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conan
Alternate Internet Ego


Registered: 09/03/06
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Loc: Austin, TX
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Buddhism rebirth question
#13467696 - 11/11/10 08:32 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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I don't know too much about Buddhism or rebirth so I thought I'd give it a try over in these waters.
It's so hard to put my actual questions and experiences into words so I'll just start with my basic question, approached from two different questions.
If in a past life I was able to abandon fetters, how or when would I become conscious of my past life doings?
If I was able to abandon the first three fetters in my lifetime now, would I have to come to some realization in my next life that I am already on the way towards enlightenment?
-------------------- Be Here Now
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lolwut
bad motherfucker

Registered: 08/14/10
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Re: Buddhism rebirth question [Re: conan]
#13467745 - 11/11/10 08:44 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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It's said once you reach enlightenment you can recount past lives through meditation, but not neccessarily before. You wouldn't have to come to that realisation, but you might feel more inclined to follow a certain path by nature. The conciousness carries over at rebirth then gets clouded again by the conditions of the new body/birth (as you grow up), but not to such an extent that all previous work is lost.
PS. I think everyone's on the way to enlightenment already, whether or not they put it in those terms or realise it. Most people want to be the best person they can be.
-------------------- Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth, and taste...
Edited by lolwut (11/11/10 08:45 AM)
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moi
Stranger


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Re: Buddhism rebirth question [Re: lolwut]
#13467764 - 11/11/10 08:50 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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but it's also said that rebirth is just a concept that makes you think about birth/death until you find out you've never been born (maharshi said it)
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HeartAndMind



Registered: 01/09/10
Posts: 1,410
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Re: Buddhism rebirth question [Re: conan]
#13467769 - 11/11/10 08:51 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Future and past are just concepts, as they are happening here & now. One day you will realize truth & that will also happen here and now
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conan
Alternate Internet Ego


Registered: 09/03/06
Posts: 501
Loc: Austin, TX
Last seen: 9 years, 3 months
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Re: Buddhism rebirth question [Re: lolwut]
#13467780 - 11/11/10 08:55 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
lolwut said: You wouldn't have to come to that realisation, but you might feel more inclined to follow a certain path by nature.
This is what interests me the most. I feel more than inclined; I feel shoved.
I feel like there is a huge lake of potential energy being held in me by a strong dam. I feel like I want the dam to burst open and wash everything away, restoring the land to how it was meant to be. But instead I feel like I use the dam as a source of energy, to pump water from far away places merely to add water to the lake that is already full.
Bah expression of these thoughts is so limited
-------------------- Be Here Now
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conan
Alternate Internet Ego


Registered: 09/03/06
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Quote:
HeartAndMind said: Future and past are just concepts, as they are happening here & now. One day you will realize truth & that will also happen here and now 
Just read Be Here Now by Ram Dass. As profound as his book was, I feel as if I wrote the damn thing. His ability to express his thoughts are absolutely mind blowing.
-------------------- Be Here Now
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Chronic7
Registered: 05/08/04
Posts: 13,679
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Re: Buddhism rebirth question [Re: moi]
#13467818 - 11/11/10 09:08 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
moi said: but it's also said that rebirth is just a concept that makes you think about birth/death until you find out you've never been born (maharshi said it)
Yes, that's why these questions are not conductive for self realization, although at least the mind is starting to turn inwards...
Past lives could have prepared this incarnation for you, to be the one you fully awaken to your true nature, or maybe you have previously awoken & have returned for the joy of awakening other beings Either way the Self is the thing to focus on, not this incarnation or any previous incarnation, as what incarnates/reincarnates anyway? Its the mind, not the Self.
I have people around me who think im the reincarnation of a dude that sat with maharshi I don't entertain the idea at all, i am neither this body nor any body that existed in the past, its irrelevant
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HeartAndMind



Registered: 01/09/10
Posts: 1,410
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Re: Buddhism rebirth question [Re: conan]
#13467826 - 11/11/10 09:10 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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I've read this book, it's well written indeed. I also liked Be As You Are by Sri Ramana Maharshi, very straightforward book too.
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conan
Alternate Internet Ego


Registered: 09/03/06
Posts: 501
Loc: Austin, TX
Last seen: 9 years, 3 months
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Quote:
The Chronic said: Past lives could have prepared this incarnation for you, to be the one you fully awaken to your true nature, or maybe you have previously awoken & have returned for the joy of awakening other beings.
I need to quit trolling the pub...
Quote:
The Chronic said:I have people around me who think im the reincarnation of a dude that sat with maharshi I don't entertain the idea at all, i am neither this body nor any body that existed in the past, its irrelevant
If you were this body at one time wouldn't reflection on this be utterly enlightening? The process of rebirth seems to me as being the the highest form of change, aside from the change from non to enlightened being (which seems to be a form of rebirth in itself).
-------------------- Be Here Now
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Chronic7
Registered: 05/08/04
Posts: 13,679
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Re: Buddhism rebirth question [Re: conan]
#13467923 - 11/11/10 09:41 AM (13 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
conan said:
Quote:
The Chronic said:I have people around me who think im the reincarnation of a dude that sat with maharshi I don't entertain the idea at all, i am neither this body nor any body that existed in the past, its irrelevant
If you were this body at one time wouldn't reflection on this be utterly enlightening?
Not particularly, reflecting on the truth of your bodiless being, now that is enlightening 
If i was enlightened in a previous life it is because i meditated on the Self in that incarnation Im very drawn to meditate on the Self in this incarnation but if i was to start speculating about previous lives... Then that would not be meditating on the Self
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