Lake of Lotus (6)-The Profound Abstruseness of Life and Death-The Meaning of Near-Death Experiences...

8/13/2019 Lake of Lotus (6)-The Profound Abstruseness of Life and Death-The Meaning of Near-Death Experiences (6)-By Vajr

1/5

The Meaning of Near-Death Experiences (6)

The Profound Abstruseness of Life and Death :The Profound Abstruseness of Life and Death :

By Vajra Acharya Pema Lhadren Translated by Simon S.H. Tang

in their possession of great powers (please refer to thearticles on The Meaning of Near-Death Experiencesin Issues 4 and 5 of the Lake of Lotus ). As such, theaforesaid two types of powers can thus be manifested.

As for the forecast on the future made bythe power so derived, would it de nitely be realizedas facts? In the article of last issue, there are fewquestions left to the readers for a session of brain-storming on their wisdom. Those questions were:whether it is the prophecy that comprises the futureoutcomes, or whether it is the future outcomes thatre ect the prophecy? Does it mean that if one does nothave any prophecies, then one does not have futureoutcomes? or visa versa? In fact, what is the future?And what is a prophecy? What about all sorts offortune-telling and divinations? How valid are theirauthenticities?

Before we start the discussion, please refer tothe following case:

Omniscience and Flash Foreword

Dr. Raymond Moody, one of the pioneers in doingresearch and releasing publications on the near-deathexperiences (NDEs), after having amassed many morecase studies and related experiences, have furtherintroduced two essential elements into his later works.One of them is omniscience and the other one is ashforeword.

Omniscience refers to the sense of havinga thorough understanding of all kinds of knowledgewithout any exceptions. Flash foreword refers to a

ashing glance of a scene of the future, and this scenelater becomes a reality. These two elements appearedfrequently in the Buddhist scriptures from time to time.As NDE survivors have been through the state of theLight of the Sambhogakaya, and so their intrinsicnature had been restored to a certain level, resulting

Omniscience and Flash Foreword The Truth of Predictions and Future Dont become the Slaves of Fortune-Telling, Divinations and Predictions

ue no.61

djom Buddhist Association (International)oor, Federal Centre, 77 Sheung On Street, Chaiwan, Hong Kong

Tel ( 852 ) 2558 3680 Fax ( 852 ) 3157 1144Website http:/ /www.dudjomba.com Em ai l i n f o @ d u d j o m b a . o r g . h k

Copyright Owner:Dudjom Buddhist AssociationInternational Limited

beoutube.com/user/DudjomBuddhist

Facebookwww.facebook.com/DudjomBuddhist http://www.tudou.com/home/dudjom http://i.youku.com/dudjom

56.comhttp://i.56.com/Dudjom


2/5

Case 6:

The incident occurred back in 1988. Mr. C. J.Liao, a Taiwanese emigrant to USA, encountered a caraccident. His head crashed onto the rear mirror, thusexperiencing a severe pain, and had become unconsciousfor a few seconds. After awakening, he found dif cultiesin breathing. It took him a few minutes before his gradualreturn to normal breathing. He felt that his head wasbleeding, but he could not locate the wound, and therewas only some thin uid running down from his twonostrils. He thought that there was no injury in him, andso he did not go to see the doctor, and just went homedirectly for rest. Consequentially, he stayed in bed incoma for thirty six hours . The following is his personalaccount:

I heard my daughter was calling me. I hadresponded to her many times but seemingly she couldnthear me. All of a sudden, I found myself oating in the airabove the bed, and saw my daughter shaking my legs.Being horri ed, I recited the name of Amitabha once

right away. At that very moment, I felt myself enteringinto some sort of a condensed and compressed space.Upon this, there was a ashing-back in front of me of thenumerous footages on my whole life, just like the replayof a lm. I felt as if being squeezed into a big bowl, orbeing placed on a fast moving track of a passage.

