Download Comparison of Reincarnation Beliefs

Justin Read
Term Paper
Hono3191
Professor Gay Lynch
Comparative Reincarnation Beliefs
Reincarnation, despite not being part of the three Abrahamic religions, plays a big
role in systems of belief all over the globe. The idea of reincarnation in brief is simple, that
when a person dies their spirit returns to inhabit another body; but among religions that
believe in reincarnation, there are numerable differences and subtleties of belief. For the
purpose of this paper I will be comparing three religious beliefs about reincarnation: the
Hindu belief, the Buddhist belief, and beliefs generally held among the North American
Indians.
In Hinduism the process of reincarnation is called samsara. The soul begins in very
basic organisms and slowly reincarnates up through more and more diverse organisms.
During this period the atman, or soul, experiences fairly automatic growth. Once the atman
reincarnates into a human, its growth is no longer automatic, and the atman becomes, for
lack of a better expression, self aware of its current incarnation. At this time karma has
shaped its path to an extent but will now play a more active role. The intentions and actions
of the person will now directly affect the future, for both the current physical body that the
atman is in and for the atman in its future incarnation (Smith, H.).
The atman continues the samsara until it can achieve moksha, which is the
liberation from rebirth and the goal of the Hindu religion. Moksha involves the atman
reuniting with god and living in eternal oneness. However, this process is usually a long
one. The atman, when it first is reincarnated as a human, experiences far more than it did
as lesser life forms and becomes distracted. Eventually it grows tired with the distractions,
and gradually improves its purpose to advancing the self, to advancing others, and to the
community. During this process of samsara the karma that the atman incurs through its
incarnations determine what position the atman will be reincarnated into. The more the
atman matures and develops over the incarnations the more selfless its goals are and the
more it begins to see the divinity within. Eventually, over many reincarnations it will
pursue the eternal good, dissolve the perception of and belief in the finite self, and the
person will understand their underlying divinity within and unite with the oneness of god
(Smith, H.).
The Buddhist view on the soul and reincarnation is different than the Hindu view,
although both share the goal of liberation from continual rebirth. The Buddha taught his
followers anatta, that there is no permanent identity or soul. However, there is an
animating life force that reincarnates the next person, like the flame of one candle being
passed to the next candle. There can even be some residual imprint from the previous
incarnation, left by the remainder of particularly strong feelings or desires, however this
fades (Smith, H.).
In Buddhism Nirvana is the ultimate goal; to become an awakened, enlightened
being. Nirvana, like moksha in Hinduism, is the extinguishing of boundaries around the
finite self (Smith, H.). Once this is achieved, a person, upon death, can choose to break apart
from continual rebirth and suffering and go to salvation. They can also choose to be
continually reborn as a bodhisattva, and enlightened being, in order to help others to
achieve enlightenment (Novak, P.).
In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, instructions concerning reincarnation outline what
is to be told to a dying person. These instructions begin by telling the person to rouse their
energy so they can enter a state of mental separation from the body. A colorless light of
emptiness will appear, and one should recognize it as their true self, although many don’t.
Then, Buddhas and bodhisattvas will appear to the person for 7 days. If they can pray with
intense faith and humility, they will merge with the Buddhas and attain salvation. If not,
they will be confronted with angry deities/demons for 7 days. The demons are another
representation of the person, and if they realize that then they go to salvation; if not then
the person will face Yama, king of the dead. He will show them the mirror of karma and
reveal all the deeds they did in their life. However, Yama is the person, and the mirror is
their memories, and the person pronounces judgment on himself or herself. From there 6
paths will appear, and based on the person’s self judgment they will go to either heaven, a
warring realm, be reincarnated as a human again, or as an animal, become a ghost, or go to
the hells full of anger and conflict (Novak, P.).
