A rather fearful question but curious... ( Archived) (79)

There is an analogy in "The Buddha in Daily Life" By Richard Causton I find particularly inspiring regarding life and death.

Our lives, and thus our karma, are like a tape cassette. We can stop the machine, and in fact, we will, when the tape reaches the end, to thus rewind for a replay, and maybe, a re-record (if our purpose in life is to change our Karma that is). By stopping it, the sound (life) seems to stop, but it has not ceased to exist. It has become pure potential. It exists as magnetic potential on the tape, and just because it can't be seen doesn't mean every decibel isn't permanently imprinted on the tape.

The way we manifest in life through many incarnations is like a black cat crossing at a cross-walk at night. When it steps on the white stripes, we can see it. When its on the black tarmac, we can't. At all times is the cat there, it is our limited perceptions that convince us it no longer exists.

I will still keep on defending my theory.infanticides,pedophyles,murderers of innocent people will face this.Not many people can witness this.

Their souls sometimes are soo nasty that they dont want to leave the house because they refuse to go to hell.

I have some special weed to burn in the house and chase them away this is my part time job.

Sage??? Those of us with American Indian heritage sometimes burn sage in the house for that reason. I think it is all hogwash, as well as the angel thing. But that is just my opinion!

Tracy, Thank you for adding your thoughtful words here.
I wanted to spend a little time with the idea. I reflected
on a much more simple memory about how an idea was presented
to another and it changed their perception therefore
changing things about their life. "Well, I never thought
about it that way." Enough of those tiny awarenesses can
bring about a shift, .... maybe. The black cat was on the
white line for a moment.

I think there is a moment of "letting go" from this plane of existence. People that are sick and dying are aware of it. This is why you often hear of people "waiting" and holding on perhaps to see a loved one before they pass. Even animals have been known to do this and hold on until the right moment.

Immediately following is anyone’s guess but I imagine some kind of metamorphosis might occur much like a butterfly crawls out from a chrysalis, we will shed our earthly form (bodies) and pass on to whatever is next.

That's why its important to avoid a situation wherein we argue with ourselves from ignorance.

That's right. We don't know. We see a binary termination in death, either something continues or nothing continues and we just decay and become worm-food.

But life (and thus death) is never binary. There are three-thousand worlds contained every single life-moment (a concept known as ichinen sanzen in the Tendai school of Buddhism). By that reasoning, there are also three-thousand choices we can make at the moment of death on where to be, who to be, what to be, and why.

Nothing is ever black & white. We simplify life to these standards because we cannot conceive of infinity. There are more options, and thus more explanations, than we will ever be able to verbalize. That is the Buddha's dilemma at the beginning of the Lotus Sutra. How can I expound about something that defies exposition? You cannot. You can only use simile and parable (the modern idea is a scientific model) to explain something that defies explanation.

Good luck Dusty.