Questions on Buddhism?

Question

Buddhism believes in soul-migration (or sometimes mistakenly called reincarnation). If we look at all beings;
- There are 6.500.000.000 people on this earth,
- Tens of billions are large and medium sized animals,
- Hundreds of Trillions small animals, like worms and flies.
The ratio "human : animal" is uttely small.
It'd take millions of years for a animal to reincarnate into a human.
1) Isn't the suffering of an animal disproportionally great (in terms of time)?
2) If the true nature of the universe is emptiness, why is there even life at all? Did life came from nothing with as goal to achieve nothing?
3) Why does a "fair" theory like reincarnation sounds so "unfair" to me? Look at a duck with the idea that the poor animal must reincarnate the coming million years full of suffering...

I hope that someone who knows about Buddhism can give me his/her opinion on this.

Answer 1

Your premise is flawed. Only humans suffer.

That's because humans are the only animals who don't understand their human "job." Animals completely understand their various jobs (worms eat leaves and make earth, cats sleep and purr, cows give milk, etc.).

The job of human beings is to end the suffering of human beings. Human suffering arises because we cling to our thoughts. If we didn't cling (attach) to thoughts, we wouldn't make suffering for ourselves and others. So our job is to not cling to the contents of our mind.

To see the truth of the suffering produced by attachment to thought, just look at the world around you -- from the Iraq war, to fights with our parents or spouses -- all suffering arises because we cling to our ideas about how things should/shouldn't be.

Animals, however, don't cling to ideas. Ever see a wolf cling to an idea? No. Wolves just eat and sleep and poop.

This is not to say that animals don't feel pain -- they do. But Buddhist recognize an important difference between pain and suffering. Pain is not optional. All beings experience it. Suffering is optional. Most animals don't suffer. Most all people do.

By the way, the Buddhist term "emptiness" simply means that everything is constantly in flux -- nothing is fixed, nothing is permanent, everything always changes.
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To NH Baritone, below:
Yes, you're certainly correct -- animals cling to life, avoid pain, even grieve for lost mates. And humans beings often denigrate animals in ways that prevent us from seeing their pain clearly (another indication of how humans cling to thinking). Anyone who understands the livestock industry and yet continues to eat commercially-raised meat denies the pain that results from desire.

But, Buddha taught very explicitly that suffering -- as different from pain -- arises directly from attachment to thoughts. Only a few animals appear to be capable of this type of holding/clinging/attachment behavior. We humans must use our full capacity to reduce the pain and suffering that all beings experience.
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Answer 2

Buddhism does not accept the existence of a soul or eternal essence. Rebirth is based on dependence and causality. There is no soul linking life to life, nor is there complete continuity from life to life. Put simply, aspects of one life (memories, thoughts at the time of death, etc.) influence the quality and direction of the next life.

You are right about one thing. It is considered by Buddhists extremely rare and precious to be born as a human. We are encouraged to make the best of it by living righteously and attaining Nirvana.

1. Yes, animals suffer far more than humans, but their ability to do something about it is significantly less than humans. This is the only reason that human birth is most precious.

2. Emptiness is too dense of a topic to treat simply here. Suffice to say that emptiness is the reason there is something rather than nothing. The following link is a good starting point:
- http://www.budsas.org/ebud/nutshell/nshell08.htm

3. Rebirth is not pleasant. That's why the goal of Buddhism includes liberation from the cycle of rebirth. It's also important to remember that the Buddha isn't asking us to take the rebirth teaching on faith. One of the higher knowledges attained through Buddhist meditation is retro-cognition, or the ability to remember former existences. This is where personal verification of Buddhism becomes tricky, because very few people will ever develop this ability.

It's because of this fact that the Buddha also presents us with a wager. He says that if there is a life after the current one that depends on the moral quality of deeds done in the present life, then it is best to live virtuously and following the eightfold path. For that is the only way the next life will be a good one. However, if there isn't a next life, living virtuously will reap benefits in this life that make doing so worth while.

Answer 3

Your math is accurate and entirely reasonable. However, here are some of the counter arguments I've heard put forward by reincarnation apologists:

~Animals (even microbes) may have very brief lives from our standpoint. We don't really know how they perceive time passing. Therefore, in the span of a single human lifetime, a reincarnated soul may pass through hundreds of other creatures.

