Children Who Recall Lives as Buddhist Monks

Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson, professor emeritus at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik, has examined cases of children who not only seem to recall their past lives, but remember lives as Buddhist monks. In some of these cases, the memories were recorded right after the children recalled them – in other words, without any elapsed time in which the memories could become distorted. These memories seemed to correspond to historical information about real monks who had died.

“What makes these … cases particularly interesting is not only the alleged memories but also the behavioural features that the children display. Each child shows behavior that is considered appropriate and even ideal for monks,” wrote Dr. Haraldsson and Godwin Samarartne in a 1999 paper titled, “Children Who Speak of Memories of a Previous Life as a Buddhist Monk,” published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research.

Duminda Bandara Ratnayake

Duminda Bandara Ratnayake was born in 1984 in a mountainous, rural area of Sri Lanka known as Thundeniya. When he was three years old, he began to talk about his past life. He claimed:

• he had been a monk at Asgiriya temple, just 16 miles from where he currently lived
• he had owned a red car
• he felt a pain in his chest, then died. He used the word “apawathwuna,” which is only used for the death of a monk.
• he taught apprentice monks
• had an elephant
• he had friends in the Malvatta Temple he used to visit
• he had a money bag and a radio in Asgiriya he wanted back.

His mother was embarrassed to report this, because these items aren’t considered appropriate for a monk to possess.

Ratnayake exhibited no interest in playing with other kids; he just wanted to be a monk. He recited Buddhist stanzas in the ancient language of Sinhalese Buddhism, only used and learned by monks. He lived his life like a monk, carrying his clothes the way a monk does, attending the temple and placing flowers there in the Buddhist fashion, and displaying similar behaviors.

These behaviors permeated his life. He was calm, serene, detached. He told his mother she shouldn’t touch his hands – women aren’t supposed to touch a monk’s hands.

Haraldsson interviewed a local monk who had observed his behaviors and felt his parents could not have taught him these behaviors. So Haroldsson began to search for the monk the boy may have been.

His research led him to Ven. Mahanayaka Gunnepana, a deceased monk who closely fit the boy’s descriptions. According to the memories of other monks who knew Ven. Gunnepana, he: owned a red or reddish brown car, died of a heart attack,was interested in an elephant that one of his disciples brought to Gunnepana’s village. He didn’t own a radio but had something similar – a gramophone. He was fond of music and was apparently  a virtuous monk who strictly observed the rules

Haraldsson thought it was unlikely that the boy learned any of this from his family or others with whom he came into contact.

You can read about the research and some of their other cases here.