Editing Reincarnation (section)

==History==

===Origins===

The origins of the notion of reincarnation are obscure.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Theosophical Society in America|title=Reincarnation: The Hope of the World|page=15|author=Irving Steiger Cooper|year=1920}}</ref> Discussion of the subject appears in the philosophical traditions of [[Ancient India]]. The Greek [[Pre-Socratics]] discussed reincarnation, and the Celtic [[druids]] are also reported to have taught a doctrine of reincarnation.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]] thought the druids might have been influenced by the teachings of [[Pythagoras]]. Diodorus Siculus v.28.6; Hippolytus ''Philosophumena'' i.25.</ref>

===Early Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism===

The concepts of the cycle of birth and death, ''[[Saṃsāra|saṁsāra]]'', and [[moksha|liberation]] partly derive from [[Śramaṇa|ascetic traditions]] that arose in India around the middle of the first millennium BCE.<ref>Flood, Gavin. Olivelle, Patrick. 2003. ''The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism.'' Malden: Blackwell. pp. 273–274. "The second half of the first millennium BCE was the period that created many of the ideological and institutional elements that characterize later Indian religions. The renouncer tradition played a central role during this formative period of Indian religious history....Some of the fundamental values and beliefs that we generally associate with Indian religions in general and Hinduism in particular were in part the creation of the renouncer tradition. These include the two pillars of Indian theologies: samsara—the belief that life in this world is one of suffering and subject to repeated deaths and births (rebirth); moksa/nirvana—the goal of human existence....."</ref> The first textual references to the idea of reincarnation appear in the [[Rig Veda|Rigveda]], [[Yajur Veda|Yajurveda]] and [[Upanishads]] of the late [[Vedic period]] (c. 1100 – c. 500 BCE), predating the [[Buddha]] and [[Mahavira]].<ref name=damienkeown32>{{cite book|first=Damien |last=Keown |title=Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction |year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-966383-5 |pages=28, 32–38 }}</ref>{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|p=}} Though no direct evidence of this has been found, the tribes of the [[Ganges]] valley or the [[Dravidian peoples|Dravidian]] traditions of [[South India]] have been proposed as another early source of reincarnation beliefs.<ref>Gavin D. Flood, ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press (1996), UK {{ISBN|0-521-43878-0}} p. 86 – "A third alternative is that the origin of transmigration theory lies outside of vedic or sramanian traditions in the tribal religions of the Ganges valley, or even in Dravidian traditions of south India."</ref>

The idea of reincarnation, ''saṁsāra'', did exist in the early [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic religions]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/rig-veda-english-translation/d/doc839140.html|title=Rig Veda 10.58.1 [English translation]|date=27 August 2021|website=www.wisdomlib.org|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref><ref>A.M. Boyer: "Etude sur l'origine de la doctrine du samsara." ''Journal Asiatique'', (1901), Volume 9, Issue 18, S. 451–453, 459–468</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Krishan |first1=Y. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Bi6FWX1NOgC |title=The Doctrine of Karma: Its Origin and Development in Brāhmaṇical, Buddhist, and Jaina Traditions |last2=Krishan |first2=Yuvraj |date=1997 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |isbn=978-81-208-1233-8 |pages=3–37 |language=en}}</ref> The early Vedas mention the doctrine of [[karma]] and rebirth.{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|pp=90–99}}<ref>{{cite book|title=A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy|author=R.D.Ranade|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |pages=147–148 |year = 1926 |url= https://archive.org/stream/A.Constructive.Survey.of.Upanishadic.Philosophy.by.R.D.Ranade.1926.djvu/A.Constructive.Survey.of.Upanishadic.Philosophy.by.R.D.Ranade.1926#page/n181/mode/2up |quote= There we definitely know that the whole hymn is address to a departed spirit, and the poet [of the Rigvedic hymn] says that he is going to recall the departed soul in order that it may return again and live."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Atsushi Hayakawa |title=Circulation of Fire in the Veda |year=2014| publisher=LIT Verlag Münster| isbn=978-3-643-90472-0| pages=66–67, 101–103 with footnotes}}</ref> It is in the early Upanishads, which are pre-[[Buddha]] and pre-[[Mahavira]], where these ideas are developed and described in a general way.{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|p=90}}<ref name="amboyer">A.M. Boyer (1901), "Etude sur l'origine de la doctrine du samsara", ''Journal Asiatique'', Volume 9, Issue 18, pp. 451–453, 459–468</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The way to Nirvana: six lectures on ancient Buddhism as a discipline of salvation|author=Vallee Pussin|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1917|pages=24–25}}</ref> Detailed descriptions first appear around the mid-1st millennium BCE in diverse traditions, including Buddhism, Jainism and various schools of [[Hindu philosophy]], each of which gave unique expression to the general principle.{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|pp=90–99}}

[[Sangam literature]]<ref name="Kailas">{{cite book|author=K Kailasapathy|title=Tamil Heroic Poetry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kF9kAAAAMAAJ |year=1968|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-815434-1|page=1}}</ref> connotes the ancient [[Tamil literature]] and is the earliest known literature of [[South India]]. The Tamil tradition and legends link it to three literary gatherings around [[Madurai]]. According to [[Kamil Zvelebil]], a Tamil literature and history scholar, the most acceptable range for the Sangam literature is 100 BCE to 250 CE, based on the linguistic, prosodic and quasi-historic allusions within the texts and the [[colophon (publishing)|colophon]]s.{{sfn|Kamil Zvelebil|1974|pp=9–10 with footnotes}} There are several mentions of rebirth and moksha in the [[Purananuru]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/purananuru-part-134|title=Poem: Purananuru - Part 134 by George L. III Hart|website=www.poetrynook.com|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref> The text explains Hindu rituals surrounding death such as making riceballs called [[Pinda (riceball)|pinda]] and cremation. The text states that good souls get a place in [[Svarga|Indraloka]] where [[Indra]] welcomes them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/purananuru-part-241|title=Poem: Purananuru - Part 241 by George L. III Hart|website=www.poetrynook.com|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref>

