Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.

Reborn as a Tree :D

MindGateMindGate United States Veteran
edited April 2011 in Buddhism Basics
So, could someone be reborn as a tree, for example, or any kind of plant (for people who believe in reincarnation/rebirth)?

If not, why not? In Buddhist cosmology, there is a realm of existence where beings have no consciousness, just bodies - LIKE A PLANT.

I'd like to come back as a cherry blossom tree. :3 Teehee.

Comments

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    I think plants aren't considered sentient. I've been wondering what the dividing line is between sentient and non. Plants react to light, gravity, some to touch. Are insects sentient or are they just reacting chemically like plants? The Dalai Lama has said that he thinks maybe an ameoba is the simplist form of sentient creature, he admits its only a guess though.
  • ArjquadArjquad Veteran
    I'd come back as that tree from Lord of the Rings that moves and talks. (that's about all I know since I could never sit through the first 10 minutes of LOTR)
  • ArjquadArjquad Veteran
    After reading the post above mine that wasn't there while I typed my other one. I believe that plants may not be sentient in the way we recognize the word but they do have a life force like we and animals do since they are in fact living beings as well just in a way that's completely diffrent to our way of living.
  • jenzayjenzay
    I think nobody could know if it was possible for sure, but if it was possible it would probably be a huge step back in your evolvement. So maybe in your past life if you learned absolutely nothing and acted in a way that regressed your consciousness majorly to the point where you'd learn valuable lessons from living as a plant, then maybe??? Who knows..
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I think a zen master would have something cryptic to say to that.
  • ArjquadArjquad Veteran
    I think a zen master would have something cryptic to say to that.
    I think they have something cryptic to say about everything
  • ZaylZayl Veteran
    I do not think plants are sentient, but then again there is no way to really know. I think they just simply exist.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    They don't have ganglia. So they would have to have a unnoticed organ of mind sense. Otherwise they would have to be a mind somehow linked to a body. Thinking sort of of a dryad.
  • HappyMondaysHappyMondays
    I think nobody could know if it was possible for sure, but if it was possible it would probably be a huge step back in your evolvement. So maybe in your past life if you learned absolutely nothing and acted in a way that regressed your consciousness majorly to the point where you'd learn valuable lessons from living as a plant, then maybe??? Who knows..
    I wonder if Hitler was reborn a human.... ? The way we treat the natural world, maybe he was reborn a tree.....
  • ZaylZayl Veteran
    They don't have ganglia. So they would have to have a unnoticed organ of mind sense. Otherwise they would have to be a mind somehow linked to a body. Thinking sort of of a dryad.
    Those damn Dryads and Wood Nymphs always playing pranks on me when I go camping...
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    a tree is one of the best rebirths... most humans give too much credit to themselves.

    it is a nice life, a tree is basically meditating its whole life.
  • GuyCGuyC Veteran
    edited April 2011

  • tammtamm
    I agree with Vincenzi, I think a tree might be a nice change. I just found this out last year but this was pretty interesting and near me! One giant living organism of tree, amazing.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    I think nobody could know if it was possible for sure, but if it was possible it would probably be a huge step back in your evolvement. So maybe in your past life if you learned absolutely nothing and acted in a way that regressed your consciousness majorly to the point where you'd learn valuable lessons from living as a plant, then maybe??? Who knows..
    I wonder if Hitler was reborn a human.... ? The way we treat the natural world, maybe he was reborn a tree.....
    I think nobody could know if it was possible for sure, but if it was possible it would probably be a huge step back in your evolvement. So maybe in your past life if you learned absolutely nothing and acted in a way that regressed your consciousness majorly to the point where you'd learn valuable lessons from living as a plant, then maybe??? Who knows..
    I wonder if Hitler was reborn a human.... ? The way we treat the natural world, maybe he was reborn a tree.....
    Hitlers karma in that specific life may ripen in his next life or 1,000 lifetimes in the future, nobody can know. He may have been reborn as a princess, a wealthy person, a deformed person, who knows...
    Anyway, reincarnation is a hindu belief, rebirth is a buddhist one if I am not wrong....

