The second area of scientific research into reincarnation involves case studies of people who claim to remember their former lives. Professor Stevenson of the University of Virginia and his colleagues used a traditional approach, which includes the following:
1. Discover the object
2. Obtain information
3. Collect the information
4. Make a case
5. Obtain evidence
6. Track observations
7. Write a report
The characteristics of this method are logical and objective, and its evidence is both credible and persuasive. The problem is that the time, manpower, and budget needed are often too large. For example, from making a case to the last step of confirming the evidence to write a report usually takes several years; it can even take more than a decade. So it is not easy to do this type of research.
A Fascinating Case Designated By Gandhi
One famous case is a classic example in the study of reincarnation from the 1930s. It involves an Indian girl, Shanti Devi. Her case is unusual because it was investigated by members of a committee designated by Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of India.
Indian scholar Dr. K.S. Rawat — who, like Professor Stevenson, devoted his life to the study of reincarnation — made the report. Later, this case was published in March 1997 in Venture Inward Magazine, a publication of the late psychic Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment.
Shanti was born in the city of Delhi, India. Early in life, she claimed she could remember her previous life. She said that she had lived in the Indian city of Mathura. She was married to a man named Pandit Kedar Nath Chaube, the owner of the first small cloth shop in that area. Her past life name had been Lugdi. Lugdi suffered complications during childbirth in 1925. She delivered a son by C-section but died nine days later. One year and ten months after her death — on December 11, 1926 — she was born again in Delhi.
How Could Little Shanti Know So Much About C-Sections?
Shanti began describing the details of her past life as soon as she was able to talk, including the fact that she died from the C-section. At the time, her parents both thought that their daughter was talking nonsense. But one day, a doctor friend who came to visit the family heard this little six-year-old girl describing the process of a C-section in great detail. He was shocked. Why? Because even he was not as familiar with the complex C-section surgery as this little girl.
Shanti Meets Her Previous Family
After this incident, the parents began to give more credence to Shanti's stories. The little girl even remembered her previous address. Her parents wrote to the family at that address and invited them to meet. When the professors heard about this case, they also came to investigate and recorded the process and their findings.
These two families did not know each other, but after receiving the letter, Shanti's past-life husband, Kedar Nath, confirmed that Shanti's description of her past life was mostly true. He agreed to visit this little girl and brought along his brother, his second wife, and his son. This son was the one she gave birth to by C-section.
Still Remembers the Favorite Food of Her Past Husband
At that time, the scholars began to do some tests. They pointed to her husband's brother deliberately to confuse her and said, “This is Kedar Nath, your husband in your past life.” But the little girl said, “No, no, he is not my husband, my husband should be him!” She pointed to the one who was really her husband and told her parents, “Didn't I tell you? I said my husband has a mole on his nose and wears glasses. His skin is very light. It is him!”
She was not confused by the deceptions at all.
When these two families met, Shanti's mother invited the guests for lunch. The little girl told everyone her husband's favorite foods as if describing family valuables. She said her husband liked
to eat potato pancakes and liked to drink pumpkin juice. When Kedar Nath heard this, he was startled. How could this little girl know him so clearly? Later, he spent some time alone with this
little girl and said to the professor afterward, “I believe, without a doubt, that this little girl's past life was indeed as my wife.” This was because they talked about a lot of details of their married life which were impossible for anybody else to have known.
No Obstacle Between Hearts
When little Shanti saw the son she had given birth to by C-section, she burst into tears. This is a mother's deep affection for her son, even though he was now older than her. She quickly ran to her room and brought out all of her toys to offer to her son.
People asked, “At the death of your past life, your son was just a newborn baby. How could you even know that he is your son?” Shanti answered, “My son is part of my heart. Even if the body is different, there is no obstacle between hearts.” Everyone was surprised that this little girl could say such words!
As we know, the relationship of familial love between parents and children is inherent, so our ancestors said,
Beloved affection between parents and children
is pure nature and purely innate.
Shanti's love for her son, even in a different life, had no obstacle. The ancient Chinese sages taught us about morals and ethics. They said this of the Five Ethical Relationships:
There is inborn love
between parents and children, and
there must be righteousness
between leaders and subordinates.
There are distinct responsibilities
between husband and wife, and
there must be a proper order
between the young and the old.
And lastly, there should be trustworthiness
among friends.
Of all these, the core truth is “There is inborn love between parents and children.” This means the innate affection between parents and children is natural. It is not taught by others. Only if we follow the nature of this beloved affection between parents and children to educate the public, can the hearts of human beings be saved and society return to order.
