CHAPTER 24
REASONS TO BELIEVE IN REBIRTH
"I recalled my varied lot in former
existences."
-- MAJJHIMA NIKĀYA
How
are we to believe in rebirth?
The Buddha is our greatest authority on
rebirth. On the very night of His Enlightenment, during the first watch,
the Buddha developed retro-cognitive knowledge which enabled Him to read
His past lives.
"I recalled," He declares, "my varied lot in
former existences as follows: first one life, then two lives, then three,
four, five, ten, twenty, up to fifty lives, then a hundred, a thousand, a
hundred thousand and so forth.
[1]"
During the second watch the Buddha, with
clairvoyant vision, perceived beings disappearing from one state of
existence and reappearing in another. He beheld the "base and the noble,
the beautiful and the ugly, the happy and the miserable, passing according
to their deeds."
These are the very first utterances of the
Buddha regarding the question of rebirth. The textual references
conclusively prove that the Buddha did not borrow this stern truth of
rebirth from any pre-existing source, but spoke from personal knowledge --
a knowledge which was supernormal, developed by Himself, and which could
be developed by others as well.
In His first paean of joy (udāna), the
Buddha says:
"Through many a birth (anekajāti),
wandered I, seeking the builder of this house. Sorrowful indeed is birth
again and again (dukkhājātipunappunam).
[2]"
In the Dhammacakka Sutta,
[3] His very
first discourse, the Buddha, commenting on the second Noble truth, states:
"This very craving is that which leads to rebirth" (y'āyam tanhā
ponobhavikā). The Buddha concludes this discourse with the words:
"This is my last birth. Now there is no more rebirth (ayam antimā jāti
natthi dāni punabbhavo)."
The Majjhima Nikāya relates that when
the Buddha, out of compassion for beings, surveyed the world with His
Buddha-vision before He decided to teach the Dhamma, He perceived beings
who, with fear, view evil and a world beyond (paralokavajjabhayadassāvino).
[4]
In several discourses the Buddha clearly states
that beings, having done evil, are, after death (parammaranā), born
in woeful states, and beings having done good, are born in blissful
states. Besides the very interesting Jātaka stories, which deal
with His previous lives and which are of ethical importance, the
Majjhima Nikāya and the Anguttara Nikāya make incidental
references to some of the past lives of the Buddha.
In the Ghatikāra Sutta,
[5] the Buddha
relates to the Venerable Ānanda that He was born as Jotipāla,
in the time of the Buddha Kassapa, His immediate predecessor. The
Anāthapindikavāda Sutta
[6] describes a
nocturnal visit of Anāthapindika to the Buddha, immediately after
his rebirth as a Deva. In the Anguttara Nikāya,
[7] the Buddha
alludes to a past birth as Pacetana the wheelright. In the
Samyuttta Nikāya, the Buddha cites the names of some Buddhas who
preceded Him.
An unusual direct reference to departed ones
appears in the Parinibbāna Sutta.
[8] The
Venerable Ānanda desired to know from the Buddha the future state
of several persons who had died in a particular village. The Buddha
patiently described their destinies.
Such instances could easily be multiplied from
the Tipitaka to show that the Buddha did expound the doctrine of rebirth
as a verifiable truth.
[9]
Following the Buddha's instructions, His
disciples also developed this retro-cognitive knowledge and were able to
read a limited, though vast, number of their past lives. The Buddha's
power in this direction was limitless.
Certain Indian Rishis, too, prior to the advent
of the Buddha, were distinguished for such supernormal powers as
clairaudience, clairvoyance telepathy, telesthesia, and so forth.
Although science takes no cognizance of these
supernormal faculties, yet, according to Buddhism, men with highly
developed mental concentration cultivate these psychic powers and read
their past just as one would recall a past incident of one's present life.
With their aid, independent of the five senses, direct communication of
thought and direct perception of other worlds are made possible.
Some extraordinary persons, especially in their
childhood, spontaneously develop, according to the laws of association,
the memory of their past births and remember fragments of their previous
lives.[10]
(Pythagoras) is said to have distinctly remembered a shield in a
Grecian temple as having been carried by him in a previous incarnation at
the siege of Troy.
[11] Somehow or
other these wonderful children lose that memory later, as is the case with
many infant prodigies.
Experiences of some dependable modern psychists,
ghostly phenomena, spirit communication, strange alternate and multiple
personalities
[12] also shed some
light upon this problem of rebirth.
