Can we write our next lives now?

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
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DiamondMeru
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Can we write our next lives now?

Post by DiamondMeru »

I’m always wondering if I could write my next life now in this life. Considering you would have to write it according to the Four Noble Truths if one is Buddhist, I then wonder why I would want to return if all my desires would eventually lead to dukka? Then I can see if I wrote out my life it would not be as fullfilling as I would want it to be because there is suffering due to impermanence. Seeing no matter how I try to write a next life, it would be flawed I think I want to come back as a monk or nun.
Has anyone thought about writing out there next life now in this life? Would it be perfect, how could one make it perfect if death brings suffering? :thinking:
~Homage to you, Tara, upon whom the kings of the assembled gods The gods themselves, and all kinnaras rely; Whose magnificent armor gives joy to all, You who dispel all disputes and bad dreams.~
Jesse
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Re: Can we write our next lives now?

Post by Jesse »

Everything decision you make writes the karma of your next life..
I think therefore I am
there I'm reborn.
Image
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
Vasana
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Re: Can we write our next lives now?

Post by Vasana »

You don't write it, karma does. Karma results in uncontrollable rebirth, you don't have much of a say in it.

Gathering the accumulations and purifying the obscurations while making pure aspirations is the closest you will get to writing happiness and a chance of liberation in to this or a subsequent life.
'When thoughts arise, recognise them clearly as your teacher'— Gampopa
'When alone, examine your mind, when among others, examine your speech'.— Atisha
Bristollad
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Re: Can we write our next lives now?

Post by Bristollad »

DiamondMeru wrote: Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:25 pm I’m always wondering if I could write my next life now in this life.
I don't even know what this is meant to mean - this phrase write my next life, it means something to you?

:rolleye:
The antidote—to be free from the suffering of samsara—you need to be free from delusion and karma; you need to be free from ignorance, the root of samsara. So you need to meditate on emptiness. That is what you need. Lama Zopa Rinpoche
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Grigoris
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Re: Can we write our next lives now?

Post by Grigoris »

Of course you can. Through your present actions to set up the conditions for your future rebirths and through purification practices to deal with some of the outcomes of your past lives.

But you have to work your ass off.
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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DiamondMeru
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Re: Can we write our next lives now?

Post by DiamondMeru »

Bristollad wrote: Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:45 am
DiamondMeru wrote: Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:25 pm I’m always wondering if I could write my next life now in this life.
I don't even know what this is meant to mean - this phrase write my next life, it means something to you?

:rolleye:
To sit down and think about where,when, and what I will be after death. For instance I would like to be reborn in a middle class family with loving friends and family, to be fairly attractive as a woman, intelligent and compassionate. Preferable in a Buddhist family or culture, like Japan or a beautiful Asian country. I would like to be a musician or a scientist. Then if I wrote out a plot I would have to imagine the ups and downs of dukka. That is where I then think imagining creating a new life is futile because no matter how good it can be the suffering always comes in to life with sickness, old age, and death.
~Homage to you, Tara, upon whom the kings of the assembled gods The gods themselves, and all kinnaras rely; Whose magnificent armor gives joy to all, You who dispel all disputes and bad dreams.~
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Aryjna
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Re: Can we write our next lives now?

Post by Aryjna »

DiamondMeru wrote: Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:43 pm
Bristollad wrote: Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:45 am
DiamondMeru wrote: Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:25 pm I’m always wondering if I could write my next life now in this life.
I don't even know what this is meant to mean - this phrase write my next life, it means something to you?

:rolleye:
To sit down and think about where,when, and what I will be after death. For instance I would like to be reborn in a middle class family with loving friends and family, to be fairly attractive as a woman, intelligent and compassionate. Preferable in a Buddhist family or culture, like Japan or a beautiful Asian country. I would like to be a musician or a scientist. Then if I wrote out a plot I would have to imagine the ups and downs of dukka. That is where I then think imagining creating a new life is futile because no matter how good it can be the suffering always comes in to life with sickness, old age, and death.
You cannot 'write' a next life like that so there is not much point thinking about it probably.
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