Reincarnation

The Watercooler
1

As I am new to Buddhism, I really don’t have a firm grasp on the teaching of reincarnation. I guess I can start with what I know, and then go from there. I understand that there are six realms that we can be reborn into: Hell, hungry ghost, animal, human, heaven, and one more that I don’t remember the name of. I am sure that it gets even more sophisticated than that.

One reason that I have found reincarnation easy to believe, is because it makes sense (aside from the evidence of some people remembering past lives and past-life regression done by certain psychologists).

However, as I probably will not find Nirvana in this life, how can I be sure that I will find my way back to Buddhism in the next life? What if I spent all this life trying to see the truth, then after dying, I become evil in the next life? Is there a way to be sure that we can get Buddhist parents in the next life so that we can more easily begin the path again? I would love to be born into a Buddhist home so that I can quickly become a monk in the next life and find salvation.

Does anyone here remember anything from their past lives? How many lives have you been a Buddhist?

3 Likes
2

Just out of curiosity, what interferes with you becoming a monk in this life?

2 Likes
3

Just to let you know that we have really great search functions here. just press the Q in the menu bar and type in what you’re looking for.

Reincarnation is one of the staple topics here, there are over 50 previous threads on that topic. Have a look through those, to see if you have any questions left over :slight_smile:

this is the search link

https://discourse.suttacentral.net/search?q=reincarnation

4 Likes
4

A spent 6 months in a Christian monastery in Arizona. I lived as a monk (within the Eastern Orthodox tradition). They have a the Jesus prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner.” It is remarkably similar to the Nichiren chant, but different words, “Nam myoho renge kyo”. So my answer is that I am not opposed to becoming a monk in this life. I tried it once. However, after failing at being a monk, I went to college and majored in Spanish. After that, I moved to Peru and got married. So, as a married man, it is hard to see me becoming a monk any time soon. I heard of a monk one time that became a monk after rasing his children and his wife had already died. So, it could happen, but I could also die first (women usually live longer than men).

5

I didn’t know that this was a topic before and I obviously did not do the search. I should probably do that more often. I’ll take a look to see if my questions are answered.

2 Likes
6

There is no assurance that you will be a Buddhist next life. If you follow the Noble Eightfold Path, one day you will meet Buddha or access to his teaching.
Otherwise you have to be a Sotapanna which will assure Nibbana within seven life times.

1 Like
7

What is Sotapanna?

8

Answer depend on who you talk to. Technical answer is.

  • Eliminate self view. Note it is the view or the belief
  • Eliminate doubt for Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. (it appears you already have it)
  • Eliminate clinging to rites and rituals. ie: Your liberation come from your own effort not by relying on a super natural being.
3 Likes
9

No Problems :slightly_smiling_face:

You might also want to browse through all the essays, and also have a look at some of these resources

https://discourse.suttacentral.net/c/reading-guides

Enjoy!

:anjal::dharmawheel:

3 Likes
10

Interesting question.

The Dīghajāṇu Sutta (AN 8.54) presents a teaching—one of many—on how to have happiness in this life and in future lives. You don’t have to abandon your partner and become a monk to be a Buddhist.

As I understand it, our kamma (karma) in this life would realign us on the path in future lives. Just as bad kamma steers us towards difficulties to overcome, good kamma steers us towards happiness. This is one of the reasons why it’s important to live virtuously.

One should train in deeds of merit
That yield long-lasting happiness:
Generosity, a balanced life,
Developing a loving mind.

By cultivating these three things,
Deeds yielding happiness,
The wise person is reborn in bliss
In an untroubled happy world.
— It 22

I’ve had some vague intuitions, but I don’t yet know what they mean.

3 Likes
11

Another nice approach is to distinguish, as I beleive the Buddha tried to do, the difference between reincarnation/soul/self, as was held as a belief by the Vedic and I beleive the Jain traditions of the Buddha’s time (later embraced by Hinduism), and that of the Dhamma of rebirth as the Buddha taught it.

Personally, I don’t worry too much about the six realms. To the extent that my consciousness has embedded in it my practice from this life, my hope is that with good intent and good practice, there’ll be a chance that my intuition or orientation toward the Dhamma will survive somehow at rebirth, though there is no “me” or “I” that will survive into this next life. Presently I’m just a tiny link on a bigger chain, and how much of the fragments of this life’s link will carry on in the next is impossible to know, and too speculative to even think about.

I just try to practice as best as I can in this life, and not muck things up too much.

3 Likes
12

I know a monk whose wife became a nun :slight_smile: You don’t have to divorce to become a Buddhist monk, but it’s probably not what you’re after…

I find the structure of this question interesting. With questions like these I would reflect: ‘Which answer could satisfy me?’ or even ‘Is there a possible answer at all that would give me complete faith?’

3 Likes
13

Worry about reincarnation is simply feeling overwhelmed at the task at hand. The noble eight-path path seems to stretch out for lifetimes of uncertainty ahead of you. How could one possibly manage this? :scream_cat:

Instead of worrying about how long it’s going to take, put your faith, effort and energy in what doesn’t die.

This is the deathless, namely the liberation of the mind through not grasping –MN 106

What doesn’t die? “Not grasping” doesn’t die. How do we understand not grasping? We study and live by ethics. Very simple. Very difficult.

