Rebirth
By Bhikkhu Bodhi
INTRODUCTON
The question of human destiny after death is probably one of the most critical questions we can raise. Nowadays it has become fashionable to dismiss this question as unimportant. But if we reflect on the extent to which our views influence our action we will see that it is quite essential to gain some understanding of the complete context in which our lives unfold. Moreover our views on the afterlife will determine what we regard as important in this present life.
Three positions of human destiny after death:
There are three possible positions that can be taken on human destiny after death. One position, the outlook of materialism. It simply denies that there is an afterlife. It holds that the human being consists of organic matter. It regards mind as a byproduct of organic matter, and after death, with the break up of the physical body, all consciousness comes to an end and the life process is completely extinguished.
The second alternative is the view held in Western theistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam in their orthodox forms. They believe in an eternal afterlife. According to these religions, we live a single life on earth and after death we live eternally in some state of existence determined by our present beliefs and conduct.
Then there is a third view, a view which prevails in the religions of the East, Hinduism and Buddhism. This is the idea of rebirth. According to this, the present life is only a simple link in a chain of lives that extends back into the past and forward into the future. This chain of lives is called samsara.
BUDDHISM AND HINDUISM COMPARED
The word "Samsara" means literally "continuing on", "wandering on". It signifies the repetitive cycle of birth, ageing, death and rebirth.
Now though Buddhism and Hinduism share the concept of rebirth, the Buddhist concept differs in details from the Hindu doctrine. The doctrine of rebirth as understood in Hinduism involves a permanent soul, a conscious entity which transmigrates from one body to another. The soul inhabits a given body and at death, the soul casts that body off and goes on to assume another body. The famous Hindu classic, the Bhagavad Gita, compares this to a man who might take off one suit of clothing and put on another. The man remains the same but the suits of clothing are different. In the same way the soul remains the same but the psycho-physical organism it takes up differs from life to life.
The Buddhist term for rebirth in Pali is "punabbhava" which means "again existence". Buddhism sees rebirth not as the transmigration of a conscious entity but as the repeated occurrence of the process of existence. There is a continuity, a transmission of influence, a causal connection between one life and another. But there is no soul, no permanent entity which transmigrates from one life to another.
REBIRTH WITHOUT A TRANSMIGRATING SOUL
The concept of rebirth without a transmigrating soul commonly raises the question: How can we speak of ourselves as having lived past lives if there is no soul, no single life going through these many lives? To answer this we have to understand the nature of individual identity in a single lifetime. The Buddha explains that what we really are is a functionally unified combination of five aggregates. The five aggregates fall into two groups. First there is a material process, which is a current of material energy. Then there is a mental process, a current of mental happenings. Both these currents consist of factors that are subject to momentary arising and passing away. The mind is a series of mental acts made up of feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. These mental acts are called in Pali "Cittas". Each Citta arises, breaks up and passes away. When it breaks up it does not leave any traces behind. It does not have any core or inner essence that remains. But as soon as the Citta breaks up, immediately afterwards there arises another Citta. Thus we find the mind as a succession of Cittas, or series of momentary acts of consciousness.
Now when each Citta falls away it transmits to its successor whatever impression has been recorded on itself, whatever experience it has undergone. Its perceptions, emotions and volitional force are passed on to the next Citta, and thus all experiences we undergo leave their imprint on the onward flow of consciousness, on the "cittasantana", the continuum of mind. This transmission of influence, this causal continuity, gives us our continued identity. We remain the same person through the whole lifetime because of this continuity.
 
