using astral travel to live forever

[George_TKH]

In the Tantric teachings Buddha taught a special practice called 'transference of consciousness into another body'. This practice became quite widespread in the early days of Buddhism in Tibet. One practitioner who mastered it was Trama Dode, the son of the famous Tibetan lay Lama and translator, Marpa. One day, while riding a horse, Tarma Dode fell and fatally injured his body. Knowing that his son had mastered the practice of transference of consciousness, Marpa immediately began searching for a corpse into which Trama Dode could transfer his consciousness. Unable to find a human corpse, Marpa brought his son a pigeon's corpse, which would serve as a temporary abode for his mind until he could find a suitable human corpse. Tarma Dode then ejected his mind from his dying human body and entered into the corpse of the pigeon. Immediately, Tarma Dode's old human body died and the pigeon's body came back to life. Tarma Dode's body was now the body of a pigeon, but his mind was still the mind of a human being.

Since he did not want his son to remain in the form of a pigeon, Marpa continued to search for a qualified human corpse. One day, with clairvoyance, he saw that a Buddhist Teacher had just died in India and that his disciples had taken his corpse to the cemetery. Marpa told his son to fly to India as quickly as possible. Trama Dode then flew to India in his pigeon's body and, when he arrived at the place where the Teacher's corpse had been left, he ejected his mind from the pigeon,s body and entered the corpse. The body of the pigeon immediately died and the body of the deceased Teacher came back to life. Trama Dode then spent the remainder of his life as an Indian Teacher know as Tiwu Sangnak Dongpo. Some years later, Marpa's principal disciple, Milarepa, sent his own disciple, Rechungpa, to India to receive special teachings from Tiwu Sangnak Dongpo. When Rechungpa returned to Tibet, he offered these instructions to Milarepa.

There are many other examples of past meditators who could transfer their consciousness into other bodies. It is said that Marpa himself practiced transference of consciousness into another body four times during his life.

Strange story I read in a book call Introduction to Buddhism by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
I not sure how truth it is but it a good read. Can anyone actually do that?  exit to the astral, enter a death body and be alive again? Sound like the art of Necromancers.  What are your view? Do you hear similar story like these happen in Europe?