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 Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 11:04 am
i was wondering can animals be rencarnated? because if a pet for example has had a good life and was a good soul then technicaly they can be rencarenated?
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 3:40 am
I think buddhism goes for rebirth rather than reincarnation, but I would think it applies to animals too.
But we should wait for someone who knows more about it to answer =/
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Akanishi Makoto Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 4:34 am
There is no reincarnation in Buddhism. That's a Hindu concept that involves an unchanging, perfect "soul" which the Buddha realized wasn't true, even before his enlightenment. What we have is Rebirth, an entirely different concept.
Rebirth involves your Karma, and your thought patterns. The way your thoughts arise and pass away and the spontaneity of them is really what is reborn. "You" don't ever come back, because "you" are a culmination of all the experience you've accumlated in this life. Once you die, this life is over, and the experience falls away. If there is unspent Karma, then your "volition" is reborn, your consciousness comes back to reap the Karmic rewards, until it's all gone.
Rebirth is also something that isn't exclusively for the dead. I was reborn on the mat once, it was quite an interesting feeling. You can be reborn at almost any moment of any day, when you have an "aha!" moment, and suddenly everything makes sense ... that's a moment of rebirth. Granted, you tend to fall back into old habits, but the "aha!" moment was there, and it will be back.
So, can animals be reborn? Absolutely, although if they don't have volition, then they're not in the same category. Sponges, although animals, have no volition. They cannot be reborn. You or I can be reborn as an animal, for thousands of lifetimes, because of Karma. Animals could be reborn as humans, and become enlightened in one lifetime, because of Karma.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:27 am
Thanks, so its rebirth and not rencarnation, thanks i know know that. and its a bit of a comfort to know that now, thank you
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 11:10 pm
for some reason i thought i had read somewhere that if you are a human, you are higher up in the ladder to enlightenment and that you won't be reborn as a lower life form. what is this about? question
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 3:06 pm
WobinA for some reason i thought i had read somewhere that if you are a human, you are higher up in the ladder to enlightenment and that you won't be reborn as a lower life form. what is this about? question This is simply a case of the ease of attaining enlightenment from the position we have on the chain of births. Humans have the easiest time of attaining enlightenment (and are therefore considered higher on the ladder in question) simply because of the conditions we are in - uncomfortable enough to want change, enough comfort to be able to concentrate on changing it and not worry about the basics of life. Animals have survival to worry about, and not a lot of time to think about things like their mental conditioning beyond food, shelter and breeding. Gods live such a comfortable condition that they don't tend to think about wanting to change it. Humans, we get the middle between the two, and thus have the easiest place to acheive enlightenment from. As for the second part, that depends on how you spend this life - if you become a stream-enterer, I have read, you only have another 10 or so lifetimes ahead of you. Not all of them may be human though, and there are plenty of stories talking about people who have backslid on the rebirth chain. It's all in how you live. 3nodding
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:31 pm
Stream enterer? What's that?
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 6:55 am
bluewolfcub Stream enterer? What's that? Us.
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Akanishi Makoto Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 4:01 am
bluewolfcub Stream enterer? What's that? can you elaborate? what does that mean? Also, so it's not about moving up the ladder to enlightenment? You could have 10 lifetimes ahead of you and the last one may be a cat and you could reach enlightenment then?
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 6:54 am
WobinA Also, so it's not about moving up the ladder to enlightenment? You could have 10 lifetimes ahead of you and the last one may be a cat and you could reach enlightenment then? No, once you hit the stream enterer phase, your lives are all human - it makes it easier on you. In theory, cats could reach enlightenment, but are limited by the fact that many must kill things to survive, and few (as far as we know) spend much time contemplating how to end the cycle of suffering. 3nodding
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:29 pm
Byaggha you only have another 10 or so lifetimes ahead of you. Not all of them may be human though, and there are plenty of stories talking about people who have backslid on the rebirth chain. It's all in how you live. 3nodding Byaggha No, once you hit the stream enterer phase, your lives are all human - it makes it easier on you. So.............maybe in extreme cases you could backslide? confused And why is it called "Stream enterer"?
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 11:56 am
I'm not honestly sure why exactly it's called a stream-enterer, other than to say it is, perhaps, the first step (entering a stream) to a larger understanding (the "sea" of Buddhist teaching, if you will). Here's a link to an explination of stream-entry, and the subsequent happenings. It should help some - if at least occupy a little of your time, as it's really, really long. xd http://www.buddhanet.net/budasa12.htm
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:54 am
wow I have been wondering about things like this for a while I am glad that you have started this topic and fully explained some of the thing in good detail and supplied and awesome link thank you very much
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