GAUTAM -Buddha(BUDDHADEV) and The capability of having several lives for an ordinary man or hallucination?

Question

A friend of mine said GAUTAM-Buddha(BUDDHADEV) passed through several lives(Births and Rebirths)and finally he attained NIRVANA.In present day context do the experience s feel like walking on an Astro-turf or living in mothers womb.This is my personal experience which should not be considered BLASPHEMY.I divulged my experience to my friend.So he advised me to search books.After death is such an experience possible?

Answer 1

the path to Nirvana is very simple logic. Here's what I learned from my teacher:

You should divide everything you do (including every word and even every thought) in two groups: whether you're doing it to feed your ego or whether it's actually useful. You have to be very precise. Very precise, with every single word and every single thought you should know why you're doing this. If it's for defending the ego or indulging in pleasure, you should not do it like that, should not think like that or say that. If you're doing it because you think it's actually useful, then you should do it.

Bhikkhus, before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, it occurred to me: ‘Suppose that I divide my thoughts into two classes. Then I set on one side thoughts of sensual desire, thoughts of ill will, and thoughts of cruelty, and I set on the other side thoughts of renunciation, thoughts of non-ill will, and thoughts of non-cruelty. _{MN 19}

Then, when you live like this for several years, your mind will be pure and you will be able to see the path to Nirvana by yourself.

To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas. _{The Dhammapada 14.183}

My teacher said, this world is a magical place where everything is possible, as long as you're free in your mind - and now I know he was right.

So, divide your thoughts like that, and learn to be very very precise with that - and you will see for yourself. This is better than me telling you "Yes, All of that is real". Hope this helps.

Answer 2

A friend of mine said GAUTAM-Buddha(BUDDHADEV) passed through several lives(Births and Rebirths)and finally he attained NIRVANA.

In original Buddhism, the word 'birth' ('jati') refers to each arising of the view of 'self-belief'. But in later Buddhism, the word 'birth' was misconstrued to refer to 'past lives'. Please refer to SN 22.79, which explains the true meaning of recollecting past births. In other words, when the Buddha said he cycled thru myriad "births" (in Dhp 153), this was the previous myriad arisings of egoism.

In present day context do the experiences feel like walking on an space travel or living in mothers womb.This is my personal experience which should not be considered BLASPHEMY.

Since your mind continues to have "self-belief", it is not the same experience as the Buddha. When the Buddha, in the present, recollected his "past births", he recollected how his mind's previous "self-beliefs" were ignorant illusions. Again, refer to SN 22.79.

I divulged my experience to my friend.So he advised me to search books.After death is such an experience possible?

In Buddhism, the goal is to eradicate the belief of "I", "me", "mine" and "self". When the Buddha recollected "past births", this is what occurred. The idea of "self" ended. To quote SN 22.79:

At Savatthi. “Bhikkhus, those ascetics and brahmins who recollect their manifold past abodes all recollect the five aggregates subject to clinging or a certain one among them. What five?

“When recollecting thus, bhikkhus: ‘I had such form in the past,’ it is just form that one recollects. When recollecting: ‘I had such a feeling in the past,’ it is just feeling that one recollects. When recollecting: ‘I had such a perception in the past,’ it is just perception that one recollects. When recollecting: ‘I had such volitional formations in the past,’ it is just volitional formations that one recollects. When recollecting: ‘I had such consciousness in the past,’ it is just consciousness that one recollects.

Therefore, bhikkhus, any kind of form whatsoever … Any kind of feeling whatsoever … Any kind of perception whatsoever … Any kind of volitional formations whatsoever … Any kind of consciousness whatsoever, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near, all consciousness should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’

“This is called, bhikkhus, a noble disciple who dismantles and does not build up; who abandons and does not cling; who scatters and does not amass; who extinguishes and does not kindle.