In Confucianism, filial piety is the virtue of demonstrating respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors. Society has become chaotic because of the lack of filial piety nowadays!
Only a Pure, Loving Heart Is Eternal
When little Shanti was speaking with her former life's husband, she described enough details of their lives to convince him of her identity. Shanti pointed at his second wife and said, “Didn't we make an agreement that you would never remarry?”This made her husband very embarrassed.
You see, the kind of love that our worldly people speak about — romance — is like popular songs describe: My love for you will be everlasting until the seas dry up and the rocks crumble. Yet this kind of love cannot be relied upon, because
A vow stimulated out of the desire for love is not reliable.
Only the kind of love arising from a pure heart will be eternal.
Like the vow of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
arising from their compassion — love from a pure heart —
will be true and eternal.
Burst Out Sobbing When Seeing Her Past Parents
The story of little Shanti's tale spread throughout India and throughout the world. The Father of India, Mahatma Gandhi, organized a committee of fifteen experts to investigate her case.
On November 24, 1935, the committee took little Shanti to find the home of her past life‘s husband. On this visit, little Shanti was like a tour guide, describing what would be ahead and even what route to take. She seemed to be familiar with this area, although she had never been here in this life; it was all from the memory of her past life. When these people arrived at her former husband's house, she recognized her father-in-law at first glance.
Next, she returned to her own parents' house, which was nearby. Her parents were elderly and had silver hair. When little Shanti saw them, she hugged her parents and burst out sobbing. The experts at the scene, the members of the committee, were very touched. So you see, in her former life, she died before her parents! A single breath not taken will send one to the next life!
One Missed Breath Sends You to the Next Life
One day, when the Buddha was alive (on our planet), he was having a discussion with his disciples. He asked, “Please think about it and tell me: how quickly can a person's life be taken away?” One disciple said, “People's lives can be taken away as fast as a night and a day.” The Buddha shook his head and said, “Wrong!”
Another disciple said, “People's lives can be taken away as fast as the time of eating a meal!” During the time it takes to eat a meal, one's life can end. That's why Chinese people suggest: Do not invite a guest over seventy to a meal or over eighty to stay overnight. They are afraid of them choking during their meal and dying with a missed breath. So people's lives can be taken away within the time of eating one meal. But the Buddha still shook his head.
Finally, there was one disciple who said, “People's life or death are merely within a breath.” The Buddha then nodded his head. One breath missed will send you to the next life!
Every one of you sitting here today are all great practitioners of the Pure Land school. The time of human life is very precious, yet very short. We should seize this fleeting time to diligently cultivate our virtue. Otherwise, with one missed breath, we will have no idea where we are heading to.
I had a classmate named Liang Donggang. He was in the same class as me during high school and college. Last year, classmates told me he had passed away from nasopharyngeal cancer. He was the same age as me. He was thirty-two years old last year. Life is so impermanent!
Twenty-Four Tests Prove Shanti's Reincarnation True
Eventually, the case of Shanti drew hundreds of experts to investigate. They all came to the same conclusion: They admitted that this was a case of reincarnation, and that reincarnation does exist. Professor Stevenson, who we mentioned before, also personally investigated this case. His paper
included this comment:
I also met with her father as well as related witnesses,
including her former life's husband as she claimed,
Kedar Nath Chaube.
My investigation showed that
regarding the statement of her past life,
that is, the description regarding her former life,
has been confirmed true at least twenty-four times.
This means that Professor Stevenson personally conducted twenty-four tests and his investigation confirmed that her reincarnation was true.
A Living Soul In A Dead Body
Among the cases Professor Stevenson wrote about in the book that we mentioned before, Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, there is a very special example. This case, which is also from India, is the example stated in our history as “a living soul in a dead body.”
In the spring of 1954, a little boy in India named Jasbir died at the age of three. His parents were very sad as they prepared to bury him. But it was getting dark, so they thought, “Let's leave the coffin here and bury him the next morning.” At midnight, the coffin began to move. This child began to wake up slowly and started to speak. His father felt very happy until he heard his three-year-old child claim that he was a twenty-two-year-old man from the village of Vehedi, a Brahmin with the surname Shankar.
Indian society is divided into many different castes. Brahmins are nobles. These noble people don't eat lower caste families' foods. Jasbir's family was a common family, so after this child woke up, he didn't want to eat his family's food. He said, “I am a Brahmin, so I cannot eat commoners'
food.” Fortunately, his neighbor was a Brahmin, and she cooked for him. Otherwise, he would have refused to eat and would have starved to death.
Professor Stevenson and others began to investigate the little boy. They listened to him talking about his past life. Based on his description, they found his past-life family. After verification, they confirmed that what he said was correct. This was a case of “a living soul in a dead body.”
