What are some of the religions that
believe in reincarnation?
by Cassie Rodenberg Producer,
TreeHugger
TreeHugger
Reincarnation, when the soul comes back to life, after death, in a newborn body, dates back to the Iron Age, around 1200 B.C. Philosophical roots rise from ancient Greece and India and were adopted early in the Eastern religions of Buddhism and Jainism. Later when Buddhism spread to Asia, Chinese Taoists adopted the belief.
Hinduism
In Hinduism’s ancient writings, called Vedic hymns, it was thought that humans continued to exist after death as a whole person, and the idea of reincarnation wasn’t yet formed. So early Hinduism believed in a limited heavenly existence instead of a return to an earthly entity. However, around 9th century B.C. in Hinduism’s Brahmana writings, the religion explored new ideas: depending on one’s deeds and sacrifices performed in life, after death a person could have a limited period of immortality in a heavenly afterlife. After this period of heavenly immortality (and enjoying the rewards of living a good life), one has a second death in the immortal realm and returns to an earthly form. Later, in the Upanishads, writing explored reincarnation (samsara) as a way to reap benefits for good deeds.Buddhism
Buddhists, while subscribing to the notion of reincarnation, do not believe that a permanent self reincarnates from one life to the next (in Buddhism known as Rebirth, see below). In Buddhist philosophy, a person’s inner “self” is always changing and transforming, and thus, a consciousness isn’t permanent. In Buddhism, reincarnation is looked upon as karma, but not an entity, passing from one life to the next. This is similar to one candle lighting another without having a substance of its own. Also, in this thought, it is exceptionally rare for a person to be reincarnated as a human being once again. The odds of such an occurrence are said to be about one in five million times the age of the universe.Modern Thought
In modern times, Western thought sees reincarnation as the soul’s eternal progression to higher planes of spiritual knowledge and understanding, a more mild version of Eastern doctrine.R E B I R T H
"The Buddhist doctrine of rebirth
should be differentiated
from the teachings of transmigration and
reincarnation of other religions.
Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent,
god-created soul or an unchanging entity that
transmigrates from one life to another."
"...rebirth takes place immediately after death.
The stream of memory may be
interrupted and the sense of identity
transferred to the new situation,
but the entire accumulation of experience and
disposition has been transmitted
to the newborn being, and
the cycle of becoming begins to revolve
for still another term."
"Rebirth or becoming again and again is
a natural occurrence not created
by any particular religion or god.
(Not even by the Buddha)
Belief in rebirth or disbelief does not make
any difference to the process of
rebirth or avoiding rebirth."
"A Buddhist faces death not as
a crisis in life but as a normal event,
for he knows that whoever is born
must suffer, 'decay' and ultimately die.
Or, as someone so aptly puts it,
'Everyone is born with
the certificate of death at his birth.'
If we could all look at death in such
an intelligent and rational way,
we would not cling to life so tenaciously."
Adapted from REBIRTH, What Buddhist Believe
by Ven. Dr K Sri Dhammananda
