That "I've been here before" feeling

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Santiago Jimenez, modified 12 Years ago at 1/13/12 8:49 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 1/13/12 8:49 PM

That "I've been here before" feeling

Posts: 75 Join Date: 1/9/12 Recent Posts
At different moments in my practice I've had those experiences of "being" Jesus on the cross, Ramana Maharshi and The Buddha sitting under the Bodhi Tree.

They blew my mind then, but right now I see them as manifestations (or a clearing away/purification) of the archetypal levels of the mind. This also sparked this feeling of having been a "me" before during some time. Not like I could tell I was Napolen or Gengis Khan. Just that sense of having a center, of believing I was a separate self during many many lifetimes, as an insect, a mammal, a human, etc.

I was wandering if any of you had any experiential/theoretical knowledge of this phenomena or if there's a previous thread on this.
John Wilde, modified 12 Years ago at 1/13/12 9:10 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 1/13/12 9:10 PM

RE: That "I've been here before" feeling

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Santiago Jimenez:
This also sparked this feeling of having been a "me" before during some time. Not like I could tell I was Napolen or Gengis Khan. Just that sense of having a center, of believing I was a separate self during many many lifetimes, as an insect, a mammal, a human, etc.


I had that 'feeling' as a constant background until I was somewhere between 7-10 years old; then it faded.

Occasionally it comes back when an image evokes a sudden whiff of recollection of someone / somewhere I used to be.

I don't believe in rebirth or reincarnation, but do experience to the intuition of having been every kind of person, being, in every kind of circumstance.

Don't really know what it signifies, if anything.

John
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Santiago Jimenez, modified 12 Years ago at 1/14/12 8:47 AM
Created 12 Years ago at 1/14/12 8:47 AM

RE: That "I've been here before" feeling

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Have you seen any reference to this in the ancient texts ? I'm curious as to what they say about this, either in the Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrana.
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Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem, modified 12 Years ago at 1/14/12 12:51 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 1/14/12 12:50 PM

RE: That "I've been here before" feeling

Posts: 2227 Join Date: 10/27/10 Recent Posts
Santiago Jimenez:
Have you seen any reference to this in the ancient texts ? I'm curious as to what they say about this, either in the Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrana.

One of the ways release (becoming an Arahat) is mentioned in the suttas is as a supranormal power. It's always accompanied with a few others. See MN 119:

[5] "He wields manifold supranormal powers.
...
[8] "He recollects his manifold past lives (lit: previous homes), i.e., one birth, two births, three births, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one hundred, one thousand, one hundred thousand, many aeons of cosmic contraction, many aeons of cosmic expansion, many aeons of cosmic contraction & expansion, [recollecting], 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus he remembers his manifold past lives in their modes & details.
...
[10] "Through the ending of the mental effluents, he remains in the effluent-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having known and made them manifest for himself right in the here & now.

This happens to me occasionally, more often with scenes from my own life (as a child, but vividly recalled), sometimes with apparent thoughts/emotions/concepts/ways of 'being' that apparently did not happen to me in this life. It seems to be a side-effect of having the mind concentrated/mindful enough in a certain way. No ending of the effluents yet, though. My take-away is that if that starts happening to you, the mind is in a position to potentially end the effluents then+there. Just speculation, though.
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Santiago Jimenez, modified 12 Years ago at 1/14/12 1:19 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 1/14/12 1:17 PM

RE: That "I've been here before" feeling

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Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem:
Santiago Jimenez:

This happens to me occasionally, more often with scenes from my own life (as a child, but vividly recalled), sometimes with apparent thoughts/emotions/concepts/ways of 'being' that apparently did not happen to me in this life. It seems to be a side-effect of having the mind concentrated/mindful enough in a certain way. No ending of the effluents yet, though. My take-away is that if that starts happening to you, the mind is in a position to potentially end the effluents then+there. Just speculation, though.



Does it say on the texts how someone knows when all effluents have been released ? How does someone know they wont show up again ?

Tks

Edit: By the way, how in the hell do you guys make quotations? I bet it's obvious but can't figure it out, damn emoticon
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Beoman Claudiu Dragon Emu Fire Golem, modified 12 Years ago at 1/14/12 2:50 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 1/14/12 2:50 PM

RE: That "I've been here before" feeling

Posts: 2227 Join Date: 10/27/10 Recent Posts
Santiago Jimenez:
Does it say on the texts how someone knows when all effluents have been released ? How does someone know they wont show up again ?

It just says "With release, there is the knowledge, 'Released.'".

Just as if there were a pool of water in a mountain glen — clear, limpid, and unsullied — where a man with good eyesight standing on the bank could see shells, gravel, and pebbles, and also shoals of fish swimming about and resting, and it would occur to him, 'This pool of water is clear, limpid, and unsullied. Here are these shells, gravel, and pebbles, and also these shoals of fish swimming about and resting.' In the same way — with his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability — the monk directs and inclines it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. He discerns, as it has come to be, that 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the way leading to the cessation of stress... These are mental fermentations... This is the origination of fermentations... This is the cessation of fermentations... This is the way leading to the cessation of fermentations.' His heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, is released from the fermentation of sensuality, the fermentation of becoming, the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there is the knowledge, 'Released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There's nothing further for this world.'
[MN 039]
It's just from seeing so clearly that there is no longer any doubt.

Practically speaking, it's just a matter of practicing. Is there suffering in current experience? Then release has not happened yet. Is there apparently no suffering? Potentially, look harder. Ask around. See if there's anything you missed. But there will be no doubt when it happens as there will be no more ignorance (10th fetter).

Santiago Jimenez:
Edit: By the way, how in the hell do you guys make quotations? I bet it's obvious but can't figure it out, damn emoticon


You have a [ quote=name ] at the beginning, then the quote text, then a [ /quote ] at the end (without spaces between the square brackets). You are missing a [ /quote ] in your post (two [ quote=name ]s, only one [ /quote ]), so the formatting is all wrong.

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