The scene suddenly paused at the scene of myfathers funeral service. I was only four at that time. Aftergoing through the passage, I drifted forward ceaselessly.At an instant, I found myself over the sky of Taiwan. Allof a sudden, I was promptly thrown out by a very strongforce. In the split of a second, I could see the whole earth,like a transparent crystal ball and could see through it tothe other side of the globe.

Thereafter, a ray of bright and twinkling light cameforward to embrace me. It was a kind of soft yellow light

lling me with tranquility and peace . A sense of mission arose in me and Irealized the meaningof life . From thelight came a notionaskin g, Do youwant to go back? Ithought of my fatherpassing away when

I was four, whichhad left me feelingregrets throughoutmy whole upbringing.My daughter is alsofour now, and sinceI cannot bear thefact that she wouldexperience the samekind of regrets as I

did before, and so I decided to go back. With the rising ofthis thought, I was revived to consciousness.

Later on, I came to realize that the accident hadcaused me an intra-cranial bleeding, and I was veryclose to death. According to the medical records, themortal rate is as high as 95%. Even for the remaining5% of those lucky ones who barely survive would have a50% chance of suffering from symptoms of stroke. I wasreally lucky that I did not have any consequent effectsthereafter. After surviving that near-death experience(NDE), I knew very clearly and rmly what I would doand should do in the future. Materialistic life becomesmeaningless to me, and I have now decided to give upmy lucrative business, which has been very successful,and return to Taiwan.

Within the next ve years after my NDE, mycreative power became very strong. My sixth sensealso became very accurate and precise . At one time, I

visited the studio of a singer. When I entered the room,I immediately smelt the smell of some burnt objects.It was three days afterwards that a re broke out overthere. Before the 9 11 Incident, I also had a vision.The backdrop was the Twin Towers, and in front of themthere was an aircraft similar to that of the Kamikaze (theJapanese suicidal aircraft squadron in WWII). I did notunderstand this scene all along, until the outbreak ofthe 9 11 Incident. (From the book Life Renewal,published in Taiwan in 2003.)

The Truth of Predictions and Future

The aforesaid case illustrated the fact that after hissurvival from the NDE, Mr. Liao had gained the powerof predictions which was derived from the process of ash foreword . However, his power of predictionswas not very strong, and he could only have certainfuture visions of some snap-shots, but not in a seriesof footages about events in the future, as in the case ofmovies. Furthermore, his creative power and sixthsense are only some kind of feelings and are not visionsof imageries as such.

The powers that had been derived through the partialrecovery of his intrinsic nature, during Mr. Liaos NDE,slowly diminished upon his regaining consciousnessand could not be maintained for long. If, after hisregaining consciousness, Mr. Liao had been able toconduct some Dharma practices in order to train hispower of meditation and mental concentration, thenthe effects would have been much more intense andthat he would have been able to sustain these powers.In many NDE cases, similar supernatural powers ofsensation and knowledge had been exhibited.

Guru Rinpoche

ue no.62








3/5

Concerning the ash foreword on the revelation offuture scenes, a renowned scholar in researching thenear-death experiences, Kenneth Ring, has providedseveral cases in his book Heading Toward OMEGA .Those cases were mostly about visions on the footagesof family life, which would later turn out to be facts yearsafterwards. For instance, it was mentioned that a ladyhad survived her near-death experience back in 1959,and that it was during her NDE that she saw the scene ofherself preparing dinner in the kitchen, with her elderdaughter helping out by her side, while her son wasdoing gardening in the yard. Her husband was movingaround the house after taking a bath. Consequentially,the scene materialized in 1981 and so it became a fact.

Another example was about a man who had hisNDE back in 1941. In it, he saw two children playing infront of a replace. Twenty-seven years later, in the yearof 1968, the scene became true. However, there werealso examples to show that these were inaccurate. Forexample, a NDE survivor predicted that the earth wouldundergo a drastic change of catastrophe in the year of1988, but then it did not happen.

