No Reincarnation...only Rebirth

Buddhitakso

Buddhism rejects the term ‘transmigration’ or ‘reincarnation’ altogether, but why?  Literally, ‘trans-’ is a prefix meaning through or across.  And transmigration denotes the movement or conveyance from place to place.  If we mention that a soul would transmigrate from a body to another new body, it means the same ‘unchanging’ soul does the movement or conveyance throughout the time stream (past, present and future).

However, in the conventional reality, no ‘unchanging’ soul would transmigrate from one body to another and on this pretext, Buddhism upholds the term ‘rebirth’ or ‘re-arising.’  The Buddha sees in no transmigration of all things or matters but instead, in the constant and continuous transformation of all things or matters via the process of permeation (diffusion).  Just like the orientation of energy in the cosmos i.e. energy would only transform - to transform is to change, to change is to become, and to become is to reborn.  So energy is ever ‘reborn’ all the time in the dependent nature.  By understanding well and observing thoroughly into the characteristics of energy, one could gain insight into the nature and its orientation.

In the case of rebirth, an individual soul does not migrate from a physical body into another one.  No, it just won’t fit at all.  Every individual or thing that exists would not be the same - it could only be in a similar condition e.g. twins are similar but never the same individuals (likewise, no two minds are the same).  Every individual is unique respectively and no individuals would be the same even though they do share some sort of the same genes before time.  For example, you may have heard in various stories whereby a spirit or ghost has the ability to possess into the body of an individual but it never absolutely overtakes the soul of the possessed individual.  This is because one cannot simply exchange the soul at one’s whim and fancy.  Even individuals with the most powerful magic charm could not perform this feat.  Another example will be the human organ transplant cases, whereby the new recipients need to take immunosuppressive drugs to treat any transplant rejections – livelong.

In Buddhism, rebirth refers to evolving consciousness or stream of consciousness of a person (upon death) and the new consciousness arising in the same person (in the new person) is neither identical to, nor entirely differentfrom, the old consciousness, but forms part of a causal continuum or stream with it.  The basic cause for this persistent re-arising of personality is the abiding of consciousness in ignorance; when ignorance is uprooted, rebirth ceases.  For example, a flame is transferred from one candle to another, or a fire spreads from one field to another.  In the same way that it depends on the original fire, there is a conditioned relationship between one life and the next; they are not identical but neither are they completely distinct.

And it is possible for rebirth to take place from a single source into different identities at any various point of time, just like how the genetic lineage works for generations.  This is how we explain the destiny of being siblings, being life partners, being close friends in one’s lifetime.  Somehow or somewhere before time, the so-called relevant individuals are inherited from the similar sources of predecessor.  Thus in the present lifetime one has the opportunity to meet and know with the relevant beings and not the other non-relevant beings (as per the law of attraction).  Ultimately, it is the wonder of nature that every created object or thing is neither identical to, nor entirely different from each other.  This is how the conventional reality works i.e. not in-linear but in inter-dependence, inter-woven and inter-relation since the dawn of time in a very comprehensive and complicated network of existence.  At the end of the day, the inter-connectedness of all things in the nature is what the principle o emptiness is all about - as per the teachings of the Buddha.

wei_loon5063

difference between consciousness and soul?

Sephiroth

wei_loon5063 posted on 15-11-2013 08:46 AM
difference between consciousness and soul?

Soul cannot be destroyed or harmed in anyway by events such as Death. A consciousness can be marred by individual experience. Therefore Consciousness IS NOT equal to a Soul.

Furthermore, Soul transfers from one body to another, just as a person whose clothing have worn off, discard it and takes up a new clothing. Can consciousness do this?

Sephiroth

by Buddhitakso

Just like the orientation of energy in the cosmos i.e. energy would only transform - to transform is to change, to change is to become, and to become is to reborn.  So energy is ever ‘reborn’ all the time in the dependent nature.

Energy cannot be "transform". Energy has only two state or two condition - Excited and Non-Excited state. Excited state is when Energy obtain higher amount of energy than it usually has (in unexcited state) and vibrates faster. This causes radiation to leak out, which we can feel and measure as heat and other "sensation". Energy do not transform.

Energy also cannot be destroyed OR created. Whatever energy which exist in the Universe today, was brought to the Universe when it was first created 15 billion years ago - how it was done, no one knows. Why it had happened - no one knows. Human body is created by Nature using the same Stardust which exist in stars which had perished millions of years ago before the Solar Storm had existed. Matter a fact, it is not far fetched to say that the Solar System is the 2nd reincarnation of the massive star (or even a different solar system which could have) existed before our Solar System was born over 1 billion years ago.

In that context, your Buddha is WRONG. He cannot see past his own physical and mental self and assume that by erasing the mind, one can erase the presence within the World.

Emoloser

Energy is property of matter and radiation that is manifest as a capacity to perform work (such as causing motion or the interaction of molecules). Energy will not exist without matter, however matter can be created by acceleration of energy. Combination of Matter and spirit will create acceleration of energy which can be manipulate to create other substances. Therefore life grow and evolve as a result of interaction between matter and spirit.

Sephiroth

by Emoloser

Energy will not exist without matter

That statement is as faulty as your logic.

Water exist even before it drops down from the sky - because it is combination of TWO SEPARATE MOLECULES - Hydrogen and Oxygen. Given the right temperature and the right conditions, water will form as matter and drops down as physical object.

Light which you see is nothing more than charged particles (without any matter in them) which your eyes picks up and the signal is send to the brain to form a picture. Oxygen is no matter but you still breathe it in or you will die.

Therefore, WHERE DOES IT SAYS that energy doesn't exist without matter? It is the other way around, It is Matter that cannot exist without energy, same way that a person cannot exist without a driving force (namely a Soul) that exist to drive the gross matter which is the human body.