The Controversy about Rebirth and the ‘Safe
Bet’
In the words of
Thanissaro Bhikku in his book ‘The Paradox of Becoming’, he
states;
"The experience
of his Awakening (the Buddha) is what gave him proof that becoming
has both psychological and cosmological dimensions—within the
moment and stretching over lifetimes—with a parallel pattern in
each." One can assumed that during the third watch on the night of his
Awakening, the Buddha may have focused on the mental states of
birth, aging, and death and from there, gained insight into how
these processes functioned in the cosmos as well.
To Buddhists, one who has yet
to attain the stage of cessation of suffering on the break-up of the body after death,
would reappears again in any of the
six plane of existence based on one’s past kammic actions.
A soulless rebirth has
been a controversial
issue in Buddhism. If there is no-soul, what than can go on to
another life? If
something does go on, is this not the same,
or equivalent of a soul? If it is not
a soul, then what is it
that is reborn? With
the denial of a soul, yet an affirmation of rebirth, Buddhism
has often had to resort
to saying that while no person passes from one life to another, the kamma of
each person does pass
from life to life. This then requires a carrier of kamma of some kind to pass from
death to birth or, more
specifically, to conception.
The question of cosmological
rebirth hence, is more of an interest and importance to laity with the goal to obtaining a good rebirth,
then said, ordained monks whose aim are to transcend rebirth
entirely in one lifetime itself. However, there are fundamentalists
and others, such as the Thai Forest Tradition which does not place
much importance on the subject of rebirth and emphasizing such
doctrine as the Paticcasamuppada as a single lifetime mental
process that does not contradict the Buddha’s Teaching of
Anatta.
The concept of rebirth as can
be found in the Suttas should be taken as a belief and not
something that can be experienced or conclusively verified. Rebirth
in this write-up is from the perspective of the
Theravada tradition only. In any case, the beliefs in
rebirth should give one the confidence in the truth of the working
of the doctrine of kamma.
What the Suttas
Says
AN2.18 - Ekamsena Sutta:
Categorically - "Given that I have declared, Ananda, that
bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, & mental misconduct
should not be done,……one dies confused; and — on the break-up of
the body, after death — one reappears in the plane of deprivation,
the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. "I say
categorically, Ananda, that good bodily conduct, good verbal
conduct, & good mental conduct should be done."……and — on the
break-up of the body, after death — one reappears in the good
destinations, in the heavenly world.
MN19 - Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of
Thinking - "When the mind was thus concentrated, purified,
bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady,
& attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the
knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of
beings.
I saw — by means of the divine eye,
purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away &
re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior,
beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance
with their kamma: 'These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct
of body, speech & mind, who reviled the Noble Ones, held wrong
views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views —
with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the
plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms,
in hell. But these beings — who were endowed with
good conduct of body, speech, & mind, who did not revile the
Noble Ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the
influence of right views — with the break-up of the body, after
death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the
heavenly
world.' Thus — by
means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — I
saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how
they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate
& unfortunate in accordance with their
kamma.
SN12.2 -
Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of Dependent
Co-arising - "And
what is birth? Whatever birth, taking
birth, descent, coming-to-be, coming-forth, appearance of
aggregates, & acquisition of [sense] media of the various
beings in this or that group of beings, that is called
birth.
"And what is becoming? These three
are becomings: sensual
becoming, form becoming, & formless becoming. This is called
becoming.
MN9 -
Sammàdiññhisuttaü: Right View - There is, friends. When the noble disciple knows birth,
the arising of birth, the cessation of birth, and the path to the
cessation of birth, with this much, the view rectified, endowed
with unwavering faith in the Teaching he comes to this good
Teaching.
What is birth, what is the arising of
birth, what is the cessation of birth, and what is the path to the
cessation of birth? Birth, origin, coming to be, rebirth, the
arising of the masses, the gain of mental faculties, in this and
other class of beings, is birth. With the arising of being there is
the arising of birth; with the cessation of being there is
cessation of birth. This same noble eightfold path is the path to
the cessation of birth, such as right view, right thoughts, right
speech, right actions, right livelihood, right effort, right
mindfulness, and right concentration.
There are also many other
Suttas on the subject of rebirth such as in AN8.36, 4.126, SN1.47,
3.4, 3.17, 3.20, 12.38, just to mention a few.
