The concept of reincarnation is related to karma, karma deals with a system of rewards and punishment based on the actions of the individual (Oxtopy & Segal 266). Due to bad karma by the individual, it takes many lifetimes for the karma to be worked out; reincarnation also known as samsara in Hinduism is an ongoing cycle of death and rebirth. To be released from the cycle of samsara, to achieve moksha one must reach enlightenment (Oxtopy & Segal 266-267). In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, an incarnation of the ultimate deity as a personal god in the Hindu religion, explains three ways to moksha: the way of action, the way of knowledge, and the way of devotion. The Gita also made it clear that one should strive for moksha in everyday of our life as long as we act without attachment (Oxtopy & Segal 274). Reincarnation a concept widely receive by Hindu’s around the world, there are evidence to support the truth of this concept.
J. W. Dunlap, an educational specialist and a medium, in her article “REINCARNATION AND SURVIVAL OF LIFE AFTER DEATH,” defines reincarnation as life being eternal and with a purpose that each individual will experience and continue to experience after death. The belief in reincarnation is universal in certain aspect of the world; based on the lives of Africans and Native Americans there is a strong belief in the concept of reincarnation from past human history (Dunlap 157-170). Looking at some Africans, they have a strong belief in ancestral rebirth; they do not believe that once an ancestor died they will never see them again; they believe that it is just a separation and only temporary (Dunlap). Some Native Americans have a different view; they have a spiritual, philosophical view with regards to reincar...
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...ers guide their subjects to having memories of past life. There will always be those that will deny the evidence that is shown to their face, it is up to each individual to accept or reject the evidence provided. Based on the research provided through Ian Stevenson, a psychiatrist, and the arguments presented, reincarnation cannot fully be rejected.
Works Cited
1. Dunlap, J. W. (2007). REINCARNATION AND SURVIVAL OF LIFE AFTER DEATH: "IS THERE EVIDENCE THAT PAST LIFE MEMORIES SUGGEST REINCARNATION?". Journal Of Spirituality & Paranormal Studies, 30157-170.
2. Mysore Nagaraj, A., Bevinahalli Nanjegowda, R., & Purushothama, S. M. (2013). The mystery of reincarnation. Indian Journal Of Psychiatry, S171-S176. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.105519
3. Oxtopy, W., & Segal, A. (2007). A concise introduction to world religions. (1st ed., p. 258). New York: Oxford University press.
Melton, J. G., & Baumann, M. (2010). Religions of the world: A comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices (2nd ed., Vol. 1). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Indra found this out the hard way. He was the king of the gods (Lidke 10-24-2017). The narrative starts off with this king meeting a brahmin boy, who begins to speak about the many universes and how there are infinite Indras (Lidke PPT 7, 18-20). Then suddenly ants rush in all in a line into Indra’s palace (Lidke PPT 7, 18-20). The boy begins to explain to Indra that the ants represent his past lives, and that each ant is another reincarnation of himself (Lidke PPT 7, 18-20). Indra then begins to realize that his destiny can be shaped instead of repeating itself (Lidke PPT 7, 18-19). We see through this that karma is a force that can be manipulated into something we can use to achieve
ABSTRACT: The ego is traditionally held to be synonymous with individual identity and autonomy, while the mind is widely held to be a necessary basis of cognition and volition, with responsibility following accordingly. However Buddhist epistemology, existential phenomenology and poststructuralism all hold the notion of an independent, subsisting, self-identical subject to be an illusion. This not only raises problems for our understanding of cognition (if the self is an illusion, then who does the perceiving and who is deluded) and volition (who initiates acts), as well as for the notion of responsibility (in the absence of an independently subsisting subject there appears to be no autonomous agent). For Buddhism, no-self theory raises serious problems for the doctrine of reincarnation (in the absence of a self, who is responsible for failing to overcome desires and attachments; furthermore, who gets reincarnated?). Arguing for such "no-self" theories, the paper attempts to demonstrate how such difficulties can nevertheless be resolved.
Philosophers have been pondering over the problem of personal identity for centuries and today we still have not completely figured it out. The body and soul theories clearly failed to answer that, so philosopher John Locke attempted to answer the question with his new theory, the memory theory. The memory theory states that an identical persons are equal to one another if they share at least one memory experience. This means that a present person that his past self are only identical person’s if they can both recall one memory. For example, Johnny at age 30 and Johnny at age 12 both remember their big birthday party when they were seven, so they are considered to be the same person. As stated in the claim, it only applies to memory experiences,
Reincarnation is an answer that fills many with the question "what happens after we die?" The Hindus believe that the soul leaves one body and enters another. It is a very rare and fortunate thing when a soul is born as a human. It can take any form of life however, when born as a human being; this gives the soul a chance "to advance toward its ultimate goal of liberation from rebirth and merging with the Absolute Reality." (pg 86)
In the light of this belief, it would be interesting to explore the process of reincarnation scientifically. Through the last century, as Buddhism gained more popularity in the West, various people have attempted to study reincarnation systematically. These studies range from in-depth case studies to hypnotic regression experiments and experiences of people who have been through near-death experiences. By conducting these studies researchers wish to see if there exists a scientific basis to Buddhist beliefs.
