Lake of Lotus (5)-The Meaning of Near-Death Experiences (5)-Reason for the Generation of the...

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The Meaning of Near-Death Experiences (5)

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

According to the descriptions in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, thespiritual body (which Buddhism calls as the mind) of a deceasedperson would experience light after being detached from the physicalbody and escaped through the entrance and exit door of life anddeath. Why would such a phenomenon take place after the spiritualbody (mind) left the physical body? It is because this is a natural kind ofphysical evolutionary phenomenon. Before giving a full account aboutthe reason for the generation of light, perhaps we can start to realize theoccurrence of light from the following case study.

Reason for the Generation

of the Light of Life and Death

- Reason for the Generation of the Light of Life and Death

- Illusions of the Mind

- The Truth of Prophecy

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Case 5:

L. Kirueda, a Medical Doctor from Finland, wasa specialist in research of social hygiene. Shehad been working in the local governmentsmedical centre of the Lappeenranta Districtfor thirteen years. Since she was a physician,she enjoyed high social stature. Further to that,she was renowned in both Europe and Americadue to her near-death experiences (NDEs).Her book of Death Does not Exist on NDE isthe number one bestseller in Finland, Norwayand Sweden. Her NDE occurred in the year of1969 when she just graduated from the medicalschool and started her practice. Dr. Kiruedawas hospitalized for emergency operation dueto an acute peritonitis. The following is her ownaccount of what happened:

At that time, I was under general anesthesia andwas unconscious. All of a sudden, I found myselfoating on the ceiling, and was looking downat myself under operation.

Inconceivably, I could ndmyselffully understand thethoughts of my attendingsurgeon. He was thinkingof I want to pick up thesurgical scalpel and makean incision. When he wasabout to make the cut, Ididnt understand why Icould know that there wasa hidden small artery, butapparently the surgeonseemed not to be aware

of it.

I wished to stop him andshrieked out, saying thereis an artery over there,dont cut from there! Butthey seemed not to beable to hear anything,and so promptly the arterywas dissected, with bloodso forcefully siphoned outalmost up to the ceiling. Iwas immediately suckedinto a tunnel. It was so dark inside the tunnel that

I just couldnt see anything. Upon approachingthe end of it, a twinkling brightnesswas awaitingme which I felt great warmth and was embracedwith love.

That light was so blazingly strong that I justcouldnt dare to stare at it. I couldnt helpbut kneeling down in front of the light. I sawan image in the light and it looked like Jesus.Then, I heard a voice, like an electric inductionto my heart, saying: it is no big deal to be amedical doctor. As I just started my career as

a physician at that time, and was really proudof myself. And so when I heard of this voice, Iwas rather shocked. The voice told me to lookbehind and so I turned my head, whereuponI saw hundreds of thousands of beautiful whitepearls permeating over the sea. I heard thevoice saying that these pearls represent thesouls of human beings.

The waves were thrusting upon the pearls,with a few beads being ushed onto the shoreevery time it did so. This phenomenon mademe conscious of the fact that when the waveswere pounding upon the souls of human beings,some of their consciousness would then beattracted towards new heights. I found a blackpearl, and all of a sudden, I realized that thispearl was the soul of my husband. Then camethe voice again, informing me that I would bein divorce. I was startled but I didnt believe init at all. This is simply because I just got married,and both of us felt very fortunate. The voice also

informed me that I had an

unaccomplished mission.After that, I was back toconsciousness.

I found that I was receivinga considerable amount ofblood transfusion. Lateron, I came to know thatI had lost two liters ofblood during the surgery(about 40% of the totalblood capacity). I toldthe physician about myexperiences, including thedetails of the failure duringmy surgery. However, theyall denied it, and claimedthat it was just an illusionthat was created due tothe low level of oxygenin my brain. Afterwards,I saw my clinical reportwhich has veried thatwhat I had seen weretruths. I discovered thatduring the state of near-

death experiences (NDEs), I couldnt feel the

existence of time.

