Can Mahayana Buddhism shed some meaning when it comes to the term afterlife?

Irish Girl: Can Mahayana Buddhism shed some meaning when it comes to the term afterlife?
They speak of how buddha reached a state known as SAMADHI or SAMSARA (these are pali words) after his death. I was told by many buddhists i met in india that these terms refer to nothingness .

Can Mahayana or Tantric Buddhism as its known in india teach us some facts about afterlife?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Reborn Atheist!
Nothing can teach us facts about the afterlife. If it’s there, there’s no way for us to know it until we go there. And no one comes back. Not even doofusy carpenters who know nothing about mustard.

Answer by Applehunter
I’m more familiar with Vajrayana buddhism, sry.

Answer by Jimmy P
Samadhi is a state of near-unconsciousness during an elevated state of meditation and sometimes the word is used to refer to your mind coming to one point of complete concentration at the time of your passing.

Samsara is more the wheel of birth death and rebirth that every person takes where your karmic level you had during your life is passed in your death onto another being that is born.

Nothingness that they talk about is a hard concept to understand initially as the goal of meditation and to break ties with suffering and your finite self to gain enlightenment.

Answer by Chris
Buddhists as well as any other type of person can provide opinions about what they believe of the afterlife, but are any of them sure what they are saying is correct? Zen means just go straight, don’t know. Joju once asked Master Nam Cheon, “What is the true way?” Nam Cheon replied, “Everyday mind is the true way.” “Then should i try to keep it or not?” Nam Chong said “If you try to keep it you have already lost it.” “If I do not try to keep it, how can I understand the true way?” Nam Chong replied “The true way is not dependent on understanding or not understanding. Understanding is an illusion; not understanding is blankness. If you completely attain the true way of not thinking, it is like space, clear and void. So why do you make right and wrong?”

Answer by soam_k
Samadhi is a mind state achieved in meditation
samsara is suffering. Equate this to the circle of life.
There is no after life. In Buddhism it is believed that when one dies they go into the bardo state. Then they are reborn as thier karma dictates.
It is all part of a whole. There is no “after” when the process never ceases. Life is just as much a part of death as death is a part of life. Buddhism is about how to die.
The pain is guaranteed by samsara, it is the suffering that is optional….
The suffering becomes optional when one practices what the Buddha taught. By creating Samadhi in a meditative state, one creates gaps where no karma is created. By creating no karma, one can experience what life is all about.
good luck…
R

Answer by P’ang
Your question contains several errors about Buddhism, so I hope you’ll allow me to clear them up before going on to the question itself.

First, Tantric Buddhism is generally considered a subset of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism. Vajrayana Buddhism is sometimes considered a subset of Mahayana Buddhism, and sometimes thought of as a separate tradition. In any case, Mahayana and Tantra are not identical.

Second, “samadhi” is a term in Sanskrit, not Pali. “Samsara” is found in both Sanskrit and Pali, under slightly different renderings.

Third, these two terms have nearly opposite meanings. Samadhi is a non-dualistic state of consciousness, while samsara refers to the continuous cycle of birth and death (with suffering in between).

Fourth, Buddha did not reach any state *after* he died – when he passed away, he was dead. Nothing remained of his consciousness.

Fifth, Buddha’s enlightenment was not the same as his experience of samadhi. Enlightenment is the total cessation of the mind-habits that produce suffering. These habits (anger, desire, ignorance) cause many problems for all human beings, but Buddha became free of them when he attained enlightenment at age 35 – long before his death.

Samadhi is considered the last of the 8 jhanas, or concentrated states of meditation. The Buddha taught that it was the doorway to enlightenment, but not enlightenment itself.

Neither “samadhi” nor “samsara” refer to nothingness. The Buddhists you met in India might have been using the term “shunyata” which is generally translated as “emptiness.”

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Okay, now that that’s out of the way (thanks for your patience!), here’s the answer to your question:

In most Mahayana Buddhist traditions, it is believed that when a person dies, their karmic energy undergoes a period of clarification for 49 days. At the end of that period, that energy takes a new form. This is an expression of the principle of karma.

This 49 day period is known in some sects as the “bardo” and there are many different theories about what occurs during this period. In my own view, such speculation is simply “thinking” and has little to do with the essence of Buddhist practice.

Best wishes on your path!