Buddhist Near Death Experience reports

Manji2012

Manji2012

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Oh, gosh, when will I stop posting. Okay, okay, I promise this will be the last post for a few days.

Anyway, I think it is really easy to hear reports of Near Death Experiences of Christians and sometimes they see Jesus Christ. But what about Buddhists? Are there any Near Death Experience reports of Buddhists?

I am not interested in the Tibet Book of the Dead. I am looking for accounts outside that. If anyone could be so kind to help, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

Loving Kindness
 
there is a book, called... erm.... can't remember the title, but it's by jiyu kennett, a female buddhist of the soto zens, and in this book, written when she was ill, and near death, talks about some NDE's she had... I read this many years ago, but can't for the life of me remember the title... erm....

Jiyu-Kennett (1993). How to Grow a Lotus Blossom, Or How a Zen Buddhist Prepares for Death, 2nd edition. Shasta Abbey Press. ISBN 0930066103.

she also has a wiki page, should you be interested, and a retreat centre in northumberland which is worth a visit...

hope that helps...
 
p.s... without some knowledge of the idea behind the three bardos her visions don't make much sense as NDE's...

just thought I'd add that...
 
Recent discussions of NDEs suggest that they reveal a "universal reality" and are not particularly influenced by "one's inherited tradition."
Religion, Spirituality, and the Near ... - Google Book Search

I expected more positive attitudes among the Chinese concerning NDEs. But most Chinese apparently think of them as "hallucinations or dreams."
SpringerLink - Journal Article

There would seem to be little evidence that prior religiosity has an impact on the religious meaning people get out of NDEs. In other words, people don't necessarily experience what they expect to experience based on their religion.
 
The key word is "near", and here's an analogy...

I was walking down the middle of a road one dark night. Far up ahead I saw two lights appear. They came towards me at a great speed and blinded me. I threw my arms up as it flew past me just inches away. I was whipped by a great wind and briefly overwhelmed by the roar of the engine and horn.

It was a Near Car Experience. Now I know what it's like to be hit by a car and am not afraid any more.
 
Netti-Netti said:
Recent discussions of NDEs suggest that they reveal a "universal reality" and are not particularly influenced by "one's inherited tradition."
Religion, Spirituality, and the Near ... - Google Book Search
Click to expand...

Interesting - I remember reading a books years ago on NDE's - think the author was D Scott Rogo - and he seemed to come across general research suggesting that while the Near Death Experience phenomena is universal, the features of the NDE tend to be culturally defined. In other words, there was a basic experience, fleshed out by personal and social images that were dictinct between different cultures.
 
I said:
Interesting - I remember reading a books years ago on NDE's - think the author was D Scott Rogo - and he seemed to come across general research suggesting that while the Near Death Experience phenomena is universal, the features of the NDE tend to be culturally defined. In other words, there was a basic experience, fleshed out by personal and social images that were dictinct between different cultures.
Click to expand...
Hello,

I'd be interested to see what you turn up with a search on:
"near death experiences of atheists" .....
 
i would agree that while some aspects are universal, they are generally influenced to some degree by a persons culture...

atheists, by design, have no knowledge of god- yet that does not mean they have no knowledge of nde's... hahahaha....
 
I didnt mean my hahaha's to sound like a personal insult...

what I meant was... if something exists, it does not exist alone... for you to have an experience and refer to it as a particular thing, you must first have awareness of the particular thing... the only other way is to have the experience, do some research, and then make your experience fit the research... this is what we do, us humans...

atheists who have nde's report ...white lights, tunnels, etc... like everyone else... atheists describe it differently- the increasing light is just feedback from the rods and cones in your eyes, instead of the christian entering heaven, for example, instead of the buddhist seeing the figures from the bardo, the atheists would call them hallucinations produced by anoxia, etc...
 
Netti-Netti said:
Hello,

I'd be interested to see what you turn up with a search on:
"near death experiences of atheists" .....
Click to expand...

