Hi,
I wanted to "rebirth" this as its own topic ...
In my view, teachings of an "afterlife", or very mechanical view of "rebirth" or "reincarnation" (not the same thing, by the way), are not essential (to use your word) to Buddhist practice. That does not mean that there is no "afterlife" etc. (I'll drop you a postcard from the next life if there is one :wink: ), only that such a process is not essential.
Let me give an analogy:
Without resort to an afterlife, we can see through suffering in life via the lens of emptiness: ultimately, there is no one to suffer, no victim or victimizer by suffering. Think of this life as something of a stage play in which the actors on stage think it is all real (and it is, in a sense) but do not realize that they are acting, while some of us see it all from the perspective back stage ... where the cardboard scenery, lights and curtains are shown to be what they are. On stage, there is some comedy and much tragedy, and the play is one of greed, anger, jealously, violence and laughter, but it is all a bit of theatre. The actors do not know that they are acting (Stephanie? Hear me? :wink: ).
(I do not want to get into, by the way, whether there is a playwright for this fiction ... or whether it is just some 'off-off-off Broadway', experimental "theatre of the absurd" in which we make it up as we go along, and the script is not written. In either case, it is just a story, and a play).
In emptiness (the "good" kind of emptiness, not the emptiness that is just empty), when the lights come up and the actors come to take their bows, all the "suffering" washes away.
So, no need for life after life during which, hopefully, the actors will get their "act together".
Now, that being said (and skeptic though I am on the subject of "reincarnation"), I will tell you that there is absolutely, positively one form of "rebirth" that I can attest to, have seen, see and taste, and can describe to you logically. You may not be able to taste it now, but you can understand it. Some forms of "Kensho" involve seeing a corner of this (I do not think that the human brain can really taste all its infinite aspects).
To wit:
If you can see through the hard borders and divisions your brain creates between your separate "self" and all the world that you consider "not my self", then you see that all the blades of grass, mountains, other sentient beings, stars and atoms are just "You" ... as much as the hairs on your head, your bones and teeth, the cells of your skin and neurons of your brain are just "you" too ... each and all while also being its own object. Thus, with each sunrise, spring or fall, baby's birth, you are reborn (and I am not speaking figuratively). Even now, when a baby is born while you are still "alive".
As much as "you" are still "you", though the hairs on your head and cells of your very marrow come and go. Why are your fingers you? Your whole left hand? The thoughts you are having right now that you consider "I am thinking"? So it is with all that is the world! (You are an actor in that play, and the playing is just you). And I am not speaking only of material objects ... your very mind is just the world, the world is precisely your mind.
That much I taste of "rebirth", that I know. I hope that, if you keep practicing Rob, you will have a glimpse of that too.
The Buddha was a man of his times, and they were Hindu times. He borrowed that way of seeing the world that was prevalent in his religion and culture. But he also said, time and time again, that the point of his practice was to see through, and be free from, mechanical rebirth. He also said, time and again, that his "ultimate" teachings were much like I have described above.
Gassho, The mountains, trees ...
I wanted to "rebirth" this as its own topic ...
Originally posted by robert
Let me give an analogy:
Without resort to an afterlife, we can see through suffering in life via the lens of emptiness: ultimately, there is no one to suffer, no victim or victimizer by suffering. Think of this life as something of a stage play in which the actors on stage think it is all real (and it is, in a sense) but do not realize that they are acting, while some of us see it all from the perspective back stage ... where the cardboard scenery, lights and curtains are shown to be what they are. On stage, there is some comedy and much tragedy, and the play is one of greed, anger, jealously, violence and laughter, but it is all a bit of theatre. The actors do not know that they are acting (Stephanie? Hear me? :wink: ).
(I do not want to get into, by the way, whether there is a playwright for this fiction ... or whether it is just some 'off-off-off Broadway', experimental "theatre of the absurd" in which we make it up as we go along, and the script is not written. In either case, it is just a story, and a play).
In emptiness (the "good" kind of emptiness, not the emptiness that is just empty), when the lights come up and the actors come to take their bows, all the "suffering" washes away.
So, no need for life after life during which, hopefully, the actors will get their "act together".
Now, that being said (and skeptic though I am on the subject of "reincarnation"), I will tell you that there is absolutely, positively one form of "rebirth" that I can attest to, have seen, see and taste, and can describe to you logically. You may not be able to taste it now, but you can understand it. Some forms of "Kensho" involve seeing a corner of this (I do not think that the human brain can really taste all its infinite aspects).
To wit:
If you can see through the hard borders and divisions your brain creates between your separate "self" and all the world that you consider "not my self", then you see that all the blades of grass, mountains, other sentient beings, stars and atoms are just "You" ... as much as the hairs on your head, your bones and teeth, the cells of your skin and neurons of your brain are just "you" too ... each and all while also being its own object. Thus, with each sunrise, spring or fall, baby's birth, you are reborn (and I am not speaking figuratively). Even now, when a baby is born while you are still "alive".
As much as "you" are still "you", though the hairs on your head and cells of your very marrow come and go. Why are your fingers you? Your whole left hand? The thoughts you are having right now that you consider "I am thinking"? So it is with all that is the world! (You are an actor in that play, and the playing is just you). And I am not speaking only of material objects ... your very mind is just the world, the world is precisely your mind.
That much I taste of "rebirth", that I know. I hope that, if you keep practicing Rob, you will have a glimpse of that too.
The Buddha was a man of his times, and they were Hindu times. He borrowed that way of seeing the world that was prevalent in his religion and culture. But he also said, time and time again, that the point of his practice was to see through, and be free from, mechanical rebirth. He also said, time and again, that his "ultimate" teachings were much like I have described above.
Gassho, The mountains, trees ...
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