In fact, what is the reason for the generationof light? Is it an manifestation of the power ofGod? How come the NDE survivors alwayshear something like an admonition, or as somekind of revelation or prophecy from God?Why did some of these prophecies becomefacts later on? Why were these admonitionalways to be associated with the weakness ofthe near-death experiences (NDEs) survivors?The scenes experienced were so assorted and

Vajradhara

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to the VCD on The Inconceivable Law ofCause and Effect, published by DudjomBuddhist Association) restricts the ability ofthe intrinsic nature.

3. The rm grasping of ones mind: the mindof each sentient being carries the limitationsof ones ego, the dualism on all things (allcognitions are classied into subjects andobjects, and thus cannot be fused intoone) and desires, thus leading to the rmgrasping of all kinds of greed, hatred andignorance, resulting in the forming of thevarious pull and push forces of traction inrestricting the ability of the intrinsic nature.

In fact, under what circumstances can theintrinsic nature be fully manifested? Howcan its ability be entirely recovered and notto be controlled by any other forces? As the

intrinsic nature possessesthe th ree s tates o fDharmakaya (Truth

Body), Sambhogakaya(Complete EnjoymentBody),and Nirmanakaya(Emanation Body) (pleaserefer to The Meaning ofNear-death Experiences(4) in Issue 4 of the Lakeof Lotus), thus resemblingthe three states of water(H

2O): gaseous state

(vapour) , l iquid state(water), and solid state(ice) which can be freelyinterchangeable.

When water transformsinto either the solid stateor the gaseous state,which is the time when theinterchanges of the threestates take place, eitherabsorption or releaseof energy would beinvolved.In this regard, the

situation would be similar when the interchangeof the states of the intrinsic nature is aboutto take place. When the spiritual body (the

mind) is leaving the physical body, the linkagebetween the two is about to decomposeandthis involves the transformation of energies.

During this process of transformation, the impactof energies would cause all kinds of inneremotions and energies (a total of eighty kindsand is collectively known as greed, hatred andignorance) to completely cease to function.As the inner tractions cease functioning, theouter tractions which have been formed due

strange. For instance, was the afore-mentionedpearls in the sea, as if they were concentrationcamps of souls, really true? Why is it that theNDE survivors could not feel the existence oftimein their experiences of light?

According to the explanations in Buddhistteachings, all sentient beings possessBuddhata, also known as intrinsic natureor primordial nature. It exists naturally and

will never vanish. Their physical bodies and theintrinsic nature of all sentient beings are tightlylinked together when they were born. Theirintrinsic nature is being restrained and strictlycontrolled by three main forces all along, andthus it cannot manifest freely. These threemainforces come from respectively:

1. The restriction of the physical body:thus limiting the capability of the intrinsicnature:

While one is still alive:

the intrinsic nature isbeing controlled by thephysical body, so allthe abilities of activitiesand expressions mustbe expressed throughthe physical body, andthus cannot proceedindependently.

A f t e r d e a t h : theintr insic nature iss t i l l under controlb y t h e p hys ica lb o d y ; h o w e v e r ,a t t h i s t i m e , thematerialistic structureof the physical bodyis extremely sparse. Itis known as the bodyof the Bardo (body inthe intermediate statebetween death andrebirth) in VajrayanaBuddhism, while it is more commonlyknown as the soul or the spiritual bodyin other religions. Since the structureof this

materialistic body is extremely sparse, andso its inuential strength is relatively small.The restriction on the intrinsic nature is thusgreatly reduced, and so the freedom forits ability and mobility after death is muchgreater than what it was while one was stillalive.

2. The hindrances from the web/network of pulland push forces of traction: an externalweb/network of pull and push forces oftraction (commonly known as the karmicforces in Buddhist teachings. Please refer

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the Dharmakaya to the Sambhogakaya,which is then manifested in the form of light.Since it is of a visible form, these sentient beingswill be able to visualize the strong light of intensityof one thousand suns under such a processin restoring the ability of the intrinsic nature,though not in its entire recovery. Hence, thislight is not the manifestation of God, but is infact ones own intrinsic nature, or Buddhata,or primordial nature as manifested in one of

its statesor forms.