A Twenty-Two-Year-Old in a Three-Year-Old's Body
In fact, Jasbir, the three-year-old child, was dead. His soul was gone. The soul that came back to this body was actually another person. Our bodies are just like clothes. We take off one dress and put on another one. If you think the body is you and become attached to it, you will endure pointless suffering. As a matter of fact,
The body belongs to you and is temporarily owned by you,
but it will not be in your possession permanently.
Having such a concept, you must not become attached. Then many problems can be and will be resolved. According to the investigation, the child, after waking up, said that he was a twenty-two-year-old Brahmin youth. While he was attending a relative's wedding, another relative who owed him money had poisoned him. After he ate poisoned candy, on the way back to his house, he fell off the carriage and died. He could even remember his murderer's name! As he spoke this relative's name, he was clenching his teeth in bitter hatred.
The professors found the Brahmin's family from before his soul came to the body of this three-year-old boy. They found that there really was such a person and such an incident. That person fell from the carriage and died after attending the wedding. Many people thought that he had died from a carriage accident and didn't realize he had been murdered.
To Wish Death Upon Creditors to Escape Debt
The person who killed him in his former life had a very vicious intention —“wished death falling upon his creditor to escape debt”— it is exactly the same as stated in Treatise on Response and Retribution*. He thought that he could run away and escape. Actually, he was wrong.
When one owed other people money and further took away the creditor's life, the creditor would remember and gnash his teeth every time he thought of it. We can imagine, when the enemies came face to face, their eyes would blaze with hatred. Once there was a chance, the creditor would surely retaliate. Understanding this truth, how could it be possible that one dares to do shameful things? We cannot escape from cause and effect after doing shameful things; our creditors will eventually find us.
Actually, examples of “a living soul in a dead body” are often recorded in some classical books in Chinese history, such as A Collection of Bizarre Stories (Liao Zhai Zhi Yi). Don't regard this book as merely a mythical storybook; the stories are actually true. Even The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di Nei Jing), an ancient Chinese medical text, also records the example of “a living soul in a dead body.” Due to our limited time, I cannot give you a detailed report. We have to focus on Western modern scientific cases.
*Treatise on Response and Retribution is a Daoist scripture from the 12th century, very influential in China, it expounds on the relationship between cause and effect. In recent years, this Daoist scripture has been vigorously promoted by Buddhist Masters such as Master Yin Guang and Master Chin Kung.
A Thai Monk Reincarnated From His Own Uncle
Another case is also from Professor Stevenson. It is about Venerable Chao Kung, a well-respected monk in Thailand.
In 1908, a relatively early time compared to now, October 12th, he was born in Surin Province, Thailand. Right after his birth, his uncle, Naileng, passed away from an illness. Please note, his uncle did not die until after he was born. Then he reincarnated as his sister's son and became Venerable Chao Kung.
His uncle in this life had been a devout Buddhist before his death. He liked to do sitting meditation every day. He was also very fond of his little sister. This little sister, named Nanleng, was now the mother of Venerable Chao Kung. When Venerable Chao Kung was very young, at the time when he began to speak, he was able to remember things from his former life. He said he knew some of his family members because he was from this family. He called his own mother “little sister” and regarded his grandmother as “mother.” Obviously, this would be correct from his uncle's point of view, but from the perspective of his present life, it was wrong.
In Thailand, there is a custom that says one will encounter many misfortunes if, as a child, one remembers his/her previous life. So his family prohibited Venerable Chao Kung from talking about his past life. They forced him to forget the events of his past life.
One time, after he became a monk, a senior monk asked him, “Do you know anybody who can remember their previous lives?” Venerable Chao Kung answered, “I can remember.” So he began to narrate in detail. He recalled very clearly and wrote down what he said.
Later, it was verified by Professor Stevenson. He talked about how he had been his own uncle Naileng and described in detail the process of his own death: “I (meaning Naileng), in my past life, was intermittently sick for a few months. I was lying in bed at the time when my sister was seven months pregnant. During that time, we often dreamed of each other.” He stated that his sister acted very differently after becoming pregnant. She did not like to eat sour foods as in her previous pregnancies, but liked to meditate and began to have a very strong faith in Buddhism. She even became a nun during her pregnancy. In Thailand, they have short-term monastic programs.
