Rab e adkhilni Mudkhla Sidqnw wa akhrijni mukhraja sidkanw wja alni milla dunka Sultananasira!!
It sure isn't scientific to try to get an outcome you 'want,' and I don't have this bias in my thinking of how the universe functions. I grew up understanding the Big Bang theory was true; although understanding isn't perhaps the best word because it's rather hard to conceive, though it's something we like to do. But my tendency towards the oscillating universe isn't based on desire; I merely mention it that I've read that there are scientists who believe it is possible or plausible, and that there is perhaps increasing evidence for it. Again, I said this with a caveat, that I don't know 100% for sure; and also the fact that scientific opinion is very slow in changing, and it is never 100% unified. To give another example of someone's theory relating it, see Friedrich Nietzsche idea of Eternal Recurrence. William Sidis is also someone, if I understand correctly, who thought the universe continually came and went.
Buddhist, and Hindu for that matter, cosmology does understand the universe to be 'oscillating."
However, it's important to note that the Buddhist view is that this is not the important thing in life. Buddha specifically said about this topic, it's more distracting than beneficial, and he never encouraged us to focus on this topic, instead of focusing on understanding the causes of happiness and suffering.
Buddha's enlightenment, is nothing like an NDE... One apt analogy is to compare the difference between when you are dreaming and when you are awake. When you wake up from dreaming, you realize - first of all, that the dream was not real, and that nothing in the dream could harm you, because you weren't really in the dream, you were in bed sleeping; second, that you are someplace else than the dream, that is, you are in this world - reality; and third, being in this reality, you have many different levels of experience not existing in the dream. For example, you can move around, interact with space, you can see and hear things, everything is clear, and everything is simply more real.Originally Posted by YesNo
Enlightenment in one sense is exactly like awakening from a dream, except it is awakening from the dream of samsara.
The second point of difference is that enlightenment is not brief or momentary, but it is an enduring state. We may have glimpses and then come back to our ordinary consciouness, but full enlightenment is characterized by never slipping back.
I can say more of this later but I think it's important to realize that Anatta is not a doctrine - it is a concept. It's not a conclusion, it's a tool. I believe it's important not to practice with any goal in mind - to say, "I will realize Emptiness," or anything like this. That's my personal preference, though.Originally Posted by YesNo
Buddha never said to believe what he said on his word, in fact he said the exact opposite.
I understand that Jainism has an eternal or perhaps oscillating universe. I don't know why or whether it matters for that religion. I don't want to pursue it if it is a side issue to this thread since I am more interested in Buddhist ontology here. I did look for some alternatives to the Big Bang which is considered the "standard model of cosmology". Here is a review of the "non-standard" models: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-standard_cosmology
I see what you are saying, NikolaiI, about the NDE and Enlightenment. The NDE ends, although the individual experiencing it may change, whereas Enlightenment does not end. What I am trying to find from Todd Murphy, and his mentor, Michael Persinger, is how the brain functions during these experiences and what the difference is at that level. I find it important that these experiences be mapped to physical aspects of our bodies. This means that these experiences are ways that our species behaves rather than something that we have culturally trained each other to experience.
My blog: https://frankhubeny.blog/
It's speculaton, but I think the descriptions of the Bardo experience are closer to NDEs than Enlightenment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo
It's something to find out though.
I agree. The fifth Bardo, Chikkhai bardo, in the article sounds like an NDE. Perhaps what the Buddha experienced was different.
I have been looking more closely at Todd Murphy's videos and I think I am finding them more interesting. He claims to be a Buddhist. He considers the self an hallucination of the one of the parts of the brain, but I don't remember which. His mentor, Michael Presinger, has done studies on consciousness that intrigue me relating psychic experiences with geomagnetism.
My blog: https://frankhubeny.blog/
Yes, that is one, but there are many other differences as well. I think it is not particularly good to speculate too much on things like that. Again, the main emphasis is on living in the present, living well, understanding ourselves, and cultivating an environment which brings out the best in ourselves and others. But especially, living in the present, and cultivating those factors which help us to grow spiritually.Originally Posted by YesNo
Last edited by NikolaiI; 05-06-2012 at 03:58 AM.