Editing Reincarnation (section)

===Buddhism===
{{Main|Rebirth (Buddhism)|Saṃsāra (Buddhism)}}
[[Image:Buddhist Wheel of Life.jpg|upright|thumb|In this 8-meter (25-foot) tall Buddhist relief, made between 1177 and 1249, located at [[Dazu Rock Carvings]], Chongqing, China, [[Mara (demon)|Mara]], Lord of Death and Desire, clutches a Wheel of Reincarnation which outlines the Buddhist cycle of reincarnation. ]]
{{Buddhism|collapsed=1}}

According to various Buddhist scriptures, [[Gautama Buddha]] believed in the existence of an afterlife in another world and in reincarnation,

{{Blockquote|
Since there actually is another world (any world other than the present human one, i.e. different rebirth realms), one who holds the view 'there is no other world' has wrong view...
|Buddha|''[[Majjhima Nikaya]]'' i.402, Apannaka Sutta, translated by Peter Harvey<ref name="Harvey2012p46">{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|pages=32–33, 38–39, 46–49}}</ref>|source=}}

The Buddha also asserted that karma influences rebirth, and that the cycles of repeated births and deaths are endless.<ref name="Harvey2012p46"/><ref name="Neufeldt1986p123">{{cite book|author=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt |title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments | year=1986| publisher=State University of New York Press| isbn=978-0-87395-990-2| pages=123–131}}</ref> Before the birth of Buddha, materialistic school such as [[Charvaka]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Ray Billington|title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-79348-8|page=60}}</ref> posited that death is the end, there is no afterlife, no soul, no rebirth, no karma, and they described death to be a state where a living being is completely annihilated, dissolved.<ref>{{cite book|author= Ray Billington|title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy |year=2002|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-79349-5 |pages=43–44, 58–60 }}</ref> Buddha rejected this theory, adopted the alternative existing theories on rebirth, criticizing the materialistic schools that denied rebirth and karma, states [[Damien Keown]].<ref name=danielkeownucchedavada/> Such beliefs are inappropriate and dangerous, stated Buddha, because such annihilationism views encourage moral irresponsibility and material hedonism;{{Sfn|McClelland|2010|p=21}} he tied moral responsibility to rebirth.<ref name="Harvey2012p46"/><ref name=danielkeownucchedavada>{{cite book|isbn= 978-0-19-860560-7 |title=A Dictionary of Buddhism (Articles titled ucchedavāda, śāśvata-vāda, rebirth) |publisher=Oxford University Press |first=Damien |last=Keown |year=2004 |pages= 80, 162, 225, 255, 315 <!-- |access-date=4 December 2013 -->}}</ref>

The Buddha introduced the concept of ''[[anattā]],'' which asserts that there is no permanent self (soul).<ref name="Kalupahana1975p115">{{cite book|first=David J. |last=Kalupahana |title=Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism |year=1975|publisher=University Press of Hawaii|isbn=978-0-8248-0298-1|pages=115–119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|pages=57–62}}</ref><ref name="Leaman2002p23">{{cite book|author= Oliver Leaman|title= Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings |year=2002|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-68919-4 |pages=23–27 }}</ref> Major contemporary Buddhist traditions such as Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions accept the teachings of Buddha. These teachings assert there is rebirth, there is no permanent self and no irreducible [[Atman (Buddhism)|''ātman'']] (soul) moving from life to another and tying these lives together, there is [[anicca|impermanence]], that all compounded things such as living beings are [[Skandha|aggregates]] dissolve at death, but every being reincarnates.<ref>{{cite book|author=Malcolm B. Hamilton|title=The Sociology of Religion: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives|year= 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-97626-3|pages=73–80}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =Raju | first =P. T. | year =1985 | title =Structural Depths of Indian Thought | publisher =State University of New York Press | isbn =978-0-88706-139-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju| url-access =registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju/page/147 147]–151}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|McClelland|2010|p=89}};<br />{{cite book|author=Hugh Nicholson|title=The Spirit of Contradiction in Christianity and Buddhism |year=2016| publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-045534-7|pages=23–25}}</ref> The rebirth cycles continue endlessly, states Buddhism, and it is a source of ''[[Duḥkha|duhkha]]'' (suffering, pain), but this reincarnation and ''duhkha'' cycle can be stopped through nirvana. The ''[[anattā]]'' doctrine of Buddhism is a contrast to Hinduism, the latter asserting that "soul exists, it is involved in rebirth, and it is through this soul that everything is connected".<ref>{{cite book|first=Walpola |last=Rahula|title=What the Buddha Taught|location=London|publisher=Gordon Fraser |year=1990|page=51}}</ref>{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=58, ''Quote:'' "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next.}}<ref name="buswelllopezp708">{{cite book|author1=Robert E. Buswell Jr.|author2=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|year=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8|pages=708–709}}</ref>

