Growing up, I had a general understanding—based on lay textbooks and common interpretations that the dharmic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism all believe in reincarnation: the idea that an individual is reborn into a new body, either human or animal, after physical death of the body. As I became more interested in Buddhism and tried exploring it more deeply, I noticed that different Buddhists seem to explain this concept in very different ways. Some use the word "reincarnation" and appear to mean it quite literally, while others insist that "rebirth" in Buddhism is not the same as reincarnation, especially since Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent self. This has left me quite confused. Is rebirth just another term for reincarnation, or does Buddhism teach something fundamentally different? What is the correct way to understand the concept of rebirth in Buddhist teachings?

Throughout the journey toward enlightenment and letting go of attachments, we cling to various tools given to us by the Buddha. So 'clinging to something' in general might not be bad, as long as it helps liberate from suffering. Would it be fair to say that the idea of reincarnation is then something that high attaining people cling to, in order to be liberated from fear of death? Or does the teaching primarily come from direct perception of reincarnation itself, not of it's value in liberation from suffering.

When asking around, I've never heard anyone agree that a young, healthy person should end their life by suicide. But I also don't know what reason there is for that consensus. Did Buddha teach anything regarding what makes life worth living?

From Reciting in Concert > Four kinds of reincarnation: There is a reincarnation where only one’s > own intention is effective, not that of others. There is a > reincarnation where only the intention of others is effective, not > one’s own. There is a reincarnation where both one’s own and others’ > intentions are effective. There is a reincarnation where neither one’s > own nor others’ intentions are effective. Does it have something to do with the 31 planes of existence ?

I read the following on the internet: > The birth that is going to take place, by which I mean the past life > of the being that is going to take another birth, will do so > regardless of one deciding to have children or not. Now I have read in the suttas & Visuddhimagga certain actions respectively lead to the respective godly, human, animal, ghost & hell realms. The Visuddhimagga appears to explain how only spontaneous birth in certain heavens & hells has no physical component. Thus spontaneous birth ([opapātika](https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/opapatika)) is often defined as 'birth without parents'. Therefore, if many people chose to follow the Noble Eightfhold Path and be celibate, how will the past life beings (destined by their kamma for the human world) be reborn if there is a limited supply of embryos? Will there be more twins, triplets, etc? What do various Buddhist texts say about this question?

**This is NOT a duplicate question**. Have seen other similar questions but their questions were very different from what I am about to ask. The modern Cosmology is clear. 13.8 billion years ago, the Universe started to form, then 4.5 billion years ago the Earth was formed, then 3 billion years ago primitive forms of life was created, then 200,000 years ago early humans came to existence, and finally we have modern human civilizations about 5000 years ago. This is in sharp contrast to Buddha's claims of having past lives hundreds of thousands of years ago, millions of years ago, billions of years ago, trillions of years ago, etc when there was either no life or no humans. Buddha already lived close to the formation of human civilization, he couldn't have possibly lived so many lives given in vivid details in Jataka tales and other scriptures when there were no human civilizations or humans to begin with. So, how do Buddhists deal with this? Do they deny science? Do they think that millions of years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, there was Buddha? Do they think when the Universe wasn't even formed trillions of years ago, Buddha lived a life? If you guys accept Science, does that mean Buddha lied all along? Did he just make up those stories to attract more followers?

I wouldn't have thought so in the 80's or the 90's, or maybe not so intensely. But nowadays, I frequently have to think: this person is behaving like this, like he or she is not human. And then, I had the theory that, if the world had 2 billion people before, and then 4 billion, 6 billion, and 8 billion now, where do the extra 6 billion souls come from? Do they have to come from the souls of insects, reptiles, rodents, and other animals? And then when I read the Six Paths in Buddhism , there are 6 paths of beings reincarnation: 1. God / Heaven path 2. Human 3. Demigod 4. Hell 5. Hungry spirits 6. Beasts The first 3 are Virtue paths, and the last 3 are Evil paths, and Demigod is into fighting, so they are sometimes considered to be the Evil path. So if the number of beings in each path is even, then it explains well: only 33% of people we see are the God / Heaven or Human path. The other 67% are Evil path. It could be the Hell path that would hurt people no matter what, the Hungry spirit path that are extremely selfish and always ponder how to take advantage of others, the Beast path who are apathetic to others and have sociopath personalities. Can the Six Paths correctly explain it?