The reason for the generation of light is a kindof natural phenomenon upon transformingthe states of ones intrinsic nature. It is aproperty of the Sambhogakaya, which isone of the states of the intrinsic nature. Ifthere are scientists who, while having the afore-mentioned knowledge and understandingsof the Buddhist teachings, can endeavor todo research in this specic area, it would beextremely benecial in bring furtherance inscientic verications on this puzzle of life anddeath. The spiritual domain, vision of the mindand the elevation of consciousness of humanbeings would then be advanced in an amazingspeed.

Illusions of the Mind

As the mind is inclined to make projectionsof ones own images, to recognize everythingthrough xed patterns, to infer on and deriveupon all things, and so it can be said that it isthe mind which is the creator of all illusions.

(Please refer to the VCD on EverythingComes From the Mind, published by DudjomBuddhist Association, in either Putonghua orCantonese). Due to ones feelings of inferiorityand ignorance, sentient beings do notunderstand that this light is, in fact, ones ownmanifestation; and do not feel comfortableenough to accept it as it is. As such, onewill consider it as the manifestations of eitherdeities, or God, or Buddha, or of anyspiritual beings of a higher level than we are.

As Dr. Kirueda has said : I couldnt help but

kneeling down in front of the light. I saw an imagein the light and it looked like Jesus. Kneelingdown in front of the light is an indication ofher feelings of inferiority. In the practice ofVajrayana Buddhism, the practitioner mustclearly vindicate that the light and oneselfare indeed one and the same thing. Otherwise,there is no way for one to entirely restore theDharmakaya state of ones own intrinsicnature.

Even worse still is that, due to the furtherance ofthe feelings of inferiority, guilt and shame, it

to mutual attractions via its linkage with theexternal pull and push forces of tractions (i.e.the karmic forces) will also cease to inter-relate with each other temporarily, due to thedisconnection that had occurred at either endof the two sides.

Since the outer linkage is disconnected, sothe gigantic energy web networking fromoutside (karmic web/network) can no longer

be in control of the intrinsic nature. Hence,the intrinsic nature can capitalize on this veryoccasion in order to fully manifest itself. In thisway, the three major forces that have beencontrolling the intrinsic nature ever since havenow come to a point of standstill that is, aperiod of total vacuum.

When the Dharmakaya of the intrinsicnature manifests, and since the properties ofthe Dharmakaya are without any form andshape, non-materialistic, covering everywhereand exists universally, and its existence cannotbe detected by either instruments or observedthrough ones discernment, and so mostsentient beings who have not been trainedwould have no way to sustain in this very stateof the intrinsic nature, and would thus missthe best opportunity to thoroughly recover itsability.

Under the condition of an untrained and impuremind, the intrinsic nature is transformed from

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causes the Sambhogakaya state (in the formof light) to be further transformed into theNirmanakaya state (in the material form of thebody). Due to her inferior feelings, Dr. Kiruedafelt the strong light was really most sacred,and, as a result, her mind automaticallyprojected the most familiar image of Jesuswithin the light. Hence, many near-deathexperiences (NDEs) survivors have seen, withinthe lights that they encountered, either

deities, or God, or Buddha with whomthey knew or believed in.

Some scholars had conducted researchabout the religious beliefs and the culturalbackgrounds of the near-death experiences(NDEs) survivors, and have found thatthe detailed contents of the near-deathexperiences have great differences due to thecultural differences of the various NDE survivors.For instance, there are great differences in thecontents and the feelings for those NDE survivorswho are either in America or in India.

The personalities that American NDE survivorshave encountered were mostly religious guressuch as God, Jesus Christ, the Holy MotherVirgin Mary, Angels, Saints, and so on, whilethose religious gures that were encounteredby NDE survivors after death in India weremostly Arundhati, Shiva, Krishna and othergods of Hinduism. Such kinds of situationshave indicated that the explanations by theBuddhist teachings are, indeed, reasonableand correct.

As a matter of fact, the Buddhist teachings,which considers that the main cause of all sortsof illusions is a derivative of psychologicalfactors, is in direct congruency with theopinions of many scientists. The main difference,however, lies in the fact that the Buddhistteachings deem that the creator of illusionsis the mind. The mind plays the dominantrole -- regardless of whether one is still aliveor dead -- it still plays the dominant r role. Onthe other hand, scientists consider the brainas the governing factor, and thus leading tothe wrong conclusion that there is no life afterdeath. In this way, they get no clues as to

the concrete evidences as provided by theNDE survivors.

