rebirth + reincarnation (buddhism + hinduism)

rebirth in buddhism

• Although the reincarnation process is similar to that described for Hinduism, what is reborn is not a pure ego.  

• There is continuity between each incarnation, but not identity. 

•  What survives is not the same person, but something that is continuous with what precedes and what follows it.  

• A useful analogy would be with. The continuous process of growth, decay and replacement of cells in the human body. 

buddhist doctrine of annata

• Means no self to express the idea that a person is in a state of flux insofar as mental and physical characteristics are constantly changing. 

• ‘Sou’l is not a sufficient criterion for personal identity. 

• True selfhood is an illusion; if a person becomes too accustomed to the illusion of being itself, this leads to unhappiness. The attachment to the illusion of the self is unhealthy. It forms an attachment to what has no permanent existence. 

buddist doctrine of anicca

• Everything, including conscious life, is forever changing. 

• The five skandhas (aggregates) -physical matter, sensations, perceptions, volitions and unconsciousness- flow like a river, each constantly changing, upon which we superimpose a singular identity, which we identify by personal name. 

• Through ignorance we think that there is some sort of unchanging essence constantly present (an atta or self). But the self is a fiction based on craving or desire 

• By letting go of this fiction, we let go of the forces that power rebirth, until finally rebirth ceases, and all misery and suffering end with it. This is Nirvana (enlightenment) 

impermanence in rebirth/ buddhism

•  If it is to be eternal, therefore, the soul must rid itself of all change and achieve nirvana, which is the end of rebirth  

• This means that there is no personal afterlife, but instead a constant cycle of rebirth (samsara).  

• Rebirth is a fixed principle of reality, not something created by God 

• Governed by the law of karma – ethically significant actions have consequences.  

• Ultimately, Buddhists aspire to escape from samsara by recognising the illusion, thus reaching Enlightenment (nirvana). 

reincarnation

• Idea is belief that the soul of the body is eternal 

• It is reborn in new bodies generation after generation 

• Hence, dualistic 

• Hindus believe in a continuous creation, which means the conservation and dissolution of the universe in a cyclic form 

cycle of hindu reincarnation

• Hope of final liberation of the soul from chains of transmigration (moksha) 

• Transmigration of the soul leads to concept of reincarnation (palingenesis) 

• -> soul moves through series of bodies which are huamn/ animal 

• Status of body reincarnated soul finds itself in depends on actions of the united body + soul in the previous incarnation