A friend wanted to know the Buddhist position on rebirth/reincarnation since we don’t believe in a permanent soul. Specifically, what is it that pass from this life to the next? “Karma” was my reply then. There was a look of disappointment; the answer was obviously unsatisfying. I have seen this question asked in this forum in some form or another; here (1) , here (2) , here (3) , here (4) , here (5) , here (6) and there (7) . Looking at the number of times this topic appears, I am not trying to get a definitive answer. Instead, how would you answer this question so that it can enlighten/delight/pacify someone from a non-Buddhist tradition (with some inclinations towards an eternal soul). Note that the target audience do not have a deep understanding in Buddhist concepts e.g. the 5 clinging aggregates. Hopefully, the next time another non-Buddhist friend ask a similar question, I won't turn them off but to **entice** them to investigate further. (Interestingly, looking at the tag info on rebirth in this forum, it says: “The consciousness in the new person is neither identical nor entirely different from that in the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream”, I wonder who wrote this.)

My spiritual bonding and connection are very strong with my lovely mother who has passed away. We both have tremendous love for each other. 1. Can we be reunited again in the next life? Can she be born as my daughter/son & Can I be born as her son/daughter again? 2. After my death and before the new birth, can I get to meet and talk with my mom (as the Tibetan book of the dead and many NDEs suggest you can meet the loved one after death)

I have seen so many people till now who are very miserable because they were born ugly, poor, with less intelligence. And this world is cruel to ugly, poor and dumb people and there is no doubt about that, it's a fact. And I'm also one of those people who got treated badly for being ugly and unintelligent. I neither have good looks nor I've intelligence and good memory and because of that I couldn't excel in my academics as our academic success is measured by exams that test our memory. I am disgusted with this miserable life and want to get rid of this misery. There is no hope in present life but I want a good life in my next birth where I'll be blessed with beauty, intellect and good traits and devotion. What should I do in this life to get such good rebirth in my next life? Or it would be better if I didn't have to take birth in this world.

**Buddhism** 1. *Anatta* (no-self doctrine) 2. Reincarnation (death-rebirth cycle in *samsara*) How can something that *doesn't exist* reincarnate?

After a sentient being dies, it is said that it gets reincarnated in one of the realms as a human, god, animal, hungry ghost, etc. Always it is implied that one being is reincarnated as one being. Why would it not be possible for one being to be reincarnated as two or more beings (existing simultaneously). My thinking is, if form is emptiness, then there is not much difference between one body and two bodies. Then, there does not seem to be much difference between reincarnation in one body vs two bodies. In addition, if there is no such thing as the self, it seems there is no singular object (the self) which must transmigrate to a single body.

> A soul from a previous generation is reincarnated in a later > generation into a specific set of circumstances which are tailored to > engineer a rectification of a previous sin Are there instances in Buddhist scripture or history where there is a confirmation of the above statement as being typical, or being the purpose, of reincarnation? Don't know if sin prefigures in Buddhist thought or has connections to reincarnation, but the source of the quote above is drawn from Judaism and Kabbalah's conceptualization of reincarnation, which they do relate to sin.

Shall I be reborn as a girl again? I've had a rough life, gotten a CVA (Cerebrovascular Accident) recently, and am now half-paralyzed. I feel tired of living. I guess God forgot me, given all this suffering that I've faced during this horrible life.

Do Buddhist teachings or scripture say anywhere whether or not a reincarnated soul has memory of their past lives? Referenced passages are encouraged.

