Editing Reincarnation (section)

==Conceptual definitions==
The word ''reincarnation'' derives from a [[Latin]] term that literally means 'entering the flesh again'. Reincarnation refers to the belief that an aspect of every human being (or all living beings in some cultures) continues to exist after death. This aspect may be the soul, mind, consciousness, or something transcendent which is reborn in an interconnected cycle of existence; the transmigration belief varies by culture, and is envisioned to be in the form of a newly born human being, animal, plant, spirit, or as a being in some other non-human realm of existence.<ref>{{cite web|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/reincarnation|access-date=25 June 2016|publisher=Concise.britannica.com}}</ref>{{Sfn|Keown|2013|pp=35–40}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher Key Chapple|title=Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=2006|isbn=978-81-208-2045-6|page=39|author-link=Christopher Chapple}}</ref>

An alternative term is ''transmigration'', implying migration from one life (body) to another.<ref>{{cite web|author=Oxford Dictionaries|year=2016|title=Transmigration|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/transmigrate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105185254/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/transmigrate|archive-date=January 5, 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> The term has been used by modern philosophers such as [[Kurt Gödel]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Karl Sigmund|title=Gödel Exhibition: Gödel's Century|url=http://www.goedelexhibition.at/goedel/goedel.html|access-date=6 December 2011|publisher=Goedelexhibition.at|archive-date=21 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021185849/http://www.goedelexhibition.at/goedel/goedel.html}}</ref> and has entered the English language.

The Greek equivalent to reincarnation, ''[[metempsychosis]]'' ({{Langx|el|μετεμψύχωσις|label=none}}), derives from ''meta'' ('change') and {{Transl|el|empsykhoun}} ('to put a soul into'),<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=metempsychosis metempsychosis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818075859/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=metempsychosis |date=2016-08-18 }}, Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper (2015)</ref> a term attributed to [[Pythagoras]].<ref>[[Carl A. Huffman]] (2014), [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagoras/ Pythagoras, 4.1 The Fate of the Soul–Metempsychosis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007201148/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagoras |date=2008-10-07 }} Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University</ref> Another Greek term sometimes used synonymously is ''[[palingenesis]]'', 'being born again'.<ref>{{cite web|title=Heart of Hinduism: Reincarnation and Samsara|url=http://hinduism.iskcon.com/concepts/102.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110419232238/http://hinduism.iskcon.com/concepts/102.htm|archive-date=19 April 2011|access-date=6 December 2011|publisher=Hinduism.iskcon.com}}</ref>

Rebirth is a key concept found in major Indian religions, and discussed using various terms. Reincarnation, or ''[[Punarjanman]]'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनर्जन्मन्}}, 'rebirth, transmigration'),<ref name="Monier-Williams582">{{cite book|author=Monier Monier-Williams|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1872|page=582}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC&pg=PA106|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=1986|isbn=978-0-87395-990-2|pages=88–89}}</ref> is discussed in the ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, with many alternate terms such as ''punarāvṛtti'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनरावृत्ति|label=none}}), ''punarājāti'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनराजाति|label=none}}), ''punarjīvātu'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनर्जीवातु|label=none}}), ''punarbhava'' ({{Langx|sa|पुनर्भव|label=none}}), ''āgati-gati'' ({{Langx|sa|आगति-गति|label=none}}, common in [[Buddhist Páli literature|Buddhist Pali]] text), ''nibbattin'' ({{Langx|sa|निब्बत्तिन्|label=none}}), ''upapatti'' ({{Langx|sa|उपपत्ति|label=none}}), and ''uppajjana'' ({{Langx|sa|उप्पज्जन|label=none}}).<ref name="Monier-Williams582" /><ref>{{cite book|author1=Thomas William Rhys Davids|title=Pali-English Dictionary|author2=William Stede|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1921|isbn=978-81-208-1144-7|pages=95, 144, 151, 361, 475}}</ref> These religions believe that reincarnation is cyclic and an endless [[Saṃsāra]], unless one gains spiritual insights that ends this cycle leading to liberation.{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}}{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|pp=90–99}} The reincarnation concept is considered in Indian religions as a step that starts each "cycle of aimless drifting, wandering or mundane existence",{{Sfn|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}} but one that is an opportunity to seek spiritual liberation through ethical living and a variety of meditative, yogic (''marga''), or other spiritual practices.<ref>{{harv|John Bowker|2014|pp=84–85}} Gavin Flood (2010), ''Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism'' (Editor: Knut Jacobsen), Volume II, Brill, {{ISBN|978-90-04-17893-9}}, pp. 881–884</ref> They consider the release from the cycle of reincarnations as the ultimate spiritual goal, and call the liberation by terms such as [[moksha]], [[nirvana]], ''mukti'' and ''kaivalya''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Klostermaier |first1=Klaus |title=Mokṣa and Critical Theory |journal=Philosophy East and West |date=1985 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=61–71 |id={{ProQuest|1301471616}} |doi=10.2307/1398681 |jstor=1398681 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Norman E. |title=Liberation for Life: A Hindu Liberation Philosophy |journal=Missiology: An International Review |date=April 1988 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=149–162 |doi=10.1177/009182968801600202 |s2cid=170870237 }}</ref><ref>Gerhard Oberhammer (1994), La Délivrance dès cette vie: Jivanmukti, Collège de France, Publications de l'Institut de Civilisation Indienne. Série in-8°, Fasc. 61, Édition-Diffusion de Boccard (Paris), {{ISBN|978-2-86803-061-0}}, pp. 1–9</ref>

''[[Gilgul]]'', ''Gilgul neshamot'', or ''Gilgulei Ha Neshamot'' ({{Langx|he|גלגול הנשמות}}) is the concept of reincarnation in [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] [[Judaism]], found in much [[Yiddish literature]] among [[Ashkenazi Jews]]. ''Gilgul'' means 'cycle' and ''neshamot'' is 'souls'. Kabbalistic reincarnation says that humans reincarnate only to humans unless [[YHWH]]/[[Ein Sof]]/[[God]] chooses.