Expert: Stuart Resnick - 9/13/2006

Question
Hello, again.  I’ve been reading about the anatta concept in Buddhism and was wondering what the Buddhist perspective toward out-of-body and near-death experiences, in which a person is physically dead, but somewhat revived, and can recall events that took place in the room while he/she was technically brain dead.  I’ve heard Ajahn Brahm mention such incidents several times to illustrate the point that there is scientific evidence that suggests that consciousness survives death, but I thought consciousness is supposed to be merely one of the components that create “self” and disband with death.

Answer
All things appear out of emptiness and return to emptiness, then arise again, etc. The body appears and disappears, and consciousness (the sense of "I") also appears and disappears.

So maybe it's possible that sometimes the body dies and the sense of "I" remains for a while. But we can put all that aside, because the great question is, right now, in this very moment, what is this "I"? We can look at it, examine it, question it, just now. It becomes clear that "I" is a thought that appears and disappears, like clouds in the sky coming and going, no problem. Just don't attach to "I", don't attach to the body, don't attach to anything.