Stories about consciousness
4 Buddhist wisdom stories about consciousness from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- The meditator taken to hospital as deadStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A member of the Perth community meditates so deeply at home that his wife finds no signs of life; paramedics and hospital doctors find a flat ECG and EEG and shocks do nothing —…
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this was a person who got into such a deep meditation at home I'll tell it very briefly that his wife was concerned he died and so called the ambulance and it got taken to S Charles Garden the hospital it was on a weekend he was just an ordinary person meditating in his bedroom he was meditating for too long and his wife checked him up could find no signs of life so call the ambulance ambulance could find no signs of life so took him to Charlie Gardner's hospital where they put ECG and EEG on him both were flat the guy had died at least so the instrument said now ECG there was no heartbeat for long time EEG no brain activity the brain was not working and he was just in a meditation I told the story elsewhere so I won't elaborate on it after giving him defibrillators and many electric shocks nothing worked but eventually he came out of his meditation he just decided I've had enough now I come out just like you do and as soon as he came out of meditation both machines worked perfectly ECG and EEG started beeping in the proper way and he felt fine he just wondered what the hell he was doing in hospital he was in his bedroom and gave him a quick uh uh sort of check over the doctor nothing wrong with the guy so he actually went home he walked home and obviously didn't live that far away from s charar g Hospital in Netherlands he walked back home he was that fit but during that whole time he was perfectly alert perfectly conscious but not of his uh body or his surroundings he was deep inside so he's having a wonderful time one of the best experiences of his life
- The teacher who woke in a drowned boy's bodyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A now-famous meditation teacher (unnamed, still alive) was, it seems, reborn into the body of a village boy who had drowned in a lake and lain under the water for hours. When…
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that happened to a great teacher it seems i won't say the name because they're still alive was born in the body of a drowned boy the boy had died in a village lake and he's been under the water for hours when they find him he came alive again and the person who he eventually became is quite a famous meditation teacher and he said that was his first memory this brilliant light and he gaining consciousness in the body of this young boy
- The temporal bell that woke her from comaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Angie Marksfield's auntie describes deep coma as blackness; what brought her out was sound — like the tickling of a temple/temporal bell.
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Angie Marksfield was there and her auntie would tell the story when she was in a coma. She went in a coma. She never told me exactly why she was in that coma but really really deep in a coma and obviously she came out of it. But her story of how she came out the first time was fascinating, like a firsthand description of what it's like and what happens. And she said she was in such a dark dark place, a blackness. And what brought her out was like sound. She thought it was a tickling of a of a uh a temporal bell
- “Why did you call me a …?” — the surgeon's outburstStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A wealthy London woman with an expensive Harley Street surgeon dies for a few minutes on the table; the panicking surgeon swears at her. At his polite post-op visit she asks why…
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one of my favorite stories was of the very wealthy person in London Lon who was having a minor operation and because she was wealthy she had I think a doctor from Harley Street very expensive but she wanted the best if you got money why not get the best and fortunately she actually did need it because during the operation she died for a few minutes and if ever you get an expensive doctor you'll probably find he's always very polite to you but during the operation the doctor lost it you know this lady was dying and he was panicking and during the operation apparently he said he shouted out even though this lady was unconscious don't give up on me now you [ __ ] that's what he said be careful if you're a doctor or a nurse cuz what happened next was when he came around after the operation they saved her life they found out the and fixed it so she was fine but on the first visit of the surgeon after the operation he said in his very polite voice Madam we came Jolly close to losing you that time yes she said I know but why did you call me a [ __ ] which you can imagine what the doctor thought said you were dead at the time how'd you know that and then of course she told she wasn't dead well she was dead but she was conscious