One of the things I don't understand about Buddhism is how there can be no belief in a soul yet still be a belief in reincarnation. Can anyone explain how this works? Unfortunately my research into Buddhism has not gone deep enough for me to answer this question for myself. Links to further information on this would be appreciated and thanks for your answers in advance.
2006-08-12 19:16:34 · 11 answers · asked by laetusatheos 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I probably should just read more about this to figure out the answer since it is apparently something rather complex. For clarification, When I say soul I'm not really meaning to refer to the soul goes up to heaven thing...more like a life force or spiritual self.
2006-08-12 19:45:34 · update #1
the thing you call soul joins with the spirit of the whole universe, which is not "soul" either but a creative energy the life force. you do not exist after death as a person but as a shapeless part of a greater shapeless mass. If you have desires still you must return to work through them as you. If you have worked through all your desires then you just become part of the general life force. you have no knowledge of you. As this force is needed it gets recycled into other creatures. this is hard to explain. I am trying but the words need to be explained better because to speak about what happens to the soul needs different terms that do not call up he wrong ideas in your mind. This is not like a soul flying to heaven. Or going to meet god. It is a soul becoming god which is everything. the whole universe is god. The idea not of going and sitting at gods knee but the idea of going into and becoming part of this life force in the universe and becoming it and it being you. aw the heck with it. It makes no sense. I give up.
2006-08-12 19:36:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Buddhist do not believe in an eternal soul. It is the mind-stream, not the soul, which goes through rebirth and cycles in existence.
It is kamma, rooted in ignorance and craving, that conditions rebirth. Past kamma conditions the present birth; and present kamma, in combination with past kamma, conditions the future. The present is the offspring of the past, and becomes, in turn, the parent of the future.
For a being to be born here a being must die somewhere. The birth of a being, which strictly means the arising of the five aggregates or psycho-physical phenomena in this present life, corresponds to the death of a being in a past life; just as, in conventional terms, the rising of the sun in one place means the setting of the sun in another place. This enigmatic statement may be better understood by imagining life as a wave and not as a straight line. Birth and death are only two phases of the same process. Birth precedes death, and death, on the other hand, precedes birth. The constant succession of birth and death in connection with each individual life flux constitutes what is technically known as samsara -- recurrent wandering.
2006-08-12 21:11:30 · answer #2 · answered by sista! 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
what's a faith? no rely if it relatively is a theory device which includes quite a number of deities, then Buddhism isn't strictly a faith. Buddha is respected as a God in some branches of Buddhism, yet as a instructor in others. The latter are philosophies no longer religions.
2016-11-04 11:40:28 · answer #3 · answered by ai 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm not the best source on this (not being a bhuddist) but i have heard that bhuddist belief see the body of a mixture of physical being, the mind, habit and conciousness (the melding of physical and mental aspects). the habit part is the part that is brought through the course of reincarnation, into another body and conciousness. again, i am not the best source on this and i would suggest looking up what i have mentioned as it may be incomplete or misleading.
2006-08-12 19:25:21 · answer #4 · answered by Michael M 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Go to sacred-texts.com and click on the link for buddhism. There are many translations of Buddha's writings contained on the site, and with a little reading you'll have an answer to this.
2006-08-12 19:36:54 · answer #5 · answered by Bill K Atheist Goodfella 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To put it simply, reincarnation is like lighting an unlit candle from a lit one. Is the second flame the first flame? Yes and no, it is of the first flame, but it isn't really the first flame.
2006-08-12 23:52:34 · answer #6 · answered by calmflow_21 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good question...
For more info regarding Buddhism, see http://godsci.org/gs/sect/relig/buddhism.html
Some Buddhists say they believe in a soul (which can then reincarnate).
Other Buddhists say they do not believe in a soul, however they believe in some kind of essence (kind of like our hopes and desires) which then reincarnate into another life.
Cordially,
John
2006-08-12 19:19:37 · answer #7 · answered by John 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Basically theres no God for a lot of Buddists and that justifies every other thing that they believe in !
2006-08-12 19:24:01 · answer #8 · answered by the ant ! 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They don't believe in a soul....hmmm.. thats a darn good question..
2006-08-12 19:22:04 · answer #9 · answered by Jamal 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think this koan sums it up best...
The cat wants cat food but the cat food bowl is broken.
Get it? WHACK!!
2006-08-12 19:44:21 · answer #10 · answered by Simple green is people! 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