Posts Tagged ‘Death and Rebirth’

Lama Gendun Rinpoche: “death, as much as life, is an illusion”

Sunday, March 25th, 2012
Gendun Rinpoche

Gendun Rinpoche

“From the perspective of Dharma, our death is merely a change in the content of what we perceive. The appearences of our present world cease, and they make room for other perceptions. There is no real break: our mind continues to be what it is in its true nature and to perceive with the same tendencies. The frame of reference of our perceptions changes but fundamentally the same process continues – the reactions of our mind remain the same as before. In truth, death, as much as life, is an illusion, a transient in-between state, a bardo. Contrary to what we may perhaps assume, with our death everything does not simply come to an end.”

Gendun Rinpoche (1918–1997), “Heart Advice from a Mahamudra Master

Pim van Lommel on Consciousness Beyond Life

Monday, January 24th, 2011

Renowned cardiologist Pim van Lommel, author of Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience , discusses his research into the near-death experience. In this extensive interview, he describes the brain as a “transceiver” which receives information from consciousness, states that everything originates from consciousness – which he describes as “fundamental” and “non-local” – and discusses the profound implications of his research for Western science.

Dewachen Wishes

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Amitabha - The Buddha of Limitless Light

Amitabha - The Buddha of Limitless Light

Dewachen Wishes – wishes to be reborn in Dewachen – the pure land of Amitabha, the Buddha of Limitless Light

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Interview with Dr. Jim Tucker on past life memories

Friday, November 19th, 2010

Earlier this week our blog entry about the documentary “The Boy Who Lived Before” and the work of Dr. Jim Tucker of the University of Virginia attracted a lot of interest. As a follow-up we’re posting this video of an interview with Dr. Tucker in which he explains the characteristics of studies being carried out into past life memories. This is very interesting from the point of view of Buddhism as many of these cases strongly support the possibility of reincarnation.

The Boy Who Lived Before

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

This thought-provoking documentary first screened in 2005 was part of the television series “Extraordinary People” broadcast on Channel Five in the UK. The programme, entitled “The Boy Who Lived Before” featured the investigation of the case of Cameron Macaulay by Dr. Jim Tucker, medical director of the Child and Family Psychiatry Clinic, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. It raises an interesting challenge to common Western scientific notions of consciousness.

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Lama Ole Nydahl’s visit to the UK, September 2010

Friday, September 24th, 2010
Lama Ole Nydahl teaching in London, September 2010

Lama Ole Nydahl teaching in London, September 2010

On Monday, 20 September 2010, Lama Ole Nydahl arrived in the UK by coach on his annual “channel tour” accompanied by 50 students who were travelling together with him for his teaching programme in the “channel countries” – i.e. those bordering the English Channel – France, the Netherlands, Belgium, England (and Ireland, which in 2008 was incorporated into the English Channel for the purpose of the tour!). After the ferry arrived in Dover, the coach drove to Brighton, where Lama Ole was scheduled to give a lecture entitled “Buddhism in the West” at the extremely popular local venue Komedia, (more…)

Lama Ole Nydahl – Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on Death and Rebirth

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

In connection with Lama Ole Nydahl’s upcoming teachings in London on death and rebirth we reproduce here the following transcript from a lecture given in Australia in the mid 1990’s. It is also held on the Buddhanet website.

Lama Ole Nydahl (photo: Marcin Muchalski)

Lama Ole Nydahl (photo: Marcin Muchalski)

The Tibetan Buddhist teachings on death and rebirth are unique and very complete. They usually interest everybody who gets them. In order to understand about death and rebirth, it’s important to begin by observing the nature of our mind. Looking at the mind we often think that there are two things. There is something seeing and there is something being seen. There is a mirror there, the picture is in the mirror. There is that which observes and that which is being observed. But if we look for true duality this cannot be found. Where does every thought and feeling and experience come from? It comes from the open clear space of the mind. Who knows it? The open clear space of the mind. Where does it change? It changes inside that open clear space and it also returns to it again. So, if we look for the mind we see that it’s not two things, the seer and the things seen, the experiencer and the experienced. They are not two, but one totality manifesting in two ways. There is the timeless aspect, which is like the ocean, and there is the changing aspect inside time, which is like the waves coming and going in the ocean. And we cannot say that the things either are or are not the thoughts and feelings, either are or are not the mind. They appear there, they are known by it. They disappear there again. Of course they are felt to be different and they are experienced as different. We see them as something apart.

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Lama Ole Nydahl in London 21-22 September 2010

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

This September, Lama Ole Nydahl will visit London as part of his only official public teaching programme in the UK in 2010. His teachings will be preceded by a series of lectures by three of his experienced students who work in the fields of academia and science. Lama Ole Nydahl has visited London many times before and his lectures have drawn hundreds of attendees.

Lama Ole Nydahl in London September 2010

Lama Ole Nydahl in London September 2010

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