  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    edited April 2011
    So, could someone be reborn as a tree, for example, or any kind of plant (for people who believe in reincarnation/rebirth)?
    Definitely, especially if you are cruel to dogs

    :bawl:

    Image and video hosting by TinyPic
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    l o l
  • andyZandyZ
    edited April 2011
    The good question to ask is what being reborn as a tree, and what are you clinging to in the life.
  • jenzayjenzay
    I think nobody could know if it was possible for sure, but if it was possible it would probably be a huge step back in your evolvement. So maybe in your past life if you learned absolutely nothing and acted in a way that regressed your consciousness majorly to the point where you'd learn valuable lessons from living as a plant, then maybe??? Who knows..
    I wonder if Hitler was reborn a human.... ? The way we treat the natural world, maybe he was reborn a tree.....
    He could have come back as anything. Karma is not about suffering because you caused suffering, but rather understanding.

  • ZenshinZenshin Veteran East Midlands UK Veteran
    edited April 2011
    I think nobody could know if it was possible for sure, but if it was possible it would probably be a huge step back in your evolvement. So maybe in your past life if you learned absolutely nothing and acted in a way that regressed your consciousness majorly to the point where you'd learn valuable lessons from living as a plant, then maybe??? Who knows..
    I wonder if Hitler was reborn a human.... ? The way we treat the natural world, maybe he was reborn a tree.....
    He could have come back as anything. Karma is not about suffering because you caused suffering, but rather understanding.

    Jenzay, could you clarify your point about Karma being about understanding with a source other than yourself, I'm not being disrespectful to your viewpoint, its rather something I always felt deep down the reason why we incarnate. I've expounded the point of view several times myself and I feel it would be helpful for me and others to have some sources to back it up.

    Thanks in advance.

    LT.

  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    Plants are not sentient. They do not possess self-awareness as animals do. They can react to things like light position, but that's not the same as sentience. Many chemicals can react to external stimuli, but that doesn't make your digital camera sentient :)
  • sukhitasukhita
    edited April 2011
    Sentient tree ;)

    EDIT: Can't get imate to show, sorry...
  • jenzayjenzay
    edited April 2011
    @Lonely_Traveller I don't have a source! Sorry, I thought it was a given that it's just what makes sense to me personally. I definitely learned/read it somewhere, but I can't remember who or what made me think of it this way. Basically I think if you have negative karma racked up, I don't necessarily think that means you'll have to suffer in the same way you caused it to balance it out. I feel that the objective of karma is to eventually get you to the point where you make the right choices on your own, because you understand your actions. So you need to make the choice not to make the same mistake, which comes from understanding of what you did to hurt others, not from punishment for what you did. I believe karma just means you will experience something that will give you the opportunity for better understanding of those actions and hopefully you can make a better choice next time, be it through experiencing the same hurt you caused others, or any other experience that would result in you understanding the same thing.

    So basically... I think Hitler might not come back and have a terrible experience, just as long as it's an experience that teaches the necessary lesson :)
  • EmilieEmilie
    I think Hitler would not rebirth as human, since it is a gift to be human. I should think he would have to start over as an amoeba, taking thousands of kalpas to reach higher states of being.
  • jenzayjenzay
    edited April 2011
    Maybe, but you're implying that certain beings aren't worthy of the gift of being human based on actions in one lifetime. That judges people based on how good or bad someone acted in their life which I can't say I agree with, if I am to believe that we are really all one consciousness.

    I think sometimes it's necessary for people to do bad things because other people need to experience it. Hitler did terrible things but you can't judge his whole being based on one lifetime.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    I think Hitler would not rebirth as human, since it is a gift to be human. I should think he would have to start over as an amoeba, taking thousands of kalpas to reach higher states of being.
    In the words of the dalai lama, the karma you generate in this life may ripen tomorrow, next week or 10,000 years. So, hitler could well be a human being right now. Maybe not, it is impossible to know as an unawakened being
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    I feel that the objective of karma is to eventually get you to the point where you make the right choices on your own, because you understand your actions. So you need to make the choice not to make the same mistake, which comes from understanding of what you did to hurt others, not from punishment for what you did.

    So basically... I think Hitler might not come back and have a terrible experience, just as long as it's an experience that teaches the necessary lesson :)
    Well spoken (imo)

    :)

  • vrennavrenna
    For what it's worth, plants behave in strangely intelligent ways. :)
    http://www.ted.com/talks/stefano_mancuso_the_roots_of_plant_intelligence.html
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I hope my dog comes back and gets to eat all the french fries he wants and brush his teeth. And study philosophy and buddhism.
Sign In or Register to comment.