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Reincarnation
in Philosophy
Reincarnation is a bit fuzzy to me. I have one major question. I study anatomy. We are composed of plants and animals. All that we eat becomes us from the womb to the end of these bodies. Is this reincarnation of the plants and animals? In neurology almost every aspect of consciousness is explained. I personally do not separate spirit from body so it still counts as my spirit. However, cells in the body die and come to life at a rapid rate. These living things compose us. Therefore all this death and birth confuses me. This food creating cells seems like reincarnation, and consciousness as just a survival ecumenism. Is reincarnation just this flow of energy that moves from plants and animals to us then eventually from us to the plants and animals. A constant flow of unending energy. This seems scientifically correct. However does Buddhism not teach that we will come back again as a whole creature. Technically we do reincarnate into other creatures but not wholly. Of course with oneness we do. I'm a little confused. Haha
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Hey Colome
Well, it's not a pretty picture for anyone attached to their sense of being.
You arose as a temporary conglomeration of countless karmic streams and the inertia of those karmic streams will continue on unhindered beyond the life of your body (unless the causes for their existance are addressed).
You can add your own karmic inertia to the mix but either way, what you may add will no more stay homogeneously recognizable as a future "you" than the various karmic streams did before this present "you ".
In the Pali Canon this "very subtle mind" or consciousness is referred to as "seed consciousness" (it carries the karmic seeds from past lives, forward to the next life).
There's a great documentary film that explains and illustrates the Tibetan beliefs in this regard:
Except how or why things appear to us in the inner movie of our mind, this is called by some "the hard problem of consciousness". Not the neural correlates relating to experiences but the simple fact that we have experience and aren't just unconscious meat robots.
David Chalmers explains it better.
Personally I just can't wait for the next re-birth.
people can see reincarnation thru meditation.
unless , all of them are bloody liars, including the buddha.
Several posters who equate gnosis with wishfully deluding oneself in my opinion don't give any validity towards the expertise of advanced meditators in observing the mind. In any other field a person who spends thousands and thousands of hours developing their craft is given some consideration when they speak on the matter. Here there seems to be a feeling that an advanced meditator isn't any more able to discern the workings of their mind and how it can fool us than any normal person.
Trusting in the knowledge of experts is something we do all the time. In everyday life this knowledge can be verified and shared. I think maybe the difference here is that the knowledge gained through meditation is by its nature personal and can't be shared. It is said to be verifyable though and many people throughout the years have also said they have verified the knowledge of past lives for themselves.
Now imagine that we can't hear him play but he says that its possible to play great music on the piano. We can't do it, we've known people who said they could play but have never really practiced and have eventually been proven frauds, we've scientifically measured a wide swath of people who have never practiced on the piano so why should we believe that music can be played on the piano.
Meditation is a fairly new concept in the west and we don't really have any exposure to those who have mastered the art, so we don't really appreciate what is possible. Though recently there have been some studies that have started to look at expert meditators. In one early result the area of the brain associated with happy feelings was shown to be more active in the expert meditator by a factor of 8 than in any previously observed person. Still within the realm of a purely material universe but also an indication that maybe an experts testimony is worth some amount of weight.
if the universe/multiverse is mental as well as physical, it's possible that we go where we want and/or believe we go.
This is why I think preaching about hells is irresponsible. Especially when dealing with those close to death.
I kind of see it as a kind of spiritual (for lack of a better term) form of a hydrological system...
Home in the far couds;
The path of least resistance...
Can be tedious.
Also I like to keep in mind that time has little to no meaning where the strictly mental is concerned. All kinds of chemicals are released to the brain during the moment of death. If the "frame of mind" at the time of death is anything like that of a dream it could last a long "time" indeed.
"The nature of this [consciousness] is maintained to be transparent, formless and unmanifest, and it can, in fact, never be cognized by one who is not a Buddha." — Alokamala by Kambala [53]
But isn't being a Buddha something we awaken to and not turn into?
That quote from Alokamala seems to put the Buddha out of reach.
I certainly am not saying I have fully awakened or anything like that... I do see it as a process however.
Not a transformation or transmutation but the natural result of realisation.
The process never ends IMO, even when you are fully awoken, you still need to practice, you still need to perform service and you are still subject to karma. However, all of this is fine because you see things for how they really are
I would rather be inspired by the compassionate working to alleviate suffering now, not fishy tales of how they were a penguin in a previous pureland. Pleeze . . . you been feeding your mind too much weird stuff . . .
Trust those that do good. Be inspired to help. Start your next being in this vey moment, in this very life.
. . . OK better start worshipping some many armed Buddha incarnation soon . . .
The sun always shines, but clouds often obscure it.
The clouds in our case is our identification with our transient mind states ..the identity that we cling to.
Of course, the real limitation is always the fence or whatever identification keeps us on one side or the other of it.
I get that these things can be used like a crutch but you take it a step too far when you say that they are a crutch.
bcos there is so much room for you to grow in buddhism.
Humility and wisdom are two qualities kept well hidden but then you knew that . . .
As for the inspiration of the professionally holy. They are an example to us all, whatever our status . . .
May all beings benefit, the ignorant, the arrogant and the incorrigible
They are lovely in fact, but I could not eat a whole one!