The texts of ancient [[Jainism]] that have survived into the modern era are post-Mahavira, likely from the last centuries of the first millennium BCE, and extensively discuss the doctrines of rebirth and karma.<ref>{{cite book |first=Padmanabh |last=Jaini |editor=Wendy Doniger |title=Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4WZTj3M71y0C |year=1980|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-03923-0 |pages=217–236}}</ref><ref name=dundasp14>{{cite book|author= Paul Dundas|title=The Jains |year=2003|publisher= [[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0-415-26605-5 |pages= 14–16, 102–105 }}</ref> Jaina philosophy assumes that the soul (''[[jiva]]'' in Jainism; ''[[Ātman (Hinduism)|atman]]'' in Hinduism) exists and is eternal, passing through cycles of transmigration and rebirth.{{Sfn|Jaini|1980|pp=226–228}} After death, reincarnation into a new body is asserted to be instantaneous in early Jaina texts.<ref name=dundasp14/> Depending upon the accumulated karma, rebirth occurs into a higher or lower bodily form, either in heaven or hell or earthly realm.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley |title=The A to Z of Jainism |year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow  |isbn=978-0-8108-6337-8 |page=186}}</ref>{{Sfn|Jaini|1980|pp=227-228}} No bodily form is permanent: everyone dies and reincarnates further. Liberation (''kevalya'') from reincarnation is possible, however, through removing and ending karmic accumulations to one's soul.<ref>{{cite book|author= Paul Dundas|title=The Jains  |year=2003|publisher= Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-26605-5 |pages= 104–105 }}</ref> From the early stages of Jainism on, a human being was considered the highest mortal being, with the potential to achieve liberation, particularly through [[asceticism]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffery D Long|title=Jainism: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ajAEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT36|year=2013|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-0-85773-656-7|pages=36–37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= Paul Dundas|title=The Jains |year=2003|publisher= Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-26605-5 |pages= 55–59 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John E. Cort|title=Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India| year=2001|publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803037-9|pages=118–119}}</ref>

The [[Buddhist texts#Texts of the Early schools|early Buddhist texts]] discuss rebirth as part of the doctrine of ''[[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]]''. This asserts that the nature of existence is a "suffering-laden cycle of life, death, and rebirth, without beginning or end".<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam>{{cite book|author=Jeff Wilson|year= 2010|title= Saṃsāra and Rebirth, in Buddhism| publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0-19-539352-1| doi=10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0141}}</ref><ref name="Trainor2004p63">{{cite book|first=Kevin |last=Trainor |title= Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide |year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-517398-7 |pages=62–63 }}; ''Quote:'' "Buddhist doctrine holds that until they realize nirvana, beings are bound to undergo rebirth and redeath due to their having acted out of ignorance and desire, thereby producing the seeds of karma".</ref> Also referred to as the wheel of existence (''[[Bhavacakra]]''), it is often mentioned in Buddhist texts with the term ''punarbhava'' (rebirth, re-becoming). Liberation from this cycle of existence, ''Nirvana'', is the foundation and the most important purpose of Buddhism.<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam/><ref name="Conze2013p71">{{cite book|author=Edward Conze |title= Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-54231-4|page=71|quote="Nirvana is the ''raison d'être'' of Buddhism, and its ultimate justification."}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last =Gethin | first =Rupert | year =1998 | title =Foundations of Buddhism | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn =978-0-19-289223-2 | page =[https://archive.org/details/foundationsofbud00rupe/page/119 119] | url =https://archive.org/details/foundationsofbud00rupe/page/119 }}</ref> Buddhist texts also assert that an [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightened]] person knows his previous births, a knowledge achieved through high levels of [[samadhi|meditative concentration]].<ref>Paul Williams, Anthony Tribe, ''Buddhist thought: a complete introduction to the Indian tradition.'' Routledge, 2000, p. 84.</ref> Tibetan Buddhism discusses death, [[bardo]] (an intermediate state), and rebirth in texts such as the ''[[Bardo Thodol|Tibetan Book of the Dead]]''. While Nirvana is taught as the ultimate goal in the Theravadin Buddhism, and is essential to Mahayana Buddhism, the vast majority of contemporary lay Buddhists focus on accumulating good karma and acquiring merit to achieve a better reincarnation in the next life.<ref name="Merv Fowler 1999 65">{{cite book|author=Merv Fowler |title=Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices|year=1999|publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn=978-1-898723-66-0 |page=65|quote="For a vast majority of Buddhists in Theravadin countries, however, the order of monks is seen by lay Buddhists as a means of gaining the most merit in the hope of accumulating good karma for a better rebirth."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher Gowans|title=Philosophy of the Buddha: An Introduction|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-46973-4|page=169}}</ref>

In early Buddhist traditions, ''saṃsāra'' cosmology consisted of five realms through which the wheel of existence cycled.<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam/> This included hells (''[[niraya]]''), [[hungry ghosts]] (''[[pretas]]''), animals (''[[Tiryakas realm|tiryaka]]''), humans (''[[manushya]]''), and gods (''[[Deva (Buddhism)|deva]]s'', heavenly).<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam/><ref name="Trainor2004p63"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Robert DeCaroli |title=Haunting the Buddha: Indian Popular Religions and the Formation of Buddhism |year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803765-1|pages=94–103}}</ref> In latter Buddhist traditions, this list grew to a list of six realms of rebirth, adding demigods (''[[Asura (Buddhism)|asuras]]'').<ref name=jeffwilsonbudsam/><ref>{{cite book|author=Akira Sadakata|title=Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins|year=1997|publisher= Kōsei Publishing 佼成出版社, Tokyo|isbn=978-4-333-01682-2|pages=68–70}}</ref>