During her ordination ceremony, Naileng, the past life of Venerable Chao Kung, said, “Although I lay in the bed, I could clearly see her ordination ceremony at the temple. I also participated!” Later, he heard his relatives talking about his little sister giving birth to a baby boy, very cute, so he decided to go and see this baby. Instead, he felt like he fell asleep. He exhaled a few heavy sighs and then closed his eyes. Actually, he had died at that moment. In other words, his last thought before death was to go take a look at the baby. After this thought, he took one last breath.
He said that he immediately recovered and felt normal again. His soul had in fact left his body at that time. To him, it seemed he had recovered his strength and was able to move around briskly. He saw that many relatives and friends had gathered around his body, crying. He told everyone, “Don't
cry, you guys. I am still here, living well.” But those relatives could not see nor hear him. He felt very depressed. He grabbed this person's arm, pulled that person's leg, but they all ignored
him, they didn't feel anything at all. He then thought, let me go and see my little sister and her new baby.
Mortals Cannot See Spirits, but They Can See Us
You see, the soul, after leaving the body, can move about. We mortal people cannot see them, but they can see us. When we worship our ancestors, respectfully placing ancestral tablets and chanting Amitabha, the Buddha of The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, they can really come and listen to our chanting.
The soul is not bound by time and space!
Two years ago, I had the honor of participating in the opening ceremony of the All Ancestral Memorial Hall at Pure Land Learning College in Australia. At that time, Master Chin Kung attended the chanting in person to give this ancestral memorial hall blessings. We were very touched when chanting Amitabha. I remember that I was in tears while chanting Amitabha. Afterward, our mentor, Master Chin Kung told us, “You all have really great fortune!” One of the practitioners asked,
“We are chanting Amitabha for all ancestors here. Can they really come and listen?” Master Chin Kung nodded his head and said, “They can really come and hear us.”
It is indeed true. Now that we see these examples, we have verified that our ancestors can really hear us and really reap the benefits of our Amitabha recitation.
The Power of Impelling Karma
Do you recall how Naileng, the uncle of Venerable Chao Kung, wanted to see his sister's baby? That was his last living thought. In fact, he did go to visit the baby, who was so cute that Naileng wanted to touch him and kiss him.
Naileng's sister saw Naileng, and she knew his body had been cremated after death. She said to him, “Dear brother, you have already gone to another world. Please do not appear in front of us. Do not worry about us.” She might have felt uncertain when she said it, but she could really see him. At that time, the soul of Venerable Chao Kung thought, “She is right. I must leave. Since there are different worlds, let me go and see the baby one more time before leaving.”
When he tried to take a last glance at the baby, he felt as if he was drawn by a force. He said that some kind of spiraling force sucked him up, and soon he was unconscious. He felt like he was really dead. When he woke up later, he felt like he had become a little infant again.
The force that decides your destination is called
“impelling karma” in Buddhism.
It pulls you towards your next birth.
Whatever thought that is in your mind at that moment
will pull you to the place you are thinking,
and then you will be reincarnated.
Since Venerable Chao Kung was thinking of his sister's baby as he died, his soul went into the body of this little baby. For this reason, the state of mind of a dying person is extremely important.
What Appears in the World Is Only a Reflection of Our Mind
The world manifests whatever we are thinking. People who are reciting Amitabha until their death will see Amitabha in their minds. Amitabha will then lead them to be reborn into Sukhāvatī, also known as The Western Pure Land or The World of Ultimate Bliss. If you are having the thoughts of greed, resentment, or ignorance when you die, such as thinking about your house or children, then you will be reincarnated to one of the six realms: heaven, asura, human, animal, ghost, and hell. People who are reluctant to let go of their property might even become a mouse to guard their house!
So we must be particularly vigilant about what we are thinking.
Venerable Chao Kung said later that he did not know how long it was until he recovered his consciousness. “But I remember that I had been Naileng not too long ago. I felt I was still this baby's uncle. I felt full of vitality.” He noticed that many people talked to him and smiled at him, and he wanted to tell everybody that he was Naileng. But he could only make baby noises because he could not yet speak.
“After that, when I was preparing to wave to everyone, I was held up by my grandmother — actually my past life's mother. I wanted to call her ‘Mom’ because I remembered that she was my mother in my past life. But in this life, she had become my grandmother. Yet I still could not speak.” After the baby could speak, there were many times that he called his own grandmother “Mom,” but was corrected by the family. Because of the family's corrections, he no longer dared to mention the
details of his former life.
The professors who investigated later found out that the lifestyle, expression, and attitude of Venerable Chao Kung were indeed very similar to those of his late uncle. He loved to meditate and learn about Buddhism, just like his own uncle, the man he had been in his former life. Subsequently, he became a monk in order to cultivate wisdom in this life. He was able to remember events from his former life until his old age.