Hinduism and Buddhism are both ethicized eschatologies, meaning that they
portray the afterlife as differentiated into either a positive reward or a negative
punishment. They also include transcending from terrestrial life at the culmination of
achievement. This contrasts with the reincarnation beliefs of the North American Indians,
who don’t have the concept of salvation in their belief. Their belief is categorized as an
unethicized eschatology, in which the afterlife is similar to society on earth and the goal is
to return to terrestrial life (Mills, Slobodin).
The American Indians, or Amerindians, believe in the equality of human
consciousness with the consciousness of other life forms. They observe ethics of humananimal interaction and conduct themselves so that beings whose lives they take choose to
reincarnate again to give them selves for human survival. The conduct is based on respect
for an equal life form and the goal is to grant the being release in the spirit realm and then
to have it return to the physical realm. In this area the Amerindians hold a belief similar to
karma, that if they don’t honor and respect the being they kill, then it will not reincarnate,
and the Amerindians will have less food and be worse off (Mills, Slobodin).
They hold a similar belief towards humans. It isn’t a damning act to take a human
life; it is an act that carries consequences in this world and the spirit realm for both the
killer and the killed (Mills, Slobodin). In Hinduism, killing would bring bad karma to a
person and impact their reincarnation and spiritual journey, while in Buddhism the lack of
compassion involved in killing another being is very terrible. In Amerindian beliefs, after
death a person goes to another plane, much like the spirit realm where animals go, and can
appear as ghosts to us on this plane. There are multiple planes and there is continuous
interaction between them, one form of which takes place when one of the spirits is
reincarnated in this plane (Mills, A.). Some beliefs surrounding this reincarnation include
name soul, in which a baby is sickly and unhappy until it gets the name of the person/spirit
it truly is. Amerindians also believe that babies that die young come back to be
reincarnated quickly as the other gender, and that a person can be reincarnated multiple
times simultaneously (Mills, Slobodin).
Another reincarnation belief is kinship, in which people are reincarnated into the
same family or group, ideally are given the same name, fill the same role as their previous
incarnation, and share similar personal traits. Often totems are used to protect lineal
society and reincarnations in families and groups. Like Buddhism, Amerindians believe
people can be reincarnated as animals, however it is not viewed negatively and people
often have personal connections to certain animals (Mills, Slobodin).
The general goal of Amerindian reincarnation and life is the evolution and
interpenetration of successive worlds or planes, which they believe are connected
temporally and through the reincarnation process. All beings are reincarnated and all
beings are essential to the interconnected welfare of those living on earth and in other
planes (Mills, Slobodin).
The differences between the three eschatologies are evident despite the same
general belief being exercised. The main difference that begets all subsequent differences is
eschatology, being either ethicized or unethicized. Buddhism and Hinduism are salvation
oriented belief systems and because of the desire to achieve salvation they have many
different beliefs and perspectives from the Amerindians. One of the main concepts in
Hinduism and Buddhism is killing another being negatively impacts one’s journey towards
salvation, whereas in Amerindian belief the killing is fine so long as they respect the spirit
so that it will return. Hinduism and Buddhism are progressive by nature; there is an end,
and the means to achieve it, which includes following certain steps for one’s personal
development and understanding of the world. Amerindian belief is differently
transcendent, individual yet collective, and focuses on the evolution and interpenetration
of planes and the wellbeing of all interconnected living beings rather than salvation.
Personally, I appreciate different aspects from these beliefs, however the Amerindian belief
intrigues me more with the collective mentality and the concept of different planes of
existence but without an end salvation. I would only add the selflessness and meditation
stressed by the other two religions to the equation to make my own personal reincarnation
belief system.
Works Cited
Mills, Antonia C. "A Comparison of Wet'suwet'en Cases of the Reincarnation Type with
Gitksan and Beaver." Journal of Anthropological Research 44 (1988): 385-415.
Mills, Antonia Curtze., and Richard Slobodin. Amerindian Rebirth: Reincarnation Belief
among North American Indians and Inuit. Toronto: U of Toronto, 1994.
Novak, Philip. The World's Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World's Religions. San
Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. Print.
Smith, Huston. The Worlds Religions. N.p.: HarperCollins, 1991. Print.