====Rationale====
The earliest layers of Vedic text incorporate the concept of life, followed by an [[afterlife]] in heaven and hell based on cumulative virtues (merit) or vices (demerit).<ref>{{cite book|author1=James Hastings|author2=John Alexander Selbie|author3-link=Louis Herbert Gray|author3=Louis Herbert Gray|series=[[Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics]]|title=Volume 12: Suffering-Zwingli|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.500005|year=1922|publisher=T. & T. Clark|pages=616–618|author1-link=James Hastings}}</ref> However, the ancient Vedic [[rishi]]s challenged this idea of afterlife as simplistic, because people do not live equally moral or immoral lives. Between generally virtuous lives, some are more virtuous; while evil too has degrees, and the texts assert that it would be unfair for people, with varying degrees of virtue or vices, to end up in heaven or hell, in "either or" and disproportionate manner irrespective of how virtuous or vicious their lives were.{{Sfn|Jessica Frazier|Gavin Flood|2011|pp=84–86}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Kusum P. Merh |title=Yama, the Glorious Lord of the Other World |year=1996|publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-81-246-0066-5 |pages=213–215}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= Anita Raina Thapan|title=The Penguin Swami Chinmyananda Reader  |year=2006|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-400062-3 |pages=84–90 }}</ref> They introduced the idea of an afterlife in heaven or hell in proportion to one's merit.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jessica Frazier |author2=Gavin Flood |title= The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies  |year=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-8264-9966-0|pages= 84–86 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Patrul Rinpoche|author2-link=Dalai Lama|author2=Dalai Lama|title=The Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism|year=1998|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7619-9027-7|pages=95–96|author1-link=Patrul Rinpoche}}</ref><ref name="Krishan1997p17">{{cite book|author=Yuvraj Krishan |title=The Doctrine of Karma: Its Origin and Development in Brāhmaṇical, Buddhist, and Jaina Traditions  |year=1997|publisher= Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|isbn=978-81-208-1233-8 |pages=17–27 }}</ref>

====Comparison====
Early texts of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism share the concepts and terminology related to reincarnation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Paul |last2=Tribe |first2=Anthony |last3=Wynne |first3=Alexander | year=2012 |title=Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-52088-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOLfCgAAQBAJ |access-date=2016-09-25 |archive-date=2020-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120065316/https://books.google.com/books?id=NOLfCgAAQBAJ |url-status=live |pages=30–42}}</ref> They also emphasize similar virtuous practices and [[karma]] as necessary for liberation and what influences future rebirths.<ref name="damienkeown32"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Michael D. Coogan|title=The Illustrated Guide to World Religions | year=2003| publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=978-0-19-521997-5| page=192}}</ref> For example, all three discuss various virtues—sometimes grouped as [[Yamas]] and [[Niyama]]s—such as [[Ahimsa|non-violence]], [[Satya|truthfulness]], [[Asteya|non-stealing]], [[Aparigraha|non-possessiveness]], [[compassion]] for all living beings, [[Dāna|charity]] and many others.<ref>{{cite book|author1=David Carpenter|author2=Ian Whicher|title=Yoga: The Indian Tradition|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79606-8|page=116}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Rita Langer |title=Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth: Contemporary Sri Lankan Practice and Its Origins |year=2007|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-15873-7 |pages=53–54 }}</ref>

Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism disagree in their assumptions and theories about rebirth. Hinduism relies on its foundational belief that the 'soul, Self exists' ([[Atman (Hinduism)|''atman'']] or ''attā''), while Buddhism aserts that there is 'no soul, no Self' ([[Anattā|''anatta'']] or ''anatman'').<ref>{{cite book|author=Christmas Humphreys|title=Exploring Buddhism |year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-22877-3 |pages=42–43 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Brian Morris |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8|page=51|quote="(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps—the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Gombrich|title=Theravada Buddhism|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-90352-8|page=47|quote="(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."}}</ref><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta Anatta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210185046/http://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=2015-12-10 }}, Encyclopedia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self").";</ref><ref>Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2217-5}}, p. 64; "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."</ref><ref>Edward Roer (Translator), {{Google books|3uwDAAAAMAAJ|Shankara's Introduction|page=2}} to ''Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad'', pp. 2–4;</ref><ref>Katie Javanaud (2013), [https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206211126/https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana |date=2015-02-06 }}, Philosophy Now;</ref><ref name=Loy1982/><ref>KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0619-1}}, pp. 246–249, from note 385 onwards;</ref><ref name=johnplott3>John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0158-5}}, p. 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".</ref> Hindu traditions consider soul to be the unchanging eternal essence of a living being, which journeys through reincarnations until it attains self-knowledge.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce M. Sullivan|title=Historical Dictionary of Hinduism|year=1997|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-3327-2|pages=235–236 (See: Upanishads)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Klaus K. Klostermaier|title=A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition|year=2007|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-7082-4|pages=119–122, 162–180, 194–195}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kalupahana |first=David J. |date=1992 |title=The Principles of Buddhist Psychology |location=Delhi |publisher=ri Satguru Publications |pages=38–39}}</ref> Buddhism, in contrast, asserts a rebirth theory without a Self, and considers realization of non-Self or Emptiness as Nirvana (''[[nibbana]]'').

The reincarnation doctrine in Jainism differs from those in Buddhism, even though both are non-theistic [[Sramana]] traditions.<ref name=naomiappleton76/><ref>{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley|title=Historical Dictionary of Jainism|year=2004|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-5051-4|page=91}}</ref> Jainism, in contrast to Buddhism, accepts the foundational assumption that soul (''[[Jiva]]'') exists and asserts that this soul is involved in the rebirth mechanism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley|title=Historical Dictionary of Jainism|year=2004|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-5051-4|pages=10–12, 111–112, 119}}</ref> Furthermore, Jainism considers [[asceticism]] as an important means to spiritual liberation that ends the cycle of reincarnation, while Buddhism does not.<ref name=naomiappleton76>{{cite book|author=Naomi Appleton |title=Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhist and Jain Multi-Life Stories  |year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-91640-0|pages=76–89 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gananath Obeyesekere |title=Karma and Rebirth: A Cross Cultural Study |year=2006|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-2609-0 |pages=107–108 }};<br />{{cite book|author=Kristi L. Wiley|title=Historical Dictionary of Jainism|year=2004|publisher=Scarecrow|isbn=978-0-8108-5051-4|pages=118–119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John E. Cort|title=Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India | year=2001|publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803037-9|pages=118–123}}</ref>

