Reincarnation
Reincarnation : is
a doctrine that rests on the belief that after the death of the physical
body, there is some element left of each person that then goes on to
survive bodily death. This element is independent of a person's
physical being, and after death goes on to be reborn into another physical
body.
The idea of reincarnation has been well established in Eastern religion,
although it has appeared all over the globe. Indeed there is some
evidence to suggest that reincarnation could be as old as religion itself
as it has appeared in the beliefs of many primitive cultures as well as in
some of the more highly developed religions.
Currently, reincarnation is experiencing an increase in popularity in the
West, as some Christians find the reincarnation of the soul a more
attractive proposition. Reincarnation is becoming the alternative to
the orthodox Christian view that the soul passes into heaven,
purgatory or hell after physical death. Should the Christian view be
correct then the soul has but once chance to reach the goal of heaven and
determine it's fate. Reincarnation however offers the chance of the soul
to be reborn and work it's way forwards or perhaps backwards. A good
comparison is like moving up or down on the rungs of a ladder. A
well lived previous life would enable the soul to advance upwards
on the ladder, whereas a life badly lived would cause the reverse and the soul
to move downwards. One of the particular attractions of
reincarnation is that it helps to account for many of life's misfortunes
and help to answer the question as to why some people are ultimately much
more fortunate than others.
Reincarnation plays a major role in Hinduism, a religion from the
East. Within the Hindu religion are some sacred writings known as
the Upanishads. The Upanishads state that even if the soul
does enter a hell or heaven after death, this will be a temporary
arrangement only, because the soul will then return to earth. in
association with this idea is the doctrine of Karma.
In its basic form this is an idea that asserts that at the birth of an
individual there are a series of balance sheets full of liabilities and
assets accumulated from the previous life.
The Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, speaking about man's soul, states that:
"According as were his works and walks in (another) life, so he
becomes. He that does righteously becomes righteous. He that
does evil, becomes evil. He becomes holy
through holy works and evil through evil.
The Bhagavad Gita is possibly one of the most widely known of Indian
religious writings and this also affirms the doctrine of reincarnation.
"Worn-out garments
Are shed by the body:
Worn out bodies
Are shed by the dweller
Within the body;
New bodies are donned
By the dweller, like garments
(430)"
One perhaps less desirable effect of the doctrine of reincarnation was to
assert the idea that one could also pass to much lower states than the
human form. Indeed one could be born regressively into an animal form
or into a lower caste. This has helped to reinforce the caste
system.
Both of the Hindu theories of Karma
and reincarnation have passed into Buddhism. Indirectly the name
Buddha itself implies reincarnation because the term Buddha does not refer
to an individual but to a type. The word Buddha itself comes from
Sanskritt and means 'one who is fully enlightened'. Siddartha
Gautama, often known as the historical Buddha lived in Northern India
about 500 B.C. and it is believed that he was only one of a succession of
Buddhas who had prepared for their reincarnation as a Buddha and supremely
enlightened teacher. Before becoming a Buddha it was necessary to
pass through a stage of being a Bodhisattva. It is said that
Siddartha Gautama's preparation for Buddhahood began under the previous
Buddha Dipankara many eons ago. In the distant future another
Buddha, Maitreya, is due to appear.
For Buddhists, rebirth is not so desirable unless you are destined for
Buddhahood including the ultimate aim for a state of such perfect
enlightenment that the whole process of reincarnation is no longer
necessary.
"The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes how after death, the
consciousness: 'having no object on which to rest, will be tossed about by
the wind, riding on the horse of breath. At about that time the
fierce wind of karma,
terrific and hard to bear, will drive you onwards, from behind in dreadful
gusts. And after a while the thought will occur to you: 'Oh what
would I not give to possess a body' After a time the soul will be
enticed with visions of humans and animals copulating and will feel a
compulsion to take the place of one of the parties. 'Do not try to
take the place of one of them!' The Book of the Dead counsels. 'The
feeling which you would experience would make you faint away, just at the
moment when egg and sperm are about to unite. And afterwards you
will have been conceived as a human being or as an animal' (62)."