In SN22.86, the Buddha declared, “Both formerly
& now, it is only Stress
that I describe, and the cessation of Stress." To some, any
discourse that is not in accord with the teaching of the Third
Noble Truth on the cessation of stress and suffering should not be
taken too literally and is a teaching of not much importance. (One
would assume in the case of ordained monks). Hence the teaching of
rebirth is interpreted by such believers as a series of becoming,
birth and death of our mental states instead.
Support Base for
Becoming
Kamma, Consciousness, and
Craving are the three necessary requirements for becoming to arise
follow by birth to occur. The Buddha uses the analogy of Field
(kamma), Seed (consciousness), and Moisture (craving) to explain
the production of renewed becoming. Kamma as the results of past
& present intentions contains the possibility of becoming with
craving of the four nutriments giving rise to consciousness and
together providing a particular opportunity for the eventual
production of renewed becoming in the future within the range of
possibilities from the results of past and present
kamma.
AN3.76 - Bhava Sutta:
Becoming - "Lord, this word, 'becoming, becoming' — to
what extent is there becoming?"
"Ananda, if there were no kamma ripening in
the sensuality, (form, formless)-property, would sensuality, (form,
formless)-becoming be discerned?"
"No, lord."
"Thus kamma (result of both past &
present intention) is the field, consciousness the seed, and
craving the moisture. The consciousness of living beings hindered
by ignorance & fettered by craving is established in/tuned to a
(lower, middling, formless) property respectively. Thus there is
the production of renewed becoming in the
future.
MN136 - Maha-kammavibhanga Sutta:
The Great Exposition of Kamma - 19. "So, Ananda, there is kamma
that is incapable (of good result) and appears incapable (of good
result); there is kamma that is incapable (of good result) and
appears capable (of good result); there is kamma that is capable
(of good result) and appears capable (of good result); there is
kamma that is capable (of good result) and appears incapable (of
good result)."
MN38 - Mahatanhasankhayasuttam:
Destruction of Craving - "Monks, there are these four
nutriments for the maintenance of beings who have come into being
or for the support of those in search of a place to be born. Which
four? Physical food, gross or refined; contact as the second,
intellectual intention the third, and consciousness the
fourth.
"Now, these four nutriments have what as
their cause, what as their origination, through what are they born,
through what are they brought into being? These four nutriments
have craving as their cause, craving as their origination, are born
from craving, are brought into being from
craving.
…..Because of craving, clinging arises.
Because of clinging, becoming arises. Because of becoming, birth
arises. Because of birth old age, sickness, death, grief, lament,
unpleasantness, displeasure and distress arise. Thus arises the
complete mass of dukkha.
SN12.64 - Atthi Raga Sutta: Where
There is Passion - "There are these four nutriments for the maintenance
of beings who have come into being or for the support of those in
search of a place to be born.
Which four? Physical food, gross or
refined; contact as the second, intellectual intention the third,
and consciousness the fourth. These are the four nutriments for the
maintenance of beings who have come into being or for the support
of those in search of a place to be born.
"Where there is passion, delight, &
craving for the nutriment of physical food, (contact, intellectual
intention, and consciousness,) consciousness lands there and
increases. Where consciousness lands and increases there is the
alighting of name-&-form. Where there is the alighting of
name-&-form, there is the growth of fabrications. Where there
is the growth of fabrications, there is the production of renewed
becoming in the future. Where there is the production of renewed
becoming in the future, there is future birth, aging, & death,
together, I tell you, with sorrow, affliction, &
despair.
The Carrier of
Rebirth
MN38 - Mahatanhasankhayasuttam:
Destruction of Craving - "Monks, the descent of the
embryo occurs with the union of three things. There is the case
where there is no union of the mother & father, the mother is
not in her season, and a gandhabba is not
present, nor is there a descent of an embryo. There is the case
where there is a union of the mother & father, and the mother
is in her season, but a gandhabba is not
present, nor is there a descent of an embryo. But when there is a
union of the mother & father, the mother is in her season, and
a gandhabba is present, then with this
union of three things the descent of the embryo occurs. Then for
nine or ten months the mother shelters the embryo in her womb with
great anxiety, as a heavy burden.
Milinda Pannha Bk iii, Chapter 5
para.5 - The king
said: 'Where there is no transmigration, Nâgasena, can there be
rebirth?'
'Yes, there can.'
'But how can that be? Give me an illustration.'
'Suppose a man, O king, were to light a lamp from another lamp, can
it be said that the one transmigrates from, or to, the
other?'
