REINCARNATION & PAST LIFE REGRESSION: HOCUS POCUS OR PART OF OUR CYCLE OF LIFE?
This has been a subject that has fascinated me for the longest time.
The videos (POSTED IN THE BELOW LINK) document real-life stories of children and adults who are able to recall memories of their past lives. Some achieve it without any external help, while others require 'hypnosis' to retrieve the memories of a life before this present one. And the hypnosis treatment is known as 'Past Life Regression".
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/05/reincarnation.html
I have always felt that if we are here now, then it is possible that we could have been here before this and could possibly be here again in the future.
Also, how do I explain that un-deniable feeling of "Dejavu"? And this has happened to many people across the globe - regardless to their faith, creed, race and culture. That strange familiar feeling that we have been some place before, seen or done something before, and even met someone before - so many examples to cite and yet, no real logical explanation can be given in such instances. It is almost eerie or inexlicably uncanny. Hence, I have always been very curious how much the mind remembers and how accurately it actually retains memories.
Personally, I have read quite a few books on this subject - especially those written by Dr. Brian L. Weiss who is a trained & certified Psycho-Therapist in the USA. He is one of many who made Past Life Regression very 'mainstream' when he published his books: "Same Soul, Many Bodies" and "Many Lives, Many Masters".
Dr. Brian Weiss, himself, was totally blown away and astonished when he first discovered that there was such a thing. And he was brought up in a middle class America, very Christian environment - not believing in such things prior to a fateful session with one of his patients named: Catherine, who was under hypnopsis therapy with him at that time. It was a life changing moment for both him and Catherine from that session onwards.
On a daily basis, we hold many different memories as it is. How much we remember and how accurately we remember will also present different answers to the puzzles in our lives.
I do not believe that the existence of Past Lives 'fails' when someone fails to recognise someone or something in this life, because some memories may be hard to recall for whatever reason. Especially painful ones. And there are also some memories which could be 'buried deeper', and it would take a longer time to 'unfold'.
The fact that some people can recall something so far remote from their present lives (with such incredible accuracy) is already proof in itself that we were all here before.
I also do not believe that the theory of Past Lives rob us of our responsibility and desire to live out our current lives in full. Because, there is always the obvious and explicit matter of "free will".
As much as we are 'recycled' from one life after another, we also have the natural birth right to exercise our 'free will' and that determines what choices we make in each lifetime.
After all - just in this life alone - this why or how we have ended up with the state we are in now. We all have made certain crucial decisions and they have lasting results and effects. They have led us to where we are here and now.
So, imagine (if you can) all the decisions and actions that have been effected from previous lives - imagine how they all accummulate and mould us into the people we are in this life, and how they have all pre-disposed us with certain habituations - just imagine.
But even then, I like to think that fate and outcomes in each lifetime can be changed when we ourselves make a real change.
Our 'free will' allows us to make that change for the better, or for the worse - or no change at all. At the end of the day, it is our action or inaction or no action that created something with consequences in our lives.
One thing I do appreciate in the existence of "Past Life Regression" as conducted by medically trained therapists and doctors, is that it 'legitimises' the reality of it all.
As always, in our currrent society, if it can't be explained by Science, then it is illogical. And so, when medically trained therapists and doctors themselves certify the very existence of PAST LIVES, then it cannot be false. It could very well be true!
In any case, I think that someone or anyone becomes a firm believer ONLY AFTER they have experienced something for themselves. Until then, they can't be bothered with it, or be persuaded or convinced.
This is all very understandable, because how can anyone believe in something they have not felt, seen, heard of or experienced? Especially when in all their lives, they were raised and programmed to believe that such things do not exist.
I believe that whether we know or remember anything at all is not as important as what we choose to do with it, and how we have benefited from it, in order to become better people. That is the most important key issue here - how has anything in our lives (past or present) helped us into becoming better living icons of humanity.
This is my humble opinion.
What's yours?