===Classical antiquity===
{{see also|Metempsychosis}}
[[Image:2161 - Taormina - Badia Vecchia - Sarcofago romano del sec. II d.C. - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 20-May-2008.jpg|thumb|A second-century Roman sarcophagus shows the mythology and symbolism of the Orphic and Dionysiac Mystery schools. Orpheus plays his lyre to the left.]]
Early Greek discussion of the concept dates to the sixth century BCE. An early Greek thinker known to have considered rebirth is [[Pherecydes of Syros]] (fl. 540 BCE).<ref>Schibli, S., Hermann, Pherekydes of Syros, p. 104, Oxford Univ. Press 2001</ref> His younger contemporary [[Pythagoras]] (c. 570–c. 495 BCE<ref>"The dates of his life cannot be fixed exactly, but assuming the approximate correctness of the statement of Aristoxenus (ap. Porph. ''V.P.'' 9) that he left Samos to escape the tyranny of Polycrates at the age of forty, we may put his birth round about 570 BCE, or a few years earlier. The length of his life was variously estimated in antiquity, but it is agreed that he lived to a fairly ripe old age, and most probably he died at about seventy-five or eighty." [[William Keith Chambers Guthrie]], (1978), ''A history of Greek philosophy, Volume 1: The earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans'', p. 173. Cambridge University Press</ref>), its first famous exponent, instituted societies for its diffusion. Some authorities believe that Pythagoras was Pherecydes' pupil, others that Pythagoras took up the idea of reincarnation from the doctrine of [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]], a [[Thrace|Thracian]] religion, or brought the teaching from India.

[[Plato]] (428/427–348/347 BCE) presented accounts of reincarnation in his works, particularly the ''[[Myth of Er]]'', where Plato makes Socrates tell how Er, the son of [[Arminius|Armenius]], miraculously returned to life on the twelfth day after death and recounted the secrets of the other world. There are myths and theories to the same effect in other dialogues, in the [[Chariot allegory]] of the ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'',<ref>''The Dialogues of Plato'' (Benjamin Jowett trans., 1875 ed), vol. 2, p. 125</ref> in the ''[[Meno]]'',<ref>''The Dialogues of Plato'' (Benjamin Jowett trans., 1875 ed), vol. 1, p. 282</ref> ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' and ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]''. The soul, once separated from the body, spends an indeterminate amount of time in the intelligible realm (see The [[Allegory of the Cave]] in ''[[The Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'') and then assumes another body. In the ''Timaeus'', Plato believes that the soul moves from body to body without any distinct reward-or-punishment phase between lives, because the reincarnation is itself a punishment or reward for how a person has lived.<ref>See Kamtekar 2016 for a discussion of how Plato's view of reincarnation changes across texts, especially concerning the existence of a distinct reward-or-punishment phase between lives. Rachana Kamtekar. 2016. "The Soul’s (After-) Life," ''Ancient Philosophy'' 36 (1):115-132.</ref>

In ''[[Phaedo]]'', Plato has his teacher [[Socrates]], prior to his death, state: "I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, and that the living spring from the dead." However, [[Xenophon]] does not mention Socrates as believing in reincarnation, and Plato may have systematized Socrates' thought with concepts he took directly from Pythagoreanism or Orphism. Recent scholars have come to see that Plato has multiple reasons for the belief in reincarnation.<ref>See Campbell 2022 for more on why Plato believes in reincarnation. Douglas R. Campbell. 2022.  "Plato's Theory of Reincarnation: Eschatology and Natural Philosophy," ''Review of Metaphysics'' 75 (4): 643-665. See also the discussion in Chad Jorgensen. 2018. ''The Embodied Soul in Plato's Later Thought''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref> One argument concerns the theory of reincarnation's usefulness for explaining why non-human animals exist: they are former humans, being punished for their vices; Plato gives this argument at the end of the ''Timaeus''.<ref>See ''Timaeus'' 90–92.</ref>

====Mystery cults====
The [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic religion]], which taught reincarnation, about the sixth century BCE, produced a copious literature.<ref>Linforth, Ivan M. (1941) ''The Arts of Orpheus'' Arno Press, New York, {{OCLC|514515}}</ref><ref>Long, Herbert S. (1948) ''A Study of the doctrine of metempsychosis in Greece, from Pythagoras to Plato'' (Long's 1942 Ph.D. dissertation) Princeton, New Jersey, {{OCLC|1472399}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Herbert S. |title=Plato's Doctrine of Metempsychosis and Its Source |journal=The Classical Weekly |date=1948 |volume=41 |issue=10 |pages=149–155 |id={{ProQuest|1296280468}} |doi=10.2307/4342414 |jstor=4342414 }}</ref> [[Orpheus]], its legendary founder, is said to have taught that the immortal soul aspires to freedom while the body holds it prisoner. The wheel of birth revolves, the soul alternates between freedom and captivity round the wide circle of necessity. Orpheus proclaimed the need of the grace of the gods, [[Dionysus]] in particular, and of self-purification until the soul has completed the spiral ascent of destiny to live forever.

An association between [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean philosophy]] and reincarnation was routinely accepted throughout antiquity, as Pythagoras also taught about reincarnation. However, unlike the Orphics, who considered metempsychosis a cycle of grief that could be escaped by attaining liberation from it, Pythagoras seems to postulate an eternal, neutral reincarnation where subsequent lives would not be conditioned by any action done in the previous.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans|author=Leonid Zhmud|publisher=OUP Oxford|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-928931-8|pages=232–233}}</ref>

====Later authors====
In later Greek literature the doctrine is mentioned in a fragment of [[Menander]]<ref>Menander, ''The Inspired Woman''</ref> and satirized by [[Lucian]].<ref>Lucian, ''Gallus'', 18 et seq.</ref> In [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] literature it is found as early as [[Ennius]],<ref>Poesch, Jessie (1962) "Ennius and Basinio of Parma" ''[[Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes]]'' 25(1/2):116–118 [117 n15].</ref> who, in a lost passage of his ''Annals'', told how he had seen [[Homer]] in a dream, who had assured him that the same soul which had animated both the poets had once belonged to a peacock. [[Persius]] in his satires (vi. 9) laughs at this; it is referred to also by [[Lucretius]]<ref>Lucretius, (i. 124)</ref> and [[Horace]].<ref>Horace, ''Epistles'', II. i. 52</ref>

[[Virgil]] works the idea into his account of the Underworld in the sixth book of the ''[[Aeneid]]''.<ref>Virgil, ''The Aeneid'', vv. 724 et seq.</ref> It persists down to the late classic thinkers, [[Plotinus]] and the other [[Neoplatonist]]s. In the [[Hermetica]], a Graeco-Egyptian series of writings on cosmology and spirituality attributed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]]/[[Thoth]], the doctrine of reincarnation is central.