In hypnotic states some can relate experiences
of their past lives, while a few others, like Edgar Cayce of
America, were able not only to read the past lives of others but also to
heal diseases.
[13]
The phenomenon of secondary personalities has
to be explained either as remnants of past personal experiences or as
"possession by an invisible spirit." The former explanation appears more
reasonable, but the latter cannot totally be rejected.
How often do we meet persons whom we have never
before met, but who, we instinctively feel, are familiar to us? How often
do we visit places and instinctively feel impressed that we are perfectly
acquainted with those surroundings?
[14]
The Dhammapada commentary relates the story of
a husband and wife who, seeing the Buddha, fell at His feet and saluted
Him, saying -- "Dear son, is it not the duty of sons to care for their
mother and father when they have grown old. Why is it that for so long a
time you have not shown yourself to us? This is the first time we have
seen you?"
The Buddha attributed this sudden outburst of
parental love to the fact that they had been His parents several times
during His past lives and remarked:
"Through previous association or present
advantage
That old love springs up again like the lotus in the water.
[15]"
There arise in this world highly developed
personalities, and Perfect Ones like the Buddhas. Could they evolve
suddenly? Could they be the products of a single existence?
How are we to account for personalities like
Confucius, Pānini, Buddhaghosa, Homer and Plato, men of genius
like Kāli½āsa, Shakespeare, infant prodigies like Ramanujan,
Pascal, Mozart, Beethoven and so forth?
Could they be abnormal if they had not led
noble lives and acquired similar experiences in the past? Is it by mere
chance that they are born of those particular parents and placed under
those favourable circumstances?
Infant prodigies, too, seem to be a problem for
scientists. Some medical men are of opinion that prodigies are the outcome
of abnormal glands, especially the pituitary, the pineal and the adrenal
gland. The extra-ordinary hypertrophy of glands of particular individuals
may also be due to a past Kammic cause. But how, by mere hypertrophy of
glands, one Christian Heineken could talk within a few hours of his
birth, repeat passages from the Bible at the age of one year, answer any
question on Geography at the age of two, speak French and Latin at the age
of three, and be a student of philosophy at the age of four; how John
Stuart Mill could read Greek at the age of three; how Macaulay
could write a world history at the age of six; how William James Sidis,
wonder child of the United States, could read and write at the age of
two, speak French, Russian, English, German with some Latin and Greek at
the age of eight; how Charles Bennet of Manchester could speak in
several languages at the age of three; are wonderful events
incomprehensible to non- scientists.[16]
Nor does science explain why glands should hypertrophy in just a few and
not in all. The real problem remains unsolved.
Heredity alone cannot account for prodigies,
"else their ancestry would disclose it, their posterity, in even greater
degree than themselves, would demonstrate it."
The theory of heredity should be supplemented
by the doctrine of Kamma and rebirth for an adequate explanation of these
puzzling problems.
Is it reasonable to believe that the present
span of life is the only existence between two eternities of happiness and
misery? The few years we spend here, at most but five score years, must
certainly be an inadequate preparation for eternity.
If one believes in the present and a future, it
is logical to believe in a past.
If there be reason to believe that we have
existed in the past, then surely there are no reasons to disbelieve that
we shall continue to exist after our present life has apparently ceased.
[17]
It is indeed a strong argument in favour of
past and future lives that "in this world virtuous persons are very often
unfortunate and vicious persons prosperous.
[18]"
We are born into the state created by
ourselves. If, in spite of our goodness, we are compelled to lead an
unfortunate life, it is due to our past evil Kamma. If, in spite of our
wickedness, we are prosperous, it is also due to our past good Kamma. The
present good and bad deeds will, however, produce their due effects at the
earliest possible opportunity.
A Western writer says:
"Whether we believe in a past existence or not,
it forms the only reasonable hypothesis which bridges certain gaps in
human knowledge concerning facts of everyday life. Our reason tells us
that this idea of past birth and Kamma alone can explain, for example, the
degrees of differences that exist between twins; how men like Shakespeare
with a very limited experience are able to portray, with marvellous
exactitude, the most diverse types of human character, scenes, and so
forth, of which they could have no actual knowledge, why the work of the
genius invariably transcends his experience, the existence of infant
precocity, and the vast diversity in mind and morals, in brain and
physique, in conditions, circumstances and environments, observable
throughout the world."
