Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo

Details of Rebirth 73
well. Some sources indicate that the intermediate being
does not immediately take on the form of his next existence
as a naked child, but at first is clothed as at the time
of death. Indeed, when recently deceased persons appear
to relatives, they are seen in their previous form and
wearing the clothes they had on when they died. In fact,
it seems that what the next birth is to be is usually chosen
in the intermediate existence, in discussion with others,
although within what limits is not yet clear. Most of
Wambach's sample remembered such discussions, the
counsellors often being relatives and friends, with no
distinction between people alive or dead at the time of
decision. Fifty-nine percent had more than one counsellor.
In Story's cases, the guide was often an old man, the
"yogi in white," or an old woman.
It is common for deceased persons to attend their own
funeral ceremonies, as in the case quoted above. Many
continue for a while to observe their loved ones and
relatives, as dld Bridey Murphy. The intermediate existence
generally seems to be free of suffering compared
with earthly life, without the physical pain, hunger and
fatigue of the gross body, but can feel empty and with
limited power of action and communication. There is a
kind of timelessness in it, a detachment from earth time
so that decades or more can just drift by. There is not the
slightest evidence of a seven-week lifetime with a change
of body after each week. On the contrary, many of Wambach's
subjects felt they had chosen the late twentieth
century to experience a lifetime for some particular reason
(more than seventy percent mentioning that this time
would be characterised by a new development of spiritual
awareness). Vasubandhu's view 136 that the intermediate
existence lasts as long as it takes for the conditions
for the required birth to come together, although dismissed
by Tsongkhapa as lacking reputable authority,l3 7
seems more realistic.