Would the future, that had been predicted bythose people who have this capability, de nitely cometrue? The meaning of the future is the time span whichis still under hatching and is yet to come. Hence, in thissense, the so-called future outcome is not necessarilytrue, and is only a kind of inferred un xed consequencewhich could vary at any moment in time. The creation of

a prediction comesfrom the fact that,when certain scenesare to be seen in theforms of projection, it seems to reveal thatsomething is going to

happen in the future.In order to predictthe possible scenarioof the future, asaccording to thosescenes projected, andhence the name of aprediction.

Then, how and why do those scenes occur? Thosescenes are formed in accordance with certain existingmatters, in conjunction with certain environmentalconditions, so as to project certain related scenes,as in the case of mirages. In other words, all thethings that exist at the present moment are the mainconditions in the structuring of the future outcome. Ifthese conditions do not changed, and if they continueto proceed along the original locus, then the futureoutcome would become the nal outcome upon itstime of maturation. Hence, the initial prediction wouldnow become a fact.

However, most people would have neglected a mostimportant point , that is, the notion of impermanence aspromulgated by the Buddhist teachings that there isnothing in this world that will never changed . Before theappearance of the nal outcome, any of the conditions

that are structuring the outcome are in the process ofchanging. Depending upon the circumstances on theconditions at that time, the scenes so projectedare incessantly ever-changing in accordance with thechanges of the conditions, as if playing an animatedmovie or cartoon. In the end, the actual scene that had

nally played out could have been totally different fromthe early prediction of it initially.

Mandala, Japan

The story of Buddha Shakyamuni, Thailand

Buddha Shakyamuni, Thailand

ue no.63








4/5

The so-called future outcome is, in fact,only the projection of all the conditions that areincessantly accumulated throughout a certain time-space continuum. The so-called prediction is, in fact, adescription of the snap-shotof photos taken of a particularmoment from an animatedmovie or cartoon concerning aseries of events. If the presentmode and locus that have beenaccumulated by the variousconditions do not change,then the deviation betweenthe prediction and the naloutcome would be very small.These deviations may includethe content, the structure, aswell as the moment, of the naloutcome that will take place. Onthe contrary, if there are changesto the present mode and locus,

which have been accumulated bythe various conditions, then thedeviation between the predictionand the nal outcome could bequite substantial, in which casethere might be a possibility thatthe outcome would not occurat all.

Dont become the Slaves of Fortune-Telling,Divinations and Predictions

Many people could not make a decision when comingacross the turning point of ones life, and so they willtend to go for divinations, fortune-telling, or will seekfor predictions from the Gypsy, or the using of the Tarotcards, or through crystal-ball-gazers in order to look intothe future. Such kind of actions will only mean that onewill put ones own important decision of making choicesin the hands of other supernatural spirits and becometheir puppet. This is meaningless and risky . Instead, whycant the people conduct a rational analysis by weightingall the odds, judging the possible outcomes of cost-bene t analysis, and then make a balanced decision ?Why do they want to deceive themselves by saying that

this must be either because of ones own destiny, orbecause of the play by God? There are various kindsof supernatural spirits whose abilities are greatlylimited. Furthermore, they have different propensities ofeither good or bad personalities. Thus, in putting onesown fate in the hands of these supernatural spirits,who by themselves have no control of their own fates,is like playing the game of the Russian roulette and isdoomed to die sooner or later .

Even though some of those NDE survivors, whohaving gained the ability through partial recovery oftheir intrinsic nature, may seem to have the ability

approximating that of the Buddhain foreseeing the future, yettheir predictions are still governedby the Law of Cause and Effect ,and thus would not necessarilybe accurate . The answergiven by Buddhism is the bestanswer, simply because it is therelationship between Causesand Effects. Nobody is able toaccurately predict the future , andeven if one possesses the greatpower of the intrinsic nature,one still cannot make a perfectlyaccurate forecast .

