Expert: Laurie McLauglin - 1/12/2011

Question
I have some questions on near death experiences. Please read the following quote I got off the internet. The questions are below the quote. Sorry I forgot the website, but there are a good number of websites and books that basically say the same thing.

"Researchers in Theosophy, Scientists, Poets, Doctors of Medicine, Yogis and Academics have published articles on the existence of life after death. In this article, material has been published from their writings. Dr. Raymond Moody has researched on "death bed experiences", (people who were pronounced as 'clinically dead" were revived and they spoke of their experiences while they were in a clinically 'dead' state). The majority of patients who 'died' said that, they left their bodies and hovered above their physical lifeless form and observed the doctors trying to revive their body. Elizabeth Taylor, the beautiful and famous actress who nearly died of pneumonia had this particular experience. Similarly, there were other patients who were pronounced clinically 'dead', but later they were able to identify the doctors and nurses who attended on them. Some patients were able to rise above their prostate bodies and "see" and identify patients who were occupying other rooms in the hospital. In Dr. Raymond Moody's study, the patients who were pronounced dead experienced going through a long dark tunnel at very high speed and meeting a 'being bathed in light' at the end of the tunnel who lovingly welcomed them and had a conversation with them regarding their life "performance" in this world. Various important aspects in their life were reviewed in flash backs like on a TV screen."

What is this being bathed in light about? Is this some kind of deva? Is there anything in Buddhist teachings that would explain the long dark tunnel experience? Could this be some kind of realm experience? I find these kind of statements rather confusing as they seem to conflict with the Buddhist teaching of instant rebirth according to the Thervadan tradition.  But if I am not mistaken the Tibetan tradition believes in reincarnation and Bardo realms.  So what I would like to know is there anything in the teachings of the Tibetan tradition that would explain the above experience?

It is interesting to note that not everyone who had a short clinical death, and returned back to life, has this experience, but the ones that do, all seem to go through a similar experience.

Answer
Hello Jim

Thank you for letting me answer your questions.

I was not sure about the answer to your questions and was curious myself about how the near death experience of going down the tunnel toward the white light interfaced with the eight steps of death that we as Buddhists were taught.

So, we were both very fortunate that I was able to speak with two long time dharma practitioners, Jampa Stewart, a long time Buddhist student and Qi Gong teacher and Jon Landaw, the co-author of Buddhism for Dummies and also a long time student of the dharma as well as teacher.  Both men combined have over sixty years in the dharma and I was able to ask them your question.

What those two teachers told me is that from all their experience and learning, the experience that people talk about when they go down the tunnel toward the white light and are bathed in the white light happens very early on - basically right at the beginning of the death process.  The Buddhists teach that there are eight stages to the dissolution process of the mind separating from the body before leaving the body for good.  According to these teachers, the experience of being bathed in the white light happens as far as they know before the first stage of dissolution.  

From what I understand is that is is not some kind of deva. According to teachings I have, there are 6 realms. One of them is the spirit realm. It is possible that as one is dying one's mind can visit the spirit realm and experience things which people describe. So, these things that happen might be the mind interacting with the spirit realm, which is why one can see people one knows there and it feels warm and safe and can look at one's life with teachers in that realm.  This is just from what seems right to me, I have not read any studies from any Buddhist teachers on this particular phenomenon, so this is not what I learned from any Buddhist teachings I have had.

Again I have not heard or read anything specifically about the Buddhist death process being described as going down a long tunnel.

As far as the fact that the Theravaden's did not believe in the bardo, I did not know that until you brought it up.  But upon doing some research it does appear that belief in the bardo is not a classical Theravaden belief. From what I can understand, they believe that once you die, you immediately take rebirth and there is no place as the Mahayana Buddhists believe where the mind can remain for up to 49 days, before the karma ripens for us to take a new rebirth.  

It appears from what I understand that according to the Theravaden's when one dies ones karma immediately ripens for the next rebirth (unless one reaches Nirvana, of course)

So, if Jon Landaw and Jampa Stewart are correct, when people experience the white light and meeting others, it does not have to be incongruent with Theravaden beliefs as when people have these experiences, they are not completely dead.

It no unheard of for the consciousness to take up to three days to leave a body after the body is pronounced clinically dead, which is why it is requested not to move a body immediately after death so as not to disturb the mind is it does its final preparations for leaving the body.

So, although the heart may stop, and the consciousness floats up and sees other people and goes to the light and gets teachings, that the consciousness is not dead and has not even begun the process of the eight steps of dissolution where the mind begins its final separation process from the body.

So that would be the same then of course with the Mahayana practitioners who die - if they have the same visions of going toward the light and seeing people and getting lessons, these all occur before the first official stage of death begins, when the earth element dissolves back into our consciousness and we begin to see mirages or puddles or water images.

From what I understand, even though Theravandens don't believe in the bardo, they do believe in reincarnation.

Yes, it is interesting that not everyone sees the white light - I have read that some folks experience frightening things during this time, kind of like hellish apparitions, and some folks don't really experience anything during near death experiences.

This it seems would be the result of individual karma.  That if one has karma for a pleasant experience during this time will have one while one who has unpleasant experiences during this time has negative karma ripening as their body fights for life.

I hope this helps to answer some of your questions. If you do have any more questions, or follow up questions, please don't hesitate to ask.