WHAT CONTINUES FROM ONE LIFE TO ANOTHER
The physical organism - the body - and the mental process - the stream of Cittas - occur in close interconnection. The body provides the physical basis for the stream of Cittas and the mental process rests upon the body as its instrument or basis. When death comes, the body can no longer function as the physical support for consciousness. However, when the body breaks up at death, the succession of Cittas does not draw to an end. In the mind of the dying person there takes place a final thought - moment called the "death consciousness", which signals the complete end of the life. Then, following the death consciousness, there arises the first Citta of the next life, which springs up with the newly formed physical organism as its basis. The first Citta of the new life continues the stream of consciousness, which has passed out of the deceased body. The stream of consciousness is not a single entity, but a process, and the process continues. When the stream of Cittas passes on to the next life it carries the storage of impressions along with it.
PRESERVATION OF IDENTITY ILLUSTRATED
An illustration may help us understand how this preservation of, identity can take place without the transmigration of any "self-identifiable" entity. Suppose we have a candle burning at 8 o'clock. If we come back in an hour, at 9 o'clock, we see that the candle is still burning, and we say that it is the same candle. This statement is completely valid from the standpoint of conventional linguistic usage. But if we examine this matter close-up we'll see that at every moment the candle is burning different particles of wax, every moment it is burning a different section of wick, different molecules of oxygen. Thus the wax, wick and the oxygen being burnt are always different from moment to moment, and yet because the moments of flame link together in a continuum, one moment of flame giving rise to the next, we still say it is the same flame. But actually the flame is different from moment to moment. The flame itself is an entirely different phenomenon. It is conditioned by wax, the wick and air, and apart from them there is nothing.
SIMILE OF THE CANDLE
We can apply this simile to the case of rebirth. The body of the candle is like the physical body of the person. The wick might be compared to the sense faculties that function as the support for the process of consciousness. The particles of oxygen are like the sense objects and the flame is like consciousness. Consciousness always arises with the physical body as its support. It always arises through a particular sense faculty, eg. eye, ear, nose, etc. It always has an object, e.g. sight, sound, etc. The body, sense faculty and the object keep constantly changing and therefore consciousness and the mental factors are constantly changing. But because each act of mind follows in sequence and passes on the contents to the following, we speak of the body and mind compound as being the same person. When the body loses its vitality and death takes place, that is like the first candle coming to an end. The transmission of the flame to the next candle, that is like the passing on of the current of consciousness to the next life. When the mental continuum takes up the new body, that is like the flame of the old candle passing on to the new candle.
CONCEPTION
The Buddha says there are three necessary conditions for conception. There has to be a union of the father and mother, the father to provide the sperm, the mother to provide the egg. Second, it must be the mother's proper season. If the mother isn't fertile, conception won't take place. Third, there must be a stream of consciousness of the deceased person, the flow of mind that is ready and prepared to take rebirth. This third factor he calls the "gandhabba". Unless all these conditions are met conception does not take place.
Does rebirth go on automatically and inevitably?

Is there any causal structure behind this process of rebirth? Does it go on automatically and inevitably? Or is there a set of causes that sustains it and keeps it rolling?
The Buddha explains that there is a distinct set of causes underlying the rebirth process. It has a causal structure and this structure is set out in the teaching of Dependent Arising, "paticcasamupada".
 
TEACHING OF DEPENDENT ARISING WITH REFERENCE TO REBIRTH
Now we will explain the teaching of Dependent Arising with specific reference to the rebirth process.
First, in this life there is present in us the most basic root of all becoming, namely ignorance. Due to ignorance we perceive things in a distorted way. Due to these distortions or perversions things appear to us to be permanent, pleasurable, attractive and as our self. Due to these distortions there arises in us craving, craving for sense pleasures, for existence, for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch sensations and ideas. Basically there is craving for pleasant feeling. In order to experience pleasant feeling we require agreeable objects such as agreeable sights, smells etc. In order to obtain the pleasure these objects can give, we have to make contact with these objects. To contact these objects we need sense faculties that can receive the sense objects. In other words, we need the six sense faculties, eg. the eye to receive sight, the ear to receive sound, etc. In order for the sense faculties to function we need the entire psycho-physical organism, the mind-body complex.
Thus on account of craving the mind holds on to this presently existing organism so long as it lives. But when death occurs the present organism can no longer provide the basis for obtaining pleasure through the sense faculties. However, there is still the craving for the world of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and ideas. So due to this craving for existence, consciousness lets go of this body and grasps hold of a new body, a fertilized egg. It lodges itself in that fertilized egg, bringing a whole storage of accumulated impressions over with it into the new psycho-physical organism. Thus we say the new being is conceived.
CRAVING THE SEAMSTRESS
Hence the Buddha calls craving the "seamstress". Just as a seamstress sews together different pieces of cloth, so does craving sew together one life to another. It ties together the succession of lives. Craving is so powerful that it can bridge the gap created by death and rebuild the whole house of sentient existence again and again.
Thro' many a birth in Samsara wandered I,
Seeking but not finding, the builder of this house. Sorrowful is repeated birth.
O House-builder! you are seen. You shall build no house again.
All your rafters are broken, your ridge-pole is shattered.
To dissolution (Nibbana) goes my mind.
The End of Craving have I attained.
Dhammapada (154)
WHAT IS IT THAT CAUSES REBIRTH IN A PARTICULAR FORM?
Now we come to the next question. We see a tremendous variety among the living beings existing in the world. People and animals are of many different sorts. So we ask what is it that causes rebirth in a particular form? Does it happen through accident, by chance, without any reason, or is there some principle behind it? The answer the Buddha gives to this question is the Pali word "Kamma". Kamma is the factor which determines the specific form of rebirth and it is Kamma again which determines a good number of the experiences we undergo in the course of our life. The word Kamma means literally action, deed or doing. But in Buddhism it means volitional action.

