Best book on spiritualism

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

Tibetan Buddhists do say that the space between death and rebirth is 49 days but I think that statement was made so that mourners could limit their mourning to a limited time frame. Edgar Cayce has stated that the interval can extend to a number of "what you call earth years".

I use the various things you mentioned above (scriptures, traditions, legends, etc. ) as POINTERS to things that I have to investigate and that is how I live my life. Discover what resonates and VALIDATE through contemplation and direct experiences. Shortly before my spiritual mentor left the earth plane, she told me: "You are an experienced meditator. Meditate and all will be revealed." This would seem to be in keeping with the practice of the Buddha.

It may not be a coincidence that I attended a presentation at the United Nations Enlightenment Society last Thursday (December 12th, 2019) by a medical doctor (cardiologist) from Brazil who is also a physicist and a Spiritist. He gave us the same very thought-provoking presentation that he had given earlier this month to the World Psychiatric Association in Jerusalem. There does seem to be a way to validate some of the things that we are discussing.

Theravada Buddhism has a tendency to say 1 day.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

The Buddha doctrine of rebirth should be differentiated from the teachings of transmigration and reincarnation of other religions. Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent, god-created soul or an unchanging entity that transmigrates from one life to another.

Just as relative identity is made possible by causal continuity without a Self or Soul, so death can issue in rebirth without a transmigrating Soul. In a single life, each thought-moment flashes in and out of being, giving rise to its successor with its perishing. Strictly speaking, this momentary rise and fall of every thought is a birth and death. Thus even in a single life we undergo countless births and deaths every second. But because the mental process continues with the support of a single physical body, we regard the mind-body continuum as constituting a single life.


https://www.budsas.org/ebud/whatbudbeliev/96.htm

The issue of Buddhism to reincarnation is similar to Christianity to the Trinity Doctrine.

[sky]

Theravada Buddhists assert that rebirth is immediate while the Tibetan schools hold to the notion of a bardo (intermediate state) that can last up to forty-nine days.

[sky]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

The issue of Buddhism to reincarnation is similar to Christianity to the Trinity Doctrine.

Buddhists don't believe in Reincarnation.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by sky123

Buddhists don't believe in Reincarnation.

I guess you could understand my analogy.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by sky123

No soul but Mental Continuum which is what's carried from one life to another...
Actions ( Karma) leaves an imprint on our consciousness and it is the imprints than travel with us in each Rebirth.
The imprints could be seen as seeds and our actions decide which one's ripen or wither. I see it as a little garden in my mind I water and nurture the positive seeds and let the negative wither ( well I try ). We reap the fruits of our efforts which can be seen as ' Cause and effect ' which is Karma...

A "mental continuum" is quite analogous to a "soul" though it is obviously changing constantly until ....... the "mental continuum" is stilled.

For one who no longer identifies with the body, the mental continuum is the "non physical essence" as you like to say and which I have part made of my own vocabulary.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Theravada Buddhism has a tendency to say 1 day.

The Buddhist link in one of sky123's posts said "immediately", which is close to 1 day. My impression from Edgar Cayce is that the entity (as he calls it) can linger for many "what you call earth years" or it can be fairly immediate.

My impression is that there is no fixed space between physical death and rebirth/reincarnation/whatever. I don't know.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

The issue of Buddhism to reincarnation is similar to Christianity to the Trinity Doctrine.

The Buddhists do apparently have a "Trinity" in the sense of three "bodies".


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trikaya

The doctrine says that a Buddha has three kāyas or bodies:

1. The Dharmakāya, Buddha nature, law and order, or Truth body which embodies the very principle of enlightenment and knows no limits or boundaries;

2. The Saṃbhogakāya, Buddha fields or body of mutual enjoyment which is a body of bliss or clear light manifestation;

3. The Nirmāṇakāya, Buddha incarnation, Emanation, or created body which manifests in time and space.

[sky]

Originally Posted by Still_Waters

A "mental continuum" is quite analogous to a "soul" though it is obviously changing constantly until ....... the "mental continuum" is stilled.

For one who no longer identifies with the body, the mental continuum is the "non physical essence" as you like to say and which I have part made of my own vocabulary.

Everytime I look in a mirror I remember Buddha's words ,

"This body, O monks, is old kamma, to be seen as generated and fashioned by volition, as something to be felt"

I'm trying to be extra good incase I see a Gargoyle looking back at me...

[BigJohn]

Another classical Spiritualist book is the two volume book called The History of Spiritualism by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.