This was a case of a practitioner!
Rebirth Into the Pure Land Ensures the End of Suffering
In his former life, Naileng had been a lay practitioner. In the next life, he became a monk. It is a pity that he was not seeking Pure Land rebirth due to a possibility of not encountering or not being familiar with Pure Land Buddhism, so he was again reincarnated in this world. Thanks to his good karma, he was able to clearly remember the process of his reincarnation and could even keep his human form and come back to the same family. Nonetheless, if we do not free ourselves from the cycle of birth and death — in other words, unless we are reborn into The Western Pure Land of Ultimate
Bliss (Sukhāvatī) — then the suffering of reincarnation will be inevitable in the future.
Professor Stevenson, who investigated this case, acknowledged that Venerable Chao Kung had clear memories and was indeed reincarnated from Naileng. He had been his current mother's older brother and subsequently reincarnated to become his sister's son. From this case we can see that people's
cultivation does not just start in this life. Venerable Chao Kung had been a practitioner in his last life who liked to meditate and learn Buddhism when he was Naileng; in this life, he became the Venerable Chao Kung, a monk in a monastery. It is actually not bad, it shows his soul was improving!
Therefore, we can deduce that so many of you here are all very devout and sincere practitioners. This did not actually begin in this life. You must have been learning Buddhism life after life!
As we have now encountered Pure Land Buddhism, we are able to seek Sukhāvatī rebirth; of course, this would not have begun in this life either. If one does not learn Pure Land Buddhism and does not vow to be reborn into The World of Ultimate Bliss (Sukhāvatī), if he practices to a certain level, he might continue learning Buddhism in his next life — but he will inevitably still suffer from the bitterness of samsara.
The Former Life Of Confucian Master Wang Yangming
Let me share a historical story here that is similar to the studies of these Western scientists: Confucian Master Wang Yangming was a famous scholar in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). You might know of him. In his time, he was well-respected by the people — and he discovered that he was reincarnated from a senior monk.
One day when he was almost fifty years old, Wang Yangming went to visit the Jinshan Temple of Zhenjiang City in Jiangsu Province. After entering the temple, he had a feeling of déjà vu. He then went walking randomly in the temple. When he approached the front door of a retreat room, he noticed that the door and windows were closed tightly, and there was even a strip of paper sealing the door. He felt that he had lived in this retreat room in the past.
He asked a monk to open the door for him, so he could enter and take a look. But the monk said, “We are really sorry, we cannot do that. You are welcome to go to any other place in the temple, but not this retreat room. Fifty years ago, the senior monk of this temple, our former abbot, went to parinirvana here. And his whole-body relic is still kept in this room. His flesh body is still sitting there and has not decayed. In order to protect this relic, we do not allow anybody to enter.” But Wang Yangming was very insistent. “I implore you, I must enter and take a look.” Since he was a well-known scholar and was also well-respected in the Buddhist circle, the monk finally had no choice but to let him go take a look.
Revelation at the Monastery
When the door opened, Mr. Wang stepped inside and saw an old monk sitting straight up on a meditation mat, already gone to nirvana. The true body relic was very dignified. When turning back, he saw something written on the wall. This is the poem that the abbot wrote before he went to nirvana:
Fifty years later Wang Yangming,
the one who opens the door
is the one who closed the door.
The soul comes back after it had left,
we then believe,
the soul is really eternal
like Zen Buddhism claims.
In Buddhism, the soul refers to consciousness. People call it “soul.” The abbot even gave the name of the one who would come back. From this poem, we can tell that this senior monk had genuine skills; he could predict the future and knew that he would come back fifty years later as someone named Wang Yangming! This is supernal power! But even though he possessed such an authentic skill, he still was reincarnated as Wang Yangming.
Even Great Practitioners Can't Always Remember Previous Lives
Wang Yangming did not remember his previous life, even though he was a great practitioner and senior monk with well-respected knowledge and virtues.
Based on this story and many records throughout history, we have reason to believe that this kind of person was definitely a true practitioner in his past life. It is a pity that this senior monk did not recite Amitabha and vow to be reborn into the Pure Land. As a result, he still had to be reincarnated. With this genuine skill, if he had vowed to be reborn into the Pure Land, he would undoubtedly have ended his suffering of samsara. According to Buddhist sutras,
Pure Land Buddhism is a method
that is extremely difficult to believe.
What is the difficult part?
First of all, it is very difficult to encounter.
Secondly, it is also difficult to believe,
even after encountering it.