~Souls do not necessarily go directly from one earthly being into another. There may be a waiting period.

~Buddha taught that even the Gods needed to undergo enlightenment. Therefore, the creatures on this planet do not necessarily represent the totality of soul regeneration. Souls may also return to live as creatures on other planets.

~The lifespan of humans has increase over the past 100 years. Prior to that, and still in many parts of the globe, 35 years old is elderly. In any event, even though there are 6.5 billion people on earth, that is a constantly cycling group.

I don't believe in reincarnation, but since you asked, I thought I'd fill you in on some of the responses I've heard & read.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

And to P'ang, above me. To say that animals do not cling to life, and that animals do not grieve, is to deny the mounting evidence of suffering among animals. Just because we have discounted the emotional lives of animals does not mean that those experiences do not exist.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 4

a million) i actually am a Buddhist and believe you. it quite is not a 'middle' thought, and is no longer needed for attaining enlightenment. although if, specific different issues may be somewhat complicated. 2) i've got not got a mentor, yet it quite is a non everlasting problem and that i've got had a grasp interior the previous. at the same time because it quite is possible to 'do it on my own', it quite is ordinarily finest to do it with somebody else's help. have faith me, after a at the same time as you will desire you had a instructor. I truthfully have not examine each and all the sutras, and the fundamentals of Buddhism are discovered interior the worldwide, no longer written on paper. it quite is in certainty an particularly under pressure component which you no longer think of too conceptually - the map isn't the terrain, and the signpost no longer the holiday spot. See issues, do no longer think of them. 3) Buddhism is greater of a philosophy than a faith. there are fairly some holiday journeys, yet you do no longer *desire* to stay with any of them. you do no longer could desire to circulate via any initiation ceremonies the two. 4) Meditation is amazingly significant to Buddhism. at the same time because it relies upon on the particular college, meditation is tremendously plenty a thank you to enlightenment. it quite is the gadget we use to be sure actuality. don't be intimidated by applying it although ^_^. it quite is not as complicated because it form of feels. yet returned, it quite is the place a instructor is obtainable in reachable. 5) genuinely! The Buddha under pressure very strongly which you may desire to in no way take everybody's be conscious for something, it quite is nice to continuously see issues for your self to be attentive to they're genuine. 6) As interior the experience of a single staggering capacity, specific, yet specific sects do have deities, like the bodhisattvas, and a few of those are worshipped. different sects are thoroughly non-theistic. i for my area see this theistic/non-theisti high quality as thoroughly irrelevant.

Answer 5

I will not pretend that what follows is an adequate answer to your question, but it might put your question in another context.

Nirvana is the opposite of the cycle of birth and death (samsara). And we humans do a whole host of meditations to short circuit the cycle of birth and death to achieve Nirvana. And only humans can do this (not even the gods).

But (and here is the trick), one of the possible results of meditation is to see that the "own being" of all dharma is emptiness. However, not only are the 5 heaps that make up the human empty, and the whole cycle of conditioned co-production, but "in emptiness . . . There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path." The suffering is in a matter of speaking, negated in emptiness.

So the whole round of birth and death is emptiness and this emptiness is the samething (in a way) as Nirvana.

So Nirvana is the same as Samsara.

neil s: He has gotten some thumbs down, but it is realizing the "truth" of what he says that is the result of the meditation that I somewhat clumsily tried to present.

Answer 6

It’s not soul-migration according to Theravada Buddhism. There is no soul but perception or view based on ignorance (Avijja). Therefore there are different perceptions: nihilism, creationism, transcendentalism etc; apart from that some also believe when a king will be reborn as a king, a rich man will be reborn as a rich man, a slave will be reborn as a slave – this is also a belief of India. In Buddhism, namma (abstract body: mind and cetasika) and rupa (physical body) both die when a person dies. Only the kamma decides what form or body (namma & rupa) to make for an individual. Kamma is action and affect. So when a person die, up to his kamma (his actions) will affect his rebirth in the 31 Bhumi.

1) Isn't the suffering of an animal disproportionally great (in terms of time)?