===Celtic paganism===
In the first century BCE [[Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor]] wrote:

{{bquote|The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among the [[Gauls]]' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body.}}

[[Julius Caesar]] recorded that the [[druids]] of Gaul, Britain and Ireland had metempsychosis as one of their core doctrines:<ref>Julius Caesar, "De Bello Gallico", VI</ref>

{{bquote|The principal point of their doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another... the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed.}}

[[Diodorus]] also recorded the Gaul belief that human souls were immortal, and that after a prescribed number of years they would commence upon a new life in another body. He added that Gauls had the custom of casting letters to their deceased upon the funeral pyres, through which the dead would be able to read them.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[T. Rice Holmes]]|title=Caesar's Conquest of Gaul: An Historical Narrative|date=1903|publisher=|isbn=|page=}}</ref> [[Valerius Maximus]] also recounted they had the custom of lending sums of money to each other which would be repayable in the next world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kendrick |first=T.D. |date=2003 |orig-date=1927 |title=Druids and Druidism |publisher=Dover |isbn=0-486-42719-6 |page=106}}</ref> This was mentioned by [[Pomponius Mela]], who also recorded Gauls buried or burnt with them things they would need in a next life, to the point some would jump into the funeral piles of their relatives in order to cohabit in the new life with them.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=108}}

[[Hippolytus of Rome]] believed the Gauls had been taught the doctrine of reincarnation by a slave of [[Pythagoras]] named [[Zalmoxis]]. Conversely, [[Clement of Alexandria]] believed Pythagoras himself had learned it from the Celts and not the opposite, claiming he had been taught by [[Galatians (people)|Galatian]] Gauls, [[Hinduism|Hindu]] priests and [[Zoroastrians]].{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=105}}<ref name=Lopez>{{cite book|author=Robin Melrose|title=The Druids and King Arthur: A New View of Early Britain|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-07-864600-5-2}}</ref> However, author [[T. D. Kendrick]] rejected a real connection between Pythagoras and the Celtic idea reincarnation, noting their beliefs to have substantial differences, and any contact to be historically unlikely.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=108}} Nonetheless, he proposed the possibility of an ancient common source, also related to the [[Orphic religion]] and [[Thracian]] systems of belief.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=109}}

===Germanic paganism===
{{Main|Rebirth in Germanic paganism}}
Surviving texts indicate that there was a belief in [[rebirth in Germanic paganism]]. Examples include figures from [[eddic poetry]] and [[saga]]s, potentially by way of a process of naming and/or through the family line. Scholars have discussed the implications of these attestations and proposed theories regarding belief in reincarnation among the [[Germanic peoples]] prior to [[Christianization]] and potentially to some extent in [[folk belief]] thereafter.

===Judaism===
The belief in reincarnation developed among Jewish mystics in the medieval world, among whom differing explanations were given of the afterlife, although with a universal belief in an immortal soul.<ref>''Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals'', By George Robinson, Simon and Schuster 2008, p. 193</ref> It was explicitly rejected by [[Saadiah Gaon]].<ref>''The Book of Beliefs and Opinions'', chap. VIII</ref> Today, reincarnation is an [[esoteric]] belief within many streams of modern Judaism. [[Kabbalah]] teaches a belief in ''[[gilgul]]'', transmigration of souls, and hence the belief in reincarnation is universal in [[Hasidic Judaism]], which regards the Kabbalah as sacred and authoritative, and is also sometimes held as an esoteric belief within other strains of [[Orthodox Judaism]]. In [[Judaism]], the [[Zohar]], first published in the 13th century, discusses reincarnation at length, especially in the [[Torah]] portion "Balak." The most comprehensive [[Kabbalah|kabbalistic]] work on reincarnation, ''[[Shaar HaGilgulim]]'',<ref>"Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity", p. 104, by B. Alan Wallace</ref><ref>"Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism", p. 190, by [[J. H. Chajes]]</ref> was written by [[Hayyim ben Joseph Vital|Chaim Vital]], based on the teachings of his mentor, the 16th-century kabbalist [[Isaac Luria]], who was said to know the past lives of each person through his [[Ruach HaKodesh|semi-prophetic]] abilities. The 18th-century Lithuanian master scholar and kabbalist, Elijah of Vilna, known as the [[Vilna Gaon]], authored a commentary on the biblical [[Book of Jonah]] as an allegory of reincarnation.

The practice of conversion to Judaism is sometimes understood within Orthodox Judaism in terms of reincarnation. According to this school of thought in Judaism, when non-Jews are drawn to Judaism, it is because they had been Jews in a former life. Such souls may "wander among nations" through multiple lives, until they find their way back to Judaism, including through finding themselves born in a gentile family with a "lost" Jewish ancestor.<ref>''Jewish Tales of Reincarnation'', By Yonasson Gershom, Yonasson Gershom, Jason Aronson, Incorporated, 31 January 2000</ref>

There is an extensive literature of Jewish folk and traditional stories that refer to reincarnation.<ref>Yonasson Gershom (1999), ''Jewish Tales of Reincarnation''. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. {{ISBN|0-7657-6083-5}}</ref>

===Christianity===
'''Reincarnationism''' or '''biblical reincarnation''' is the belief that certain people are or can be [[reincarnations]] of [[biblical figures]], such as [[Jesus Christ]] and the [[Virgin Mary]].<ref name="cinemaseekers1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.cinemaseekers.com/Christ/reincarnation.html |title=Biblical Accounts that Suggest Reincarnation |access-date=2023-08-27 |archive-date=2021-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608232803/http://www.cinemaseekers.com/christ/reincarnation.html }}</ref> Some Christians believe that certain New Testament figures are reincarnations of Old Testament figures. For example, [[John the Baptist]] is believed by some to be a reincarnation of the prophet [[Elijah]], and a few take this further by suggesting Jesus was the reincarnation of Elijah's disciple [[Elisha]].<ref name="cinemaseekers1"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://yoganandafortheworld.com/who-was-jesus-before-the-last-incarnation-elias-and-elijah-the-second-coming-of-christ/ |title=Who Was Jesus Before the Last Incarnation? |date=9 January 2012 |access-date=2023-09-07}}</ref> Other Christians believe the [[Second Coming]] of Jesus would be fulfilled by reincarnation. [[Sun Myung Moon]], the founder of the [[Unification Church]], considered himself to be the fulfillment of Jesus' return.

