This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jacob Lucas, and our topic was Buddhism and the rebirth of consciousness. Mr. Lucas is an AHRC-funded PhD candidate at the University of Exeter and jointly supervised at the University of Bristol, Buddhist Studies, where he is researching arguments in support of the traditional Buddhist account of rebirth to see whether these are accessible to non-Buddhists who are engaging with practices like mindfulness in broadly secular contexts.
We discussed how consciousness moves from one entity to another, the concept of ‘self’ in Buddhist traditions, making ships appear, and even got a little into dreaming and consciousness.
It was a great conversation and included some of these highlights:
- The mind witnessing the awareness of the world around you
- A Buddhist, multi-life perspective on consciousness
- Clearing out old assumptions on the existence of consciousness after the body dies
- Mind/body, Mind/World, and a cup of tea
- Pow! There’s a ship!
- Three explanations within Buddhism of how consciousness moves from one ‘body’ to another
- Is there a self? What is consciousness without Self?
- Consciousness after death, and knowledge and memories
- Dreaming and consciousness
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