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Rebirth Rates
Silouan
Veteran
I have heard that obtaining a human life is considered most precious, because it is provides the greatest opportunity to meet the Dharma, and is most conducive to its practice. What is the spiritual significance of declining global human birth rates not only for human beings but for other beings occupying the different realms of Buddhist cosmology particularly for those in what are considered lower states of existence?
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If one comes across someone who actually reminds you of an animal, chances are he/she was, past life anyway. If you observe carefully, there are plenty of them.
Transmigration between the realms, its stated in the Dharma, so no surprises in that
7 billion humans have a chance (however slight) to learn the Dharma, we have less than 1 billion Buddhists. The number of true Buddhists, who adhere to the Dharma, without abuse of power and position, cruelty, right livelihood ( cant be a pimp, drug dealer, gun seller etc) what numbers do we have.
Hell population has not been published lately,
rather
think of it as the inertia of countless karmic streams gelling as new chances to find resolution.
there have never been more people on earth in history.
7 billion and increasing by the second.
Some interesting articles on the topic:
economist.com/node/14744915
foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/10/11/think_again_global_aging?page=full
nytimes.com/2012/03/13/opinion/brooks-the-fertility-implosion.html?_r=1&ref=davidbrooks
I had read several years ago, and maybe I'm saying this wrong, that a karmic action already contains within it the seed if you will of its own dissolution. Since our realm shares a "collective karma" it would already be in movement towards its dissolution.
There are some Mahayana scriptures that address the topic of a Dharma ending age where it is suggested that the effectiveness of the Buddha's teaching will decline and eventually disappear altogether, and Maitreya, the future Buddha, who is waiting in the Tushita Heaven will incarnate to introduce the Dharma once more.
The thing that puzzles me though is that a Buddha already incarnated in our realm, but other Buddha realms such as where Amitahba resides is suggested to be without retrogression if re-birth is obtained there. One would think that if a Buddha appeared in a realm it would eventually be purified of ignorance because of his presence through the Dharma and become a Buddha realm.
Real or not, its internal logic is consistent.
I was addressing primarily the only realm we currently exist in, and if in the Buddhist cosmology the most precious birth to obtain is human for reasons previously stated, and we are in a Dharma ending age where its teachings are becoming ineffectual coupled with declining birth rates and increasing extinction of species then one can deduce through inference that perhaps there is propensity for re-birth in realms and forms less conducive for enlightenment.
Now that I better understand your point I'm not really sure there is any spiritual significance. There isn't any kind of overarching plan in Buddhist theology that dictates a just number of fortunate rebirths. In fact if I recall correctly there are "dark" periods lasting aeons where there is no dharma in the world. Beings can still be born with fortunate births since virtue isn't limited to Buddhism.
I don't know if that gets at your post or not.
Thank you for the explanation.
And I agree with @person; if you were thinking that fortunate rebirths occur only in a Buddhist context, Buddhist families or cultures, that's not how it works. And there's the matter of other realms, as well. Furthermore, an Enlightened being can choose to be born in a hell realm, to help beings there advance, or into any realm, not necessarily the human one.