Buddhist Reincarnation and Buddhist Rebirth

          Since this blog was started several years ago I have  developed all of 19 followers however over 120,000 people have read some or all of my blog posts and one post for some reason has drawn the attention of at least 50,000 people who seem to be interested in the subject that I was posting about. I once did a small post simply titled rebirth and simply put a small epiphany that I had had while I was in meditation. It simply said that nothing ever happens only once.  I think about 80 people read it and I’m not sure they actually gave it any thought if they had I think they might have gotten an impression that I was talking about them as well as myself.

       As some people know who have read this blog I practiced Tibetan style Vajrayana  Buddhism for many years. Certain things happened in my life and I came to a teacher who just happened to be a Zen teacher. I started this blog after a few years of setting with my teacher in order to create a record of this new practice that I had taken on.  But as I’ve mentioned several times before even the eight years I have spent now practicing Zen have no stripped me of my basic Buddhist beginnings and those decades of teachings by some very wise and amazingly educated Chinese and Tibetan monks.  If you’re one of the 50,000 people that read my post on monk versus laymen then you’re aware of my feelings concerning Westerners recent tendency to be enthralled with robes. Especially the wearing of and selling of such spellbinding materials. The only explanation I can find for this is the need to be set apart in a  practice were one is supposed to expand and merge with the other not separate yourself out with some sort of mystical looking garb. But I digress.

            I have unfortunately had the dubious honor of recently reading a web post and watching a lecture by the ever entertaining Brad Warner entitled literal reincarnation or some such thing. I have always been a little bit fascinated by the Western Zen attitude toward reincarnation I suppose it seems a little too magical for modern Western minds that were raised on Newtonian physics and trained in high school laboratories around the American and English world so first I’m going to do what I have a tendency to do which is set a little background work on the basic Buddhist concept of reincarnation. Then I’m going to address Soto Zen and master Dogen and this modern viewpoint that is personified in the lectures by Mr. Brad Warner. Normally it’s against my policy to be condescending toward any particular Buddhist practitioner teacher, but since Brad seems to be so set on attacking anyone who holds the view opposite of his, I’m not going to feel bad if some of my statements are a little bit contemptuous of his.

          Reincarnation commonly called rebirth by modern Zen practitioners or the transmigration of the soul by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Has been a part of Buddhism since its very beginnings. However if you’re familiar all with the history of Buddhism you must realize that Buddha was a Hindu. Many of the basic concepts of the world that he lived in were part of the very fabric of his society and his belief system. Buddha did not invent the idea that the world was subject to constant unending change he simply accepted it as the truth. Nor did he invent the idea of reincarnation.   In Hinduism’s  Rigveda the oldest extant Indo-Aryan text, numerous references are made to transmigration, rebirth (punarjanma), and redeath (punarmrtyu) in the Brahmanas.    One verse reads, "Each death repeats the death of the primordial man (purusa), which was also the first sacrifice" (RV 10:90). Another excerpt from the Rig Veda states (10: 16. 1-4):

 

“Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered. O Jatavedas, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers... let thy fierce flame, thy glowing splendour, burn him With thine auspicious forms, o Jatavedas, bear this man to the region of the pious... Again, O Agni, to the Fathers send him who, offered in thee, goes with our oblations. Wearing new life let him increase his offspring: let him rejoin a body, Jatavedas. “

 

            The systematic attempt to attain first-hand knowledge of past lives has been developed in various ways in different places. The early Buddhist texts discuss techniques for recalling previous births, predicated on the development of high levels of meditative concentration      The later Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which incorporated elements of Buddhist thought, give similar instructions on how to attain the ability.     The Buddha reportedly warned that this experience can be misleading and should be interpreted with care. Tibetan Buddhism has developed a unique "science" of death and rebirth, a good deal of which is set down in what is popularly known as “The Tibetan Book of the Dead.”

    I can think of no greater authority on the subject of reincarnation in traditional Buddhism than the Dalai Lama himself so the following is his own explanation of reincarnation translated from the original Tibetan and written by the Dalai Lama himself:

 

"Past and future lives



In order to accept reincarnation, we need to accept the existence of past and future lives. Sentient beings come to this present life from their previous lives and take rebirth again after death. This kind of continuous rebirth is accepted by all the ancient Indian spiritual traditions and schools of philosophy, except the Charvakas, who were a materialist movement. Some modern thinkers deny past and future lives on the premise that we cannot see them. Others do not draw such clear cut conclusions on this basis.