Even if someone tells you, you might still not believe in it and not be willing to recite Amitabha at the moment of death. As such, suffering from reincarnation is inevitable. And it will cause confusion between the two lives. Even returning bodhisattvas* would possibly forget the experiences of their past lives, just like this senior monk. It really is a pity because those skills he had cultivated were all interrupted.
In this life, we have encountered our teacher, Master Chin Kung, who introduced Pure Land Buddhism so clearly to us; this is truly hard to encounter, even in thousands of billions of kalpas*. We should seize this opportunity and achieve the monumental task of liberating ourselves from the cycle of birth and death in this life.
*Generally speaking, a bodhisattva is a Buddhist practitioner intent on the attainment of enlightenment based on profoundly altruistic motivations.
“Bodhi” means “enlightenment,” and “sattva” means “living being.” Thus, a being who has been awakened and seeks enlightenment, or an enlightened being is called a bodhisattva. A bodhisattva who dedicates his or her efforts to the salvation of other beings is the model practitioner in the Mahāyāna tradition.
*Kalpa: a Sanskrit word for the longest period of time in the Indian cosmology — the period of time between the creation and re-creation of a world or universe. It is an unimaginably long unit of time.
Where Reincarnation And Biology Intersect
Let's return to our subject and continue to explore the proofs of Western science. Professor Stevenson's scientific proofs of these cases of reincarnation have been appreciated by the American and Western medical community, so we will look at more of his cases. He not only reported many cases of reincarnation but also concluded some theories from these cases. Let's explore those theories,
which are published in his book Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect. In this book, Professor Stevenson integrated biology and reincarnation, using them to explain each other.
Story One: Reincarnation of the Pollock Twins
The Pollock twins were born in October 1958 in England. Between the time when they were two and four years old, they were able to remember their past lives as their two deceased sisters, Joanna and Jacqueline.
Joanna and Jacqueline Pollock had been eleven and six years old when they died in a tragic car accident on May 5, 1957. A car drove onto the sidewalk and killed these two girls. At the beginning of the second year after their death, 1958, their mother was pregnant again. Their father had a strange thought: without rhyme nor reason, he said that she would deliver twins this time. The doctor denied that Mrs. Pollock was pregnant with twins, but the father insisted otherwise. He was correct. Mrs. Pollock gave birth to twins and named them Gillian and Jennifer.
Proof of the Reincarnation as Their Own Younger Sisters
When these twins were two or three years old, they claimed that they were the two sisters who had died in this family. Investigators tested them; for example, when the twins were given the toys of their deceased sisters, they would retrieve their own favorite toys of their previous life. The older one would retrieve the older sister's toys, and the younger twin would retrieve the younger sister's toys. They would identify their toys by the made-up names the two deceased sisters had given them.
Once, while the family was driving through an area where the little girls had never been in this life, they suddenly pointed to a building and shouted out: “Hey, that is the school we studied at before!” They both seemed to recognize it, even though they were still too young to go to school. Both claimed they had studied in this school before, and they even described some swings in the back of the school where they often played. Everything they said matched details from the lives of their deceased sisters.
Learning Capabilities Are Retained Between Lives
Joanna, the older sister of the deceased sisters, had loved to teach her younger sister to write. In this life, Gillian, the older twin, learned very quickly to hold a pen and to write, while the younger twin struggled to hold a pen correctly. She clasped the pen in her fist, as the younger deceased sister had.
In this life, the older twin was a fast learner and the younger twin learned more slowly. This also was related to their past lives. The learning capabilities of people vary. Some people seem to be especially smart, learning things quickly, while others struggle to learn. That is related to their past lives.
When one seems to learn something particularly fast, he might be remembering some of the training from a past life. Otherwise, how can you explain someone like Mozart, a musical genius who began composing large, complex symphonies before he turned six years old? The explanation is that learning acquired in past lives sometimes carries over. This kind of person was probably a musician in their past life already, and his genius had been retained. Beethoven was the same way. Both musicians died
early, but their musical talent was evident during childhood.
Birthmarks Can Be Passed on Life After Life
These twins were both born with birthmarks in the same locations as their deceased sisters. A birthmark might stay with a person for several lives, and other physical characteristics such as
appearance might also be the same over several lifetimes. Some people were born good-looking, probably because they have done good deeds in their past life. A good heart brings a better-looking appearance. On the contrary, if the heart is evil, this evil heart can create an ugly appearance that lasts for lifetimes.