Regarding reincarnation, I have a few questions: 1. Unfortunately, because of a big mistake and peoples' interference, I lost the love of my life to another woman almost 30 years ago, but still love him deeply. He's moved on. But I am stuck and can't stop thinking about him every single day of my life. Can I be finally united with him in my next life? 2. Will my parents be the same in my next life? 3. I don't like to study too much in this life. Can I be what I dream of being in my next life? I would love to be a doctor, to be part of *Médecins sans frontièrs* and cure people for free, but in this life I didn't succeed in doing so, as my IQ was not perfect in many fields of study. I appreciate your answer. -Farah

If reincarnation were true, in that a soul takes on different human bodies across several different lives during that soul's existence, have philosophers, theologists, scholars or any scriptures ever indicated whether one of those lives is the true identity of that soul? Or is it implicitly always assumed that the first life or incarnation of that soul is its true identity?

Or is it more complicated than that? i.e random?

A friend of mine is a committed Buddhist, a teacher in a group that meets to discuss Buddhist teaching. He's explained many things about Buddhism to me. Recently, his father died after a long illness, and he is confident that his father has now gone on to another life that is as good or better than the one just finished. He comforted his Dad with this as he was dying. We walk together with some other friends, and I notice that when it comes to crossing roads, my Buddhist friend is more worried than any of them about oncoming cars - even when they are quite distant. So much so that I said to him: "If you are sure you'll come back in a better life, why are you so scared of dying?" He mumbled something about “No one wants to die”, but I wonder, is this a fair question to ask a Buddhist? I thought it was a reasonable challenge, but now I wonder if the idea of reincarnation helps us accept other people's deaths, but doesn't help us accept our own. A bit like the sweet lies we tell children to protect them from life's harsh realities. For myself, I remember years ago being terrified of dying, but now as a Christian I'm happy for God to take me home any day he wants - I know it's an upgrade. I'm happy to be challenged on this, and I challenge my Christian friends on this too, because it's good to remind each other how good will be God's presence. But is reincarnation like this for Buddhists? I'm sure reincarnation isn't taught as Santa-Claus-grade truth. Where plenty of people say Santa is real, but no one makes their roof strong enough to support 7 reindeer and fully-laden sleigh. But given that reincarnation is understood as real, is my friend just a bad example, with most Buddhists confident and comfortable about moving to their next life? Or is his fear of death fairly typical, with only the really enlightened Buddhists being comfortable about their own death? EDIT: To clarify a few things: * I'm not expecting a Buddhist or anyone else to be reckless or suicidal. The behaviour I saw was approaching paranoia. When coming to a road when walking together with 5-6 friends, the non-religious ones and I would cross when there was a suitable gap in the traffic. But then we would have to wait while our Buddhist friend waited for a much bigger gap. This occurred frequently. And when I say 'suitable gap', I mean about average for pedestrians in this city, where the Buddhist has lived all his life. * I'm not saying that this behaviour in a Buddhist invalidates Buddhism at all. Sometimes I see similar behaviour in Christians, and I will encourage them to take their faith seriously, that if their faith is real there is good stuff after they die, and perhaps remind them of the verse "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain". But when Atheists behave with this kind of fear I don't say anything, because that makes sense as they have no hope for anything after their death. * I wasn't trying to score a point on my friend or his faith, just encouraging him to live what he believed. I like it when friends challenge me if I act inconsistently, or out of pride or selfishness. It may hurt at the time, but it's an opportunity to grow. * Is this just one individual who is inconsistent about what he believes? There's many in every faith. (And who didn't like being challenged on it - again, nothing unusual there.) Or is this standard practice? Should I expect Buddhists to be just as fearful of death as Atheists, or a bit less fearful, or much less? Does belief in being reincarnated to a new life give some hope in the face of death or none?

The term anattā (Pali) or anātman (Sanskrit) refers to the doctrine of "non-self", that there is no unchanging, permanent soul in living beings. If this is the case, then what exactly is being carried over from one life to the next in the cycle of reincarnation? And against which entity are Karma points being increased or decreased?