Although many religious traditions accept rebirth, they differ in their views of what it is that is reborn, how it is reborn, and how it passes through the transitional period between two lives. Some religious traditions accept the prospect of future life, but reject the idea of past lives.



Generally, Buddhists believe that there is no beginning to birth and that once we achieve liberation from the cycle of existence by overcoming our karma and destructive emotions, we will not be reborn under the sway of these conditions. Therefore, Buddhists believe that there is an end to being reborn as a result of karma and destructive emotions, but most Buddhist philosophical schools do not accept that the mind-stream comes to an end. To reject past and future rebirth would contradict the Buddhist concept of the ground, path and result, which must be explained on the basis of the disciplined or undisciplined mind. If we accept this argument, logically, we would also have to accept that the world and its inhabitants come about without causes and conditions. Therefore, as long as you are a Buddhist, it is necessary to accept past and future rebirth.



For those who remember their past lives, rebirth is a clear experience. However, most ordinary beings forget their past lives as they go through the process of death, intermediate state and rebirth. As past and future rebirths are slightly obscure to them, we need to use evidence-based logic to prove past and future rebirths to them.
 


There are many different logical arguments given in the words of the Buddha and subsequent commentaries to prove the existence of past and future lives. In brief, they come down to four points: the logic that things are preceded by things of a similar type, the logic that things are preceded by a substantial cause, the logic that the mind has gained familiarity with things in the past, and the logic of having gained experience of things in the past.



Ultimately all these arguments are based on the idea that the nature of the mind, its clarity and awareness, must have clarity and awareness as its substantial cause. It cannot have any other entity such as an inanimate object as its substantial cause. This is self-evident. Through logical analysis we infer that a new stream of clarity and awareness cannot come about without causes or from unrelated causes. While we observe that mind cannot be produced in a laboratory, we also infer that nothing can eliminate the continuity of subtle clarity and awareness.



As far as I know, no modern psychologist, physicist, or neuroscientist has been able to observe or predict the production of mind either from matter or without cause.



              There are people who can remember their immediate past life or even many past lives, as well as being able to recognize places and relatives from those lives. This is not just something that happened in the past. Even today there are many people in the East and West, who can recall incidents and experiences from their past lives. Denying this is not an honest and impartial way of doing research, because it runs counter to this evidence. The Tibetan system of recognizing reincarnations is an authentic mode of investigation based on people’s recollection of their past lives.



How rebirth takes place



                There are two ways in which someone can take rebirth after death: rebirth under the sway of karma and destructive emotions and rebirth through the power of compassion and prayer. Regarding the first, due to ignorance negative and positive karma are created and their imprints remain on the consciousness. These are reactivated through craving and grasping, propelling us into the next life. We then take rebirth involuntarily in higher or lower realms. This is the way ordinary beings circle incessantly through existence like the turning of a wheel. Even under such circumstances ordinary beings can engage diligently with a positive aspiration in virtuous practices in their day-to-day lives. They familiarize themselves with virtue that at the time of death can be reactivated providing the means for them to take rebirth in a higher realm of existence. On the other hand, superior Bodhisattvas, who have attained the path of seeing, are not reborn through the force of their karma and destructive emotions, but due to the power of their compassion for sentient beings and based on their prayers to benefit others. They are able to choose their place and time of birth as well as their future parents. Such a rebirth, which is solely for the benefit of others, is rebirth through the force of compassion and prayer.
"

 

(Translated from the original Tibetan)

Written by:  H.H. The 14^th Dali Lama of Tibet

 

    In his post and lecture on literal reincarnation Mr. Warner goes to great lengths to be contemptuous of anyone, such as Deepak Chopra, who holds an opposite view from his concerning literal reincarnation, and suggesting of course that the only reason that Mr. Chopra holds these views is to milk money out of gullible Westerners who want to be told that they can live forever. The ignorance displayed by Mr. Warner as to an even a basic  understanding of the concept of reincarnation, the wheel of death and rebirth and the entire purpose of Buddhism in this one statement is so mind-boggling as cause  smoke to rise from  out my ears in utter amazement. I have read many things that Brad has written and at the least I have found him amusing and at the best sometimes quite erudite concerning the basic concepts of Zen and Buddhism.  Now I’m beginning to believe he has a ghostwriter somewhere who has been writing this stuff for him all these years.