Different traditions within Buddhism have offered different theories on what reincarnates and how reincarnation happens. One theory suggests that it occurs through consciousness (Sanskrit: ''[[vijñāna]]''; Pali: ''samvattanika-viññana'')<ref>([[Majjhima Nikaya|M]].1.256) "Post-Classical Developments in the Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravada Buddhism." by Bruce Matthews. in ''Karma and Rebirth: Post-Classical Developments'' State Univ of New York Press: 1986 {{ISBN|0-87395-990-6}} p. 125</ref><ref>Collins, Steven. ''Selfless persons: imagery and thought in Theravāda Buddhism'' Cambridge University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-521-39726-X}} p. 215, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ruJvjdNQVPIC&dq=samvattanika&pg=RA1-PA115 Google Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212163107/https://books.google.com/books?id=ruJvjdNQVPIC&pg=RA1-PA115&lpg=RA1-PA115&dq=samvattanika&source=bl&ots=d_WluqzeuL&sig=SX1Ua5bfFDZJB16eOueopPtVntw&hl=en&ei=bfpFS5WzOs-UtgfU16z7AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=14&ved=0CD8Q6AEwDQ#v=onepage&q=samvattanika&f=false |date=2022-12-12 }}</ref> or stream of consciousness (Sanskrit: ''[[citta-santāna]]'', ''vijñāna-srotām, or vijñāna-santāna''; Pali: ''viññana-sotam'')<ref>([[Digha Nikaya|D]].3.105) "Post-Classical Developments in the Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravada Buddhism. by Bruce Matthews. in Karma and Rebirth: ''Post-Classical Developments'' State Univ of New York Press: 1986 {{ISBN|0-87395-990-6}} p. 125</ref> upon death, which reincarnates into a new aggregation. This process, states this theory, is similar to the flame of a dying candle lighting up another.{{sfn|Kalupahana|1975|p=83}}<ref>{{cite book|author1=William H. Swatos |author2=Peter Kivisto |title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Society |year=1998|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7619-8956-1|page=66}}</ref> The consciousness in the newly born being is neither identical to nor entirely different from that in the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream in this Buddhist theory. Transmigration is influenced by a being's past ''[[karma]]'' (Pali: ''kamma'').<ref>His Holiness the Dalai Lama, ''How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life'' (New York: Atria Books, 2002), p. 46</ref><ref>Bruce Matthews in Ronald Wesley Neufeldt, editor, ''Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments.'' SUNY Press, 1986, p. 125. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC&dq=Bija+Niyama&pg=PA126 Google.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212163105/https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC&pg=PA126&dq=Bija+Niyama&lr=#PPA125,M1 |date=2022-12-12 }}</ref> The root cause of rebirth, states Buddhism, is the abiding of consciousness in ignorance (Sanskrit: ''[[avidya (Buddhism)|avidya]]''; Pali: ''avijja'') about the nature of reality, and when this ignorance is uprooted, rebirth ceases.<ref>Peter Harvey, ''The Selfless Mind.'' Curzon Press 1995, p. 247.</ref>

[[File:Shamon jigoku zôshi.jpg|thumb|A 12th-century Japanese painting showing one of the six Buddhist realms of reincarnation (''rokudō'', 六道)]]
Buddhist traditions also vary in their mechanistic details on rebirth. Most [[Theravada]] Buddhists assert that rebirth is immediate while the [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan]] and most Chinese and Japanese schools hold to the notion of a ''[[bardo]]'' (intermediate state) that can last up to 49 days.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Robert E. Buswell Jr.|author2=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|year=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8|pages=49–50, 708–709}}</ref><ref>The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Translator. Wisdom Publications. Sutta 44.9</ref> The ''bardo'' rebirth concept of Tibetan Buddhism, originally developed in India but spread to Tibet and other Buddhist countries, and involves 42 peaceful deities, and 58 wrathful deities.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Karma-gliṅ-pa|author2=Chogyam Trungpa|author3=Francesca Fremantle|title=The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo|year=2000|publisher=Shambhala Publications|isbn=978-1-57062-747-7|pages=xi, xvii–xxiii}}</ref> These ideas led to maps on karma and what form of rebirth one takes after death, discussed in texts such as ''[[Bardo Thodol|The Tibetan Book of the Dead]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Karma-gliṅ-pa|author2=Chogyam Trungpa|author3=Francesca Fremantle|title=The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo|year=2000|publisher=Shambhala Publications|isbn=978-1-57062-747-7|pages=4–23}}</ref>{{Sfn|Trainor|2004|pp=210–211}} The major Buddhist traditions accept that the reincarnation of a being depends on the past karma and merit (demerit) accumulated, and that there are six realms of existence in which the rebirth may occur after each death.{{sfn|Trainor|2004|pp=62–63}}{{Sfn|Keown|2013|pp=35–40}}<ref name="Merv Fowler 1999 65"/>

Within Japanese [[Zen]], reincarnation is accepted by some, but rejected by others. A distinction can be drawn between 'folk Zen', as in the Zen practiced by devotional lay people, and 'philosophical Zen'. Folk Zen generally accepts the various supernatural elements of Buddhism such as rebirth. Philosophical Zen, however, places more emphasis on the present moment.{{Sfn|McClelland|2010|p=281}}<ref name=warner>{{citation|last=Warner|first=Brad|title=Hardcore Zen|isbn= 978-0-86171-989-1|publisher=Wisdom Publications|year=2005|page=155}}</ref>

Some schools conclude that [[karma]] continues to exist and adhere to the person until it works out its consequences. For the [[Sautrantika]] school, each act "perfumes" the individual or "plants a seed" that later germinates. Tibetan Buddhism stresses the state of mind at the time of death. To die with a peaceful mind will stimulate a virtuous seed and a fortunate rebirth; a disturbed mind will stimulate a non-virtuous seed and an unfortunate rebirth.<ref>''Transform Your Life'': A Blissful Journey, p. 52), [[Tharpa Publications]] (2001, US ed. 2007) {{ISBN|978-0-9789067-4-0}}</ref>