How do I see my past lives

last SG · 2006-12-13T11:12:36+00:00

I believe that it is possible that a person does not have any past lives.

Cenarious SG

just meditate?

hatemeifuwantto SG

is it possible?

An Eternal Now SG

yes when you enter samadhi u can recall

hatemeifuwantto SG

nice..how to meditate?

An Eternal Now SG

Yup indeed and there are people in our forum who has remembered their past lives.

Anyway here's an article on it, part of a long dialogue on Buddhism & Science:

An Eternal Now SG

If you want to learn meditation the best is to learn directly from a qualified teachers, and one really should, although there are guides from books that teach you basic meditation which you can look for them. Anyway if you want to meditate be prepared to take this seriously, meditate routinely and deeply, not just relaxation. And make sure those books you read comes from orthodox, authentic Buddhist traditions, not some deviant cults that would lead people astray.

Cenarious SG

then how come LZLS told us to sit there cross legged thats all

(human) SG

Did you meditate enough until u can see your passed life?

An Eternal Now SG

Cos you didn't attend the talk on meditation.

Anyway I mentioned next year she will be having classes on practice and meditation. She will talk more detail on it.

nightbatman SG

You don't exactly need to "see" it to know what your past life is like. Your current conditions in this life eg how you are living, how fortunate you are, your family background etc will tell you what are the deeds that you did in your past life which beget the present.
So.. If you're not in a good state, try to do more merits.
If you're in a good state, try to help others and do even more good deeds to earn more merits.
But at the end of the day, what you'd want eventually is to reach a stage where you are fully liberated, without any sufferings or entanglements with worldly things.

(human) SG

Originally posted by nightbatman:
You don't exactly need to "see" it to know what your past life is like. Your current conditions in this life eg how you are living, how fortunate you are, your family background etc will tell you what are the deeds that you did in your past life which beget the present.
So.. If you're not in a good state, try to do more merits.
If you're in a good state, try to help others and do even more good deeds to earn more merits.
But at the end of the day, what you'd want [b]eventually is to reach a stage where you are fully liberated, without any sufferings or entanglements with worldly things.[/b]

Heard of such theory, but not convincing until one can really see it, to reach a state of no more doubts.

An Eternal Now SG

did you? how will i know whether you had? Laughing

or u mean me? no. I'm not one of them. I'm still amatuerish in practise and still quite new to Buddhism actually. (i'm 16) I know one of my ex moderator and longchen had memories of past lives. Longchen was a Westerner in past life who fought in World War 1 in France, he did not die but his life was ruined, therefore explaining his trauma or fear of war in this life. After that he became a mystic in a Western spiritual tradition in the past life living in Belgium and making a living as an artist.. this life he is also acquinted with western mysticism (he is not really Buddhist now, although he is interested in Buddhism) This also explains why when he visited Belgium (this life), he felt so familiar like he had lived there before. Also, this life, he also makes a living doing art (more precisely, digital art). Two lifetimes ago, he was a Tibetan monk from the Nyingma sect, and that explains why he shown interest in the Dzogchen teachings (taught in Nyingma tradition).

One of my past lives of my ex moderator was the Persian king who built many famous buildings in India like the Taj Mahal. He was killed by his son. He was disturbed after remembering and did some 'healing' before returning to normal. He had remembered many many other lifetimes, even as a monk, even including one that he was a Dolphin several lifetimes ago. There could be others who had memories of past lives in this forum but did not want to discuss it openly.

My Buddhist master and teachers also certainly did remember their past lives, they were teachers in a Zen Monastery in Kyoto in previous life. Some of the japanese monks visited one of my taiwanese teachers and my taiwanese teacher could even speak Japanese to them (not that he learnt in this life, he could remember). They even brought one of their past life photo and it looked eerily similar to his current looks. My local dharma teacher has also went back to Japan to visit her old monastery too, if memory serves.

Anyway, interesting article I posted in the forum before: Boy remembers Past Life Being Shot in WWII

(human) SG

Sounded interesting. Past lives can be animal? So do you still eat them?

An Eternal Now SG

It is possible. But I am not a vegetarian yet...

btw i just updated my previous post a bit Smile

a-Lost-9uY SG

press alt ctrl del

longchen SG

There is a past-life regression tape that is available in Success Bookshop in Peninsula Plaza. I have listen to them once only and have not used them sucessfully though.

The past-life remembering sometimes it is symbolic memory that is like watching a show... Sometimes... it is first-hand reliving. Warning: First hand reliving can be extremely traumatic.

An Eternal Now SG

Originally posted by longchen:
There is a past-life regression tape that is available in Success Bookshop in Peninsula Plaza. I have listen to them once only and have not used them sucessfully though.

The past-life remembering sometimes it is symbolic memory that is like watching a show... Sometimes... it is first-hand reliving. Warning: First hand reliving can be [b]extremely traumatic.

[/b]

What is first hand reliving? Confused Last time I told Thusness about someone's meditation experience, and he said that at that stage it is advisable not to know about reincarnation or past life regression. He said that when one reaches that stage of absorption, one would gain the ability to recall the past lives. And not only that, the entire body will recall. He said that memories are not just in the mind. Therefore one should not indulge in it first, because it is not fruitful for practise as one may not be able to cope with it or understand what was remembered completely. Is that first-hand reliving?

Cenarious SG

so my face is gonna grow different? or im gonna turn into a girl?

longchen SG

Yah... for first hand reliving... It is like re-experiencing the experience again... including bodily sensation and pain. If you kena tortured, the reliving is like kena torturing again... Neutral

Because of this, past-life remembering is not something that i actively seek.

An Eternal Now SG

not like that la Laughing .. anyway that person whose experience I told Thusness about was paperflower. I told paperflower not to be too interested about it. I think she hadn't relieved any memories so far after i told her about it and anyway that wouldn't be a good idea to go into it (like longchen said, it can be traumatic)

Oh yes and Thusness shared this article with me, Sinweiy posted before but that time I rejected that idea.. but it seems Thusness thinks there is some validity over this.