Rebirth

Rebirth (punàbhinibbatti or punabbhava) is idea that at death the mind re-establishes itself in a newly fertilised egg, thus animating a new body and continuing the individual. The Buddha taught that the force propelling the mind into a new body is craving (tanhà), specifically the craving for pleasure, for identity and the craving to live.

The ultimate purpose of all Buddhist practice and training is to eliminate craving and thus stop the process of rebirth. The Buddhist doctrine of rebirth differs from the Hindu teaching of reincarnation in two significant ways. According to Hinduism, (1) an eternal self or soul (àtman) passes from one body to another and (2) eventually merges with the World Soul (Brahman). The Buddha taught that (1) nothing is eternal, that the individual is a flowing, constantly changing process and (2) that liberation or Nibbana is the ceasing of this process.

People often ask, "If there is rebirth, why don't I remember my past lives?" Most of us cannot remember anything that happened to us before the age of 2 to 5, so how could we remember something several years or decades before that? Also, human birth is very rare:

"Monks, suppose that this great earth were totally covered with water, and a man were to toss a yoke with a single hole there. A wind from the east would push it west, a wind from the west would push it east. A wind from the north would push it south, a wind from the south would push it north. And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"

"It would be a sheer coincidence, lord, that the blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, would stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole."

"It's likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains the human state. " Samyutta Nikaya 56.48

The blind sea turtle is a good simile showing how hard it is to obtain human rebirth. A goldfish only has a memory of about 3 seconds. Most other animals don't have that long of a memory either (except for elephants). If we have done all / most of our past lives as animals, we cannot expect to remember them much or at all.

Rebirth in the Suttas

The suttas (discourses) are permeated throughout with discussion of rebirth and what leads to the end of rebirth.

Digha Nikaya 1

"He recalls to mind his various temporary states in days gone by; one birth, or two or three or four or five births, 10 or 20, 30 or 50, a 100 or a 1,000 or a 100,000 births, through many cycles of cosmic contraction and cosmic expansion . . .

. . . he recollects his numerous past lives: that is, (he recollects) one birth, two, three, four, or five births; ten, twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty births; a hundred, a thousand, or a hundred thousand births; many hundreds of births, many thousands of births, many hundreds of thousands of births. (He recalls:) 'Then I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my span of life. Passing away thence, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my span of life. Passing away thence, I re-arose here.' Thus he recollects his numerous past lives in their modes and their details."

Digha Nikaya 1

Samyutta Nikaya 15.13

“Mendicants, transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving.

What do you think? Which is more: the flow of blood you’ve shed when your head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating for such a very long time, or the water in the four oceans?”

“As we understand the Buddha’s teaching, the flow of blood we’ve shed when our head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating is more than the water in the four oceans.”

“Good, good, mendicants! It’s good that you understand my teaching like this. The flow of blood you’ve shed when your head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating is indeed more than the water in the four oceans. For a long time you’ve been cows, and the flow of blood you’ve shed when your head was chopped off as a cow is more than the water in the four oceans. For a long time you’ve been buffalo … rams … goats … deer … chickens … pigs … For a long time you’ve been bandits, arrested for raiding villages, highway robbery, or adultery. And the flow of blood you’ve shed when your head was chopped off as a bandit is more than the water in the four oceans.

Why is that? Transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”

That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said. And while this discourse was being spoken, the minds of the thirty mendicants from Pāvā were freed from defilements by not grasping.'

Samyutta Nikaya 15.13

Majjhima Nikaya 117 and 60

"There is what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed; there is fruit and result of good and bad actions; there is this world and the other world; there is mother and father; there are beings who are reborn spontaneously; there are in the world good and virtuous recluses and brahmins who have realised for themselves by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world."

Majjhima Nikaya 117

"If there is no other world, then on the dissolution of the body this good person will have made himself safe enough. But if there is another world, then on the dissolution of the body, after death, he will reappear in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, even in hell. Now whether or not the word of those good recluses and brahmins is true, let me assume that there is no other world: still this good person is here and now censured by the wise as an immoral person, one of wrong view who holds the doctrine of nihilism. But on the other hand, if there is another world, then this good person has made an unlucky throw on both counts: since he is censured by the wise here and now, and since on the dissolution of the body, after death, he will reappear in a state of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, even in hell. He has wrongly accepted and undertaken this incontrovertible teaching in such a way that it extends only to one side and excludes the wholesome alternative."

Majjhima Nikaya 60

The Buddha's Awakening

The Buddha describes realizing rebirth in the First Watch of the night of his awakening.

"When my mind had immersed in samādhi like this—purified, bright, flawless, rid of corruptions, pliable, workable, steady, and imperturbable—I extended it toward recollection of past lives. I recollected my many kinds of past lives, with features and details.

This was the first knowledge, which I achieved in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed and knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed and light arose, as happens for a meditator who is diligent, keen, and resolute. But even such pleasant feeling did not occupy my mind.

When my mind had immersed in samādhi like this—purified, bright, flawless, rid of corruptions, pliable, workable, steady, and imperturbable—I extended it toward knowledge of the death and rebirth of sentient beings. With clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, I saw sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. I understood how sentient beings are reborn according to their deeds."

Majjhima Nikaya 36

Acceptance of Rebirth

There are some people interested in Buddhism who are known as skeptical Buddhists or agnostic Buddhists who have doubts about rebirth and some other teachings. This is considered acceptable as it is a "come and see" for yourself religion. However, some take their doubt to an extreme and prefer a Buddhism without rebirth and argue that concepts like rebirth could keep some away from Buddhism, believing it to be a cultural accretion. However, is reincarnation / rebirth really a hindrance to getting more appeal for Buddhism? Studies show that belief / acceptance of reincarnation / rebirth are at very high numbers. Here are some statistics of the percentage believing in reincarnation / rebirth:

• Nordic countries: 22%
• Lithuania: 44%
• Western Europe: 22%
• United States: 27%

The above are very high percentages when you consider that the above countries / regions are primarily Christian (at least by birth certificate), which does not traditionally accept rebirth. The U.S. study showed that acceptance was especially higher among the younger age groups. Belief in reincarnation is held by 40 percent of people aged 25 to 29 but only 14 percent of people aged 65 and over.

See also

• Arguments for rebirth

References

• The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists -- Explained. David N. Snyder, Ph.D., 2006.
• http://www.TheDhamma.com/