Over these many years I have noticed a hardening of the general belief that the Buddha denied an afterlife, specifically, that after this life there is no more continuation for us. The following I found on the Internet sums up this view.
However the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth should be differentiated from the transmigration and reincarnation of other systems, because Buddhism denies the existence of a transmigrating permanent soul, created by a God or emanating from a Paramātmā (Supreme or Universal Soul) (Source).
It should be obvious, however, to anyone who has read the Pali Nikayas that the Buddha was not a rebirth-denier or a reincarnation-denier; not in the same way a modern is.
So what is the reason for this entrenched position? I am inclined to believe that most of it is do to materialism. By this I mean that many people are under the strong conviction that the material body is really who they are. They believe their thoughts and consciousness come from the physical brain which is an organ of the body. When the body dies, which includes the brain—that’s it. What possibly could survive?
When such types become interested in Buddhism they are usually just content doing meditation and practicing mindfulness because both tend to work to make their life easier. What they don’t understand is that their consciousness survives the death of the body.
It has never been the soul or ātman that transmigrates but, instead, consciousness which is why Buddhist meditation works on transcending the resting-places of consciousness (vijñāna-sthiti) which can only be accomplished in the 4th dhyāna. In the Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha says, “I enter into nirvāṇa when the vijñāna which is caused by discrimination ceases.” And in the Pali Nikayas we come across this interesting conversation between the Buddha and Ānanda in which it should be obvious that consciousness is the transmigrant:
"If consciousness were not to come into the mother's womb, would mind-and-body develop there? 'No, Lord.’ Or if consciousness, having entered the mother's womb, were to be deflected, would mind-and-body come to birth in this life?' 'No, Lord.' 'And if the consciousness of such a tender young being, boy or girl, were thus cut off, would mind-and-body grow, develop and mature?' 'No, Lord.' 'There- fore, Ānanda , just this, namely consciousness, is the root, the cause, the origin, the condition of mind-and-body" (D. ii. 63).
Frankly, if I were a betting man, I would bet that this will not convince any Western Buddhist who is an entrenched materialist to give up their belief that there is no afterlife. Certainly not rebirth or reincarnation. But isn't the whole point of Buddhist meditation to transcend the resting-places of consciousness and thereby become free from further rebirth?
A few observations:
1) upon attaining unsurpassed awakening, Buddha Shakyamuni revealed full knowledge of his past lives. These are not past versions of himself in this life, these are names and entities that lived and died in the past. He said, "this is my final birth", thus he attained Buddhahood.
2) Almost every culture and spiritual tradition has intuitively understood the continuation of life in a cycle or wheel after bodily death, most especially those of India, but not exclusively so.
3) The very problem of existence, as explained in the Tathagatagarbha sutras, is one of false recognition of the real, which is absolute, and any divisions (body, personhood, personal experience or insight) therein are of a lesser reality (conditioned). To presume "this life is it" is itself a misunderstanding of Buddhism at a fundamental level which points to a nature of reality far greater than individual life forms, in my opinion.
There are many other arguments to be made, but only a distorted picture of Buddhism could possibly support such a view as presently taught in Zen schools that this life is the only life.
How does a fly or rodent attain nirvana in this life? It kind of makes a joke of the Bodhisattva vow to save all beings. What is salvation if not transcendence of birth/death (samsara)?
Posted by: n. yeti | November 14, 2017 at 07:52 AM