Jun Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 I think the notion of reincarnation is incoherent. What makes you "you" is the stream of experiences which in memory forms a narrative of a life and a self. Even if we imagine there is some spiritual substance that survives the death of the body and later goes into another body, the memory and mind of the new person (or creature) will be a stream of new experiences unique to that person alone. So that will be a second person. The soul without memory of a lifetime is not a person; if it retains that memory and life narrative in its mind, then why isn't it uniformly carried forward from the past life into the new one? If my memory, mind, etc. are totally erased, and I wake up and start all over again, it's not meaningful to say it's the same person, even if in the same body. So much the more across a supposed gap between bodies. If I may add to that. If you pick up a Parker ball point pen and remove the refill, is it still a pen? Is the refill a pen? Is the casing a pen? Can you write with the empty casing? No, it's just the casing. Can you write with the refill? Yes, but it isn't a pen. If you take the spring out, is that a pen? As you put it back together, when does it become a pen again? A famous Buddhist koan (riddle) is - "What was your face before your parents were born?" Dear Jun, We have strayed far from the original question. You are right. But please allow me a final stray by saying that the ten precepts do transcend Buddhism, as you wrote, and are approved certainly by Christianity and I would think by the core teaching of most of the world's wisdom traditions. (Even if none of us seem to quite make the stretch of living up to them!) There is a core the seems to reveal itself at the heart of much of the wisdom traditions. Please, without being argumentative, let me also say that in my practice of Christianity, I do not find the teachings of Jesus to be "pie in the sky" or a gloss over of reality. Yes, there is pie in the sky, but there's also rough and hard teachings that can transform our life down here in our right-here and right-now experience. An interesting perception of Christianity you have it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mousie Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 wow, that's a lot to think about guys. Thanks for your input. Mousie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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