The Buddha, the man par excellence

By Ven. T Seelananda Thera
The Buddha was neither a creator nor a messenger but a human being, an extraordinary human being . His teaching is also neither a religion nor a philosophy but a way of life which can be applied in our daily life.
He was born and grew up as a prince and attained supreme Enlightenment realizing the real nature of man and the world through his intuitive wisdom. It was in the lunar month of Vesak (May) that he attained Enlightenment while he was meditating under a foot of a tree. The wisdom that he gained is not an inspiration but a realization within his body which is a component of five aggregates, the other four being feelings, perceptions, volitional formations and consciousness. It is certainly an innermost realization.

After the realization of the doctrine (Dhamma), when he was 35 years of age (588BC), the Buddha delivered his first sermon to his first five disciples in the month of July. In this first discourse, in the very beginning ,he uncovered two extremes which lead us to delusion, defeat, depression and destruction. The two extremes, as he said, are:
1. sensual indulgence which is low, uncultured , practiced by
worldlings, ignoble and leads to destruction.
2. self mortification which is painful, ignoble and leads
to destruction.
2. 

The Buddha admonishing the five disciples who were once practicing severe austerities with him before his enlightenment, said “ O Bhikkhus, avoid these two extremes and follow the middle Path, - The Noble Eightfold Path - ,namely Right understanding, Right thoughts, Right speech, Right actions, Right livelihood, Right efforts, Right mindfulness and Right concentration”. When we think of this Middle Path it is, certainly relevant to this day as well. If we can follow the middle path in all our activities, we can always achieve good results. Whatever we do we must be mindful enough to find the middle way (moderation). For instance if we eat too much we cannot work or study. In the same manner, if we do not eat we cannot work or study. Therefore we must eat moderately. Likewise , we must apply this teaching to everything in our daily life whether we are walking ,standing sitting or reclining.

According to his teaching there is no Creator and no permanent entity within us. The whole world-system is a constant flux. “Every conditioned thing is ever changing “ he said. Further “ Whatever is in the nature of changing it is in the nature of dissatisfaction (dukkha-suffering) and whatever is in the nature of dissatisfaction it is in the nature of selfless or soulless “.
The Buddha realized dissatisfaction as the truth in the world . Whatever we cling to, ends in dissatisfaction. That is the nature of the world. And then the Buddha realized the four facets of this truth of dissatisfaction. As he stated the four facets of dissatisfaction are,
1. The awareness of dissatisfaction
2. The causes of dissatisfaction
3. The cessation of dissatisfaction and
4. The path leading to the cessation of dissatisfaction.

Dissatisfaction should be comprehended, the causes of dissatisfaction should be abandoned, the cessation of dissatisfaction should be realized and the path leading to the dissatisfaction should be developed by the wise. The Buddha fully comprehended dissatisfaction, abandoned the causes of it, realized the cessation and developed the path leading to the cessation of same. That is why he is known as “The Buddha” (The Wise One). The Noble truth realized by the Buddha through which, in him, sight arose, cognition arose, wisdom arose, knowledge arose and light arose, is something unheard before. In his first sermon itself the Buddha explained “ As long as , O monks, thus with regard to these four Noble truths, the three circled, twelve-fold, real clear sight was not completely pure; I did not declare in the world that I had realized the unsurpassed complete enlightenment. But it was only when I realized the unsurpassed complete enlightenment. Cognitive sight arose to me. The release of my mind is not disturbed. This is my last birth. There is no future birth thence" .

