Some of us are curious about rebirth. Some friends and I
were talking and have no answers to our questions below. Hope
some practising buddhists would enlighten us on, thanks:
1) Will rebirth be possible for those wondering spirits if
they go around haunting people, giving people no peace?
2) Is rebirth only base on one's deeds while living on
earth?
3) If an evil person die, after death he turns over a new
leaf, will he be reborn as human being?
4) For someone who chants and yet practising spreading
malice gossip, break relationships, treat the unfortunate badly be
able to go rebirth to become human being?
This is just to supplement to what AEN has explained.
1) Well, the Buddha tells us that negative thoughts or state of
mind bring about a woeful state of rebirth. If wandering spirits
start and/or continue to haunt people, bringing about fear and
uneasiness, then very likely after their current lifespan as
spirits have expired, they would be reborn in more woeful states of
existence - hell beings for example.
2) It's not just about what we think and do in our present
lifetime. We also need to take into
consideration, the prevailing nature of our
thoughts and deeds for previous countless rebirths. That kind
of insight knowledge is however, beyond the reach of most of us,
who has yet to start practising or has yet to achieve any kind of
stable progress in vipassana meditation taught by the Buddha. An
Arahant can see for himself about 500 previous rebirths and the
Buddha can of course see for himself, as if happening in front of
him, countless past rebirths.
The prevailing nature of our thoughts and deeds (influenced by
habitual mental tendencies cultivated in both this lifetime
and countless past lifetimes) at our last breath
determines to a large extent the kind of environment and the
type of physical or spiritual body we would come to be aware
of at our next rebirth.
3) It can be possible, as no one can tell perfectly (other
than a Buddha) what kind of karma will ripen only
after death. May be good, bad or neutral. This means the timing of
ripening of good or bad karma is known perfectly only by Buddhas.
Based on what I have read so far from various Mahayana sutras and
after some inference and self-reflection, those who try their
best to repent while on their deathbed or the moment they realised
they have done something wrong, will eventually be helped by
their strong, sincere feelings of repentance, in one of the
following ways: a reduction in their lifespan in woeful states of
existence; reduction in the type of suffering endured and
third, one may be liberated by Bodhisattvas or Arahants who have
past strong Dharma affinities with you.
However, like AEN says, any form of repentance after death may
not yield any immediate and predictable signs of rebirth into any
of the 3 good realms of existence; human being one of them.
4) You can refer to the reasoning offered in the 1st question.
The main thing is this, strong habits of good or bad thoughts and
behaviour will influence to a very large extent, our type of
rebirth.
In your example, that person is highly unlikely to be reborn as
a human being due to his persistent bad behaviorial habits in his
present lifetime. The basic conditions for achieving a human
rebirth is that of observing the Five precepts well (no harsh or
false speech being one of them).
Another point to note is this, it's not the duration or method
of chanting you do for your entire lifetime, it's the kind of
attitude, thoughts you cultivate and uphold while chanting or
doing any possible combination of good deeds that
matters.
If one is wholeheartedly sincere in his or her chanting, he
or she would be mindful of any unhealthy thoughts in their mind and
strive to correct them before they take root.
So in your example, that person may not be sincere or may not
have understood enough to be correctly and adequately
motivated in cultivating as pure and calm as possible
a state of mind while doing chanting. This would most
probably mean that there is not enough positive mental energy in
his deep consciousness to counter or purify the
persistent negative thought patterns that translate into bad deeds
that he or she would commit after routine chanting practice.
Hope the above helps in any way possible, your own
reflection of Buddhist teachings about rebirth and karma.