What do Kamma and Rebirth explain?
1. They account for the problem of
suffering for which we ourselves are responsible.
2. They explain the inequality of mankind.
3. They account for the arising of geniuses
and infant prodigies.
4. They explain why identical twins who are
physically alike, enjoying equal privileges, exhibit totally different
characteristics, mentally, morally, temperamentally and intellectually.
5. They account for the dissimilarities amongst
children of the same family, though heredity may account for the
similarities.
6. They account for the extraordinary innate
abilities of some men.
7. They account for the moral and intellectual
differences between parents and children.
8. They explain how infants spontaneously
develop such passions as greed, anger and jealousy.
9. They account for instinctive likes and
dislikes at first sight.
10. They explain how in us are found "a rubbish
heap of evil and a treasure-house of good."
11. They account for the unexpected outburst of
passion in a highly civilised person, and for the sudden transformation of
a criminal into a saint.
They explain how profligates are born to
saintly parents, and saintly children to profligates.
13. They explain how, in one sense, we are the
result of what we were, we will be the result of what we are; and, in
another sense, we are not absolutely what we were, and we will not be
absolutely what we are.
14. They explain the causes of untimely deaths
and unexpected changes in fortune.
15. Above all they account for the arising of
omniscient, perfect spiritual teachers, like the Buddhas, who possess
incomparable physical, mental, and intellectual characteristics.
[1]
Majjhima Nikāya i, Mahāsaccaka Sutta, No. 36, i. 248.
[2] Dhammapada, v.
153.
[3] Mahā Vagga, p.
10, Samyutta Nikāya v. 428, See chapter 6.
[4] Majjhima Nikāya
i, 169.
[5] Majjhima Nikāya
ii, 45 (No. 81).
[6] Ibid., iii. 258
(No. 143).
[7] Part i, 111
[8] Digha Nikāya ii,
91 (No. 16).
[9] Cp. Mr. J. G.
Jennings, The Vedantic Buddhism of the Buddha.
[10] The case of
Shanti Devi of India is a striking example. See The Bosat, vol.
xiii, No. 2. p. 27
[11] William W.
Atkinson and E. D. Walter, Reincarnation and the Law of Kamma.
[12] Psalms of
the Brethren (Theragāthā) gives an interesting account of a Brahmin
named Vangisa, "who won favour as a teacher by tapping on skulls with his
finger nails and discovering thereby where their former occupants were
reborn."
Certain persons at times exhibit different
personalities in the course of their particular lives. Prof. James cites
some remarkable cases in his Principles of Psychology. See F. W.
H. Myers, Human Personality and its survival of bodily Death.
The Visuddhi Magga mentions an interesting incident of a deva entering
into the body of a layman. See The Path of Purity, part i, p. 48.
The writer himself (Ven. Nārada) has met
persons who were employed as mediums by invisible beings to convey their
thoughts and some others who were actually possessed by evil spirits.
When in this hypnotic state they speak and do things of which normally
they are totally innocent and which they cannot afterwards recall.
[13]
See Many Mansions and The World
Within by Gina Cerminara.
[14] "It was such
experiences that led Sir Walter Scott to a sense of metempsychosis. His
biographer Lockhart quotes in his Life of Scott the following entry
in Scott's diary for February 17th, 1828.
"I cannot, I am sure, tell if it is worth
marking down, that yesterday at dinner time, I was strangely haunted by
what I would call the sense of pre-existences, viz., a confused idea that
nothing that passed was said for the first time, that the same topics had
been discussed and the persons had stated the same opinions on them. The
sensation was so strong as to resemble what is called a mirage in the
desert and calenture on board ship. "Bulwer Lytton describes these
mysterious experiences as that strange kind of inner and spiritual memory
which often recalls to us places and persons we have never seen before,
and which Platonists would resolve to be the unquenched and struggling
consciousness of a former life." H.M. Kitchener, The Theory of'
Reincarnation, p. 7.
The writer also has met some persons who
remember fragments of their past births and also a distinguished doctor in
Europe who hypnotises people and makes them describe some of their past
lives
[15]
See Buddhist Legends, vol. 3, p. 108.
[16]
Ceylon Observer, November 21, 1948.
[17] "We have come
to look upon the present as the child of the past and as the parent of the
future." T. H. Huxley.
[18] Addison.
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