In the same manner the Buddha taught us that we cannot live in the world isolated as we all are interdependent and inter connected. Not only human beings but also all other beings as well as all other inanimate things in the world. The whole system of the world is Interdependent. The Buddha’s teaching on Interdependent is very deep and propound, Once the Ven. Ananda approached the Buddha and bowed down and then he sat beside him. As he was sitting there he said to the Buddha : “It’s amazing, lord, it’s astounding, how deep this Dependent Origination is, and how deep its appearance, and yet to me Venerable Sir, it seems as clear as clear can be”. Then the Buddha said “ Do not say that, Ananda, do not say that, deep is this dependent origination, and deep is its appearance. It is because of not understanding and not penetrating this Dhamma that this generation is like a tangled skein, a knotted ball of string, like matted rushes and reeds, and does not go beyond this circle of birth and death, and beyond the planes of deprivation , woeful destination”.
Later on one, day addressing the monks the Buddha said “ O monks, before my enlightenment , while I was a Bodhisatva, not yet fully enlightened, it occurred to me: “Alas, this world has fallen into trouble, in that it is born, ages, and dies, it passes away and is reborn yet it does not understand the escape from this suffering headed by aging and death. When now, will an escape be discerned from this suffering headed by aging and death?. Then monks, it occurred to me. When what exist does aging and death come to be?. By what is aging and death conditioned ?. Then monks, through careful attention ,there took place in me a breakthrough by wisdom. When there is birth, aging and death comes to be. Aging and death has birth as its condition”.
Thus he reasoned out and understood that it is because of birth that death comes to be, it is because of existence birth comes to be, it is because of clinging existence comes to be, it is because of craving clinging comes to be, it is because of feelings craving come to be, it is because of contact feelings come to be, it is because of six senses contact comes to be, it is because of mind and matter six senses come to be, it is because of consciousness mind and matter come to be, it is because of volitional formations consciousness comes to be, and it is because of ignorance, volitional formations come to be. Thus he penetratively understood the origin of the whole mass of dissatisfaction. the cessation of the factors of ignorance is the path leading to the cessation of this mass of dissatisfaction. Let us be wise and mindful to understand this teaching of the Ancient Wisdom discovered and declared by Gotama the Buddha and strive to apply them in our daily life in this fast moving society where competing and defeating each other has become the way of life. Let us be happy and satisfied.
Ancient Wisdom to the New World system

The Buddha attained Enlightenment at the age of 35 and since then for 45 years taught the truth (Dhamma) he realized through his penetrative wisdom . It was not a revelation but a pure realization of truth.
Most of the people who listened to his teaching said at the end of his sermon “It is extremely wonderful, O sir, it is extremely wonderful, O sir. Just as an overturned vessel is turned upright or what is closed is opened up or just as one would show the road to one who has lost his way or just as one would hold a lamp in the dark wishing ‘ may those who have eyes see forms, in similar manner the Dhamma has been declared by the Blessed One in many ways. And that I take refuge in the Blessed One, the Dhamma and the community of Disciples(Sangha). May the Blessed One consider me as a lay disciple who has, from today till life lasts, taken refuge”.

His teaching is excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle and excellent in the end. The Buddha teaches the lessons which lead to dispassion, not to passion, to detachment, not to bondage, to diminution, not to accumulation, to having few expectations, not having many expectations, to concentrate, not to be discontent, to seclusion, not to gregariousness, to the arousing of energy, not to indolence, to frugality, not to luxurious living or of such things one may assume are certain. Thus it is clear that the ultimate goal of his teaching is not to be reborn in a mortal heaven but to realize Nibbana (inner peace )in this very life.