Even if you are able to use themethod of Induction, and thentry to assemble all the variousconditions that are structuringthe future outcome so as tomake an inference, recognitionand prediction of the future,but the fact is that before theoutcome actually occurs,the future outcome would bechanged due to the insertion ofsome other changing conditions

of the future. That is to say, the conditions are the realcreator of the future outcome and not the predictionsof some deities or human beings . Therefore, some of thefuture scenes that were experienced by some NDE

survivors did not really come true. Indeed, the Law ofCause and Effect in Buddhism is a natural law, andso the principles that were described in the Buddhistteachings are, in fact, the principles of Nature, which arevery scienti c and not superstitious at all.

Just like the Case 5 in Issue No.5 of Lake of Lotus,Dr. Kirueda was indeed the key person responsible for thefailure of her own marriage. Her own thinking pattern, valueorientation and way of handling things directly affect thepresent mode and locus that have been accumulatedby the various conditions. If she wanted to rewrite theprediction (or the script) about her own divorce,she must have to start from changing herself . If onedoes not understand the above-mentioned principles,and becomes superstitious about predictions, thenones own destiny would lose its initiative, and thenone will become a slave of fortune-telling, divinationsand predictions.

Buddha Amitabha

ue no.64








5/5

the world, and is even more fathomable and morethorough than the knowledge of Sciences. If one stillupholds this misunderstanding towards Buddhism, itis simply becausemost of the peoplen o w a d a y s h a v et ake n a l l t hos elegendary tales offolk norms, customsa n d t r a d i t i o n s ,

s u p e r s t i t i o n swithout analysis andveri cation, as wellas deceptive tricksof all kinds andhave them muddledwith the category ofBuddhism, and soall these are, indeed,not the real andauthentic Buddhistteachings ..

(To be continued)

Therefore, predictions are not equivalent tofuture outcomes, and there is no such a sign as equalto in between the two. The future outcome is not aproduct of prediction, and neither is predictionthe creator of the future outcome. There is no direct

relationship between the two at the very beginning.However, if one becomes so superstitious aboutpredictions, and endeavors by all means to realize suchkind of predictions, or to be psychologically boggeddown by its effect, then predictions could become thedirect in uence in the maneuvering of the accumulatedconditions.

Many peoplehave misunderstoodB u d d h i s m a n dthought that it is a kindof superstitiousbelief. As a matterof fact, from theexplanations on allthe aforesaid matters,one can thus come toknow that Buddhismis purely describingthe principles ofNature, and as such,i t is some kindof an authenticknowledge about

Buddha Shakyamuni, Myanmar

Buddha Shakyamuni

Buddha Vairocana, Japan

Spark of WisdomSpark of Wisdom

Dont become the Slaves ofFortune-Telling, Divinationsand Predictions

Many people could not make a decision whencoming across the turning point of ones life, andso they will tend to go for divinations, fortune-telling, or will seek for predictions from the Gypsy,

or the using of the Tarot cards, or through crystal-ball-gazers in order to look into the future. Suchkind of actions will only mean that one will putones own important decision of making choicesin the hands of other supernatural spirits andbecome their puppet. This is meaningless andrisky . Instead, why cant the people conduct arational analysis by weighting all the odds, judgingthe possible outcomes of cost-benefit analysis,and then make a balanced decision ? Why dothey want to deceive themselves by saying that thismust be either because of ones own destiny, orbecause of the play by God? There are variouskinds of supernatural spirits whose abilitiesare greatly limited. Furthermore, they have differentpropensities of either good or bad personalities.Thus, in putting ones own fate in the hands ofthese supernatural spirits, who by themselveshave no control of their own fates, is like playingthe game of the Russian roulette and is doomed todie sooner or later .

ue no.65




be Facebook 56.com

Lake of Lotus (6)-The Profound Abstruseness of Life and Death-The Meaning of Near-Death Experiences...

Documents

Transcript of Lake of Lotus (6)-The Profound Abstruseness of Life and Death-The Meaning of Near-Death Experiences...