It is true that the suffering of animals is disproportionately great. This is why the Buddha taught the Dhamma to let the creatures know how to avoid such sufferings. We know how animals suffer. One is the sufferings caused by animals (or all beings) ourselves as the hunters and the hunted. Another is caused by humans. The third is caused by the nature: weather condition, the condition of food and water sources, and the condition of birth, illness, aging and death. The last is the greater suffering from ignorance.


Worse than that,
The suffering of the peta (the ghosts) is far greater than the sufferings of animals. Some ghosts have tiny mouth with big hungry stomach. Some ghosts are always thirsty but cannot drink. Some ghosts are suffering from their grieves, sorrows, etc.

Worse than that,
The sufferings in Hell (niraya) are far greater than the sufferings of animals. They have no time for a rest as ceaseless pain inflicting through out the body constantly for many, many thousand years. http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/ay/aviici.htm

In terms of time?
Buddhism only mentions three different times: the past, the present and the future. As a being endures in wandering in samsara (lifecycle), the happening or fate of this creature is up to the kamma of this very creature; so this creature endures in the 31 Bhumis as divine or a human or an animal or a ghost or a hell-being. This creature endures as genderless form (brahma), a male form and female form. So in term of universal justice, all creatures are the same and equal in both opportunity and misery.


The States of Suffering
4. Thāna Sutta.-The five unattainable states - ageing which brings no decay, sickening no disease, dying no death, wasting no destruction, ending no end. A.iii.54f. http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/t/thaana_s.htm
• cetasika
'mental things, mental factors', are those mental concomitants which are bound up with the simultaneously arising consciousness (citta = viññāna) and conditioned by its presence.
Whereas in the Suttas all phenomena of existence are summed up under the aspect of 5 groups:
• corporeality,
• feeling,
• perception,
• mental formations,
• consciousness (s. khandha),
the Abhidhamma as a rule treats them under the more philosophical 3 aspects:
• consciousness,
• mental factors and
• corporeality (citta, cetasika, rūpa).
Thus, of these 3 aspects, the mental factors (cetasika) comprise feeling, perception and the 50 mental formations, altogether 52 mental concomitants.
Of these, 25 are lofty qualities (either karmically wholesome or neutral), 14 karmically unwholesome, while 13 are as such karmically neutral, their karmical quality depending on whether they are associated with wholesome, unwholesome or neutral consciousness. For details s. Tab. II, III. Cf. prec. (App.) http://www.palikanon.com/english/wtb/b_f/cetasika.htm


For the 31 Bhumi go http://web.ukonline.co.uk/buddhism/bhumis.htm

I recommend a story for you to read on this page: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j2/j2055.htm


2) If the true nature of the universe is emptiness, why is there even life at all? Did life came from nothing with as goal to achieve nothing?

The universe is not empty. It’s full of namma (abstract body of living things) and rupa four elements: earth (solid), water (liquid), air (gas) and fire (energy).

The Buddha didn’t said the creatures come from nothing; however, He only mentioned the start of time is not perceptible or already too long or it’s the state of infinite as well so there is no start and no end. The universe is infinite, the number of creatures is infinite and therefore time is infinite. Yet there are goals in two different categories: worldly goal and supreme goal. Worldly goals are of the beings wandering in samsara (lifecycle) and the supreme goal is Nibbanna (nirvana).

The Buddha explained how the ignorance has kept the universe as it is, how the tanha (desires) has kept the happenings as they are, and the law of the nature is the way of beings or living things. Buddhism is the teaching of the Buddha Gotama but His teaching is also the ways the previous Buddhas taught. All Buddhas only taught the way of nature or beings or the universe or natural universal law.

3) Why does a "fair" theory like reincarnation sounds so "unfair" to me? Look at a duck with the idea that the poor animal must reincarnate the coming million years full of suffering...
I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is not what the Buddha said. Please read carefully what I have answered above as the way of the nature or natural law of the existence explained by the Buddha.

Answer 7

very good question. a one sakyamuni would love to hear. though i'm not him, i'll try to theorize on the matter with you.

first, regarding reincarnation. you call it soul migration. soul (or atman) migration is a vedic (i.e. hindu) concept, not buddhist. here is why. buddhists consider the world illusory because an observer can not clearly tell whether what they e.g. see is real. for example you can not clearly 100% sure tell whether you are sleeping or not. mind concepts, or ideas, are no different from visual and sensual concepts, hence can be illusions as well. for example, many children fear darkness, while there is nothing constructive or founded in this. for that matter soul or atman concept is an illusion, as illusion is migration of the soul from one illusory object to another. it is a common misconception about buddhism.

