Rebirth & Reincarnation in Buddhism?

Question

Just a little bit confused here.
So based on most of my research I was under the impression that rebirth is what is most accepted in Buddhism but I've just finished reading another book that leads the reader to think that reincarnation exists in Buddhism. Anyone care to explain the key differences and each actually is?

Answer 1

Yes it is confusing

In the Heart Sutra Lord Buddha sets out His ultimate view of Reality

In there He describes Shunyata [Emptiness ] The belief that everything is empty of a permanent Self Including Us

Therefore the view that we have a permanent self which reincarnates is not supported

As best as I am able I'll describe the mechanics of rebirth as I have come to understand it to mean and hopefully this may help clear up the confusion You are experiencing

Buddhism teaches we are the collection of Eight Consciousness

These being

Sight

Hearing

Scent

Taste

Touch

Ordinary Mind

Defiled Mind

Alaya

The first five correspond to the five senses

The six consciousness integrates the perceptions of the first five into coherent images and makes judgements about the external World

The Seventh is the active center of reasoning [It is this one by the way that can cause some problems It's where the ego resides!]

The eighth is called the Alaya Conciousness

All Karma created not only in this life cycle but in all of our previous cycles is stored here

it is this which is believed undergoes Rebirth

All the actions and experiences of life that take place through the first seven are accumulated as Karma in the Alaya which at the same time exerts an influence on the first seven

Hopefully You may see nothing is permanant It's all changing

Even the Alaya is collecting and discharging Karma constantly

So There is nothing permanant to be reincarnated

What dictates Our next Rebirth Karma and Desire



May this help

Answer 2

Yes. The only difference between reincarnation and rebirth is the status of the soul. Hindus and some Buddhists believe man has a soul, and that soul is reincarnated or given a new body, could be anything; person, animal, spider. The concept of rebirth is based on the majority of Buddhist belief of non-soul, or anatman. Instead of soul, man is one with the divine Self and separation from the Self is an illusion, or maya. A person's "conciousness" is nothing more than a chain of events, and that's what gathers karma. Death does not break that chain, and the chain continues on to a new life, or rebirth, and is always human. Once that chain of events is freed from karma, by truly realizing the unity of everything in the universe as the Self, that person becomes enlightnened and can achieve Nirvana which is the reunification or loss of the idea of separation, with the Self.

Answer 3

Buddhism as practiced by real people, like most things, is far more complex than any simple outline.



In short, I would say that the two principle branches of Buddhism look at thinks differently plus Pure Land & Tibetian Buddhism are unique in several important ways.



Buddhism in the East is different from Western Buddhism in some fundemental ways; and, in particular, the two Zen sects in the West can be worlds apart from their Japanesse and Chinese practices let alone Buddhism in the East in general.



It is also worth noting that traditional (Eastern) Buddhism has a particularly big wall between the priest/monk and the lay populations. Much of what we in the west see as "Buddhism" is really directed only at the devoted (preist/monk) followers of Buddha.





So -- I can only tell you what my experience has been in western Soto Zen Buddhism: reincarnation is a concept of oneness (all things are one) not to be taken literally because there is no soul to be literally reincarned.



And what my experience has been with traditional practicing (eastern) Buddhists: reincarnation of the "energy" of living beings happens, literally.



Translation is likely your real issue. I have seen both words used interchangable.



Don't over think Buddhism. That is counter to its main point.

Answer 4

It rests on what are the 'soul', the 'self' or 'this which is'. You can think of the difference this way:



- Religions believing in a soul (Hinduism, Christianity etc.) see the soul as representing the true you. The soul is a rock: solid, unmoving, unbreakable, eternal. Your good deeds will polish that rock to be smoothe and shine like gold. Your bad deeds with make the rock mould, decay, become rough. Once you die, this rock is judged (Abrahamic religions) or enters a new body as it is, to hopefully start being polished and eventually becomes a surreal eternal part of its surroundings (Hinduism).



- Religions without a soul (Buddhism's the only one I think) say the self is not a rock at all. The self is like a flame. You can think of the flame as being a single 'thing', but it's actually not, because the flame that burns before you sleep and still burns when you wake up is still there but it is not same flame. A rock will still be there unchanged, but a flame appears to be there but is never the same at any moment in time. The flam can transfer to a new candle and the old one is snuffed out, but is this the same flame? No.



So what is the flame? The flame is made up of several different elements that combine to make the flame exist. Yet they don't combine together to become one, like a rock; they're seperate things linked together appearing as one (like 'that flame') but in fact there is no 'one' in existence at all. Many ask "who created the world" but Buddha said the word "who" is gramatically correct yet entirely wrong; the question should be "what created the world". When you think what created the world, the question of "who" becomes irrelevant, blocks the mind, and doesn't reflect reality. Same kinda goes for saying "my soul" which is gramatically correct but completely wrong; it's more appropriate to say "this which is".



Looking at rebirth, right now the idea of being an invalid begger in a poor country is a horrific thought. However if you're born as one, you simply are what you are and deal with your situation. You yourself are existing right now with full consciousness ad have no idea how your consciousness got here, but you're dealing with it. You're the flame in that new candle, made up of the flame from the previous candle, yet you're completely different. This is an extremely free and liberating thought when you think of it. In a sense, you already are that invalid, and he already is who you are; you just don't realise it yet but one day it'll happen and you'll have no recall of how or why you're there, but you just are, and he'll be how you are.



Anyway, there are many different Buddhist sects so never take them at face value. Most if not all Buddhist societies have incorporated native superstition, native culture and an element of egotism of superior knowledge when writing of Buddhism. You don't even have to believe in rebirth to be a Buddhist, and some take rebirth and the 6 realms of the afterlife as metaphorical for states of mind in this lifetime only.

Answer 5

How are you so particular that each and one and all "rebirth memories" are purely a company? clever human beings purely % an occasion to correctly known the meaning in the back of the story. you purely could desire to bypass to college to correctly known the universe is incredibly damn previous; and that i'm incredibly particular no person stay that long to witness. What became planted ought to strengthen. What became born ought to die. comparable ingredient with the guidelines of Karma, granted it somewhat is somewhat greater complicated than purely x,y,z from a,b,c movements. in this context, what became the seed of your previous movements ensue in this minute, then base on your wisdom and modern difficulty, you're making a call that could desire to A) make it greater intense, B) cut back the effect to easily approximately no longer something, C) negate the effect, or D) some determination movements that i'm no longer enlightened to reply to. besides, your attitude and deeds can impact the karmic effect too. There are too many transformations to contemplate. human beings are no longer that distinctive; we purely have some greater senses than our animal counterpart. All residing beings worry warm/chilly, discomfort/death, ..

Answer 6

It's reincarnation with a purpose. The purpose is to grow and experience and learn and move on to the next plain of spiritual existence. Each life we are supposed to be getting better and better spiritually.