Can you be reincarnated into the past?

reply to post by Bodhi7

Let's draw some fine shades here.
Hindus think the atman (soul) is eternal until it is mixed back with the Godhead (Shiva or Vishnu or Mataji any other aspect of God, or the Advaita abstract). Buddha spread the doctrine of anatta - anatman. He pointed to the insubstantiality or the illusionary nature of the human ego and probably wanted to discourage his followers to wait for external salvation (which would go nicely with the Hindu soul idea). He never explicitly denied that there is something that reincarnates. When directly questioned "What happens to the soul after death?" he stayed in silence.
As a result there are Buddhist schools which deny the existence of a separate soul. Others use the concept but add that as everything composite, it is also impermanent. Still others talk and write as if the Buddha had not made this anatman doctrine at all.
In Western philosophy, you call that a "hard" interpretation of the soul and a "soft "interpretation.
Most Tibetan Buddhism is simple: you reincarnate - no question if it is the same you. They also make a pantheon of boddhisattvas much like the Hindu pantheon.

Zen is more straightforward: when asked this question, a teacher asked back: if a candle blows all night and goes off then the same candle is lit in the morning, is it the same candlelight as the night one or not?

No verbal answer, but you should realize something at his point. (I did.) Nagarjuna would answer it would be wrong to say it is the same, it would be wrong to say it is not the same, it would be wrong to say it is neither, and it would be wrong to say it is both.

I am a Buddhist, but in this I side more with the Hindus. However, not everything gets reincarnated as Western Occultists deem... Some are simply absorbed by the theocratic spirits hovering on the other side... Actually, reincarnating again is probably your best bet after death instead of going into the theme parks of the theocrats. For it's difficult to get out, just like it is rare for the chicken factory birds to rise up in rebellion and breach the factory.

Originally posted by Bodhi7
reply to post by CaptainNemo

 

Depends on which reincarnation belief you believe in, the Buddhist and Hindu ideas of reincarnation are drastically different. Buddhists don't believe in a soul or self and that nothing about you or your personality reincarnates, it's basically 100% physical reincarnation, not spiritual.

That's outside of my realm of knowledge.

reply to post by CaptainNemo


Since yesterday, it is not. I just gave you a headstart.
Wikipedia will help you more.

Originally posted by Bodhi7
Tibetan buddhists believe that when you die, you enter a cave, your life is judged by a spirit, and then you go into another room full of couples having sex, you choose which woman to go inside of and those are your next parents.

brb, going to slam the window down on my head until I forget that I just read this.

That same story had me wondering about reincarnating in the past as well. The nature of time is difficult to grasp in our human incarnations, but if we assume that everything to have ever transpired is eternal, then it wouldn't be a stretch to think that as consciousness or spirits we could choose the most optimal plane of existence to live in for our evolution. I think we could live in the middle ages if it was a time that would offer the lesson we needed to learn!