Once he himself, referring to his teaching, said that his teaching is to be thoroughly learnt and put into practise by the wise. He declared “ O monks, the Dhamma I have discovered and proclaimed should be thoroughly learnt by you, practised, developed and cultivated, so that this holy life may endure for a long time that it may be for the benefit and happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the happiness of gods and men. And what contains in this Dhamma? It is the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four roads to powers, the seven factors of enlightenment and the Noble eightfold Path ”. These are the teachings of the Buddha. Now we have been given a very good opportunity to study and practise this Dhamma so that we also can realize the supreme bliss of Nibbana.
 

When we practise these teachings, we can see that all of them are interdependent and once they are correctly developed and cultivated, stand as a stable triangle. Thus the whole teaching of the Buddha could be seen in a triangular shape. In other words his teaching could be mainly categorized into three, namely:

1.The four Noble Truths
2. The Dependent Origination
3. The three Characteristics of existence

The watch-word in Buddhism is “mindfulness” . The Buddha’s constant admonition to his fourfold followers is to develop and cultivate mindfulness. For this purpose the Buddha specially recommended mindfulness of breathing as the meditation. When mindfulness of breathing is practised and developed it fulfills the four foundations of mindfulness which is taught by the Buddha as the only way for the purification of beings.

In one of the most significant discourses of the Buddha on mental development (meditation), the Buddha very clearly and categorically stated: “ Mindfulness of breathing , O monks, should be developed and cultivated. When mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated it fulfills the four foundations of mindfulness. When four foundations of mindfulness are developed and cultivated they fulfill the seven factors of enlightenment. When seven factors of enlightenment are developed and fully cultivated they fulfill knowledge and deliverance”.

The Buddhas are born to this world to show the correct and direct path to deliverance. But we must not forget that they are only the Teachers, striving should be done by ourselves.

The Buddha Sakyamuni Gotama, the historical Buddha, practised insight meditation and realized this Dhamma through his intuitive wisdom. Extending his boundless compassion and loving- kindness he invites us to “come and see” his Dhamma in order to practise and realize it for ourselves .

He never wanted us to follow his teaching blindly. Repeatedly he said “Be an island to yourself, be your own refuge, there is no other refuge” . The island he referred to is the Dhamma. In the mean time, whenever the Buddha taught the dhamma he never concealed his teaching. Once addressing his chief attendant disciple, the Venerable Ananda, the Buddha said, “ Ananda , Tathagata has no teacher’s fistful”.

When we practise and follow the teaching of the Buddha in our daily life or in other words, in order to be a practicing Buddhist, we have to do three things.

1. Practise generosity
2. Practise morality
3. Practise meditation

Firstly when we think of generosity, it is not solely by or for the Buddhists. In many religions it is encouraged and praised. When one practises giving one can easily reduce greed and attachment to things. This is one of the essentials to be developed for the eradication of defilements and attaining enlightenment. Therefore giving to those have- nots and giving alms to the virtuous or sharing with the fellow beings is highly recommended in the teaching of the Buddha.

Secondly, practicing morality. This is also very significant in the process of practicing Buddhism. Once the Buddha himself said “ Even if one should live a hundred years immoral and uncontrolled, yet better deed, is a single day’s life of one who is moral”.

Basically Buddhists should refrain from killing and positively should extend loving kindness to all beings. This is a dynamic force and an energetic power which helps us in many ways, mainly in our daily lives to live happily and peacefully. In the same manner, Buddhists should refrain from taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, telling lies and taking intoxicants. These are the basic five precepts to be observed by civilized beings .

The third aspect is meditation. This is the point where Buddhism differs from other religions. In almost all religions of the present day they teach some type of meditation. Mostly they practise concentration meditation. In Buddhism too there are some methods of practicing concentration meditation. For this purpose, in Buddhism there are 40 types of objects to be concentrated upon.
But what is unique in Buddhist meditation is insight meditation which is known as Vipassana Meditation. When we practise Vipassana Meditation we can realize three characteristics of existence, the Dependent Origination and the Four Noble Truths. It is by this realization that one reaches the apex of the teaching of the Buddha.
 As mentioned earlier, the watch-word in Buddhism is mindfulness. When one becomes mindful, one becomes wise as well. With this mindfulness together with wisdom leads us to a happy life here, now. Let us be wise and understand this teaching of the Buddha which is an Ancient Wisdom discovered and declared by the Buddha 2591 years ago for the benefit and happiness of many gods and men.

May you be well happy and peaceful!