Buddhist Rebirth?

Question

I have been reading up on Buddhism and I have to say I love the philosophy. But when I reach the doctrine of rebirth, I get confused. Its not that I don't understand the importance of rebirth in Buddhism, but I don't know how it works. Like what can and can't you be reborn into? I've read you can be reborn into heaven and hell, is this a Christian-like heaven and hell or just a reference to a good rebirth and a bad rebirth? And if somebody could explain the karma-induced rebirth system that'd be great.

Answer 1

Rebirth - Imagine the process of rebirth is like a flowing river, every moment it is the same river and yet it is different. As we travel through lifetimes, we are propelled by the causes we have done this life into the next. So in every life, we are still the same river.... but yet we are different. Each lifetime whether as a human or not, has lessons for us to learn in order for us to evolve spiritually...



Each realm of rebirths have the causes or reasons: Heaven - benevolence, Hell - Hatred, wickedness and Anger, Demigods ( asuras ) Benevolence but stained with Jealousy and hot-temper, Humans to evolve spiritually, Animals due to extreme lust, greed and ignorance and last but not least Hungry Ghosts ( Pretas ) - extreme miserliness and meaness.



There are of course quite a few more attributes associated with each realm, Buddhists aim to get OUT of that rebirth cycle that only leads to suffering.



Say for example, I am someone who has caused the deaths of millions and therefore created extremely negative karma. Each and every pain or suffering I have caused would be reflected upon what I become in my next lifetime.... THIS is what some teachers say hell is.



But since everyone is not extreme in wickedness and evil, assuming I have caused many deaths with malicious intent, but I am also a person who saves a lot of lives, creating opportunities for poverty stricken kids to have education.... If I were so fortunate as to take rebirth as a human being, I would be born in a land stricken by the suffering I have caused, my phyiscal self will most likely be full of pain and diseases I have caused others in the past but with a brilliant mind that is able to learn fast.



THAT, is just the surface of Buddha's doctrine in rebirths. As you investigate further into the reality of karma, its causes, its effects and even its branch or dormant effects, you will see that each facet in our very lives is karmically linked, and will propel us towards the future lifetime, its possibilities are virtually fathomless and endless!



The Buddhist idea of Heaven and Hell is not based on a Judge, Jury and Executioner deity as in Christianity, Buddha taught that whatever benevolence or malevolence we have created or caused or even caused others to cause will determine if we merit heaven or hell. The idea here is, we can fool anyone and everyone, but we cannot fool our inner mind, where which every thought, attitude, motivation, word and emotion has been recorded in our Consciousness which is like an unerasable hard disk. In others words, if we were horrible people... our minds will know, its "PAYBACK" time... and will take on a rebirth MOST appropriate to our previous attitudes, thoughts and habits...



Here is something for you to note: Next time you are out eating look around at people, some will fork the food into their mouths, while Others... will bring their mouths closer to the plate so that the fork hardly leaves the plate.... In scene 2, do you find a similarity between that eating style and a doggy or kitty's eating habits? So there is a possibility that person could have been an animal in his/her past life... and such "habits" are hard to shake, so they leave such hints as reminders.



p/s: you can only take rebirth as something with sentience, so it is doubtful that you will ever take rebirth as a bottle of beer or a plasma TV

Answer 2

For someone new to Buddhism, it is like a first- time traveller discovering new and strange places, some totally alien and opposed to one's experiences. Buddhist doctrines will be totally alien to a stereotyped Caucasian who has been brought up in a Christian environment. This is because Buddhist concepts are very different from Christian doctrines. It will take some time for you to think "outside the box" and experience a paradigm shift in order to appreciate and understand what the Buddha taught. Welcome to the path of inner peace and happiness, although the journey will be a long one. It is not a question of arriving at the final destination, but the enjoyment of freedom and inner peace while taking the journey.



There is a difference between reincarnation and rebirth. The former assumes a permanent unchanging entity (or soul) that exists life after life. The Tibetan concept is similar to this reincarnation. "Rebith" takes on a totally different perspective. It views existence as an on-going process, just like the electric current lighting up a bulb. The "bulb" is like the physical body. When this bulb is blown, the current is still there and when a new bulb is fixed on, it lights up again. So you can see that there is a continuity in the electric current, but the current flowing through is not the same at any one moment. Our existence is in this state of flux. When the body is dead, the life energy seeks another form to "reborn". The type of rebirth will depend on the nature of this store-house of life energy. If this store-house of energy has more wholesome characteristics, then it will seek rebirth in a more conducive environment. On the other hand, if it has more negative characteristics, then its rebirth will be in a more unwholesome environment. As the life force is always in a flux, there is no permanent and unchanging soul, but a changing personality that exists throughout. To describe this process of rebirth, the Buddha used the term "Not exactly the same, yet not totally different". Another example will be a lighted candle. It is not the same light that we see, but not totally different.



