do you believe in reincarnation ?

I strongly believe that reincarnation exists in some format. My starting point is in a vast expanse of souls which are intertwined and constantly evolving, often merging and creating new souls made from both the best and the worst of what they have to offer. From there, a soul is sent into a body or organism or other living thing at the time of birth. Depending on the way the soul performs (behaves) during its lifetime it is either recycled (reincarnated) automatically or given the option of returning for another round of life.

The beauty which exists in the menagerie of souls is extensive and incredible. Souls can be interred into a human or any other living creature or thing, including plants. (yes I do believe that plants are living things and have feelings...don't believe it? Then why do plants react to stimuli?) So, yes. I do believe in reincarnation.

I believe transmigration of souls is a fantasy, much like Lord of the Rings and Star Trek.

I tend to believe in reincarnation in this limited sense-- we are all made up of atoms and molecules that are returned to the great cycle of life when we die and are buried, cremated, whatever. Those elements will in turn and in some manner be used as building blocks for new life and be returned to the cycle and upon their death be reused yet again... and so on and so on, ad infinitum.

As the song goes-- "we are million year old carbon."

Ah- -the fertilizer concept.

That's a rather inelegant way to put it, but yes, you could call it that.

Do i?

yuuuup

Before even thinking about reincarnation, wouldn't it be helpful to determine just what it is that is being recycled?

As I see it, the term soul refers to a simple function. The ongoing process of consumption and animation of matter that is defined as life. Soul is the thing that lives. It absorbs matter like a flame absorbs the wood it burns.

As I see it, self, mind and feelings are products of soul meeting matter. Their origins are material, and not a part of the thing that will reincarnate.

So when my soul reincarnates, the thing that I percieve as Me will not be going with it. The changes on the soul that occured while it was being Me will last however, and the soul will find a form of life again that fits its altered state, for better or for worse. But that is a matter of karma.

Oh yeah . . . i've been bored before, and i'm sure i'll be bored again.


Oh . . . wait . . . you mean born again, huh?

I am a Buddhist. Birth is not the start of life nor is death the end. The way to create good fortune in our next life is to make good causes and create good fortune in this life.

no.

i don't think our soul returns to this world after death.
i feel that we only get one chance in this world and after that we either go to heaven or hell.

i do find reincarnation fascinating though.. i have studied it and before studying it i used to think it was a silly notion but its quite the opposite... i think it makes perfect sense within the Hindu framework (i havent looked at buddhism or other religions that believe in something of this sort so i dont know how it works for them).

As a long-time lay (zen) buddhist, I do not believe in ego-souls or in their reincarnation into future bodies. Nor do I believe in Karma as a form of justice.
I do, however, have a sense (accurate or not) of being an expression of a total process (Reality) rather than a discrete entity surrounded by that total process. As such I have always been that process and will always be that process. Perhaps someone might consider that to be a form of reincarnation. But there is no "I" now who will someday be another future "I": I am now (as you are now) all that exists and have always and will always be that all that exists.
Or not.