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What is the minimum to take into the next life?
What can I achieve in this lifetime that is so significant that it can carry into the next lifetime?
Having a goal smaller than Nirvana or Diamond-Body would be very motivating.
Having a goal smaller than Nirvana or Diamond-Body would be very motivating.
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Welcome to the Forum.
As I see it, all your actions (kamma) "carries into" the next lifetime.
First off, understand and accept the Four Noble Truths - you'll see it's all about overcoming (or reducing in the short term) of suffering (dukkha) by elimination (or gradual elimination in the short term) of craving or clinging.
Don't set any goals such as "nirvana". Such expectation (craving) by itself is an obstruction to your practice. Nirvana will come in its own time.
With kind regards.
As for your question, the actions you do through words, mind or body all form karmic formations which you carry on throughout this cycle of births and deaths. You might see the effects of karma in this life, in your future lives etc.
In the Mahaparinibbana-Sutta, the Buddha is said to have addressed the monks as follows:
And this from the Assu-Sutta:
It seems that the basic idea that there is a cycle of rebirth was not questioned by the Buddha's early disciples. Kamma and samsara (cycle of rebirths) were established concepts at the time of the Buddha and the Buddha's audience no doubt were more interested in the Buddha's teaching based on the four noble truths. Perhaps this is why the Buddha did not elaborate on the concept of samsara (cyclic rebirth).
I must admit, though, that I am still quite ignorant about the "thing" that passes on from one being to another at rebirth. Sometimes, I see it as nothing more than the transmigration of one's kamma moving from one's old being at death to the new being at birth - much like the flame that passes from one candle to another.
I would really appreciate if someone can point to specific suttas in the Pali Canon regarding the topic of rebirth - especially something that explains in greater detail how the transmigration takes place.
And those who do not believe in the rebirth concept - perhaps you can quote the suttas that substantiates this concept.
Let us learn together
I am not sure why you decided to turn this into a rebirth debate. It was simply pointed out that kamma is here and now. The Buddha even explains this to his young child in the suttas.
sukhita,
you have to be careful because translators take a lot of liberties. "wandered the round of rebirth" is simply "samsara" and this does not contradict the interpretations of the people Deshy is discussing. Other times, the word "jati" (birth) is translated as "rebirth" despite the Buddha using the word in a non-literal way in the context of paticcasamuppada. [MN 38]
And this is a horrible example of a translator inserting his own bias into his translations. "Transmigration" is once again simply "samsara." Samsara is a word that should go untranslated.
There isn't one.
Well, I already showed that "rebirth" does not appear in the Highest Teaching (Dependent Origination) of the Buddha, but rather "birth" does, and linked to a sutta in which the Buddha explains "birth" in non-literal ways which is what truly binds one to samsara. The Buddha was free of samsara in his lifetime, he was at peace and attained Nibbana, yet still died just like anyone else, so it seems clear to me that he was never concerned with escape from literal birth/death (samsara). There are many instances in which the Buddha blatantly explains that his teachings are concerned with the birth/death of I/self/mind (self-identification), such as:
It is clear that the Buddha was discussing birth in this way. So even if one argues that he did teach literal rebirth, it remains that it's irrelevent to the core teachings, and one does not have to accept it to attain Nibbana. Rather than denying any form of literal rebirth, I'm simply agnostic on the subject, and unconcerned with it because it has no affect on my practice here and now. As has been pointed out before, belief in literal rebirth is described by the Buddha as Right View with effluents which leads to further becoming, rather than Noble Right View which leads to Nibbana. [MN 117]
But yeah it continues its existence due to karma, and I'm not sure about this one, and past desires.
Buddhists state there is no self, but they DO NOT deny the existence of things metaphysical. For example, I think they believe the mind is a non physical entity. They also believe in "devas", which are god-births. I personally think the god-births are just births in a really comfortable position anywhere, like a king, etc.
EDIT: I guess if you REALLY want to remember something you could become a ghost, they seem to remember a lot...
Yes, I'm beginning to notice this. Even some writers with the title "Bhikku" seem to be contradicting each other.
I can see the wisdom in this as well.
And thank you sincerely for the other clarifications as well. Be assured that the effort you put into your response has benefitted me.
With kind regards.
My teacher says that everything you do and think creates an imprint (karma), and that these imprints are all that move on to the next life. This applies to both the negative thoughts & actions we do, and to the positive thoughts & actions. Therefore, a goal smaller than achieving Nirvana is to do our Buddhism practice so that those imprints move on.