Lesson 9

More Lives
Than One
 Doctrine of Rebirth

Doctrine of rebirth is not confined to Buddhism

and Hinduism but is accepted in many other
religions around the world. Almost every
country of the East accepts the doctrines as too
obvious to need proof.
The doctrine was also accepted by the early
Christians until about 500 years after Christ’s
death. Despite pressure from the Church, many
Westerners believe in rebirth.
One Life Versus
Many
The Christain’sLives
belief in life after death takes the
form of eternal condemnation in hell or eternal
happiness in heaven after one’s brief life span on
earth.
If there is any justice in this belief, the theory
should be questioned for the injustice it suggests.

Surely the few years we spend here is an

inadequate preparation for eternity either in hell or
heaven.
This belief in life after death suggests a belief in
rebirth. If it is possible to exist in some form after
a person dies, why can’t there be lives before the
present one?
One wonders why some men can accept the idea
of a life after death and yet discard the idea of
lives before birth.
Ability To Recall Past
Births
There are many
recorded cases and
whose authenticity
have been verified,
which strongly
suggest rebirth.

Some of the ways

these people can
recall their past
births are through
Through Hynopsis
Through hynopsis, a person
can be brought back in time
to a particular point in
childhood or infancy and re-
live hiswere
experiences.
There some
experiments which had
taken a person further back
in time and accidently
landed him into memories
There were cases, where
belonging to previous lives.
some people under hynopsis
could speak a different
language, give accurate
information pertaining to a
different time and place, and
Through Memory
There are a number of
people who write accurately
about matters they have not
studied nor could have
experienced
Dr. AlexanderinCannon,
their present
a
life.
psychiatrist, in his book The
Power Within wrote that for
years, he had been haunted
by the theory of
reincarnation and had tried
very hard to disprove it. But
as more and more people
came to see him, he was
finally convinced…….”in
effect, until now, well over a
Through Meditation
The Lord Buddha is the greatest
authority on rebirth. On the
night of His enlightenment, he
recalled his numerous past lives
and the past lives of other
The Buddha perceived beings
beings.
dying in one state of existence
and reappearing in another.
Beings were born according to
the deeds they performed.
Through meditation, it is
possible for a person to attain
high mental states of
concentration and gain psychic
powers, one of which is the
power to recall past births.
Difference Between Reincarnation
and
The primary difference is theRebirth
belief in a permanent, transmigrating
soul. The belief of reincarnation accepts the existence of such a
soul whereas Buddhism denies such an existence.

The “immortal soul” belief is centred on an indivisible, eternal and

indestructible entity which has taken up its temporary abode in the
body.

This belief is flawed and based on ignorance of the true nature of

being and living beings.
Such a concept arises from the desire for eternal, personal
continued existence.
What is Reborn?
So long as we fail to understand beings as
processes and in a state of flux, we fail to
understand Anatta (no soul).
If there is no self, how can we speak of our future
lives? What then in us causes us to be reborn?

The craving (tanha) and our moral character formed

by our past actions (kamma) are the causes of our
rebirth.
These form the core of our being, and create for
themselves a new body which corresponds to
their nature after the disintegration of the present
body.
The desire to live, based on ignorance, pervades us
all and forms the creative power which causes our
rebirth and existence.
What is Reborn?
The only kind of self-identity which
connects us when we were children
and what we are now is the arising
and passing away of mind and matter
from moment to moment.
The rebirth from one life to another
is just the same. The man in this life
and the one in the next is not
exactly the same, and yet it is not
altogether
Though another.
there is no soul passing on,
yet there is moral responsibility
linking one life to another; just as a
man is not the same as the child he
was, yet he is responsible for
whatever he has done in his
childhood.
 Life-Flux
When the body dies, its Kammic force is
reborn in another body without anything
transmigrating from this life to the other. The
last thought-moment of this life perishes
conditioning another thought-moment in a
subsequent life.
i
mm

ce
Ka

For
c

The new being is neither absolutely the same

– since it has changed nor totally different –
being the same stream of Kamma energy.
There is merely a continuity of life flux; just
that and nothing more.
 Planes of Existence
According to Buddhism, the earth is an
insignificant speck in the universe; is
not the only inhabitable world and
humans are not the only living beings.
The Buddha said “By traversing one
cannot reach the end of the world.”
Indefinite are the world systems and
so are living beings. Nor is the
“impregnated ovum the only route to
Births can take place in thirty-one
rebirth.”
different spheres of existence
according to their moral or immoral
Kamma. The Buddha further said that
these 31 Planes exist not only in our
 Rebirth into Heavens
and26Hells
Of the 31 planes, of these planes are
states of joy or heavens; 4 are suffering
planes and one is the human plane.
Buddhists believe that there are dark
states of suffering and despair. A
person with a lot of bad kamma is
reborn in hell and must remain there
until he has
A person suffered
with a lot offor thekamma
good resultscan
of
his evil deeds.
be reborn as a human being where he
has the opportunity to gain the
knowledge
The leading
good person toalso
can deliverance.
be born into
bright states of joy or heavens where he
enjoys the fruits of his meritorious
 Rebirth into Heavens
and Hells
These states are however not
permanent. One does not stay in
hell or heaven eternally.
Buddhism shows that it is the
individual who passes judgement
on himself in the very act of
performing a deed. It is he who
sends himself to heaven, or
consigns himself to hell.
Not only are there heavens and hells
beyond this world; but heavens and
hells can be found in this very world
itself. They are mental states we
 Planes of
Existence
There are four states
of unhappiness
(Apaya) which are
viewed both as mental
states and as places.
They are:
Niraya
Woeful states where Asura-
beings atone for their yoni
evil Kamma. They are
however not eternal The place of
hells. the Asura
demons.
They are
Peta-yoni unhappy
Departed beings, or those
beings like
absolutely devoid of
happiness. They possess the Petas
deformed physical forms, and lived in
generally invisible to the relentless
eyes. They have no places conflict with
of their own, but in forest, one another.
dirty surroundings.
Tiracchana-yoni
Animal kingdom.
Beings are born
as animals on
account of evil
Kamma.
 Planes of Existence

There are seven

happy states
(Sugati). They are:
 Manussa
Realm of human beings. It is a mixture of
both pain and happiness. Bodhisattas
prefer the human realm as it is the best
field to serve the world and perfect the
Paramitas. Buddhas are always born as
human beings.
 Planes of
Existence
Deva
Realms
Catumma-harajika - Lowest realm of the heavenly realms.

Tavatimsa - Celestial Realm of the 33 Devas where Deva Sakka is

the King.

Yama - Realm of the Yama Devas. These Devas live in the air,
free of all difficulties.

Tusita - Realm of Delight. Happy dwellers.

Nimmanarati - Realm of the Devas who delight in their own creation.

Paranimmitavasavatti - Realm of the Devas who make others’

creation serve their own ends.
Rupaloka consists of 16 realms
according to the jhanas cultivated.
They are:
Plane of the First Jhana - 3 realms

Planes of the Second Jhana - 3 realms

Planes of the Third Jhana - 3 realms

Planes of the Fourth Jhana - 7 realms

Arupaloka consists of 4 realms which

are totally devoid of matter or bodies.
The gift of Dhamma excels all gifts
the taste of Dhamma excels all taste,
the delight in dhamma excels all delights,
The Craving-Freed vanquishes all suffering.
- Dhammapada verse 354

End of Lesson 9