We never die!

Interesting video about a Jellyfish which never dies.
Perhaps this is a good proof of the rebirth.
Perhaps our consciousness has the ability to regenerate itself in another form.

I don’t think that would be in line with both sets of anatta.

Buddhism does not accept the existence of Consciousness in the abstract. It’s always consciousness of something which is ultimately dependant on the Sixfold Base and attention. Regeneration veers too much to some underlying substratum that can be regenerated.

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Perhaps. No one knows what consciousness is so who can say what it can or can’t do. It might also be like a energy field that can organize around phenomena something like how a rain drop forms around a dust particle. The great mystery. Theories abound.

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Can you explain what these two sets of Anatta?
Thanks

Anatta 1 is used in predicative nominal propositions eg “consciousness is not the self”.

Anatta 2 is used in predicative adjectival propositions eg " All dhamma are without a self".

Same word but functioning differently.

The amazing thing about raindrops is that each one is absolutely unique. This is because even though they have the same molecular composition, each molecule has had a different journey through time, ie having been combined in billions of other formations. This was from the wonderful Prof Brian Cox, in his latest series.

Ps. I’m not suggesting that this is the same as rebirth… just something interesting to think about :smile:

Before we discuss this further we have to establish whether Jellyfish is consist of the five aggregate. What is your opinion on this? My understanding is they are not a plant.

Life can choose complexity or immortality. It can’t choose both.

According to Buddhist teaching, we never die.

But we do die. The body runs out of fuel, etc. There is “a death” or “deaths”. There is nothing corresponding to the mainstream materialist atheist notion of “death” in Buddhism though aside from the heresy of annihilationism, you are right in that sense. But I myself would not say that Buddhism teaches that “we never die”. We die tons of times, as I see it.

Well, if we apply a certain interpretation, we have to decide that the hydra is enlightened. This is wrong of course, but forgive me to follow through with it anyways: it will “forever” (more or less, not really though, they can still be killed, they simply cannot or do not die “of their own accord”) have the “same” 5 aggregates. It will not, if left on its own, die and be reborn.

I think that there are a number of conclusions one could draw from the fact that the hydra is not enlightened. One is that the hydra does not have a mindstream, and is actually more like a plant than a sentient being. This makes sense because the hydra lacks a brain or nervous system. Another is that the hydra is actually only long-lived, not immortal.

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