Generally, Buddhists
believe that there is no beginning to birth and that once we achieve liberation
from the cycle of existence by overcoming our karma and destructive emotions,
we will not be reborn under the sway of these conditions. Therefore, Buddhists
believe that there is an end to being reborn as a result of karma and
destructive emotions, but most Buddhist philosophical schools do not accept
that the mind-stream comes to an end….
There are two ways in
which someone can take rebirth after death: rebirth under the sway of karma and
destructive emotions and rebirth through the power of compassion and prayer.
Regarding the first, due to ignorance negative and positive karma are created
and their imprints remain on the consciousness. These are reactivated through craving and grasping, propelling us
into the next life. We then take rebirth involuntarily
in higher or lower realms. This is the way ordinary beings circle incessantly through existence like the turning of a wheel.
Even under such circumstances ordinary beings can engage diligently with a
positive aspiration in virtuous practices in their day-to-day lives. They
familiarise themselves with virtue that at the time of death can be reactivated
providing the means for them to take rebirth in a higher realm of existence. On the other hand, superior
Bodhisattvas, who have attained the path of seeing, are not reborn through the
force of their karma and destructive emotions, but due to the power of their compassion for sentient beings and based
on their prayers to benefit others. They are able to choose their place and
time of birth as well as their future parents. Such a rebirth, which is solely for the benefit of others, is
rebirth through the force of compassion and prayer.[1]
Some background comments
- The above statement by the Dalai Lama (DL) is
written against the backdrop of two forms of Buddhism, the two most basic
branches of Buddhism: Therevada (traditional) and Mahayana. Strictly
speaking, the Buddha taught the former and not the latter. The DL belongs
to the latter, Mahayana (Tibetan Buddhism is a sect in Mahayana).
- In Therevada Buddhism (TB) and Mahayana Buddhism (MB)
the ultimate is to become a buddha or enlightened one and go to Nirvana (the
final stage and goal of afterlife). Buddhas can remain on earth for a time.
Only buddhas go to Nirvana.
- There are many Buddhists who, although they are
not buddhas, they are highly spiritual. In TB these ones are known as arharts. In MB, they are known as bodhisattvas. In TB, an arhart concentrates on enlightenment,
just as the Buddha did. However, in MB a bodhisattva stays behind on earth to have compassion on
others.
- Often arharts
and bodhisattvas have attained
to buddhahood but remain on earth.
- The DL is a self-confessed bodhisattva, who has
not yet attained buddahood, “All Buddhas are cases of beings who were like
ourselves and then in dependence on the path became enlightened.”[2]
- However, the Buddha taught that breaking the cycle
of reincarnation and death (samsara)
can only be done through enlightenment. When one becomes enlightened one
becomes a buddha. The DL, on the other hand, believes in degrees, or stages,
of enlightenment, it would seem, and that one does not become a buddha
merely because one is enlightened. Again, this highlights the difference
between TB and MB.
Two forms of reincarnation
- Ordinary reincarnation. This is what every ordinary Buddhists
goes through. It is a cycle of life and death and is, ultimately, not a
good thing. The aim of the Buddhist is to break free from this cycle. In
ordinary reincarnation, we have what is called karma. It is one’s just dessert from previous lives and the
present life. If one builds up a store of good karma, one will more quickly graduate through the many millions
of lives that the Buddhist must go through in the process of samsara in order to finally become
enlightened. Bad karma delays
one’s progress through samsara.
Thus, although karma can be
good, it is only relatively so, for karma-
even good karma- is part of the cycle of bondage in samsara.
- Superior reincarnation. That is when one achieves
the height of a bodhisattva or arhart. The bodhisattva is not reborn by karma (which is still there), but
through prayer and compassion. The bodhisattva
is sufficiently enlightened to live a life of prayer and compassion to
ensure his next rebirth.
Comments
Buddhism has no sense of natural morality. There is no
god, no higher being to answer to. Good and bad are relative to the individual
and his progression through millions of lives. Of course, the person is not
actually rotten or sinful. Rather, he or she is weighed down by external influences
and must learn to overcome them (enlightenment). Nothing is intrinsically bad; ‘bad’
is merely something which hinders the individual from reaching nirvana sooner. And ‘good’ is merely something
that gets you to nirvana sooner. Thus, there is no such things as sin to
remove, or a god to placate and please. Rather, the aim is to restrain, and
eventually, remove negative forces that hinder one’s progress. Also, Buddhism
removes the need for accountability to one another, as the ‘mistakes’ of this
life can be made up for in future lives. You cannot become enlightened unless
you become a bodhisattva or arhart. So, there is no motivation to
change in this life for ‘bad’ Buddhists. Modern Buddhists dispute this
conclusion, but it is the logical terminus of their system.
Reincarnation
is itself founded upon one’s own good works or bad works. And achieving nirvana is solely down to the individual
and his spirituality.
[1] The
excerpts are taken from, “Reincarnation”, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama
of Tibet,
http://www.dalailama.com/messages/statement-of-his-holiness-the-fourteenth-dalai-lama-tenzin-gyatso-on-the-issue-of-his-reincarnation,
accessed 3/10/2018.
[2]
Dalai Lama, “Om Mani Padme
Hum,” Buddhist Studies, https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/tibet-txt.htm,
accessed 3/10/2018.
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