New guy Lots of questions

[jim79]

Hi,
I've only been meditating for the last couple of weeks with the help of an app. I've been looking at Buddhism and the whole thing sounds great apart from when you die nothing happens? Depending on what you read you have many different past lives but you can't remember any of them?

Is the ego the same as the soul? I'm just a bit confussed about the whole thing and there's only so much you can get from reading articles, I'd rather hear from a real person.

Thanks,

Jim

[Aloka]

Welcome back Jim 79! (You joined us 3 years ago and wrote one post).

Please don't ask more than two main questions about the Buddha's teaching in a new topic thread, thanks.(See the pinned guidelines for this Discovering Buddha's Teachings forum).

I also recommend reading this brief outline of Buddhism for some basics:

https://santacittarama.altervista.org/e_buddhism.htm

With kind regards,

Aloka

[lisehull]

Welcome Jim! I don't think Buddhism says when you die there is nothing. Reading a bit (or a lot!) about rebirth and karma is important! There are also videos on Youtube that will help.

[Aloka]

Depending on what you read you have many different past lives but you can't remember any of them?

Well not necessarily, because although the Buddha taught about rebirth 2,500 years ago, I'm agnostic about past or future lives myself - and so are quite a few of the other members here.

I recommend putting "rebirth" into our search box at the top of the main page in order to find several previous discussions about it.

The Buddha also didn't teach about a soul (that's a Christian concept), or about a permanently existing self (ego).

[Esho]

Hello Jim, be welcome

[jim79]

Hi everybody, glad to be back!

I think I've got a bit lost in life and looking for answers. Getting fed up with worrying about death/ dying. 😔

I'll have to work harder at enjoying life and being greatfull for what I've got😥.

[Aloka]

I think I've got a bit lost in life and looking for answers. Getting fed up with worrying about death/ dying. 😔

I'll have to work harder at enjoying life and being greatfull for what I've got😥.

Hi Jim,

Its worth noting that the Buddha said:

Let one not trace back the past, or yearn for the future-yet-to-come.
That which is past is left behind, unattained is the "yet-to-come."
But that which is present he discerns with insight, as and when it comes.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipi....131.nana.html

Have a good day.

[ancientbuddhism]

Hi,
I've been looking at Buddhis and the whole thing sounds great apart from when you die nothing happens? ...
Is the ego the same as the soul?

You are not the first to approach the Buddha’s teaching with these questions. The Buddha reflected on Puṇṇaka’s questions when Ānanda made reference to their culprit “I-making, mine-making, and the underlying tendency to conceit…” such that would presume the stasis to continue on from this life-cycle to another, what to say of a ‘soul’.

And the remedy is so simple that it would almost mock us if not for the fact that our own contemplative work does give a glimpse of it:

“Here, Ānanda, a bhikkhu thinks thus: ‘This is peaceful, this is sublime, that is, the stilling of all activities, the relinquishing of all acquisitions, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbāna.’ In this way, Ānanda, a bhikkhu could obtain such a state of concentration that he would have no I-making, mine-making, and underlying tendency to conceit...”

Sounds unattainable, this relinquishing of everything. Austere as this seems it is simply the relinquishing of desire and agendas with the given of living. As the Buddha mentioned

“…with reference to this that I said in the Pārāyana, in ‘The Questions of Puṇṇaka’:

“Having comprehended the highs and lows in the world,
he is not perturbed by anything in the world.
Peaceful, fumeless, untroubled, wishless,
he has, I say, crossed over birth and old age.”

[Olderon]

Hi, Jim.

Welcome.

In response to your question: My understanding is there is no "permanent" self. This would include soul, ego, or any other name you would assign to such a permanent self. All aspects of our being are impermanent.

Hope this helps with your understanding.

_/\_Ron