The mind has the habit of carrying out self-comparison and self-reection. The standardsof such mechanism of self-comparison andself-reection come from those experiencesand memories that have been accumulatedthroughout our countless lifetimes sincetime immemorial. When a person has donesomething, or even just a thought of some

behaviours, and if he/she indistinctly feels thatit might not be right, then the projections of therelevant illusions would be formed. Therefore,Dr. Kirueda has indicated that I heard a voice,like an electric induction to my heart, saying: itis no big deal to be a medical doctor. As I juststarted my career as a physician at that time,and was really proud of myself. And so when Iheard of this voice, I was rather shocked.

Like an electric induction to my heart isthe inner conversation within the self. Thestatement of admonition is some kind of a self-comparison, self-reection and self-critique bythe mind itself. I was rather shocked wasbecause, at her conscious level, she didnot realize the function of self-critique by themind itself. This sudden critique, together withthe unfolding of her innermost secrets deepdown inside, made her feel that only Godcould do that, and that made her so shocked.In fact, nobody else other than herself wouldhave known better of what she had done or

thought of before. Even though her memoriesseemed to have faded away, but in fact theywere just being concealed and have not beenvanished. When under appropriate conditions,these memories would then reappear, and tobecome some kind of a self-comparison, self-reection and self-critique by the mind itself.

The mind also has a function of explaining allkinds of phenomena by itself, and would inclineto recognize all things with xed patterns inorder to infer upon all things. Upon appropriateconditions, the mind would collect, from thememory system, various kinds of informationwhich are closest to ones own thinkings asthe inducing condition to form illusionaryimages of all sorts.

Dr. Kirueda said, The voice told me to lookbehind and so I turned my head, whereupon Isaw hundreds of thousands of beautifulwhite pearls permeating overthe sea. I heard the voicesaying that these pearlsrepresent the soulsof human beings.The waves were

th ru s t i ng uponthe pearls, witha few beadsbeing flushedonto the shoree v e r y t i m eit did so. Thisphenomenonm a d e m econscious ofthe fact thatwhen the waves

Buddha Amitabha

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were pounding upon the souls of human beings,some of their consciousness would then beattracted towards new heights. I found a blackpearl, and all of a sudden, I realized that thispearl was the soul of my husband.

Pearls on the sea represent the souls, thewaves thrusting upon the pearls symbolizedthat their consciousness would be attractedtowards new heights, while the black pearl

stood for her husband. All these were thematching logic of using substances to standfor persons. It indicates that her mind wasmaking rational explanations of the illusions.However, she did not know that it was theillusion of her own mind, and deemed it asthe revelation of God. This kind of mentality, inseeking for comprehension on the scenes thatone is encountering, has thustriggered off thelogics of rationalism.

The Truth of ProphecyFurthermore, the mind also has the ability ofself-inference and in sensing the possible futureoutcomes. Since Dr. Kirueda was in the stateof Sambhogakaya (in the form of light),whereupon the great ability of her intrinsicnature has been recovered to a certain level,and thus her ability in the sensing of possiblefuture outcomes has been increased. Becauseof the fact that the great ability of the intrinsicnature has been recovered to certain extent,near-death experiences (NDEs) survivorscannot feel the existence of time in theirexperiences of light.

The property of the intrinsic nature iseternality. Dr. Kirueda said, Then came thevoice again, informing me that I would be indivorce. I was startled but I didnt believe in itat all. This is simply because I just got married,and both of us felt very fortunate. The voice alsoinformed me that I had an unaccomplishedmission. It turned out that Dr. Kirueda actuallygot divorced three years later. Why would sheonly hear about the prophecy on her futuredivorce in the vast happenings of the future?