Although the doctrine of reincarnation is slowly becoming more popular in
the West, traditionally it has experienced quite a hard passage
there. In the period known as the Hermetica which is the time
immediately before and immediately after the birth of Christ;
reincarnation appears in the Graeco-Egyptian esoteric writings and
Plato. In a fragment translated by GRS Mead, in his Thrice
Greatest Hermes, it is stated:
"From one Soul of the universe are all Souls derived...Of these Souls
are there many changes, some into a more fortunate estate, and some quite
contrary. And they which are creeping things are changed into those
of watery things living on the land; and airy ones into men. Human
souls that lay hold of immortality are changed into holy powers. And
so they go into the sphere of the Gods...And this is the most
perfect glory of the soul...
Not all human souls but only the pious ones are divine. Once
separated from the body and after the struggle to acquire piety, which
consists of knowing God and injuring none, such a soul becomes all
intelligence. The impious soul, however, punishes itself by seeking
a human body to enter into, for no other body can receive a human soul; it
cannot enter the body of an animal devoid of reason. Divine law
preserves the human soul from such infamy.' (321)."
Of course the latter is in conflict with the Hindu and Buddhist belief
that it is possible to regress into an animal state. However the
Hermetic writings did hold some influence over the early Church
Fathers. Possibly one of the most influential of the fathers was a
man called Origen, who did teach a form of reincarnation. There is
some debate about whether or not he taught that the soul could pass into
the present world. However he taught that souls that existed in
previous worlds would be reborn into future worlds. It wasn't long
before Origen's teachings were condemned by the church and eventually the
Second Council of Constantinople in A.D. 553 'anathermatized' the theory
of reincarnation.
The theory at this point may have disappeared completely had it not been
for various underground Gnostic sects who continued the theory sometimes
even above ground in open defiance of the Church.
Some of these sects included: the Balkan Bogomils and the Albigenses who
flourished for a while in Southern France both being catharist sects of
the middle ages. Unfortunately for them they were eventually crushed
by the Church in the 13th century, leaving reincarnation a matter of
heresay.
In the West the theory now played little part, although some traces of it
did appear among the writings of various esoteric schools of thought
including: Renaissance Hermetists, Rosicrucians and Cabalists.
Slowly the theory of reincarnation began to emerge again under these
schools. The idea of reincarnation has held appeal for many
philosophers including: Goethe, Heine, Shopenhauer and Thoreau.
Clifford Bax's The Traveller's Tale is an astounding 20th century
literary work about reincarnation, which details the story of a soul that
is reincarnated successively as:
"a Stone Age savage, a Babylonian, a Greek scribe, a Roman soldier, a
medieval bishop, a modern English vicar and lastly a spiritual
teacher."
At each stage the soul learnt a different lesson until finally reaching
enlightenment and it's final release from earthly life. 'When the
teacher is murdered by a jealous cynic his soul has a vision of all his
previous lives and then suddenly feels itself free.'
"The brilliant crystal bursts;
A crash of thunder booms along my brain,
And the vast sea of life laps me no more.
......................................................
The universe without and I within
Burn into one soul diamond-point of light,
Not great nor small but measureless and the sum
of what ever shall be, is or was."
Under normal circumstances it is very difficult to prove whether or not
there is a strong case for the theory of reincarnation. In a normal
life it would probably be very difficult to function normally if past
lives were constantly being remembered. However some interesting
cases of alleged reincarnation have emerged over recent years.
Recently it has been found that through the use of hypnosis and altered
states of consciousness, there is a growing body of evidence, that
suggests that the whole concept of reincarnation merits careful and
thorough investigation.
Source: Information and excerpts for this article: Encyclopedia
of the Unexplained, edited by Richard Cavendish. Consultant: J.B.
Rhine Publisher: Penguin Group 27, Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ England
ISBN: 0 14 019190 9
Useful Links
The
Confederate General and Connecticut Yankee; A Past Life Revealed
The
MBS author Richard Craze book site - Offers a free e-book about
reincarnation.
Recommended Reading
Someone
Else's Yesterday - Jeff Keene's compelling reincarnation case history.
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