The followers of the Buddha believe life goes on and on in many reincarnations or rebirths. The eternal hope for all followers of Buddha is that through reincarnation one comes back into successively better lives - until one achieves the goal of being free from pain and suffering and not having to come back again. This wheel of rebirth, known as samsara, goes on forever or until one achieves Nirvana. The Buddhist definition of Nirvana is "the highest state of spiritual bliss, as absolute immortality through absorption of the soul into itself, but preserving individuality" (Head1 57). Birth is not the beginning and death is not the end. This cycle of life has no beginning and can go on forever without an end. The ultimate goal for every Buddhist, Nirvana, represents total enlightenment and liberation. Only through achieving this goal is one liberated from the never ending round of birth, death, and rebirth (Head3 73). Transmigration, the Buddhist cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, involves not the reincarnation of a spirit but the rebirth of a consciousness containing the seeds of good and evil deeds. Buddhism's world of transmigration encompasses three stages. The first stage in concerned with desire, which goes against the teachings of Buddha, is the lowest form and involves a rebirth into any number of hells. The second stage is one in which animals dominate. But after many reincarnations in this stage the spirit becomes more and mo...
One may not recall everything that has happen to him or her throughout their entire lives, but there is a good chance that an unconscious part of their mind does. One may not remember the minute details of a day at the beach, but returning to that same beach a decade later and finding a vaguely familiar seashell may bring back memories of that faithful day. In Swann’s Way, Marcel Proust likened this feature of memory to a “Celtic belief that the souls of those whom we have lost are held captive in some inferior being” (Proust, 1801). Here, souls are memories. They are unbeknownst to us, chained to something other than our conscious mind (intellect); yet, freeing those memories is as simple as finding their prison or re-experiencing the sensations that made them remarkable in the first place.
I will begin by stating Weirods position towards Sam Millers claim. Weirod argues that because sameness of body and sameness of psychological characteristics, that doesn’t automatically mean sameness of person, one can’t claim they know who she is. If they do know who she is then personal identity doesn’t consist in sameness of immaterial soul. One doesn’t know if they have had the same soul all their life. In that sense, one doesn’t even know if other people have had the same soul all their life. Weirod states that the soul and mind cannot be the same thing because there is no way of proving it. Thus giving us her argument where sameness
Atman, known as the inner self, is believed to be eternal by Hindu’s. The atman is sometimes thought of as the consciousness of the body and can spread throughout causing uncomfortable symptoms to span into the soul. At times the body can become caught in a web of distress, or even happiness, that dictates sensations or reactions that the body feels. The goal of the atman is to not let the body be effected by these feelings that can interrupt the success of the soul, which is to achieve moksha, and rest eternally with Brahman the ultimate reality of the universe. If the atman cannot reach this perfection during the body’s lifetime then it will have to experience rebirth, or samsara as it is known in Hinduism. This rebirth can continue on
Reincarnation is one of the ideas or answers to the question, “What happens to people/sprits after they die?” The rishis believe that the soul actually leaves the body once you are dead, and enters a new one.
Reincarnation is the concept that at the point of death only the body is lost. The soul or spirit lives on and is reborn into a new body. " All things, on both the microcosmic level of humankind and the macrocosm itself are subject to this cyclical nature of existence, so what is born must die and what dies must be reborn" (Fowler. 1999. p208). Hinduism tells us that a spirit is not reborn into a random body, the karma and jivatman decide on an appropriate womb. This means that a sport oriented person will always be reborn into a family who have sport orientated lives.
Eastern enlightenment religions have been gaining popularity throughout the western world for the past few decades, with many people attracted to a "different" way of experiencing religion. As with many other enlightenment religions, Buddhism requires disciples to understand concepts that are not readily explainable: one such concept is that of no-self. In this essay I shall discuss the no-self from a number of modern perspectives; however, as no-self is difficult to describe I shall focus on both the self and no-self. Beginning with psychological aspects, and neurophysiological research on transcendental meditation, I shall discuss the impact of modern brain science on our understanding of the self and transcendence. Next I will outline the relationship between quantum physics and non-locality, as this gives a western scientific explanation for no-self. Returning to the original source of Buddhism, I will briefly outline the discussion between Siddhartha and Vaccha regarding atman, then discuss the mind and no-self and their relationship to liberation. Finally I will summarize a few issues that the western mindset may face approaching this topic.
Mysore Nagaraj, Anil Kumar, Raveesh Bevinahalli Nanjegowda, and S. M. Purushothama. "The Mystery Of Reincarnation." Indian Journal Of Psychiatry (2013): S171-S176. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
The mind’s conditioning reflects “Habituated Unconsciousness”, NOT your Essence. The mind creates everything in its image… and its image is based upon its conditioning. Who you think you are has actually been created