Why was it that she only saw the pearl of herhusband when she had so many other relatives?Why was it in black and not in white? These fewpoints have indicated that the most concernedmatter in her mind at that time was her husbandand so it was located upfront in her memorysystem. This kind of hidden concernsprobablycame from some sort of ill feelings about herown marriage. These hidden concerns inducedprojections of relevant illusions from the mind.In fact, was her divorce due to the accuracy of

her ability of the prophecy, or was it due to thehidden ill feelings that made her nally steppedforward towards the road of divorce?

If one can quote the teachings of Buddhismfor an answer, this must have been therelationship of cause and effect. Nobodycan ever predict the future precisely, eventhough if one can possess the great ability ofthe intrinsic nature, it still cannot be mostaccurate. This is because that, even if you usethe method of induction to subsume all thefactors in constructing the future outcomesfor inferences, conrmation and predictionof the future, but before the result wouldhappen, if one of the factors is alteredbeforethe realization of the effect, the result of thefuture would then be changed.

In other words, the actual determinant isthe factor in comprising the actual futureoutcomes, and is not the prophecy ofanybody or God. Therefore, the future

scenarios that were encountered by somenear-death experiences (NDEs) survivors intheir experiences did not actually happen.The Law of Cause and Effect in Buddhistteachings is indeed the law of nature, andthe principle as described in the Buddhistteachings is the principle of nature. Thus, it isvery scientic and without the slightest traceof superstition. Therefore, the reason in causingDr. Kiruedas divorce was due to her own waysin dealing with her marriage. In her illusions, itillustrated her notions at that time concerning

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Spark of WisdomSpark of Wisdom

According to the explanations in Buddhist teachings, all sentient beings possess Buddhata,also known as intrinsic nature or primordial nature. It exists naturally and will never vanish. Theirphysical bodies and the intrinsic nature of all sentient beings are tightly linked togetherwhen theywere born. Their intrinsic nature is being restrained and strictly controlled by three main forces all

along, and thus it cannot manifest freely. These threemain forces come from respectively:

The reason for the generation of light is a kind of natural phenomenon upon transforming thestates of ones intrinsic nature. It is a property of the Sambhogakaya, which is one of the statesof the intrinsic nature. If there are scientists who, while having the afore-mentioned knowledgeand understandings of the Buddhist teachings, can endeavor to do research in this specicarea, it would be extremely benecial in bring furtherance in scientic verications on this puzzleof life and death. The spiritual domain, vision of the mind and the elevation of consciousness ofhuman beings would then be advanced in an amazing speed.

As the mind is inclined to make projections of ones own images, to recognize everythingthroughxed patterns, to infer on and derive upon all things, and so it can be said that it is themind which is the creator of all illusions.(Please refer to the VCD on Everything Comes Fromthe Mind, published by Dudjom Buddhist Association, in either Putonghua or Cantonese). Due toones feelings of inferiority and ignorance, sentient beings do not understand that this lightis, in fact, ones own manifestation; and do not feel comfortable enough to accept it as it is. Assuch, one will consider it as the manifestations of either deities, or God, or Buddha, or of anyspiritual beings of a higher level than we are.

her husband and her marriage, and the ultimateway of her settlement resulted in divorce. As toher notion of I had an unaccomplished mission,this was also a notion on herself and not theprophecy of God, as one of the characteristicsof the intrinsic nature is unconditioned love.

In the state of Sambhogayaka (in the form oflight), ones feeling has recovered part of thecompassionate love of the intrinsic nature, witha feeling ofmission. Even though it is merely aviewpoint, once if the inciting factors such asthe prophecy of God is inserted, the feelingof having support so derived could provideNDE survivors a clear and dominant objectivein promoting the prophecy to becomematerialized.

So, in fact, whether it is the prophecy incomprising the future outcomes, or whetherit is the future outcomes that reect theprophecy? Does it mean that if one doesnot have any prophecies, then one does not

have future outcomes? or visa versa? In fact,what is the future? And what is a prophecy?What about all sorts of fortune-telling? How

valid are their authenticities? Without giving youan answer, can you derive your own answersfrom the foregoing explanations? It is now anopportunity for you to agitate your own wisdomand to elevate your level of rationalism. Shallwe work to verify our answers together in thenext issue of the Lake of Lotus, okay? (to becontinued)

Vajravidarana

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