> 1) Isn't the suffering of an animal disproportionally great (in
> terms of time)?

if you take the numbers definitely yes. however, have you ever heard of a hare that committed suicide due to unshared love? the hare has no attachment to the mate - if fox eat it, the hare finds another to do as instinct tells - breed. no regrets. if the hare dies it does not ask god to save it, at least so far we discovered. the hare does not create illusions and does not suffer from attachment to them.

> 2) If the true nature of the universe is emptiness, why is there
> even life at all? Did life came from nothing with as goal to
> achieve nothing?

well, this question is the answer to itself :) i explain. how exactly do you differ from a boulder under your foot? i mean if you can not rely on your senses and your ideas for they can be illusory as explained above? think it through well. believe nothing - it's the basic concept for if you take things on faith, you feed on illusions, which can breed illusions only.

now, does a boulder need purpose? meaning? will the boulder destroy itself if disappointed in life? evidently not. for that matter, concept of meaning and purpose is an illusion bred by attachment to concept of self. that's where all 'meaning of life' buzz is coming from. attachment to self concept is one of the strongest, that is why so many people believe in god and soul.

also 'emptiness' and 'nothing' are not black void space. black void space is an image formed by senses and mind. this concept is a tricky one. if you wish to study it further, you may write me.

> 3) Why does a "fair" theory like reincarnation sounds so
> "unfair" to me? Look at a duck with the idea that the poor
> animal must reincarnate the coming million years full of
> suffering...

i trust i've answered this question above except 'fair' concept. again, what is fair? it always differs from one observer to another: what one considers fair other considers unfair. why is that so? because people cling to illusory things and get attached to them, much like addiction to drugs, and when see things not as in their illusions, they get upset and consider it unfair.

now, why do you have this question? why do you show empathy to the duck? because you do not wish to be that duck. fair enough. now question is, why do you not wish to be the duck if you can not find an evident and 100% accurate way to find difference between the duck and you? :) it again is attachment to 'self' concept.

if you are interested in buddhist philosophy and wish to study it, i'd advise you to take some thoughtful reading. there are old good scripts like diamond sutra, lotus sutra, lankavatara sutra and others from tripitaka canon.

hope my explanation makes any sense to you. words are not very good tool to explain things to a stranger for a stranger can read a different meaning behind words than the speaker intended.

good luck.
mickael

Answer 8

There is a saying in the scriptures that says the probability of becoming a human is similar to a blind tortoise living in the ocean, sticking out his nose every 100 year out of the water and into a floating wooden rod with a hole just big enough for his head to stick into. Your deduction is consistent with this saying. Thus, Buddhism emphasizes a lot to treasure our human life, to learn and practice Buddhism and to achieve enlightenment soonest. You need not worry about this low probability if you follow Buddha's teaching correctly.

However, the concept of soul as a permanent entity moving from one body to another body is denied in Buddhism. Rebirth (reincarnation as your said) is the continuity existence of five aggregates (physical form, feeling, perception, mental constructs and consciousness). The five aggregates are not permanent, and none of them could exist alone without the others. There isn't a sixth aggregate called the 'soul'.

Emptiness does not mean nothingness in Buddhism. Emptiness refer to the void of self-nature. In Indian religion/philosophy, something is said to be real or has self-nature if it is permanent, unconditional, and could exist without others. The law of causation of Buddhism disproves any such existence of real thing which has self-nature. Because everything is void of self-nature, we say everything is emptiness (no self-nature). Thus, emptiness in fact implies existence, because without existence of something, one cannot realize the emptiness of that something.

Rebirth in any destinies (human, animals etc) do not happen by random, or without reason, or by the authority of any supreme beings. It is caused by one's past karmic action. Taking it positively, it means you can create your own positive future (enlightenment, heaven etc). Without understanding this, one would perceive it as 'unfair'.

Answer 9

Buddhism does not have a belief in a soul, so you are mistaken. Therefore, there is noone to suffer, noone to "live", and noone to "achieve" anything. There is, then, of course, noone to be fair or unfair to.