The Catholic Church does not believe in reincarnation, which it regards as being incompatible with [[death]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a11.htm#1013 |title=CCC - PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 3 ARTICLE 11 |publisher=Vatican.va |date= |access-date=2012-05-23}}</ref> Nonetheless, the leaders of certain [[sects]] in the church have taught that they are reincarnations of Mary - for example, Marie-Paule Giguère of the [[Community of the Lady of All Nations|Army of Mary]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cccb.ca/site/Files/armyofmary.html |title=Army of Mary Doctrinal Note |publisher=Cccb.ca |date= |access-date=2012-05-23 |archive-date=2012-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504170432/http://www.cccb.ca/site/Files/armyofmary.html }}</ref><ref name="vsu">{{Cite web|url=https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/army-of-mary/|title=Army of Mary / Community of the Lady of All Peoples – WRSP|access-date=8 October 2023}}</ref> and [[Feliksa Kozłowska|Maria Franciszka]] of the former [[Mariavite Church|Mariavites]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Pius X |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_x/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_05041906_tribus-circiter_en.html |title=Pius X, Tribus Circiter (05/04/1906) |publisher=Vatican.va |date=1904-09-04 |access-date=2012-05-23}}</ref> The [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] excommunicated the Army of Mary for teaching heresy, including reincarnationism.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/decl_excomm_english.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-05-23 |archive-date=2012-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504170442/http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/decl_excomm_english.pdf }}</ref>

====Gnosticism====
Several [[Gnostic]] sects professed reincarnation. The [[Sethians]] and followers of [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]] believed in it.<ref>Much of this is documented in R.E. Slater's book ''Paradise Reconsidered.''</ref> The followers of [[Bardaisan]] of [[Mesopotamia]], a sect of the second century deemed heretical by the Catholic Church, drew upon [[Babylon|Chaldean]] [[astrology]], to which Bardaisan's son Harmonius, educated in Athens, added Greek ideas including a sort of metempsychosis. Another such teacher was [[Basilides]] (132–? CE/AD), known to us through the criticisms of [[Irenaeus]] and the work of [[Clement of Alexandria]] (see also [[Neoplatonism and Gnosticism]] and [[Buddhism and Gnosticism]]).

In the third Christian century [[Manichaeism]] spread both east and west from [[Babylonia]], then within the [[Sassanid Empire]], where its founder [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] lived about 216–276. Manichaean monasteries existed in Rome in 312 AD. Noting Mani's early travels to the [[Kushan Empire]] and other Buddhist influences in Manichaeism, [[Richard Foltz]]<ref>[[Richard Foltz]], ''Religions of the Silk Road'', New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010</ref> attributes Mani's teaching of reincarnation to Buddhist influence. However the inter-relation of Manicheanism, Orphism, Gnosticism and neo-Platonism is far from clear.

===Taoism===
[[Taoist]] documents from as early as the [[Han dynasty]] claimed that [[Lao Tzu]] appeared on earth as different persons in different times beginning in the legendary era of [[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors]]. The (ca. third century BC) ''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Chuang Tzu]]'' states: "Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting-point. Existence without limitation is Space. Continuity without a starting point is Time. There is birth, there is death, there is issuing forth, there is entering in."<ref>{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/chuangtzmysticm00chuagoog|title=Chuang Tzŭ: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer (translated by Herbert Allen Giles)|publisher= Bernard Quaritch|year= 1889|page= [https://archive.org/details/chuangtzmysticm00chuagoog/page/n338 304]|author1=Zhuangzi}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=April 2019}}

===European Middle Ages===
Around the 11–12th century in Europe, several reincarnationist movements were persecuted as heresies, through the establishment of the [[Medieval Inquisition|Inquisition]] in the Latin west. These included the [[Cathar]], Paterene or Albigensian church of western Europe, the [[Paulician]] movement, which arose in Armenia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11583b.htm |title=Newadvent.org |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1 February 1911 |access-date=6 December 2011}}</ref> and the [[Bogomils]] in [[Bulgaria]].<ref>Steven Runciman, ''The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy'', 1982, {{ISBN|0-521-28926-2}}, Cambridge University Press, ''The Bogomils''</ref>

Christian sects such as the Bogomils and the Cathars, who professed reincarnation and other gnostic beliefs, were referred to as "Manichaean", and are today sometimes described by scholars as "Neo-Manichaean".<ref>For example Dondaine, Antoine. O.P. ''Un traite neo-manicheen du XIIIe siecle: Le Liber de duobus principiis, suivi d'un fragment de rituel Cathare'' (Rome: Institutum Historicum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 1939)</ref> As there is no known Manichaean mythology or terminology in the writings of these groups there has been some dispute among historians as to whether these groups truly were descendants of Manichaeism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01267e.htm |title=Newadvent.org |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1 March 1907 |access-date=6 December 2011}}</ref>

===Renaissance and Early Modern period===
While reincarnation has been a matter of faith in some communities from an early date it has also frequently been argued for on principle, as Plato does when he argues that the number of souls must be finite because souls are indestructible,<ref>"the souls must always be the same, for if none be destroyed they will not diminish in number". Republic X, 611. The Republic of Plato By Plato, Benjamin Jowett Edition: 3 Published by Clarendon press, 1888.</ref> [[Benjamin Franklin]] held a similar view.<ref>In a letter to his friend [[George Whatley]] written 23 May 1785: {{cite journal|jstor = 25057231|title = Death Effects: Revisiting the Conceit of Franklin's "Memoir"|journal = Early American Literature|volume = 36|issue = 2|pages = 201–234|last1 = Kennedy|first1 = Jennifer T.|year = 2001|doi = 10.1353/eal.2001.0016|s2cid = 161799223}}</ref> Sometimes such convictions, as in Socrates' case, arise from a more general personal faith, at other times from anecdotal evidence such as Plato makes Socrates offer in the ''[[Myth of Er]]''.