5 Likes
14

I understand that Karma will help me have a good birth, but I have also heard that there are some Buddhists that have written down the names of the parents they are going to be born from. Does anyone here know anything about this? I think this is within Tibettan Buddhism, but I’m not sure.

15

As I understand it, there is no guarantee that you will recognize the Buddha’s teachings in your next life if you don’t reach the first stage of enlightenment in this life, but you can maximize your chances by reading and understanding the word of the Buddha to the best of your ability. If I’m not wrong this advice comes from the suttas but I can’t give you the sutta reference, maybe Ajahn @Brahmali could kindly help with this.
Also, I hope that our Buddhist practice in this life will help us to find the Dhamma in the future, but to me that goes together with reading and understanding the teachings. If we don’t feel inspired to practice the path we haven’t understood what the Buddha is telling us.

2 Likes
16

Does anyone here remember anything from their past lives? How many lives have you been a Buddhist?

Only laypeople and only in the negative can anyone answer these questions, due to the Terms of Service of this website, and the Vinaya for monastics.

:slight_smile: So i can answer. No, I remember nothing for certain, and this is by a conscious choice made in this lifetime, before I became Buddhist. It was (is?) my opinion that everything one needs for development is in one’s own current life. Time is limited (individually, and universally; all that begins, ends). One should focus and put forth effort! Self indulgent superficial non purposeful clingy recollection of past lives would be wasteful, and ignorant; i think an arhant would be selfless as-it-really-is purposeful detached in such recollection.

How many lives have I been a Buddhist? I do not know. But I believe, enough. Requisites for the path to liberation are present; this is fortunate; one should exert oneself! :slight_smile:

I am fond of the saying of the Aussies: no worries, mate!

4 Likes
17

we can get an idea for reincarnation by inference from the present.

when you get angry the not angry guy is dead and an angry guy is born. And vice versa.

when you become meditative the distracted guy dies and a concentrated guy is born. And vice versa.

you as a baby became impermanent and became a child. child became impermanent and became a teenager. Teenager became impermanent and became a young man. And young man will become a old man.

All beings are defined by their attachment to the khandhas. Nature of the khandas is impermanence. we are reborn each time with the khandas due to attachment(upadana).

Get rid of the love(tanha) for the kandhas. No more attachment. No attachment no more becoming. No becoming no more birth.

3 Likes
18

The following sutta might interest you.

SN41.10

'This Citta the householder is virtuous, of admirable character. If he should wish: “In the future, may I become a king, a wheel-turning monarch!” — then, as he is virtuous, this wish of his would succeed because of the purity of his virtue.

1 Like
19

I don’t find this interpretation convincing, and I don’t think it is supported by the suttas. The suttas clearly describe birth and death in physical/biological terms, and not in terms of mental states.

4 Likes
20

yes, agree. But what i meant is described by this sutta :anjal:

On Identifying with the Aggregates

At Savatthi. Then a certain monk went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One: “It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief such that, having heard the Dhamma from the Blessed One, I might dwell alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, & resolute.”

“Monk, whatever one stays obsessed with,[1] that’s what one is measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is classified. Whatever one doesn’t stay obsessed with, that’s not what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not how one is classified.”

“I understand, O Blessed One! I understand, O One Well-gone!”

“And how, monk, do you understand the detailed meaning of what I have said in brief?”

"If one stays obsessed with form, lord, that’s what one is measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is classified.

"If one stays obsessed with feeling…

"If one stays obsessed with perception…

"If one stays obsessed with fabrications…

"If one stays obsessed with consciousness, that’s what one is measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is classified.[2]

"But if one doesn’t stay obsessed with form, lord, that’s not what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not how one is classified.

"If one doesn’t stay obsessed with feeling…

"If one doesn’t stay obsessed with perception…

"If one doesn’t stay obsessed with fabrications…

"If one doesn’t stay obsessed with consciousness, that’s not what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not how one is classified. [3]

“Lord, this is how I understand the detailed meaning of what you have said in brief.”

"Good, monk. Very good. It’s good that this is how you understand the detailed meaning of what I have said in brief.

"If one stays obsessed with form, monk, that’s what one is measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is classified.

"If one stays obsessed with feeling…

"If one stays obsessed with perception…

"If one stays obsessed with fabrications…

"If one stays obsessed with consciousness, that’s what one is measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is classified.

"But if one doesn’t stay obsessed with form, monk, that’s not what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not how one is classified.

"If one doesn’t stay obsessed with feeling…

"If one doesn’t stay obsessed with perception…

"If one doesn’t stay obsessed with fabrications…

"If one doesn’t stay obsessed with consciousness, that’s not what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not how one is classified.

“This is how the detailed meaning of what I have said in brief should be seen.”

Then the monk, delighting in and approving of the Blessed One’s words, got up from his seat and bowed down to the Blessed One, circled around him, keeping the Blessed One to his right, and departed. Then, dwelling alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, & resolute, he in no long time reached & remained in the supreme goal of the holy life for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, knowing & realizing it for himself in the here & now. He knew: “Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world.” And thus he became another one of the arahants.

4 Likes