Question asked by Eric
Hello Pastor Niral
I have a question in regards to your answer below to Kiki.
You stated, "Some people are born with this ability, which carries over from previous lives,….".
If you remember I asked you about "Oracles" and can they keep on returning as "Oracles" to serve the Dharmapalas from their previous life.
That special ability to act as a "Kuten" for the Dharmapalas I believe is a "Vocation" that carries over life times.
This is how they serve the Dharma not as a Tulku but by being a "Kuten".
Could you expand on your answer to Kiki for me.
I found your answer to Kiki quite interesting and though provoking.
Dear Eric,
Yes, clairvoyant abilities can carry over from previous lives. That is because it is an attainment that arises from the mind. In other cases, as explained before this clairvoyance is granted by en external party such as a spirit or a god, but since this is dependent on the external party its length in terms of how far into the future one can see and also the duration in which one has the ability (say a single lifetime, or a couple of lifetimes) is also finite.
However, when the attainment of clairvoyance is achieve within one’s mindstream, it carries over from lifetime after lifetime, it is just if that person wants to use that ability or not. For example, there are the examples of lamas who reincarnate back with the same level of clairvoyance as their previous lives.
This ability to develop clairvoyance however is not something unique to Buddhism or even one of the major goals of Buddhism. Clairvoyance can be developed a number of different ways throughout many traditions, and even within Buddhism there are many different ways of developing clairvoyance. This attainment can be temporary or one that carries over into future lifetimes. That is why it is something called a minor siddhi or minor attainment. It is not something that we should actually aim for, we should instead concentrate on the major siddhis or the realisations that bring us to enlightenment.
Now, the ability to take trance carrying over lifetimes, is different. This is because the ability is due to the person’s karma in that particular lifetime. It depends on the bodily karma for the trance to take place and also on the speech karma for the deity to be able to communicate, not on attainments or siddhis achieved in the mindstream. For example, there have been examples of oracles who had no high Dharma attainments, but have taken trance of some of the highest Dharma protectors through the grace and training of their gurus. However, there is no record that I know of that states that the ability to take trance carries over to the next life. As such the ability to take trance seems to be limited to one lifetime. But yet again, it is not outside the realm of possibility.
This video titled “What are the Differences between Boon and Siddhi (attainment)?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R_i-LtSjbs I hope this helps. Thank you.