The nature of samsaric evolution is not such that death is
followed by
nothingness, nor that humans are always reborn as humans and
insects as
insects. On the contrary, we all carry within us the karmic
potencies of all
realms of cyclic existence. Many beings transmigrate from higher to
lower
realms, others from lower to higher. The selection of a place of
rebirth is
not directly in our own hands but is conditioned by our karma and
delusions.
They who possess spiritual understanding can control their destiny
at the
time of death, but for ordinary beings the process is very much an
automatic
chain reaction of karmic seeds and habitual psychic response
patterns....
Our repeated experience of frustration, dissatisfaction and misery
does not
have external conditions as its root cause. The problem is mainly
our lack
of spiritual development. As a result of this handicap, the mind
is
controlled principally by afflicted emotions and illusions.
Attachment,
aversion and ignorance rather than a free spirit, love and wisdom
are the
guiding forces. Recognizing this simple truth is the beginning of
the
spiritual path.
-- by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated and edited by Glenn Mullin,
from "The
Path to Enlightenment", published by Snow Lion Publications