To know more about Buddhism, please refer to the sites below:

http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/whatbe...

"What Buddhist Believe" by Ven. K Sri Dhammananda. This book explains the Buddhist perspective on life's general questions.



http://www.allexperts.com/ep/948-61982/b...

Ask more questions from the “Expert”.



http://youtube.com/user/dhammatube

Short Buddhist talks





http://www.buddhanet.net (The “mother” of all Buddhist web sites)

http://www.bswa.org

This site is in Western Australia where Ajahn Brahmawamso resides. He is an English monk and is a very popular speaker. You can listen to his talk through this site.





http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.p...

This is a very active and highly authoritative forum.



Wishing you peace and happiness :-)

Answer 3

That was a lovely analogy! It doesn't mean you lose consciousness when you become enlightened you just become aware. Buddha also talked about how a flame which appears to be a flame is actually a continuity of different flames. I was thinking about this yesterday. Does the ocean have memory? Buddha said that our thought forms outlive each of us and that in them lies the memory of our individuality. Doesn't sound like the idea of the soul as individual continuing after death does it? Yet some forms of Buddhism do believe in that and I think that is actually from other religions not Buddha. I am asking a lot of the same questions as I am also a Pagan. I see there are ephemeral life forms and energies. Even spirits. So I find it very intreguing. I believe there is some truth in all these things and that we are not getting them into the right place in the puzzle because of the way we have been conditioned to think and be. Thanks for the question! Peace!

Answer 4

Heaven and Hell is a state of mind, to be reborn there, your mind-soul must have had generated and absorbed a heck of a lot of Negative Karmic Vibes. Going to Hell is like a "Spiritual Detox", its like diarrhea after a bad food poisoning moment, once all the bad kaka is out, there is no where else to go but up the evolutionary ladder again... Buddhism believes even Heavenly beings will eventually "use up" all there Good Karmic Merits and fall again to the realms of humanity... Tibetan Buddhism's Lam Rim even goes so far as to describe the "death" of a god, which takes 7 godly days ( 1 godly day is estimated to be between 50 to 200 human years), when death approaches, the god receives "signs of death", their normally pristine body begins to lack lustre, they start to have body odor, their powers do not function properly and even worse because they have the power of Divine Sight... they can literally "see" which of the lower realms they will fall into... imagine if you were Mighty Thor and you "see" yourself coming back as dung beetle! Would be horrifying.... These are just some of the descriptions found in the Tibetan Buddhist book of Lam-Rim ( check out the book called Lam-Dre as well... equally vast store house of knowledge )





Hi Tiara, I wonder if this theory applies if technology advances far enough that Artificial Intelligence beings like Robots or Androids gain sentience.... Or what about perfect genetic Clones? Imagine my desktop computer comes back as a palm top... :)



Very fascinating ideas

Answer 5

im buddhist, and depending on other branches, they believe in different rebirths. some people believe karma comes after what you do in life. some believes it comes during ur next life. in my opinion, i dont believe in hell because all your future suffrage shouldnt be forever but in the next life. heavan is believed to be either the state of enlightenment or if you have finally reachd enlightenment you go to a heavan like the one in christianity.



hell is where you've sinned too much and is punished in the 18 levels depending on the severity of your sins. this is mostly believed by the chinese and vietnamese culture.



after your punishment in hell u are reincarnated back to a new life.



if you sinned too much, like a mass murder, you are kept in hell because your soul has broken by too much punishment, though i dont believe in this. i think hell is the karma you get in your next life.



when reincarnated. you can become an animal, insect, fish, reptile, or human. punishments are usually animals for they are hunted and kill each other for life.



the human will simply reincarnate until he reaches enlightenment.



many people believe differently because there are 3 branches of buddhism.



because buddhism is more of a philosophy, there is no god and every person is a buddha. as soon as u reach enlightenment you are a buddha.



many people living in the west dont know this but the buddha siddharta gautama is only one buddha but there are many others around asia besides india.



one of the buddhas or boddhistavas is kuan yin. she is seen as a woman holding a bottle of water and he reached enlightenment when she went to hell but her heart was so pure she was sent to heavan because if she stayed in hell it would stay a paradise. she is considered the goddess of mercy or boddhistava. though there is no real god or goddess.



buddhists pray to her for mercy or for help she will grant it and it has worked though you dont have to believe me. I also believe that whatever you believe will come true because ive seen some real things from other beliefs.



i also believe in a god like in christianity. though many people tell me that ill go to hell, im not worshipping any idols but following their philosophy.



some believe there is a king of heaven and the boddhistavas live there.

Answer 6

If you are referring to the reincarnation doctrine then it is simple what you sow that you will reap.



Hence the peity found in buddhism