'Certainly not.'
'Just so, great king, is rebirth without transmigration.'
'Give me a further illustration.'
'Do you recollect, great king, having learnt, when you were a boy,
some verse or other from your teacher?'
'Yes, I recollect that.'
'Well then, did that verse transmigrate from your teacher?'
'Certainly not.'
'Just so, great king, is rebirth without transmigration.'
'Very good, Nâgasena!'
In MN38, one would assume the
gandhabba is the carrier of the seeds of pass kammic actions into
the next birth. Although the Milinda Pannha does provide some idea
on the process of rebirth, it gives no hint as to how these pass
kammic seeds are stored and carried over to the next existence. It
is only in the Abhidhamma Pitaka that the term Bhavanga-sota,
the so-called 'subconscious
life-stream' or undercurrent of life is used to explain how kammic
seeds are stored and how this subconscious life-stream takes
rebirth. This term is not found in the Suttas.
About Anatta
The Buddha’s doctrine of
Anatta or Not-self states that the
‘self’ is impermanent, painful and subject to change, and in
SN22.59 - Anatta-lakkhana Sutta is regarded thus: 'This is not
mine, this is not I, this is not myself’. However, the Blessed One
did not teach that there is No-Self as such.
SN22.89 - Khemaka Sutta: About
Khemaka - "Just
like a cloth, dirty & stained: Its owners give it over to a
washerman, who scrubs it with salt earth or lye or cow-dung and
then rinses it in clear water. Now even though the cloth is clean
& spotless, it still has a lingering residual scent of salt
earth or lye or cow-dung. The washerman gives it to the owners, the
owners put it away in a scent-infused wicker hamper, and its
lingering residual scent of salt earth, lye, or cow-dung is fully
obliterated.
"In the same way, friends, even though a
noble disciple has abandoned the five lower fetters, he still has
with regard to the five clinging-aggregates (form, feeling,
perception, fabrications and consciousness) a lingering residual 'I
am' conceit, an 'I am' desire, an 'I am' obsession. But at a later
time he keeps focusing on the phenomena of arising & passing
away with regard to the five clinging-aggregates: 'Such is form,
such its origin, such its disappearance. Such is feeling... Such is
perception... Such are fabrications... Such is consciousness, such
its origin, such its disappearance.' As he keeps focusing on the
arising & passing away of these five clinging-aggregates, the
lingering residual 'I am' conceit, 'I am' desire, 'I am' obsession
is fully obliterated."
A Safe Bet
MN 60 -
Apannaka Sutta: A Safe Bet: on the question of Existence &
non-existence in
para. B3, It is stated
as follows, "With regard to this, a wise person considers thus: 'If
there is the next world, then this venerable person — on the
break-up of the body, after death — will reappear in the good
destination, the heavenly world. Even if we didn't speak of the
next world, and there weren't the true statement of those venerable
brahmans & contemplatives, this venerable person is still
praised in the here-&-now by the wise as a person of good
habits & right view: one who holds to a doctrine of existence.
If there really is a next world, then this venerable person has
made a good throw twice, in that he is praised by the wise
here-&-now; and in that — with the break-up of the body, after
death — he will reappear in the good destination, the heavenly
world. Thus this safe-bet teaching, when well grasped & adopted
by him, covers both sides, and leaves behind the possibility of the
unskillful.
We can conclude
from the discourse in MN60 that it is a
safe bet for one to believe that there is the existence of physical
rebirths even if we are not able to find solid evidences on the
subject. At least, we will not fall into the trap of becoming a
nihilist or materialist which would be detrimental to the
cultivation of our spiritual life.
If we take out
the concept of Time and Space in any rebirth equations; Time in
term of what is past, present and future; Space, an outward
projection of time from our mind in term of sensuality, form and
formless realms of existence, what we get is a stream of continuous
mental becoming, birth and death that go on and on until cessation
of suffering is experienced and realised. In this way, the beliefs
in rebirth would not contradict the Buddha’s doctrine of Not-self
as the controversy of a migrating ‘self’ would not exist in the
whole equation. And if one, is at the same time living a moral life
by the ten good deeds in actions of body, speech and mind, have no
doubts in the Buddha’s Teaching of the efficacy of Kamma and the
Four Noble Truths, than the beliefs in mental rebirth alone can
also be a safe bet as well. Such is the paradox on the subject
Rebirth.