying all around but through intoxication with a pride-of-life one acts as if one were immortal. One sees the victims of disease all around but due to intoxication with a pride-of-health one acts as if one were immune from disease.

Enjoying the first flush of life (our springtime), one sees many an old person in the last stages of decrepitude. But owing to a pride-of-youth, through becoming intoxicated with it, one acts as if one may never grow old.

(BWSA) The Process of Rebirth with comedian Ven. Ajahn Brahm (Brahmavamso Mahathera, born Peter Betts in London in 1951) is a Theravada Buddhist monk in the Thai forest tradition, a disciple of Ajahn Chah. He is Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery, Serpentine, Western Australia.

And one sees many people losing their wealth and becoming poor suddenly, but being intoxicated with a pride-of-power or position, one does not pity them, does not sympathize with them, and does not think that one too might well be overtaken by similar misfortune.

The Moon, Moon, not my finger!

So intoxicated by these, and many other intoxicants, one behaves like a man beside himself, heedless of right and wrong, heedless of this world and the world(s) to come, enjoying fleeting pleasures, like a crab in a cooking pot before the water heats up enough to kill it.

Even in one's dreams one does not suspect that harm and suffering might befall, but when it actually does, one loses control, weeps, and wails, "Why me! Why me!"

Reflection on death, if rightly practiced by a person, opens our eyes to the individual essence of every form of being, its real nature. It removes the poison of pride, which makes us heedless.

We see according to the compassionate words of the Buddha:

"Uncertain is life, certain is death;

It is necessary that I should die;

At the close of my life there is death.

Life is indeed unsure --

But death is sure, death is sure."

But there's hope!

"In one who ever and again
Reflects on death's hard hand of pain
The drive for gross material gain
Goes limp like hide snaked through with rain."

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

"Everybody dies but...

NOT everybody lives"

(Red Bull)

After flying to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet or 24.26 miles) in a helium-filled balloon, daredevil "astronaut" Felix Baumgartner completed a record breaking jump for the ages. He is "the man who fell to Earth."

From the edge of space, exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound-barrier flying in an experimental rocket-powered airplane, Felix broke the record in a special airtight suit. He reached a maximum freefall speed of 1,342.8 km/h (833 mph) through the near vacuum of Earth's stratosphere.

Beavis & Butthead, Jackass, are teens already trying this at home?

He was later slowed down by the friction of our atmosphere during his 4:20-minute-long drop. The 43-year-old Austrian skydiving expert also broke two other world records (highest freefall, highest manned balloon flight), leaving the record for the longest freefall to project mentor Col. Joe Kittinger, who was manning Mission Control during the jump.

Watch the full Recap

Red Bull sponsored extreme sports compilation (2012)

Parkour (Freerunning) in Kuwait at The Art of Motion

What is "Red Bull"?

Pat Macpherson, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

I'm not real, just here to sell mo' sugar.

Legend has it that a traveling toothpaste salesman was passing through Buddhist Thailand when someone offered him an energizing syrup. It worked (caffeine kick), so the salesman tracked down the elixir-concocter and said, We should sell this to the West. But first we carbonate it.

The taste, apparently, never mattered. Is it healthy? Who cares? Do people drop dead at raves chugging it with Vodka? Maybe. So what, the maker says. That's not his problem. Red Bull gives you [corporate jingle] wings! There is no evidence that Felix Baumgartner was a drinker. But Aunt Jemima don't eat no pancakes neither. That doesn't keep a room full of mostly White male executives (at RB or General Mills, Inc.) from cashing in on their comforting brand logo/mascot.

Auntie J originally came from an old timey racist minstrel show of White people in blackface promoting stereotypes. The corporation puts the best spin doctoring on its product's public face. Red Bull may not be good for human consumption, but they do sponsor great feats in extreme sports and funny commercials. If the Honey Boo Boo Thompson Family uses it to make Go-Go Juice and bring on obesity, diabetes, and gray hair, why would anybody blame the corporation that produces it? Soda doesn't help anyone do anything worthwhile, but brand affiliations might. White sugar is toxic, but the artificial sweetener Aspartame is worse.

RECIPE: How to make Go-Go Juice at home using Red Bull

Red Bull sponsored extreme sports compilation (2011)

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Meditation on Growing Younger (video)

Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

(Matt Groening/Highvoltageilene)

Buddhism has an interesting teaching. It is redeath. Time is cyclical, circular, spiraling. We imagine a straight line and do not see it bend away to come around again -- in much the same way, but not exactly the same way.

Death after death, there is life. Life keeps coming. One grows young again and again and again. What people mostly misunderstand is that it is not us. No one is reborn. What is reborn is a process. The process does not stop, so it cannot really be said to start again with each death and rebirth.

What is now? Some body, feelings, perceptions, willed formations, consciousness. They are altering every moment. They do no reoccur but utterly pass away. If we are them, we are dying. If we are something else, an owner or watcher of them, the owning and watching are dying. It's redeath, redeath, redeath.

The body passes quickly, but the mind passes much more quickly.

And with each death there is "again becoming." For all the aging, sickness, and falling away, there is rearising, health, and again-coming-to-be. What then would it be like to talk to ourselves, to say to the young ignorant version of the future that keeps reiterating?

My pets? They're all dead. My friends? Gone. My family? They wished you well. But all of these tend very strongly to come back again. They are not lost to us completely, just in this form, which utterly passes away as they hurtle toward destruction.

But what about me? Dead. My consciousness (awareness)? Gone. My feelings? They wished me well.

I'll be young again! But it isn't living "forever" if it isn't living for even two moments.

In the future I may become male or female or indeterminate (neuter or androgynous), any race, any nationality, any caste, any planet, any form (a deva, being of light, or dense), any kind of being in 31 very general "planes" of existence.

What would I say to that newborn? If it is a deva, it comes fully formed without birth parents. Similarly, if I slip into the Downfall, perdition, the Great Waste (subhuman planes of existence), rebirth is immediate, even if it is into an intermediate state, it comes fully formed. But on the human and animal planes, transformation and impermanence are very obvious.

Meditate. End all suffering.

There is no need to "meditate" to see youth fleeting. But meditation, whether as contemplation or profound stillness in non-discursive awareness, is necessary to see ourselves cyclically growing younger only to die again.

It works in our favor and can be taken for granted only so long as we have wholesome karma to exhaust. When the profitable is exhausted, we painfully face what the Buddha warned about suffering and taking the Dharma for granted as if it were always available to us.

Living Foolishly Now
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