Story Two: Lulao's Prophecy and Proof
Let me tell you another story that is recorded in official Chinese history. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a person named Cui Xian from Shandong Province. He grew up with noble aspirations and was highly educated. In the first year of the Yuanhe era of Emperor Xianzong, this young man passed the two highest levels of imperial exams, Juren and Jinshi, in the same year. His official career reached the high-ranking position of “Shiyushi,” similar to today's position of a general prosecutor. He was specifically in charge of prosecuting criminal cases. With a charismatic
personality, Cui Xian was a righteous person and was very smart at making decisions with criminal cases, he earned the reputation of being guarded by deities because he dealt with those cases like a god and was very accurate.
Cui Xian's father was Cui Rui, also an imperial officer. During his official career, of course, he was a very kind person who greatly respected the saints and sages. One day, a practitioner came to his house. This practitioner called himself “Lulao” (Mandarin pronunciation, meaning Senior Lu). This Lulao had reached a very high level in his practice — he could predict the future and know the past. Cui Rui respected Lulao and invited him to stay at his home. After a period of time, Lulao told Cui Rui it was time for him to leave. He said, “I am leaving, but we have a very deep affinity in the future. After I finish this life, I will reincarnate into your family and become your son. There will be proof!” “What will that be?” Cui Rui asked. Lulao pointed to a mole beneath his mouth and said, “This will be our proof.” He left after giving his word.
Later, Cui Rui had a son, Cui Xian. Sure enough, he had a birthmark: a mole beneath his mouth. His son also grew up to look and act like Lulao. So his father nicknamed him “Lulao,” to commemorate this practitioner.
Suffering in the Womb Causes Us to Forget Our Previous Life
We can see from this case, if we don't cultivate and vow to be reborn into the Pure Land — even if we are so advanced that we have a genuine skill of predicting the future and knowing the past, just like Lulao — we will still be reincarnated within the six realms. Only by cultivating The Pure Land Method and seeking rebirth to The World of Ultimate Bliss (Sukhāvatī) can we escape the cycle of birth and death.
After reincarnation, most people forget their past life — unless they are like Venerable Chao Kung, the Thai example we mentioned earlier.
The reason he remembered his prior life is because he did not go through the suffering of the prison-like pain of being carried in a womb as the Buddha Dharma states. He did not suffer the months of pain because he did not actually enter his mother's womb. Instead, he entered the baby's body after the child was born. At the moment of his death he was thinking of the baby, so his consciousness went to the baby at the moment of his death. From this case we can easily comprehend that the power of the mind is inconceivable. It can create our world! Buddha Dharma states,
Our world is “manifested by the heart
and altered by consciousness.”
This is especially true at the moment of our death.
The moment of death is the time of altering our realm,
entering a different world.
That interval of time when we are near death is particularly critical. Whatever you are thinking of will appear in front of you. Venerable Chao Kung was thinking of his sister's baby, and subsequently went to the baby's body and became her son. He retained all his memories because he did not endure the extreme suffering of hanging upside-down in a mother's womb.
I saw a documentary film produced by the American Discovery channel in Hong Kong when I was on the way here. Thanks to the advanced technology nowadays, film producers used a three-dimensional ray to film the complete activities of a baby inside a mother's womb, so we were able to see the baby's
suffering. Being soaked in the amniotic fluid in the mother's womb and hung upside down for ten months must be a distressing torment. During this suffering, a baby will forget the events of his previous life. The pain drives out his memories. Consequently, few people can remember their past lives. Only those who did not experience this suffering might remember.
Stories Three and Four: Professor Stevenson's Birthmark Theory
Professor Stevenson proposed a theory that birthmarks are related to one's former life. He used a biological perspective to talk about this issue. Another more recent case of his from the United States is even more convincing:
A Birthmark Caused by Last Life's Car Crash
Winnie, a very cute four-year-old girl, died in a car accident in 1961. Of course, her family was very sad. The husband and wife, and their other daughter, the older sister of this deceased girl, were all immersed in grief.
About six months after Winnie's death, Winnie's older sister, also a little girl, suddenly dreamed that Winnie would be coming back home. Her mother became pregnant after this incident! During the pregnancy, her mother also dreamed that Winnie said she would be coming back to reunite with the family. Her mother gave birth in 1964. In front of the delivery room, her father heard Winnie's voice. He reported it was a very clear voice, not dreamlike. He clearly heard Winnie say, “Dad, I am coming back.” Then the baby was born. This baby was also a girl and was given the name Susan.
When Susan was two years old, she began to talk about having been a girl named Winnie. She liked two pictures of Winnie. She pointed to one and said, “This person is me.” She put one picture on the headboard of her bed and carried the other with her and cherished it. Susan often repeated sentences
beginning with “when I was in school…,” and then started to chat with her parents about her past. Professor Stevenson later confirmed the truth of the events that Susan mentioned.