From my understanding, the teachings of the Buddha is about the hear and now. The past is behind you and the future has yet to occur. The balance point between the two is where the buddhist practitioner finds himself. Or struggles to find himself.
ReplyDeleteI think the focus on reincarnation as a differentiator of what buddhism has to offer is a very Western view of comparative religions. The idea there is an eternal soul and that there somehow can be a transmission or restoration of that soul seems like an attractive concept to someone trying to hold on to benefits that come with life.
I was taught that the six plans of existence were metaphors for the practitioner. That the practitioner was in fact dying and being 'reborn' or reincarnated every instant of his existence. That this reincarnation was not a full transmigration, but a partial transmigration - i.e. the person is not the same person he was in the last instant but is based off all the factors that led him to this point. That each reincarnation is influenced by the decisions made by the practitioner, which in turn creates the karmic load keeping the practitioner in samsara.
Colin
Hear and now. Hahahahahh...
ReplyDeleteOf course, that should be here and now.
And with that, did your ears get itchy today, Shirley? Tracey Yap, Ng Bee Ling and I mentioned you in passing this afternoon.
Smile.
Colin
*Shirley keeps scratching her ears and wonders what is up with that all of a sudden*
ReplyDeleteGreat sharing, Colin - you are obviously well read. If you do not mind, please get more of your friends to comment and thoughts on this matter. I am collecting opinions on this matter. Also, please email me your home address too. I am going to send you some very interesting reads! Thanks again.
Hey Shirley,
ReplyDeleteI myself have thought a lot about reincarnation. And even a personal belief of heaven and hell has led me to think that there is such a thing. Though I am not Buddhist, I nevertheless do not doubt that being reborn into different bodies/lives exists. Maybe someday I will get myself hypnotized as well and find out for sure ;-)
I had the honour of being taught by a Nagarjuna scholar, a very clever man.
ReplyDeleteColin
I forgot to add that what I truly value most about all these Reincarnation videos is the fact that it unites us all - by the mere fact that we could reincarnate or have been reincarnated at some point in time, as many different beings - be it a young Jew, a French woman, a monk, a fish, a courtesan, a Scottish boy, a Muslim teenager in Turkey - we are all "one big family" living in this same space called, Earth. Hence, we are all really just sentient beings - devoid of labels, names and tags. There is really no great divide between you and I. We may have been friends, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, or even parent and child. Peace and harmony between us all should not be that difficult then, should it?
ReplyDeleteI've never come to any conclusion about this issue. It seems to me that we've all been around the block on this planet many times in some form or another. And yet, I have never quite been able to swallow the idea that I was some exact other person historically. It feels too literal a view of the whole thing.
ReplyDelete@ Chelo - Thanks so much for taking time and leaving your comments, sista! Your new look is really awesome. Missing you all and hope that you guys are really rising from strength to strength.
ReplyDelete@ Nathan - Thank you for sharing. I always enjoy reading your comments and thoughts. Especially in your own blog. Personally, I never think that we can stay exact replicas of the same person in any historically manner. Just in this lifetime alone, we have all changed, evolved and grown in many ways. So, I would imagine the same applies to each lifetime. I'd like to think that we are supposed to learn, evolve and grow into better versions of ourselves until we reach that ultimate stage of Enlightenment - then we are truly well and free from this cyclic existence. If we choose to come back, it is to help and free the rest from samsara. In that respect, I would sincerely hope that all of us would keep improving over time, and over lifetimes - not just remaining stagnant or the same. Then, we can call it, a real progress :)
By the way, please excuse all my typo errors and grammatical mistakes...it is challenging running around borrowing computers to work on while mine is out of order and is being serviced at the shop. Every PC has a sort of personality of its own. I have to learn how to use different PCs or laptops, and get myself familiarised with their own unique characteristics - however minute their variations may be. Kinda like people and life, actually :)
ReplyDeletewacky PCs - why can't they all just be the same? lol :)
ReplyDelete