How do we verify rebirth?

Peace2012ca

How do I increase my confidence that there is a rebirth? That there are endless cycles of birth and death? I find it difficult because I see myself as having a brain with electrical circuts. It dies. I die.

Lady_Alison

I read that rebirth can be seen everyday by your actions...the better your deeds toward others the less likely you will fall into a cycle of drama...or negative emotions, thoughts, bad or wrong action.

Rebirth is everyday.

zen_world

I don't think this is so important. You see yourself as having a brain with electrical circuts. Thats the problem...You should first understand "I"...Who is "I"? What is it? Right now, like many others, you see yourself as consciousness that is awake during the day. You are more than that. Your consciousness is the tip of the iceberg of your psyche. Once you find out who you really are, and meet your own psyche, you wouldn't be searching for proof to rebirth. It will come to you.
The more you find out about yourself, the more you will learn about the mysteries of the universe and the existence...

vinlyn

@Peace2012ca: I think you have to have faith in this...well, have to have faith if you believe it. There is no proof...at least none that I have ever seen.

Lady_Alison

It can be interpret many different ways...

I think you should start by not worrying so much about an event you don't remember and hasn't happened yet .

Start seeking perspective...there are more levels to the thinking mind.

Don't drive yourself mad...in your pursuit for spirituality, the answers will come when you are ready.

Lady_Alison

Sometimes you have to die to live

compassionate_warrior

You can read books on Near Death Experiences, reincarnation studies, and that kind of thing. See if those stories have any effect on your thinking.

person

You can try reading stories of children who remember past lives. Stories about NDE (near death experience). But in the end, like @vinlyn says, it does take a certain leap of faith. That leap can be easier to take if through your practice and learning of Buddhism you develop enough confidence in the truth of what is verifyable that maybe some of the harder to verify teachings are also true.

federica

How do I increase my confidence that there is a rebirth? That there are endless cycles of birth and death? I find it difficult because I see myself as having a brain with electrical circuts. It dies. I die.

You don't have to.
Read what the Buddha and various learned teachers have said about it, think on it, and make your mind up over time - one way or the other....
but you don't "have to" do anything.....

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/search_results.html?cx=015061908441090246348:al1bklhbjbi&cof=FORID:9;NB:1&ie=UTF-8&q=rebirth

vinlyn

Verification is a matter of finding any remaining historical record.

I'm very skeptical of this.

DharmaField

There is an ongoing debate about phenomenon that transcend the current scientific sphere of knowledge including rebirth, the existence of UFO's, miracles, astral travelling, fairies, ghosts, spontaneous combustion, psychic knowledge, telekenesis and so on. When you read this list, some this may sound ridiculous to you and some things plausible, we all have our own set. But it is good to keep an open mind as contemporary science is moving away from the disenchanted universe in which we know pretty much everything.

In my view, we need to be cautious about what we accept as true and in that sense critical thinking has its place. For example, if science tells us that we don't understand consciousness, but we know that it is directly related to brain function in three different ways: physically, chemically and electically. And any disruption to either of these systems can have a huge affect on who we are. We can be made into different people by lobotomy, drugs or by electrical stimulation of the brian. It would then seem entirely plausible that what would be reborn as a cat, would logically need to be stored outside the cat, were we to later again be reborn as a human and have memory of previous lives because a cats brain does not work in the same way. So there are serious logical problems with the actual mechanics of rebirth, but to dismiss it may also be an error as there could be some strange connection between all beings that are beyond our current knowledge and we may all be inside a matrix.

So, having thought about this, and having learnt from what other have said in NB discussions - I think it is an open case. Eitherway, it seems that not many Buddhists other than Tibetans pay much attention to it. What I have learnt from many years of practice is that the world in front of our noses is very very mysterious and no-one can ever fathom it. So I just accept and cherish it with trembling hands and tears of joy flowing from my eyes and try to not to get caught up with things in this life.

ThailandTom

This is always a talking point and a 'divider' when it crops up. If you think about it, it does not really matter because if you live your life from day to day according to the dharma, then you will lead a life that is virtuous and decent. That in itself is good enough, but if rebirth in the literal sense is something that operates in our universe, then it is kind of a bonus that you have lead this style of life.

