What's that permanent storage that stores infinite permanent past lives data?

All this ‘conventional world’ theorizing is happening in your mind – you need to just let go that thought (=volition). Remember that the Buddha had said that he teaches only what is useful for us to know in order to reach nibbana. See the Simsapa Sutta: The Simsapa Leaves

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I believe past lives are noting but in our DNA. DNA is a material from the beginningless times that has everything stored of our ancestors. Past lives might be the one stream of consciousness experiences of our ancestors which we are connected to. Just like generational trauma. Faith has cause and effect.

Gene expression is what is Impermanent and changeble. But DNA is passed down from generations to generations.

That’s why a atheist still have near death experience related to the family faith.

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Directly contradicts rebirth evidence. https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/dktouv/buddhists_should_repost_rebirth_evidences_more/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Kids have past life memories of the previous person who is not their immediate family members.

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Why was tri temporal realism even needed to “assist” in explaining kamma?

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Bhante. In rebirth I believe it can be all random because karma will let you be born different places or sometimes the same place. Buddhist kids rebirth story in Sri Lanka for example. They remember living in Sri Lanka as monks. So there you see what I mean. There is a link to being born the same place. The study didn’t go so far as to see if they where linked to the same family line as I remember. But that doesn’t matter. Imagine being one big consciousness linked as neurons. The possibilities are endless. Just like the brain. You can be rewired “Remember lives that are linked to you and you identify with them”

Because it’s a memory linked to consciousness experience which caused “you” to be the effect.

That’s why Buddha didn’t believe it’s :100: you.

There is no individual us. Everything changes. Every “self” is acquired. So each life is new snake skin. We act like serpents because in our body we have ???

Thats why Buddha is the Mahānāga

The great serpent. The kundalini inside us.

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The theory was that in order for something to have an effect it must in some way exist. Also that consciousness always takes something as it’s object, so when remembering dhammas in the past they too must somehow exist. If the past and present exist, so to then does the future. Awakening then is a process of “decoupling” oneself from these substantially existing dhammas (dravyasat). This is why Sarvāstivādins said that Ven. Moggaliputtatissa proposed a theory of “cognition of nothing”, since for him the past did not exist. Theravāda then proposed the Bhavaṅga, a stream of underlying consciousness, as an alternative theory for how past actions have effects in the present or future. The Sautrāntika’s developed a similar idea with their seed theory, and this likely influenced the alter theory of the 8th consciousness of Yogācāra. So, back then if you wanted to answer how kamma has effects it was either tri-temporal realism, a stream of underlying consciousness or just not taking a position at all and treating it as a mystery that the Buddha didn’t go into.

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Then how about animal to human rebirth, or other realms to human rebirth? Do you suggest that the memory of a dog gets encoded into it’s DNA, gets somehow transferred back in time to the common ancestor of humans and dogs, then transfer back down to this specific human who remembered he was a dog?

Other realms likely wouldn’t even need DNA.

To put memory into DNA is one of the materialism strategy to make sense of Buddhist rebirth. It cannot fit in the data for rebirth across realms.

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What is the kundalini thing you’re equating with Buddha…I don’t understand it. :pray:

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The Youth represents the inner child. The innocence that was in us.

From our head down our spine there is the serpent energy coiled. That’s why chakras etc. no proof but even the heavenly eye from ancient time connected to the pineal gland

Remembering what you did yesterday is due to conditions that cause the remembering to arise and to be conditionally experienced. Remembering “yesterday-you” is a kind of “past life remembering”. No storage needed. The remembering is just the “present moment” manifestation of conditions.

Same with remembering of “distant” past lives – conditions are manifesting as that form of “remembering”. When the conditions change, the remembering ceases. The Buddha never said he was aware of past lives all the time.

Remembering of past lives may or may not occur to a being, but they will the differ among beings due to their past kamma – as the set of conditions influencing the arising of their particular experience. It’s all conditional flow with no need to posit “storage”.

