Post # 8 - Rebirth - Part 2
Are you visiting this Blog for the 1st time? If so I
suggest that you read the 1st Post on the Blog from the
Archives to know about the blog, and then read Rebirth Part 1, in Post # 7,
before reading on.
Rebirth and Kamma – how we should see them
(Part 2)
From Part 1 you would have got some understanding of the
process of Rebirth as taught in Buddha Dhamma. The general attempt in these posts was to highlight
some salient points on this topic for creating sufficient interest in the keen
learner. It is hoped to motivate them to access more such material to get a
better understanding. They would then be able to dispel any doubts or
uncertainties there may be on this important subject, which can be considered
as one of the supporting pillars underpinning Buddhist practice.
The statements below give more elaborations on the
doctrine of Rebirth as explained in the Dhamma literature.
Ven.Bhikkhu Bhodhi, PhD, an American Theravada Buddhist
Monk who has many important publications to his credit either as author,
translator or editor, including The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha
among others, in his essay on ‘Does Rebirth Make Sense?’ says that-
‘For early Buddhism, the conception of rebirth is an
essential plank of its ethical theory, providing an incentive for avoiding evil
and doing good. For the principle of moral equilibrium to work, some type of
survival beyond the present life is required, for kamma can bring its due
retribution only if our individual stream of consciousness does not terminate
with death. Two different forms of survival are possible: on the one hand, an
eternal afterlife in heaven or hell, on the other a sequence of rebirths. Of
these alternatives, the hypothesis of rebirth seems far more compatible with
moral justice than an eternal afterlife.
When we encounter suitable external conditions, the
kammic seeds deposited in our mental continuum rise up from their dormant
condition and produce their fruits. The most important function performed by
kamma is to generate rebirth into an appropriate realm, a realm that provides a
field for it to unfold its stored potentials. The bridge between the old existence and the new is, the
evolving stream of consciousness. This hypothesis — though speculative — would
help account for the strange coincidences we sometimes meet, that prick holes
in our assumptions of rational order.
The teaching of rebirth thus enables us to face the
future with fortitude, dignity, and courage. If we recognize that no matter how
debilitating our present conditions might be, no matter how limiting and
degrading, we can still redeem ourselves, we will be spurred to exercise our
will for the achievement of our future good’.
Bhikkhu Bhodhi also goes on to give an analytical
review to support the doctrine of rebirth which I feel will appeal to the
intellectual mind. In this analysis he suggests that:-
‘the teaching of rebirth,
taken in conjunction with the doctrine of kamma, implies that we live in a
morally ordered universe, one in which our morally determinate actions bring
forth fruits that in some way correspond to their own ethical quality. Though
the moral law that links our actions with their fruits cannot be demonstrated
experimentally in the same way that physical and chemical laws can be, this
does not mean it is not real. It means only that, like quarks and quasars, it
operates beyond the threshold of sensory perception.
The channel for the transmission of kammic influence from
life to life across the sequence of rebirths is the individual stream of
consciousness. Consciousness embraces both phases of our being — that in which
we generate fresh kamma and that in which we reap the fruits of old kamma — and
thus in the process of rebirth, consciousness bridges the old and new
existences. Consciousness is not a single transmigrating entity, a self or
soul, but a stream of evanescent acts of consciousness, each of which arises,
briefly subsists, and then passes away.
At a deep level, each occasion of consciousness inherits
from its predecessor the entire kammic legacy of that particular stream; in
perishing, it in turn passes that content on to its successor, augmented by its
own novel contribution. Thus our volitional deeds do not exhaust their full
potential in their immediately visible effects. Every volitional deed that we
perform, when it passes, leaves behind a subtle imprint stamped upon the
onward-flowing stream of consciousness. The deed deposits in the stream of
consciousness a seed capable of bearing fruit, of producing a result that
matches the ethical quality of the deed.
When consciousness, as the seed, becomes planted or
"established" in that realm it sprouts forth into the rest of the
psycho-physical organism- summed up in the expression "name and form"
(nama-rupa). As the organism matures, it provides the site for other past
kammas to gain the opportunity to produce their results. Then, within this new
existence, in response to our various kammically induced experiences, we engage
in actions that engender fresh kamma with the capacity to generate still
another rebirth. Thereby the round of existence keeps turning from one life to
the next, as the stream of consciousness, swept along by craving and steered by
kamma, assumes successive modes of embodiment.
As described above by Bhikkhu Bhodhi, the ultimate
implication of the Buddha's teaching on kamma and rebirth is
that human beings are the masters of their own destiny. Through our unwholesome
deeds, rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion, we create unwholesome kamma, the
generative cause of bad rebirths, of future misery and bondage. Through
our wholesome deeds, rooted in generosity, kindness, and wisdom, we beautify
our minds and thereby create kamma productive of a happy
rebirth. By using wisdom to explore more deeply below the superficial face of
things, we can uncover the subtle truths hidden under our general perception of
things through appearances. Thereby we can uproot the binding defilements and
win the peace of deliverance, the freedom beyond the cycle of kamma and its
fruit.
It is clear from above
that there is a strong argument to support the doctrine of rebirth. There is
however few remedies to establish the validity through the conventional
scientific experimentation. There have been many instances of scientists making
attempts to establish the fact through their scientific experiments. The web
has many references to these. Noteworthy among them is the work by Prof Ian
Stevenson.
Dr Ian Stevenson (1918-2007) psychiatrist who worked for the
University of Virginia USA and Chair of the Department of
Psychiatry traveled extensively over a period of 40 years, investigating
3,000 cases of children around the world who recalled having past lives. His
meticulous research presented evidence that such children had unusual
abilities, illnesses, phobias and philias which could not be explained by the
environment or heredity. Dr. Stevenson's reincarnation research began in
1960 when he learned of a case in Sri Lanka where a child reported remembering
a past life. He thoroughly questioned the child and the child's parents,
including the people whom the child recalled were his parents from his past
life. This led to Dr. Stevenson's conviction that reincarnation (rebirth) was
possibly a reality.
The foregoing therefore suggests that rational
understanding is the better way for us to deal with this important subject than
any scientific inquiry. We must for this purpose, look around for some evidence
or phenomena that require inquiry. We must learn at first hand, the many
different conditions of life prevailing among our fellow beings.
We must find honest and reasonable answers to such
questions as: why are we more fortunate than many others, and less fortunate
than some others? Why are some born deaf, blind, deformed or differently able?
Why are some innocent infants born into poverty and squalor and suffering while
others are born into the lap of luxury? Why do some people die in their
childhood, whilst others live up to a ripe old age? Why are insects, vermin and
worms, birds, animals, snakes etc. are born into these species? Why are they
also not born as human beings?
Are we prepared to accept these evidences as mere
happenings by chance or acts of a creator? Is an invisible creator testing the
resolve and faith of those creations before they are given deliverance?
Answers to these questions will invariably lead us to understand a truth that
exists.
Is the answer, the so called Law of Kamma? When
the Law of Kamma is accepted, the reasonableness of the
doctrine of rebirth can be accepted.
Please await the next Post- Rebirth Part 3 for further
facts. May you get the inspiration to study this subject further?
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