does Buddhism have an afterlife theory?

Answer 1

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=Does+Buddhism+have+an+afterlife+theory%3F&btnG=Search

Answer 2

Yes! And depending on the school of Buddhist thought you belong to, it differs slightly. Most Tibetan Buddhist believe in reincarnation. That is the body dies but the essence of the person can move into a new body and be born again based on ones Karma. Sometimes you are born a human, sometimes you are born a toad, sometimes you are born a hungry ghost or demon and sometimes you are born a diva or god.

Most other forms of Buddhism tend to disagree and although many westerners will use the term reincarnation, the proper term would be rebirth. (There IS a difference).

In most forms of Buddhism (Zen [All forms], Pure Land, Nichiren, Shingon, Tendai and Theravada traditions amongst others, the 'self' is considered not to exist. Therefore, it can not move on from body to body. Hinduism as well as some forms of Tibetan Buddhism describe reincarnation as almost removing one body at the time of death and moving into another. In mainstream Buddhist thought is what we perceive as the self is in fact a continues process of formation and destruction of aggregates called skandha and these skandha inherit certain traits from their successor.

One analogy used is a candle. Even though the candle has a flame, the flame is always changing, the flame on the candle is NOT the same molecule from moment to moment, and thus, even though we say it is the same flame on the candle, it is not. If at the last moment of life on one candle, we place the wick of another candle to the flame of the first, it would appear that the flame moves from candle to candle, when in truth, the flame is entirely different.

In short, reincarnation says that there is a self that moves from body to body, life to life. The idea of rebirth is that life moves from body to body without self.

The biggest difference is that mainstream Buddhism does not believe that the memories and personal nature survive beyond death.

Furthermore, until one becomes enlightened, we continually walk the path of Birth, sickness, aging, death and re-birth. Once we reach enlightenment, we enter Nirvana, the place where it all ends. Nirvana means extinction or extinguishing.

The Buddha in the Dhammapada says of Nirvana that it is "the highest happiness." This is not the transitory, sense-based happiness of everyday life, but rather an enduring, transcendental happiness integral to the calmness attained through enlightenment. The Buddha describes the abiding in nirvana as 'deathlessness' or 'the unconditioned' and as the highest spiritual attainment, the natural result that accrues to one who lives a life of virtuous conduct in accordance with Dharma.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Afterlife in buddhism is just like going from one dream to the next. The person or the 'self' remains the same,only the signals send from the outside world(to our senses) just 'shifts', and we feel we have a new life, with new experiances. There is no way to check the reality of the world, we are all a slave to our senses.

Answer 4

Yes,In this life good and bad stuff happens to us,some of those events could be triggered by Karmic(good,bad) effect of your previous lives but not every thing in your life is controlled by karma,if your mind is strong you can lessen the effects of previous life karma
,If you go on right path in this life you could be born as a higher life form(Angle /God/or in another world).

Some people in this world are deformed from birth,some are born poor,some good people become miserable suddenly or they
could die or fall ill,some people become rich and live happy lives the only explanation for these things are afterlife & karma

Answer 5

Due to our grasping at the "stuff" that goes through our deluded minds, and what we do, we continue to be reborn again and again in what we call "samsara" until we wise up and strive to eliminate all of our bad karma and deluded thinking and attain true happiness.

How you're reborn depends on the karmic "seeds" you planted in this life and others. Another point of note is that we don't believe in "linear time" (so you could be reborn in the past, in another universe, etc.) and our concepts of "heaven, hell, gods and goddesses", etc. are different than those of other religions but there are some similarities shared.

Hope this helps!

_()_

Answer 6

The very pure version leaves it completely ambiguous. Other groups have a similar belief to Hinduism.

Answer 7

Most Buddhists accept reincarnation, though opinions differ. It depends what flavour of Buddhist you are.

Answer 8

Yes - see (most of) the above - especially good answers from niceperson, wandering star, and vinslave (who has the best haircut).

Excuse me, enlightenment beckons ......
.

Answer 9

Yes-reincarnation! We are born over and over, thousands of times, until we reach enlightenment and no longer have the lessons to learn that we are taught here.

Answer 10

Yes, that reincarnation exists and the type and amount of karma at the time of your death will contribute to determining your next form.

Answer 11

Reincarnation till we reach nirvana and dissolve into the universe and finally end our suffering