The Possibility of Continuation
A philosophical reflection on rebirth & the Buddhist path
As a Buddhist, I have been asked on many occasions whether or not I ‘believe’ in reincarnation or rebirth. It’s a question I ask myself and have discussed at length with others. Some of my fellow practitioners reasonably express why belief in rebirth is unnecessary for their practice, while others present it as essential.
My current working hypothesis is one in which rebirth makes good sense. I don’t ‘believe’ in rebirth so much as I accept it as extremely likely. If energy in a closed system cannot be created nor destroyed, and every action has an equal and opposite reaction, then rebirth is a logical working theory.
To explain how I’ve come to understand rebirth, I begin with looking at how clouds are formed. A cloud is not an inherent ‘thing’. Clouds are made up of multiple elements from water particles to dust, and they require particular conditions in order that they may form. They are also impermanent, shifting and changing, eventually falling as rain or snow, or dispersing through evaporation. When a cloud forms, it requires the same elements each time, but not the identical particles. It is very much a cloud, but it is not a solid thing.
A cloud forms, builds, and dissipates according to various factors. Clouds come and go. Nothing about the water, dust or temperature gives the cloud an identity and yet clouds can be unique. When a cloud is no longer a cloud the elements that made it up don’t cease to exist, they simply take on different forms. A cloud does not go into ‘nothing’ and it is because of this that new clouds can form.
This coming together of multiple elements and the right conditions is how all things come into being. As humans, we have consciousness as part of that assembly. Without my consciousness to consider whether or not I exist, or if what I do matters, I would simply continue to cycle through birth and death, just as clouds form and dissipate, without a thought.
Often, the way ‘rebirth’ or ‘reincarnation’ are talked about gives the entire concept an air of mysticism. Past lives seem whimsical, associated with magical thinking. What makes up our consciousness is brought into question. Is consciousness our awareness? Our thoughts? Our personality? And, if we are taking the Buddhist view and accepting that everything is impermanent and nothing is inherent, then what reincarnates?
This is when the Buddhist teachings on emptiness weigh in. Nothing that takes a form has an inherent quality as all things exist in relationship to all other things. But that doesn’t mean the form is lacking in existence, or qualities will not continue on even when the form changes.
When I was born in this particular manifestation, it wasn’t a spontaneous happening. I did not spring from a lotus flower or my mother’s forehead. It wasn’t even a case of her womb being empty and then suddenly full of a baby. There was no stork. My current manifestation was a gradual process of cell clusters invisible to the naked eye growing upon one another, eventually taking on what we recognise and label as a human form. When consciousness enters that form is unknown.
The question of what consciousness consists of is one that philosophers and scientists have asked for some time. Consider consciousness as not a single thread from one life to the next, but more like the river or lake that feeds the formation of a cloud. Just as the precipitation that creates a cloud can take on many other forms — flowing in rivers and streams, as lakes and oceans, or as rain, snow or hail— consciousness could be a stream from which all sentient beings draw upon their formation.
Therefore, a system of rebirth—or continuity—makes far more sense to me than theories of ‘nothingness’. I simply can’t believe that before we are born we are nothing and after we die we return to nothing. There are no sharp delineations between a beginning and an end. This is where we can sit with the Koan: “Imagine your face before your parents were born”.
Ultimately of course, whether or not you buy into rebirth, the answer as to what happens after our deaths is a mystery to us all. There is no more possibility of proving ‘nothingness’ after death as there is of proving continuation after death.
A lack of ‘nothingness’ after death is a powerful source of motivation in my practice. I want the consciousness I’ve carried with me in this life to go back into that river cleaner, more aware and capable, than it was when it came out. I don’t want to absorb toxicity and be the acid rain that pollutes the source of collective wisdom.
The destination of our souls has long been the source of ethical and moral grounding for most civilisations. Religious belief does not guarantee ethical or moral behaviour, but the idea that one would face unimaginable suffering for aeons versus unfathomable bliss, cannot be said to be a bad motivator for good behaviour. As we gain a stronger understanding of the Universe to which we belong, theological reasoning doesn’t fit so well with people. Especially when such reasoning has been manipulated to justify such abhorrent ideologies as white dominance, eugenics and genocide.
Morality is something I have regardless of religious belief or even social doctrine and my understanding of rebirth does influence my moral grounding. If energy cannot be created nor destroyed, then we have all already lived forever. And if that is the case then we shall continue going on living forever, which can be taken as a gift or a threat, depending on your perspective. I happen to take it as both/and, and this helps me orient my body, speech and mind to being of benefit and not causing harm.
Never mind the future of the planet for our children — there’s a reasonable chance I’m going to be one of those children. I can’t know if this is the first time some aspect of the consciousness that is ‘me’ has been a human or if I’ve been lucky enough to have a few goes and I’m actually maybe only 10,000 lifetimes from enlightenment instead of 50,000 lifetimes from it. I see how my actions matter, and so I do what I can to cultivate a state of mind that is wakeful and oriented to compassion, care and love for all beings and our shared planet.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what a person chooses to believe, embrace or theorize about when it comes to life after death as long as our words and actions are truly beneficial. Regardless of the system of belief, philosophy or theory, anything that enables us to show up for and respond to suffering, to address it and alleviate it, or to simply sit with it, is a worthy system of belief.
Originally published on Medium. Edited from original.
If you enjoyed this piece you would probably also enjoy listening to the throw-back episode of Everything is Workable where I unpack Karma, and my interview with Jack Saddleback on being a good ancestor.