Thoughts on Buddhism

[mhikl]

. . .
Then when talking about rebirth, there are many who say that you cannot follow the Buddhist path without accepting rebirth as it is fundamental to 'the path' and not much point carrying on if you don't accept it. . .
All the best
Laurens

Namaste Laurens,
as there are many denominations in faith based religions, there are a number of branches of Buddhism. However the basic tenets are the same. First and foremost, Buddhism is not a faith based philosophy or religion and is constantly under scrutiny and change is made when an error in reasoning is found. They Buddha instructed all to question his teachings and never accept a word without study. An example of this is the Dalai Lama as a youth. He saw shadows around the craters he observed on the moon through his telescope. The belief at the time was that the moon was self luminescent, the light coming from within. The shadows proved otherwise and so changes to belief were made.

The belief in reincarnation is interpreted by some that the spirit or soul is reborn in another body, sentient or other. (Buddhism does not believe in the soul. We talk about a life force that goes on as another form, only metaphors and imagery is often invoked for that which is difficult to explain. When the body dies it becomes another form of energy through decay and change.) But the foundation of rebirth is the rebirth in the moment. Moment to moment your body changes, your hair grows, you age, an idea you hold alters. This is the foundation of rebirth. It means change. This you should know from your studies. It can be very reassuring. The fact that it doesn't promise you life after death, to some, distressing. All difficult or pleasant situations will change; for the better or for worse. How you react is the rebirth, the change within you, for the better or for the worse.

The Buddha was asked if there is a god or gods. He replied that what cannot be proved or disproved is left to the individual. It is your choice to believe in a "resurrection" of your life force; it is not a founding principle of Buddhism. Everything changes is its foundation, a pretty simple idea, but profound. Pain and pleasure change. And the clincher for me, you can change your response to the changes you meet in life; they don't have to dictate your mood or reaction. Of course we feel pain wether you are a Buddhist or atheist and you may cry. You may lose a body part through no fault of your own. How you choose to deal with the pain and the lose is your choice.* Such is empowering.

Buddhism doesn't give answers, it only directs you along a paths of understanding so you can make the best choice. The Buddhist is taught throughout his/her life to question. And once you've found some answer that seems to work, continue to question it.

I will reference Wikipedia from the article on Reincarnation pertaining to Buddhism:
The early Buddhist texts make it clear that there is no permanent consciousness that moves from life to life.[88] Gautama Buddha taught a distinct concept of rebirth constrained by the concepts of anattā, that there is no irreducible ātman or "self" tying these lives together,[89] and anicca, that all compounded things are subject to dissolution, including all the components of the human person and personality.

In figurative language we like to show reincarnation as the passing of life energy like the dying candle lighting another candle as it extinguishes. The fist candle no longer burns but nothing of that candle is gone, it has only changed. Every speck of energy is still in existence, somewhere. This is modern physics we would not come to begin to understand in the West until the 19th Century.

Many of the difficulties I perceive on forums such as this is the difference in understanding around dominant brain thinking often explained as left-brain, right-brain thinking. Problems will arise between those who think more clearly through the use of metaphor and images and those who like things spelt out in simple and concrete terms.

The West sees religion along the lines of the concrete; God and man are in separation.
The East (most traditional religions anywhere through time) sees god and man as the same; there is no separation.
The first is left brain sensed and the latter, right brain sensed.

And for the more concrete thinker, man and god does not mean the big guy with the white beard of Michelangelo's ceiling. God is just the creative (feeling, sensing) spark within us.

So rest assured, when you die, you die; regardless your philosophy.+

* a modern day understanding of this comes from
—Viktor Emil Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor who wrote about his experiences in Man's Search for Meaning and
—Albert Ellis, an American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).
Neither were Buddhist's per se, but both came to many of the same understandings the Buddha did, about 2500 years earlier. Their understandings would be better understood by the more concrete thinker.

+ But every particle will continue on for ever as it has been for ever in some form or other.