I remember a specific reference to a cultural group - think it was one of the island chains around South East Asia - where "afterlife" is considered to be little different from normal life - ie, engaging in normal everyday activities. The NDE reports claimed collected from here had persons doing exactly this in their NDE experience, and the study was therefore seen as pivotal to the argument that superficial cultural experiences overlay a core set of shared NDE features.

Apologies for being vague - it's around 18 years since I read the book, and don't think I have it in my collection any more.
 
Francis king said:
instead of the christian entering heaven, for example, instead of the buddhist seeing the figures from the bardo, the atheists would call them hallucinations produced by anoxia, etc...
Click to expand...
I would say the after-the-fact labels are not exactly part of the experience.

The OP asked about accounts, which probably would pertain to the actual experience and imagery, and not so much how people label the imagery.

I suppose the after-the-fact labeling could be culturally influenced, though.

I said:
I remember a specific reference to a cultural group - think it was one of the island chains around South East Asia - where "afterlife" is considered to be little different from normal life - ie, engaging in normal everyday activities.
Click to expand...
ok. I see this as an example of social/cultural attitudes rather than the imagery associated with the experiences.

The NDE reports claimed collected from here had persons doing exactly this in their NDE experience
Click to expand...
White light experiences are pretty unusual though.
 
Francis king said:
I didnt mean my hahaha's to sound like a personal insult...

what I meant was... if something exists, it does not exist alone... for you to have an experience and refer to it as a particular thing, you must first have awareness of the particular thing... the only other way is to have the experience, do some research, and then make your experience fit the research... this is what we do, us humans...

atheists who have nde's report ...white lights, tunnels, etc... like everyone else... atheists describe it differently- the increasing light is just feedback from the rods and cones in your eyes, instead of the christian entering heaven, for example, instead of the buddhist seeing the figures from the bardo, the atheists would call them hallucinations produced by anoxia, etc...
Click to expand...

Mmm, nope, the NDE takes place after 0 vital signs, so there are no brain waves to have a hallucination. Like a swiss doctor, who's been studying it for 30-40 years put it, it was 20-30 when I read that a decade ago, it's like an unplugged computer. The question for me is, why is every Buddhist NDE hellish? I've researched it a bit and the only Buddhist NDEs I find are negative experiences.
 
Aupmanyav said:
Nope, there cannot be any experience after death. And I do not think buddhist see hell. Brain activity in humans and even in animals is likely to be similar.
Click to expand...
The spirit exists and when death occurs it separates from the body. Since spirit is consciousness you can experience ades. There have been many people who died with no vital signs that said they left their body and or was looking at their bodies. There is a lot of scientific data on this. Scientific Evidence Supporting the Survival After Death Hypothesis | Near-Death.com
 
darren723 said:
Mmm, nope, the NDE takes place after 0 vital signs, so there are no brain waves to have a hallucination. Like a swiss doctor, who's been studying it for 30-40 years put it, it was 20-30 when I read that a decade ago, it's like an unplugged computer. The question for me is, why is every Buddhist NDE hellish? I've researched it a bit and the only Buddhist NDEs I find are negative experiences.
Click to expand...


I suspect this may be the result of confirmation bias. I did a quick search and found varying accounts.
 
elumin8 said:
I suspect this may be the result of confirmation bias. I did a quick search and found varying accounts.
Click to expand...
I dont know why you guys keep saying an nde is when there are no brain waves. An ade is when there are no brain waves. Nde is near death experience. Ade is after death experience.
 
donnann said:
I dont know why you guys keep saying an nde is when there are no brain waves. An ade is when there are no brain waves. Nde is near death experience. Ade is after death experience.
Click to expand...

I am unclear how your comment relates to mine.
 
Aupmanyav said:
Nope, there cannot be any experience after death. And I do not think buddhist see hell. Brain activity in humans and even in animals is likely to be similar.
Click to expand...
I came out dead when I was born. I remember looking down at the doctor and talking to someone. My body was dead, I was blue when I came out , no vital signs nothing. My mom told me that the doctor was working on me for quite a while and the nurse was telling him to give up that I was gone. Alot of time had passed and they thought that I may be mentally handicapped from lack of oxygen. You could call that an ade.
 
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