Transmigration
Reincarnation, also called transmigration of souls, is the rebirth in another body (after physical death), of some critical part of a person's personality or spirit. Its occurrence is a central tenet of Hinduism, Jainism, some African religions, as well as various other religions and philosophies.
It has traditionally also been understood to be akin to the Buddhist concept of Rebirth, but in recent years it has become clear that the two concepts are very distinct - Buddhism teaches that there is no self to reincarnate.
Although reincarnation shares certain common features across these belief systems - a continuation of the self usually associated with some karmic task - there are often differing descriptions of the actual mechanism by which reincarnation occurs, as well as the details of what aspect of the person is being continued.
Hinduism
In Vedic religions of Hinduism, liberation from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth, is considered the ultimate goal of earthly existence. This is known as Moksha or mahasamadhi in Hinduism.
Buddhism
The concept of rebirth, although often thought of as similar to reincarnation, differs significantly and is exclusive to Buddhism. Hindus believe that the soul, or atman is what is preserved from one life to the next. Buddhists on the other hand express what they call anatta, or the non-existence of any unchanging permanent substance. The person is an aggregative whole of psycho-physical components that separate upon death. However, when they separate, they normally cause, if karmic energies are still present, a new aggregate to be formed, and thus rebirth is carried out.
Jainism
In Jainism, gods reincarnate after they die. A Jainist, who accumulates enough good karma, may become a god; but, this is generally seen as undesirable since gods eventually die and one might then come back as a lesser being.
Reincarnation in Western religions
The Gnostics also believed that the material body was evil, and that they would be better off if they could eventually avoid having their 'good' souls reincarnated in 'evil' bodies.
Similarly, Scientology holds that the people of earth have been brainwashed into believing that they cannot exist without a physical body, and that the resulting fear of death and compulsive need to reincarnate immediately after death are responsible of much of their misery.
Aside from the religions mentioned above, there are other groups who believe in reincarnation as well. In Christianity for instance, the great majority of Christian groups deny reincarnartion. It was not always thus; Origen, an early Christian theologian that lived during the third century, wrote that "The soul has neither beginning nor endÂ… [They] come into this world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of their previous lives" (De Principiis). This belief was not unique to Origen; many early Christians believed that the soul exists prior to the conception and birth of a person. In AD 553, more than three hundred years after Origen's death, the Emperor Justinian issued an edict against Origen, and convinced the Pope to convene the Second Council of Constantinople (which the Pope then refused to attend). This Council issued "The Anathemas Against Origen" (an "anathema" is an offense worthy of excommunication and damnation). The first sentence reads, "IF anyone asserts the fabulous pre-existence of souls, and shall assert the monstrous restoration which follows from it: let him be anathema."
The Anathemas Against Origen not only suppressed the teachings of Origen within the Church, but also any teaching supportive of Origen's views on the pre-existence of the soul. Anyone espousing such beliefs could be excommunicated from the Church, or worse. The taboo against belief in pre-existence or reincarnation survived the reformation, and to this day few Christian demominations embrace the possibility that a soul might exist through multiple lifetimes. However, some sects, such as the Liberal Catholic Church, include the concept of reincarnation in their doctrine. Some Hasidic Jews also include this doctrine.
Some ancient Greek philosophers believed in reincarnation; see for example Plato's Phaedo and The Republic. Pythagoras was probably the first Greek philosopher to advance the idea.
Many Gnostic groups believed in reincarnation.
Toward the Light is an example of a contemporary work originating in the western world, which very detailed accounts for reincarnation.
Today belief in reincarnation is widespread in New Age and Neopagan circles. It is an important tenet of Theosophy, and central to Spiritism, founded by Allan Kardec.
The Church of Scientology's Sea Org has been known to issue employment contracts with a duration of one billion years and a clause specifically stipulating that the contractual obligations continue after death.
Evidence of reincarnation
Although anecdotal evidence abounds, the scientific evidence for reincarnation is currently fairly weak. The most detailed collections of personal reports in favor of reincarnation have been published by Dr. Ian Stevenson in works such as Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, which documents thousands of detailed cases where claims of injuries received in past lives sometimes correlate with atyptical physical birthmarks or birth defects. Perhaps the most significant anecdotal evidence in this regard is the phenomenon of young children spontaneously sharing what appear to be memories of past lives, a phenomenon which has been reported even in cultures that do not hold to a belief in reincarnation. Upon investigating these claims, Stevenson and others have identified individuals who had died a few years before the child was born who seem to meet the descriptions the children provided. In the most compelling cases, autopsy photographs reveal that the deceased individuals have fatal injuries that correspond to the unusual marks or birth defects of the child; for example, marks on the chest and back of a child line up precisely with the bullet entry and exit wounds on the body of an individual who has been shot. However, Stevenson cautions that such evidence is suggestive of reincarnation, but that more research must be conducted.
Skeptics such as Paul Edwards have analyzed many of these and other anecdotal accounts, and claim that further research into the individuals involved provides sufficient background to weaken the conclusion that these cases are credible examples of reincarnation.
Critics who claim that reincarnation is impossible often espouse the alternate theory that a large number of mental phenomena such as memory and ability are already accounted for by physiological processes; and may point to moral and practical inconsistencies in the various theories of reincarnation. To the materialistic mind, Occam's Razor would then seem to dictate that the critical view is to be preferred, as it demands no extraordinary new evidence beyond what is already known to science.
A more skeptical view is that without solid evidence showing that reincarnation exists (regardless of the current state of science), the theory of reincarnation cannot be considered to be a valid scientific theory regarding the real world. Some skeptics explain the abundance of claims of evidence for reincarnation to originate from selective thinking and the psychological phenomena of false memories that often result from one's own belief system and basic fears, and thus cannot be accounted as empirical evidence.
Jane Roberts
In the Seth series of books Jane Roberts talks about reincarnation and life after death. Seth believed that time and space are basically illusions. Consistent with this view, Seth argues not only that each person lives several lives (in what only appear to be different time periods) in physical reality simultaneously, but also that only parts of each person incarnate (appear in physical reality). This last argument is part of Seth's view that man is a multi-dimensional entity simultaneously alive in many contexts.
See also: Afterlife, Bible and reincarnation, Carol Bowman, Ian Stevenson, Karma, Metempsychosis, Pre-Birth communication.
References
- Ian Stevenson, Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects ISBN 0275952835
- Paul Edwards, Reincarnation: A Critical Examination ISBN 1573929212
External Links
Referenced By
BuddHism | Buddhist | Buddhists | Buddism | Budhism
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