It is a part of buddhism which requires almost blind faith but the buddha did say that when he bacame enlightened, awoken, that he could see aeons back through past lives that he himself had lived in.

federica

Nice one, @ThailandTom....
A quotation I lifted from the 'T book of L&D' is:
"It really matters little whether Heaven exists or not; the important is to live life as if it did".

If we want a fortunate rebirth - and ascribe to the concept that it occurs - then we need to live our lives, accordingly.... no?

vinlyn

Nice one, @ThailandTom....
A quotation I lifted from the 'T book of L&D' is:
"It really matters little whether Heaven exists or not; the important is to live life as if it did".

If we want a fortunate rebirth - and ascribe to the concept that it occurs - then we need to live our lives, accordingly.... no?

Very nice sentiment, particularly in the first paragraph.

Now that I am approaching the end of my life, I think what you mention in your second paragraph is the real challenge in life. You know, it's sort of like when you're young and should be making the right choices in financial decisions so that your retirement years will be comfortable, that your mind is not where it needs to be to do those things. Then, when you approach old age, it's too late. So to you young folks, listen to Federica's first paragraph!!!!!

aura

How do I increase my confidence that there is a rebirth? That there are endless cycles of birth and death?

Knowledge of past lives is a gift of the practice of meditation on one's karmic issues.
It can knock you flat, by the way, if your karmic issues haven't done that to you already.
Verification is a matter of finding any remaining historical record.
Finding historical confirmation is more than enough to shatter your entire concept of yourself and your world entirely, leaving it like rubble around your feet,
which is an extremely difficult thing to try to deal with
without extensive meditation practice.

seeker242

How do I increase my confidence that there is a rebirth? That there are endless cycles of birth and death? I find it difficult because I see myself as having a brain with electrical circuts. It dies. I die.

Yes. You do die. The Buddha never did teach that it is "you" that is reborn anyway. That is more like "reincarnation", not rebirth. To put it simply, He said that what continues is not "you" but simply cause and effect.

Commentary explain it like this:

So what actually passes on is CAUSALITY: That is conditioning factors of
mental forces! Nothing more! No form, feeling, perception, construction, or
consciousness passes on, or can ever endure from one moment to the next...
No "Self, I, Me, Body, Identity, or Ego" passes on.

SpinyNorman2

How do I increase my confidence that there is a rebirth? That there are endless cycles of birth and death? I find it difficult because I see myself as having a brain with electrical circuts. It dies. I die.

There is no need to believe or disbelieve in rebirth. And you could say it is all the beliefs and disbeliefs we have that prevent us from seeing the way things really are....I think :rolleyes:

Spiny

jll

Well, some people are born with
severe disabilities and have a lifespan of
a few days or weeks.
If there was no rebirth, then their life
really suck!

jll

The Buddha told countless cases
of rebirth to explain why certain things happen
to some people.
Was Buddha totally wasting his time?

How do I increase my confidence that there is a rebirth? That there are endless cycles of birth and death? I find it difficult because I see myself as having a brain with electrical circuts. It dies. I die.

There is no need to believe or disbelieve in rebirth. And you could say it is all the beliefs and disbeliefs we have that prevent us from seeing the way things really are....I think :rolleyes:

Spiny

person

Every reincarnation book one reads - every rebirth story one ingests - feeds and strengthens (creates karma) the craving for a separate identity (samsara) past and present. Investigation in and of itself is not errant behavior - but where there is craving even the slightest verification potentially strengthens misconception - and suggests veracity. Such belief systems evoke intense emotional reactions to any threat.

Certainly this can happen. The Buddhist notion of rebirth isn't that of a self that transmigrates from life to life though. Its only a result of cause and effect that gives birth to another life. Believing in only this life can also have a negative side, that of believing that we can escape some of the results of our actions.

sukhita

How do I increase my confidence that there is a rebirth?

Try listening to Ajahn Brahm's talks here on death and rebirth.