Interestingly, there was a large birthmark on the left side of Susan's hip. This birthmark corresponded exactly to the wound left by her deceased sister's car accident. Professor Stevenson went to the hospital where Winnie died after the car accident and examined the autopsy chart to verify that the injured part of Winnie's body was consistent with the birthmark Susan had in this life.
Based on cases like this, Professor Stevenson believes that if a person died from certain kinds of trauma — a sharp blade, a puncture wound, or impact — the injured area would leave a birthmark on later reincarnations. He used more than 200 cases that he investigated to confirm his theory.
Birthmark of a Bullet Wound and the Memory of Past Life Death
Professor Stevenson introduced the case of an Indian boy who remembered his own previous life in a village in India. In this past life, his name had been Maha. He was murdered when someone shot a bullet that passed through his chest. The position of the bullet passing through is shown in the autopsy report (diagram on the left) that Professor Stevenson found in the hospital.
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Physical and Mental Trauma Can Be Passed on to the Next Life
From studying more than 200 similar cases, Professor Stevenson developed two theories, which he described to me. It was the time after I finished my studies in the United States, I contacted him while I was teaching at the University of Texas. The professor told me about his birthmark theory — birthmarks in this lifetime can show the position of mortal wounds from a previous lifetime — he also believes that our talents carry over into future lives.
In many of these reincarnation cases, lives ended in tragic deaths. People were killed by a car accident or murder, which of course subjected them to great physical and mental trauma. Death is very painful, and tragic death is even more tormenting. How does this affect the theories of Professor Stevenson?
Deaths that cause great pain, physically and mentally, leave an imprint on the soul. Anything that is felt too strongly can wound us. Sometimes when we are injured, even after the wound is healed, the heart still feels the pain. This is because the pain has left an imprint on the soul. When such a person reincarnates, this imprint might be revealed as a birthmark on the skin. This theory actually makes sense.
One of the Five Chinese Blessings: A Good Death
Chinese people sometimes ask, “What should we really ask for in life?”
The answer: ask for a good death.
If you die in a painful way, you absolutely will not only suffer the pain during the process of death, but it will also leave some painful marks in the future life. The Chinese say the five blessings of life are wealth, well-being, longevity, good virtues, and a good death.
Only by cultivating good virtues
can a good death be attained.
If you don't cultivate good virtues,
a good death will be impossible to obtain.
People who have a good death
go through their dying process easier
and will transcend to a better realm.
But it can only be achieved
by cultivating good virtues.
Cultivate a good heart now so your eventual death will be smooth and easy.
A Parrot Recalls His Prior Life As His Owner's Husband
In addition to some people who remember their former life, there was a very rare case — an animal also remembered his past life. This case happened in Bern, Switzerland. A female university professor named Francis Speck lost her husband at age forty-nine. Six weeks after her husband died, she ordered a parrot to be delivered to her by parcel post. This parrot was an expensive and precious variety that could quickly learn how to talk. She later discovered that the day the parrot hatched happened to be the same day her husband died.
This parrot was very clever and learned quickly how to talk. The female professor gave him a name, but the parrot refused to accept this name and called out, “Emil.” He said, “I am Emil.” Emil was her husband's name. This parrot later learned a lot of human vocabulary and started to organize the vocabulary to talk. He talked, little by little, about the marriage life that he had with this female professor. His description was so vivid that the female professor was shocked. Later, several experts who specialized in the field of reincarnation began to study this parrot. In the end, they all determined that this parrot was indeed the professor's late husband. She often took out the photo album of their past and looked at those pictures with this parrot, to reminisce on their happy
life together.
These cases offer us proof that the reincarnation of sentient beings really occurs. In this case of the deceased husband reincarnated into a parrot, the causal condition seemed to be by coincidence: the professor ordered a parrot she had never seen to be delivered through the postal service. However,
The causal conditions between sentient beings,
in reality, are not accidental.
It was not just by chance that she would bring the parrot home by ordering it casually through the mail,
It was actually “an inevitable karmic attraction.”
The karmic relationships between us and sentient beings around us are determined by past lives. The Buddha taught us that there are only four relationships among people:
Collecting debt, repaying debt,
returning debt of gratitude, and seeking revenge.
Source Of Information:
《The Scientific Proof Of Causal Reincarnation》, by Dr. Zhong Maosen (Venerable Ding Hong), translated by Mahayana Pureland Team, published by Mahayana Pureland Organization, distributed by: Persatuan Penganut Agama Buddha Amitabha Malaysia, 90 & 92, Jalan Pahang, Gombak, 53000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.)
*** The information provided above does not contain personal opinion of this blog.
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