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Real questions. At the moment the spirit enters the womb. If there is no spirit like a soul. Then the acquired self comes from a previous birth into the womb. With the memories already attached because we are bound by kamma. So memories are only related to our kamma. That’s why rebirth stories mainly are letting humans remember a very important kamma. And then they start to remember more of that life. It’s like a generational trauma but of the acquired selfs . Now. If the memories and everything moves from one acquired body to the next acquired body. The body itself is the memories and all. But how it’s really put in each other is really subtle.

That’s it’s not :dna: making up all. Just like it takes hormones to remove from gut to send signal to the brain.

Just like not everyone has a gene expression to get all diseases.

So your DNA also got influeced either by your karma. Which is karma because it’s karma that influence you to be born in certain families. Or destination. That can eat healthy or not.

It’s all codes 11110001111000

Codes of what else? Do we have codes in our brain also? Probably. So all connected to understand each other.

The blood pass through the heart which has the dna. The heart when transplanted still gives the feeling of the previous person. So it was conditioned by years by something. Something teaching it who the person is.

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MN109 says “But, venerable sir, in what way does the term ‘aggregates’ apply to the aggregates?”
“Bhikkhu, any kind of material form whatever, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near - this is the material form aggregate. Any kind of feeling whatever…far or near - this is the feeling aggregate. Any kind of perception whatever…far or near - this is the perception aggregate. Any kind of formations whatever…far or near - this is the formations
aggregate. Any kind of consciousness whatever…far or near - this is the consciousness
aggregate. It is in this Way, bhikkhu, that the term ‘aggregate’ applies to the aggregates.”

So this might mean that the vinnana aggregate also consists of all former moments of vinnana we ever experienced? So, when we are born here on Earth do we not have that vinnana-khandha that also consists of all former moments of vinnana? The sutta does not say that khandha only relates to the present. Hmmm…

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Oh I thought this was literal, as in a literal naga-king came and did this. Not that the naga-king was a metaphor for kundalini awakening. Anyway this is probably a different topic.

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what I get from this discussion is when we do karma we remember it when we did karma we also remember it, now how far could we go to the past ?

it’s interesting that for every karma we did we remember it so it seems that past lives data are just karma data about what we did at specific Time

it’s interesting to note that every karma data can be retrieved

but I don’t think there’s relation between effect of karma and memory of that karma for example Even when a karma had manifested its effect you could still remember it when a karma had not manifested its effect you could still remember it too

my current conclusion is that past lives data is not only karma data but karma + result of karma data

I think this data is stored in sub conscious mind or some form of eternal mind

it’s very similar to video streaming when you stream a video you can watch it at specific time frame for example 01:08 or 14:59 so we are talking about an infinite video length where we can seek at specific time frame

if we can seek specific time frame for example when we were in cessation attainment this means even in cessation attainment there’s remembrance even if there’s no mind you could still remember that “no mind” time frame so what kind of mind do you use to register that moment of no mind ?

Honestly if one can seek specific time frame imo that’s either decent meditation or old karma allowing you to even be able to see memories at will. I’d venture to guess that the “mind” one uses to register past life memories in general is the same “mind/consciousness” that makes contact with stimuli and creates/re-creates narratives from there. Still…not-self/no-inherent mind consciousness, all dependent on the occurrence of existence, at least from how I understand it.

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Interesting article, tho poorly argued.
The comments were more interesting.

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I don’t see an obvious mechanism in the suttas. My assumption is that
Abbhidhamma bhavanga and Mahayana alayavijnana were introduced to provide such a mechanism.

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I think some kind of “storage” is required for memories to persist over time.
It’s perhaps relevant to mention here that people with dementia progressively lose their memories, due to deterioration of brain function. Long-term memories are the last to go.

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Yes, MN109 seems to say that vinnana includes past, present and future arisings of consciousness.
But in regard to recalling past arisings of consciousness, we’re back to the need for memory, some means of “storage”.

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AFAIK, the process of memory belongs to the Sanna aggregate. Refer Ven Pannavaddho’s explanation.
How exactly Sanna (or for that matter, Vinnana) arise due to contact is not explained anywhere in the EBT. The nearest possible explanation is that these arise as part of the Namma- Rupa - Vinnana trifecta (SN12.65).
:grin:

PS: Here is a modern day speculation ( Quantum/ non local! ) about where memory is stored!

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