     I was touched by Mr. Warner’s willingness to admit that the man who founded Soto Zen the guy we like to call Master Dogen, clearly taught reincarnation and rebirth and that his masterwork the “Shobogenzo” has people being reborn all over the place in it. Then of course Mr. Warner makes a long apology for Master Dogen, observing that after all he was just a poor ignorant Japanese monk living in the Middle Ages firmly set in the archaic beliefs of Buddhism and simply didn’t know no better.  He goes on from there to say that his own teacher Master Nishijima who spent his life translating the Shobognzo didn’t really believe in any of that stuff he just left it in his translation and didn’t edited it out in respect for this poor misguided monk from the Middle Ages, poor ignorant Dogen Zenjii.

   Perhaps one of the first things I should say is that Dogen was perhaps the greatest Buddhist scholar in the last  oh I don’t know thousand years. Having read not only his Shobognzo and his extensive record, and compared these to numerous sutras, not to mention perhaps the greatest work ever written in modern Buddhism, The Lamrim, by TsongKhapa, founder of the Gelug school. I am more than ready to say that even though he wrote 700 years ago Dogen, was a bit more of the scholar and probably a little bit more intelligent than Brad Warner. I’m sorry Brad but I’ve meet Dogen, at least in his words and his works. And your no Dogen.

     Now I would like to addressed the simple issue of whether or not a modern student of Zen can endure the ridicule of  people like Mr. Warner if they happen to believe in the traditional underpinnings of Buddhism as taught by both Buddha, Bodhidharma and of course Dogen.  My answer to this question is absolutely. Other than intellectual fashion there is absolutely nothing in the modern compendium of thought and or science that would prove or disprove the reality of literal reincarnation or rebirth.

      And as pointed out by  someone as humble as the Dalai Lama himself there are people who in fact remember past lives. This of course is antidotal proof and despite the numerous cases over the years were people have challenged folks who remember their past lives and so many times find that their memories are quite accurate Buddha didn’t ask you to believe anything on authority so neither will I.  If I were to tell you that several years ago while in deep meditation I had a waking vision of a  past life, or rather a past death, I wouldn’t expect you to believe me any more than I would expect you to believe the last ho I don’t know 2800 years of Buddhist teachings and sacred Scriptures.: Much less the founder of Soto Zen.

      Science tells us that there are natural laws that govern the universe I think one of the first two I was taught when I was a child was the conservation of matter and energy, this was followed by the fact that both matter and energy are more or less the same thing and constantly in a state of flux becoming one and then the other, and at for the last oh I don’t know 15 years modern physicists have also held to the conservation of information, that is to say nothing is ever lost it can change states but it’s never lost. Perhaps the clear mind is at its essence information? But then again I’m not asking you to believe modern scientist either, after all  they keep persisting in telling me that 97% of the universe is made out of something called dark matter and dark energy that we can’t detect it in any way except through its effect on things that we can detect.  I mean what’s more spooky and mystical than that. When Einstein proved that two electrons separated by an infinite amount of space remain connected in some way and when one was affected the other one was affected he call this spooky action at a distance, I mean even Einstein was kind of freaked out by this. But I don’t expect you to believe in that either, after all Mr. Warner says there’s no such thing as literal reincarnation, he makes a great argument for this which as far as I can tell is based solely on his own opinion which he pulled out of his nether regions.

        A way to bridge this gap between the unwillingness of modern people to believe in anything that Newton couldn’t weigh and measure, and past teachings by Buddhist masters was in fact achieved by that poor medieval monk Dogen. When he pointed out that you were going through death and rebirth every instant of your existence. He observed that the you that went to sleep last night is not the you that  woke up this morning, during the night change occurred. If I understand what he was talking about at all I think he was saying that as a Zen Buddhist we should probably be more concerned with what’s going on right where and when you are standing then what may or may not occur in the future. Death is certainly assured and if there’s one thing that I’ve learned it’s that reality doesn’t give a damn what you think it is.

        A modern Zen Buddhists can certainly reject the traditional Buddhist belief in the six realms of existence, while at the same time accepting modern physicists belief that it’s extremely possible that we live in a multi-verse where every possible variation of this universe is occurring simultaneously with this one after all that is science not mysticism. I’m perfectly aware that scientists can saw open your skull sticking electrodes in your brain  and give you what appears to be mystical or spiritual experiences. You can have a painting of a rice cake or you can have a rice cake but you can’t eat the painting.

    It is my belief that every now and then here and there the universe has a tendency to manifest itself as me and perhaps even you. I have no reason to prove this to you and I don’t really care if you believe it or not, but I believe that Buddhism its basic ethics and its basic purpose reflect what Buddha called being awake, perceiving things as they really are, that’s why I’m still a Buddhist and why I’m still trying to figure out that little section of the universe that I seem to find myself standing in from time to time.