How does recollection of past lives work in detail?

[gregk]

The most common method is to get Jhana samadhi and then direct your mind. It is more common than you think. Pa Auk method is just a variation on that and it still is based on perceptions that may or may not be true. This is a great issue with all methods, human error. The interesting thing about samadhi is that with it you can see whatever you want. The world is full of systems and schemes based on this ability. Dhammakaya in Thailand for example. The issues you have with the Thai forest tradition. We would like certainty and precision but in the real world it doesn’t work that way. I will just patiently wait till I can see it all for myself before speculating.

[renaldo]

@Paññādhammika

So it does seem to point to a universal record somewhere for people with the divine eye to be able to see the same record of the past.

Are there any classical texts that support your idea of a permanent record?

R

[Trobinson465]

Memory is in citta. How most humans usually access memory is thru the form of the brain. Thats why amnesia is a thing. you cant hit someones citta and make them forget things, but you can hit their form and make them unable to access thier memories.

[Trobinson465]

@bksubhuti

Take this book Lifetimes. He is a PhD, yet claims that men are only men; animals remain animals. What actually was the method? He asked his students to “just remember.” So they did. Men remembered male lives and females remembered female lives because they could not imagine something outside of their own existence. (I have some insider info on this teacher and his students.) Was it false? I don’t know. I think it could be that maybe some could see a past life, but since they were not systematic, they may have remembered a previous male and human life, but not necessarily the most recent life, or knowing which generation it was, or assuming it was the most recent when it might have been 4 generations down the road.

Having a PhD doesnt mean anything. Jerome Corsi has a PhD from Harvard and literally thinks former President Obama was born in Kenya and wrote a whole book about it. Believing someone is qualified just because they have a degree in their name is how we got stuck with EBT in the first place.

Frederick Lenz is a new age Buddhist leader who literally sexually abused his female students and claimed to be one of 13 enlightened people in the world back in the 60s-70s but never says who the other 12 are. When asked he said Sathya Sa Baba (not even Buddhist) was another one.

[Trobinson465]

@Paññādhammika

So it does seem to point to a universal record somewhere for people with the divine eye to be able to see the same record of the past.

seems like it. So either memory is stored permanently in the citta and is accessible thru divine eye, or those with divine eye just literally look at the past directly like a tape recording.

[HappinessSeeker]

@Trobinson465

Believing someone is qualified just because they have a degree in their name is how we got stuck with EBT in the first place.

I do agree that having a phd or a degree doesn’t mean someone is qualified. Nowadays there may be many PHDs in Buddhism but it doesn’t really mean much. What matters more is the actual knowledge one acquires through studying the Dhamma and the attainments that one realizes through practicing it.

[renaldo]

@renaldo

The primary mental factor responsible for memory is saññā (perception). Saññā marks and recognizes an object. It is said to be like a carpenter marking a piece of wood before cutting. It doesn’t just note the present, but it kind of tags the object, allowing it to be recognized later on.

Nina van Gorkom writes the following on saññā cetasika:

Saññā accompanies every citta and also, when citta experiences a concept, saññā marks and remembers that object. When we are engaged in the activities of our daily life, do we notice that there is recognition or remembrance? We remember how to use different objects, how to eat with a fork, knife, and spoon, how to turn on the water tap, how to write, or how to find our way when we walk in our house or on the street. We take it for granted that we remember all these things. We should know that it is saññā which remembers. When we are reading, it is due to saññā that we recognize the letters and know their meaning. However, we should not forget that when we are reading there are also moments of seeing, and at such moments saññā performs its function as well. It seems that we see and recognize what we see all at the same time, but this is not so. When we recognize letters and words and remember their meaning, this is not due to one moment of saññā but to many moments of saññā accompanying the cittas which succeed one another in the different processes. The study of saññā can remind us that cittas arise and fall away extremely rapidly.

Countless moments of saññā succeed one another and perform their function so that we can remember successive events such as sentences we hear when someone is speaking. There are moments of hearing, and the saññā which accompanies hearing-consciousness merely perceives the sound; it does not know the meaning of what is said. When we understand the meaning of what has been said, there are cittas which experience concepts, and the saññā which accompanies those cittas remembers and ’marks’ a concept. Because of many moments of saññā we can follow the trend of thought of a speaker, or we ourselves can reason about something, connect parts of an argument, and draw conclusions.

—Cetasikas, by Nina van Gorkom, 4.1

R

[gregk]

That is nice but it leaves out the combination with Sati. Recollection is sati. Buddhanussati. Etc. Satipatthana etc… Memory is not just Sanna but Sanna is a part of it. Also you have to add Nyana. It is very complex and we experience it, but it is hard to percieve how it really works. It is amazing.

When you recollect a past life it is called…Pubbenivāsānussati-ñāṇa. Look at the etymology and you will see it is not just sanna. The main factors are sati and nyana.

Etymology Breakdown (Pali)

The term is a compound of three distinct Pali words: [1, 2, 3]

• Pubbe: Means “former,” “past,” or “prior.”

• Nivāsa: Refers to a “state of existence,” “dwelling,” or “abode.”

• Anussati: Means “remembrance,” “recollection,” or “mindfulness.”

• Ñāṇa: Means “knowledge,” “insight,” or “wisdom.” [1]

[HappinessSeeker]

There are also cases of some children who remember their past lives naturally without any meditation. I think it’s called jātissara-nana.