During the [[Renaissance]] translations of Plato, the [[Hermetica]] and other works fostered new European interest in reincarnation. [[Marsilio Ficino]]<ref>Marsilio Ficino, ''Platonic Theology'', 17.3–4</ref> argued that Plato's references to reincarnation were intended allegorically, Shakespeare alluded to the doctrine of reincarnation<ref>"Again, Rosalind in "As You Like It" (Act III., Scene 2), says: ''I was never so be-rhimed that I can remember since Pythagoras's time, when I was an Irish rat"''—alluding to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls." William H. Grattan Flood, quoted at [http://www.libraryireland.com/IrishMusic/XVII-2.php Libraryireland.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421065024/http://www.libraryireland.com/IrishMusic/XVII-2.php |date=2009-04-21 }}</ref> but [[Giordano Bruno]] was burned at the stake by authorities after being found guilty of heresy by the [[Roman Inquisition]] for his teachings.<ref>Boulting, 1914. pp. 163–164</ref> But the Greek philosophical works remained available and, particularly in north Europe, were discussed by groups such as the [[Cambridge Platonists]]. [[Emanuel Swedenborg]] believed that we leave the physical world once, but then go through several lives in the spiritual world—a kind of hybrid of Christian tradition and the popular view of reincarnation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Swedenborg and Life Recap: Do We Reincarnate? 3/6/2017 |date=10 March 2017 |url=https://swedenborg.com/recap-do-we-reincarnate/ |access-date=24 October 2019 |publisher=Swedenborg Foundation}}</ref>

===19th to 20th centuries===
By the 19th century the philosophers [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]]<ref>Schopenhauer, A: "Parerga und Paralipomena" (Eduard Grisebach edition), On Religion, Section 177</ref> and [[Nietzsche]]<ref>Nietzsche and the Doctrine of Metempsychosis, in J. Urpeth & J. Lippitt, ''Nietzsche and the Divine'',  Manchester: Clinamen, 2000</ref> could access the Indian scriptures for discussion of the doctrine of reincarnation, which recommended itself to the [[American Transcendentalism|American Transcendentalists]] [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Walt Whitman]] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and was adapted by [[Francis Bowen]] into ''Christian Metempsychosis''.<ref name="shirleymaclaine.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.shirleymaclaine.com/articles/reincarnation/article-318 |title=Shirleymaclaine.com |publisher=Shirleymaclaine.com |access-date=6 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106160539/http://www.shirleymaclaine.com/articles/reincarnation/article-318 |archive-date=6 November 2011 }}</ref>

By the early 20th century, interest in reincarnation had been introduced into the nascent discipline of [[psychology]], largely due to the influence of [[William James]], who raised aspects of the [[philosophy of mind]], [[comparative religion]], the psychology of religious experience and the nature of empiricism.<ref>David Hammerman, Lisa Lenard, ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reincarnation'', Penguin, p. 34. For relevant works by James, see; William James, ''Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine (the Ingersoll Lecture, 1897)'', ''The Will to Believe, Human Immortality'' (1956) Dover Publications, {{ISBN|0-486-20291-7}}, ''The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature'' (1902), {{ISBN|0-14-039034-0}}, ''Essays in Radical Empiricism'' (1912) Dover Publications 2003, {{ISBN|0-486-43094-4}}</ref> James was influential in the founding of the [[American Society for Psychical Research]] (ASPR) in [[New York City]] in 1885, three years after the British [[Society for Psychical Research]] (SPR) was inaugurated in London,<ref name="Berger">{{cite book |last=Berger |first=Arthur S. |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpa00berg |title=The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research |author2=Berger, Joyce |publisher=Paragon House Publishers |year=1991 |isbn=1-55778-043-9}}</ref> leading to systematic, critical investigation of paranormal phenomena. Famous World War II American General George Patton was a strong believer in reincarnation, believing, among other things, he was a reincarnation of the Carthaginian General Hannibal.

At this time popular awareness of the idea of reincarnation was boosted by the [[Theosophical Society]]'s dissemination of systematised and universalised Indian concepts and also by the influence of magical societies like [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn|The Golden Dawn]]. Notable personalities like [[Annie Besant]], [[W. B. Yeats]] and [[Dion Fortune]] made the subject almost as [[Reincarnation in popular culture|familiar an element of the popular culture]] of the west as of the east. By 1924 the subject could be satirised in popular children's books.<ref>Richmal Crompton, ''More William'', George Newnes, London, 1924, XIII. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17125/17125-h/17125-h.htm William and the Ancient Souls] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529165615/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17125/17125-h/17125-h.htm |date=2012-05-29 }}; "The memory usually came in a flash. For instance, you might remember in a flash when you were looking at a box of matches that you had been Guy Fawkes."</ref> Humorist [[Don Marquis]] created a fictional cat named Mehitabel who claimed to be a reincarnation of Queen Cleopatra.<ref>Marquis, "Archy and Mehitabel" (1927)</ref>

[[Théodore Flournoy]] was among the first to study a claim of past-life recall in the course of his investigation of the medium [[Hélène Smith]], published in 1900, in which he defined the possibility of [[cryptomnesia]] in such accounts.<ref>Théodore Flournoy, [http://www.psychanalyse-paris.com/-Des-Indes-a-la-planete-Mars-.html Des Indes à la planète Mars] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201172115/http://www.psychanalyse-paris.com/-Des-Indes-a-la-planete-Mars-.html |date=2009-12-01 }}, Étude sur un cas de somnambulisme avec glossolalie, Éditions Alcan et Eggimann, Paris et Genève, 1900</ref>
[[Carl Gustav Jung]], like Flournoy based in Switzerland, also emulated him in his thesis based on a study of cryptomnesia in psychism. Later Jung would emphasise the importance of the persistence of memory and ego in psychological study of reincarnation: "This concept of rebirth necessarily implies the continuity of personality... (that) one is able, at least potentially, to remember that one has lived through previous existences, and that these existences were one's own...."<ref name="shirleymaclaine.com"/> [[Hypnosis]], used in [[psychoanalysis]] for retrieving forgotten memories, was eventually tried as a means of studying the phenomenon of past life recall.

