Subtle Consciousness

Tibetan Buddhists Versus Western Neuroscientists

I am currently attending a ten-day Tibetan Buddhist teaching in Merida, Mexico, which I hope to write about very soon. In the meantime, I thought I would post an excerpt from my book, Afterlife: Is There Consciousness After Death? (available here and as an audiobook here), which explores some ideas from Tibetan Buddhism.

We know that modern Western (Anglo-European) society lost touch with its esoteric and pantheistic roots many centuries ago. When the Roman Empire absorbed Christianity in the 5th Century, they ended the ancient mystery school traditions, such as the annual Mystery of Eleusis. These ancient traditions prioritized initiation, direct experience, over a system in which access to the “Word of God” or Revelation was controlled by priests. Neoplatonists accepted the idea of reincarnation or the “transmigraton of souls.” Many researchers believe that the initiates who assembled at the annual Eleusis rites drank a visionary potion, the kykeon, that contained an LSD-like compound.  

The transition in European society from initiation to indoctrination was a necessary precondition for the development of the modern scientific method, with its empirical approach and presumed objectivity. Medieval Christianity denigrated Nature, the body and the feminine. These were seen as the basis of original sin and the Fall. Christian civilization prioritized abstract masculine rationality, technological progress, and the capacity to dominate and exploit natural resources. It violently suppressed direct mystical experience as well as psychic and paranormal capacities.

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“As modern technological civilization triumphed in its extension across the surface of the planet, it absorbed or annihilated local cultures. Many of these indigenous cultures maintained a focus on direct experience, illumination and initiation, as well as communication with the dead and with disembodied spirits. Christian missionaries considered indigenous spirituality to be diabolic. Indigenous cultures are still seen as atavistic or primitive. Destruction of indigenous societies, in the Amazon and other areas, continues to this day.  

Only a few highly developed societies integrating esoteric and initiatory knowledge survive today. The most sophisticated is Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, practiced in Tibet, parts of India, Nepal, and Bhutan. When we explore Indo-Tibetan or Himalayan Buddhism, we encounter an extraordinary body of knowledge about death and the afterlife transmitted through lineages of esoteric practitioners.  

Many Lamas are lineage holders, believed to be the reincarnations of past Lamas. The search for Tulkus, the return to life of deceased Lamas, uses a set of empirical techniques defined over centuries. The candidate is tested in various ways. For instance, they must correctly identify objects used by the deceased.  

Tibetan Buddhists possess technical expertise in defining states of consciousness that can be reached through esoteric disciplines. Much of this knowledge addresses the question of consciousness and its continuity beyond physical death, as codified in Bardo Thodol. Another area of focus is the extraordinary experiences that can be had in lucid dream states and dream-like conditions.   

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu.

One of the great contemporary Tibetan lamas and teachers, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, left behind a vast archive of books and lectures. In Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light, Norbu explores the Tibetan practices related to lucid dreaming and describes his own dream experiences. These stretch one’s perspective on what is attainable in other states of consciousness. They point toward the existence of other dimensions and, with it, the possibility for continuity of consciousness after physical death. Lamas can communicate in dreams with nonphysical beings that seem to maintain an internal coherence within the source field of consciousness.  

In one of Norbu’s dream-world experiences, he received a new teaching for Tibetan Buddhism. I want to present it at length because it reveals the scientific, investigative quality of Tibetan practices:  

During the days we spent at Tolu Monastery I had extremely important dreams constantly, and by the time we approached the astrologically significant twenty-fifth day, I was a bit nervous about sleeping.