I saw in the news a buddhist monk that burned himself because he was protesting and just sat there burning until he was dead. He did not move or scream. Then a different guy I saw online was only set aflame a tiny bit with only 15% of his body and was running around screaming.
So how do the monks do this? Anything you can think of please such as how to think like a monk and how to meditate and have certain thoughts to reduce pain? Anything would be of great help as I have cancer and can't wait to practice your advice.
Thank You very much.
Here's a lay overview from a non-Buddhist.
Buddhism has a belief in non-existence. That is, you as a person do not exist and merely believe that you exist. The primary evidence used to support this is that you change continually and are never the same person from moment to moment. It is an easy case to make. Biologically also it is now known that this is very likely to be true in the brain, and so the Buddhist comes very close the the biological reality. Buddhists also do not believe in death, and this is based upon the premise that they do not believe they exist to be alive. You may hear some say that there is neither birth nor death, and that is what they mean. Rebirth in Buddhism is not the same as in other religions necessarily as it does not refer to a supernatural life. The argument of non-existence is one of the biggest teachings in Buddhism. Connected with this is the belief (probably biologically true) that pain is an illusion.
So they begin with this belief in non-existence, however they do recognize the concept of suffering albeit not pain. While they see pain as an illusion, they see suffering as a more complex construct (not sure but something of a delusion rather than an illusion) and the entire structure of Buddhism is described as a struggle to get rid of suffering (but not pain which does not really exist). To understand this better you would need to study a few Sanskrit terms like Dukka. Out of this fight against suffering comes their teaching of compassion, which is not the core of Buddhism but is the primary teaching and discipline. A Buddhist must learn compassion, and then everything else falls into place. Without compassion, the meditation practices will not work. They will have effects but will be pointless.
So...a Buddhist first learns discipline and compassion and to this adds various meditative practices which include laborious, stationary and other forms of meditation. They think about various Buddhist arguments, gradually convincing themselves in increasing measure that the tenets of Buddhism are correct. The end goal is to be transformed, sort of like a river is transformed, into a creature that does not suffer but which seeks to help others not to suffer.
Finally once the convincing and the meditative practices have done their work, the being approaches what is called 'Enlightenment' a mostly elusive but approachable state of mind. Long before this state is reached a person can ignore pain of many kinds and can control their emotions somewhat.
For more accurate information check out our stickies at the top of the Buddhism Dir areas. For answers exclusively from Buddhists, post your question in the Religious Q & A section and include (Buddhists Only) in the title.