More recently, many people in the West have developed an interest in and acceptance of reincarnation.<ref name=Haraldsson2006/> Many new religious movements include reincarnation among their beliefs, e.g. modern [[Neopaganism|Neopagans]], [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]], Astara,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Astara |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/astara/ |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> [[Dianetics]], and [[Scientology]]. Many [[esotericism|esoteric]] philosophies also include reincarnation, e.g. [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophy]], [[Anthroposophy]], [[Kabbalah]], and [[Gnostic]] and [[Esoteric Christianity]] such as the works of [[Martinus Thomsen]].

Demographic survey data from 1999 to 2002 shows a significant minority of people from Europe (22%) and America (20%) believe in the existence of life before birth and after death, leading to a physical rebirth.<ref name=Haraldsson2006/><ref>David W. Moore, [https://news.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113011455/https://news.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx |date=2020-01-13 }}</ref> The belief in reincarnation is particularly high in the Baltic countries, with [[Lithuania]] having the highest figure for the whole of Europe, 44%, while the lowest figure is in East Germany, 12%.<ref name=Haraldsson2006/> A quarter of U.S. Christians, including 10% of all [[born again]] Christians, embrace the idea.<ref>[http://worldmonitor.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/buddhism-china/ Buddhism China]{{dead link|date=December 2011}}</ref>

Academic psychiatrist [[Ian Stevenson]] reported that belief in reincarnation is held (with variations in details) by adherents of almost all major religions except [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]]. In addition, between 20 and 30 percent of persons in western countries who may be nominal Christians also believe in reincarnation.<ref name="jh">Jane Henry (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=EaIhapm-4UgC&dq=%22Parapsychology:+Research+on+Exceptional+Experiences%22+%22Jane+Henry%22&pg=PP5 Parapsychology: research on exceptional experiences] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212163105/https://books.google.com/books?id=EaIhapm-4UgC&pg=PP5&lpg=PP5&dq=%22Parapsychology:+Research+on+Exceptional+Experiences%22+%22Jane+Henry%22&source=bl&ots=tReXJKfiIh&sig=IIE8o603PaUPxN2RT21gedmeoP8&hl=en&ei=k_VKSpL6HIvkNduOrJsB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 |date=2022-12-12 }} Routledge, p. 224.</ref> One 1999 study by Walter and Waterhouse reviewed the previous data on the level of reincarnation belief and performed a set of thirty in-depth interviews in Britain among people who did not belong to a religion advocating reincarnation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Walter |first1=Tony |last2=Waterhouse |first2=Helen |title=A Very Private Belief: Reincarnation in Contemporary England |journal=Sociology of Religion |date=1999 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=187–197 |doi=10.2307/3711748 |jstor=3711748 }}</ref> The authors reported that surveys have found about one fifth to one quarter of Europeans have some level of belief in reincarnation, with similar results found in the USA. In the interviewed group, the belief in the existence of this phenomenon appeared independent of their age, or the type of religion that these people belonged to, with most being Christians. The beliefs of this group also did not appear to contain any more than usual of "new age" ideas (broadly defined) and the authors interpreted their ideas on reincarnation as "one way of tackling issues of suffering", but noted that this seemed to have little effect on their private lives.

Waterhouse also published a detailed discussion of beliefs expressed in the interviews.<ref name="Waterhouse1999">{{Cite journal |author=Waterhouse, H. |year=1999 |title=Reincarnation belief in Britain: New age orientation or mainstream option? |journal=Journal of Contemporary Religion |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=97–109 |doi=10.1080/13537909908580854}}</ref> She noted that although most people "hold their belief in reincarnation quite lightly" and were unclear on the details of their ideas, personal experiences such as past-life memories and [[near-death experience]]s had influenced most believers, although only a few had direct experience of these phenomena. Waterhouse analyzed the influences of second-hand accounts of reincarnation, writing that most of the people in the survey had heard other people's accounts of past-lives from regression hypnosis and dreams and found these fascinating, feeling that there "must be something in it" if other people were having such experiences.

Other influential contemporary figures that have written on reincarnation include [[Alice Ann Bailey]], one of the first writers to use the terms [[New Age]] and [[age of Aquarius]], [[Torkom Saraydarian]], an [[Armenian-American]] musician and religious author, Dolores Cannon, [[Atul Gawande]], [[Michael Newton (hypnotist)|Michael Newton]], [[Bruce Greyson]], [[Raymond Moody]] and [[Unity Church]] founder [[Charles Fillmore (Unity Church)|Charles Fillmore]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Unity Magazine November 1938 – Reincarnation {{!}} Truth Unity |url=https://www.truthunity.net/monthly-magazine/1938-11-unity-reincarnation |access-date=2023-02-20 |website=www.truthunity.net}}</ref> [[Neale Donald Walsch]], an American author of the series ''[[Conversations with God]]'' claims that he has reincarnated more than 600 times.<ref>{{cite web |title=Being at One: Neale Donald Walsch Interview with Gil Dekel (Part 3 of 3, paragraphs 18–19) |date=19 September 2010 |url=http://www.poeticmind.co.uk/creative-thoughts/being-at-one-neale-donald-walsch-interview-with-gil-dekel-phd-part-3-of-3/}}</ref> The Indian spiritual teacher [[Meher Baba]] who had significant following in the West taught that reincarnation followed from human desire and ceased once a person was freed from desire.<ref>[[Meher Baba|Baba, Meher]] (1967), [http://www.discoursesbymeherbaba.org ''Discourses''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708200229/http://www.discoursesbymeherbaba.org/ |date=2018-07-08 }}, Volume III, Sufism Reoriented, 1967, {{ISBN|1-880619-09-1}}, p. 96.</ref>