Conservation of Consciousness - question for Buddhists?

Jackson Esmiol: As a practicer of Zen, I'm not overly familiar with what other Buddhists think about this, but I have read about cases, such as a young girl in India who possessed the memory of a woman who had lived 600 miles away and died prior to the girl's birth. British researchers satisfied themselves that the girl incontrovertibly possessed the same memory. At present, science cannot explain such phenomena, so what do such examples prove? I prefer to think about it this a scientific sense. Newton's Laws include the Conservation of Matter, Energy, and Momentum, the last of which suggests that the momentum generated by a human thought, or even a human life, might continue long after the person has died. We're simply not advanced enough today to understand if and how this works....Show more

Derrick Kloke: As a practicing Buddhist for over 50 years, a Buddhist minister and authorized teacher in Hongaku Jodo, I have never heard of "Conservation of Consciousness"! ! The view taught in every text that I know of that touches on the subject is that the dharmas (or in modern psychology, "qualia", the elements of sensation of which consciousness is composed) occur then are no more, being superseded by another set of dharmas. There is no connection between them any more than there is between the flashes of light in a movie. But, just as in the movie there is provided the illusion of continuity by the film, so with consciousness an illusion of continuity (and therefore self) is provided by the body, which although impermanent and constantly changing, changes just slowly enough to maintain the illusion."There is no such "thing" as an eddy in a stream where the water flows past a rock. It is a function, based on outside circumstances. Even the water that makes it up changes from moment to moment. Yet, sometimes when the rock is too far submerged, the eddy can break off from the rock and wash downstream. It can even get caught as it washes pas! t another rock.Likewise, our consciousness is a function based! on a body, not a "thing". The mental perceptions and sensations ("qualia" in modern psychology, "dharmas" in Buddhism) change from moment to moment. And yet, when the body can no longer support it, the function is passed on to another body.."...Show more