Difference between revisions of "Rebirth"
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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. | 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. | ||
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+ | ==References== | ||
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+ | *''[[Buddha's Lists|The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists -- Explained]]''. David N. Snyder, Ph.D., 2006. | ||
+ | *http://www.TheDhamma.com/ | ||
[[Category:Introduction to Buddhism]] | [[Category:Introduction to Buddhism]] |
Revision as of 22:22, 2 February 2009
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.
References
- The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists -- Explained. David N. Snyder, Ph.D., 2006.
- http://www.TheDhamma.com/