I was born into a Christian family and so my early experience of religion is being told I must be ‘god fearing’ and ‘god moves in mysteries ways’ – neither of these things moved me in any way.I attended church for christenings and weddings and found them to be bleak, unwelcoming and without any sense of warmth. I know others feel differently, but this was my personal experience. When I was eight I was taken out of Sunday school for asking too many questions. This left me feeling that something was missing in my life. So when I was older I embarked on a quest to find something to fill the void I felt inside.
This is when I came across Buddhism. It seemed to offer me all the things I was searching for. The two main points that stuck out for me were that I didn’t have to believe in a god, and I had to take responsibility for my own actions and their consequences. It seemed like music to my ears. That was until I came across rebirth. Bam! I had hit a brick wall.
As much as I tried I couldn’t get over or around this brick wall. It held me back for many years. Until one day a teacher told me to put it on the back burner and carry on with my studies and meditation practice. He advised me to revisit the concept of rebirth from time to time and see how I felt about it. This was excellent advise and I now give it to my students if they have difficulty with any part of Gautama Buddha’s teachings.
Today, after 35 years of study and practice I still cannot buy into the concept of rebirth. However, it does not bother me any more. I now understand that it does not matter if I believe it or not. What matters is that I am a good, kind and caring person in this life.
I honestly do not know if I have been born before or will be born again. What I do know is that I am alive now and so this life is what is important. Gautama Buddha stated this in the Apannaka Sutra:
‘Even if one believes there is no other world, no future reward for helpful actions or punishment for harmful ones, still in this very life one can live happily, by keeping oneself free from anger, ill will and anxiety’.
I wish someone had shown me this quote 30 years ago. It would have saved me a whole lot of trouble. To me this quote is a win–win situation. By following Gautama Buddha’s teachings we reduce our suffering now in this very life, and if there is a next life, we would have set ourselves up for a good rebirth. So whether you believe in rebirth or not, you will end up winning. That has to be a more realistic way of looking at rebirth.
It has taken me such a long time to get to this point, but finally, I understand that believing or not believing in rebirth really doesn’t matter. Now I can concentrate on what really does matter, and that is reducing my suffering and the suffering of people around me.
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I’ve been having what can be best described as a spiritual crisis for the past few days (too complicated to explain here). I came across this post quite by chance and it has answered so many questions for me.
Thank you for being there in my hour of need!
I agree with the conclusion it seems you came to — and more. My understanding of what I read of the Buddha’s lessons in the suttas is that not only do we not need to cling to the idea of rebirth, not clinging reduces *dukkha* for all around us, as we don’t need to argue over and be dogmatic about what we defend as “the truth of rebirth” (whether that’s that it is the natural order or that it is not). I see the Buddha’s actions in the sutta supporting this. He argues only about what is readily visible in this very life: misunderstandings of what he says, or obvious results from wrong views. He doesn’t argue about the Cosmic Order. He behaves as an agnostic, not, perhaps, because he has no opinions or thoughts on the matter, but because it is kinder.
Also: just a note on your blog formatting. It is very difficult to read because the line width is permanently set to a very wide, long line. I don’t know how you’d fix it so it reads the way normal online text does — in a way where when I narrow the width of my browser, the width of the line narrows, too — but I’d recommend fixing it if you can. I only skimmed your words on this page because I kept losing track of where I was due to the line being too long.
Thank you for your comment. I did not know you could not zoom on the blog posts. I have sent your message to the web master. Thank you for taking the time to let me know. I appreciate it. Yeshe
This is the best answer I have come across to this dilemma many of us Westerners have, who wish to practice Buddhism but don’t believe in or have a problem with the concept of rebirth. I have wrestled with this question for some years and it has continually interfered with my ongoing practice of Buddhism and belief in the truth of Buddhist phenomenology. Your answer is like sunlight shining through the clouds. Thank you
I still have a problem with the Buddhist teaching that all unenlightened states are suffering in some form or another. But future realization may clarify that for me as well.