136-Rebirth Part 2 - Buddhism in daily life

Rebirth Part 2

The readers of my blog "know" that there is neither time nor space, thus also no birth, no age, no illness and no death.

But then what about all the people who have already "lived" and those who will still "live"? Is all life connected, are we part of a great whole?

Or asked differently: Is there an infinite matrix of the now, the here and the being, which holds a connection over the incarnations?

Surely you also know a person who can remember a past life, many people claim that even details are still clearly recognizable. Maybe even you yourself? Or is it just a matter of inexplicable, almost mystical experiences, which then lead people to see themselves as reincarnated? Questions upon questions arise on this subject.

At least in Chan (Zen) Buddhism the teaching has prevailed that there is no rebirth, but as is well known, many roads lead to Rome. However, one could also say (loosely after Buddha) that reincarnation exists, but also does not exist, completely depending on how we (with our imagination) form the world around us.

If reincarnation is only a concept (similar to heaven and hell, probably no human being has been there yet), then another possibility would be to understand the concept as a moral system of the belief world, which is supposed to set the ethical standards.

Regardless of how we feel about it, where did we originally come from? Originated at conception? Or descended from an "in-between world" that corresponds to, or at least should be similar to, nirvana? Does our personality (and with it also the ego) originate approximately with the fusion of sperm and egg, or is only the physicality created thereby? Still more questions, still no answers.

Could it be that Nirvana is right here, right in front of us at this moment, but we are not able to see it?

But the philosophy of Chan (Zen) Buddhism also does not necessarily state that there can be no rebirth, as always scholars argue, according to Chan teachings there is nothing to gain (or lose) because nothing is (and cannot be) permanent anyway, so nothing belongs to us anyway. In Chan we have to discover for ourselves, which is why even so many "feel-good Buddhists" then ultimately jump off again, thinking to themselves, where would we get to?

We are to "awaken" through our own efforts, to improve ourselves in order to see the Buddha-nature within us, which already exists eternally within.

Our questions, whether we will be born again, go to hell, or go to heaven, these are only asked by the ego. And therefore our personality is not involved either, because it is completely irrelevant whether we live again or not.

Before the procreation, where were you there?

The way is the goal!

If sometime, at the end of a long period, a gate returns into the human existence, then the rebirth takes place lower

- Buddha - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before the year zero

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