What is The Concept of Rebirth in Buddhism

Buddhism is a tradition that focuses on personal spiritual development.

Rebirth in Buddhism refers to its teaching that the actions of an individual lead to a new existence after death.

What is The Concept of Rebirth in Buddhism?

Though the notion of an eternal soul free from the laws of transience and absence of own-being is rejected, it is recognized that the bundle of characteristics that constitutes a man’s personality does persist – though, of course, in changing form from life to life and eon to eon.

Just as the middle-aged man has gradually developed out of the boy he has ceased to be, so has each of us developed from the being we used to be in our previous existence, bringing with us into this life many of the relatively long-term characteristics that determine our present circumstances and personality.

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Thus, the Buddhist equivalent of the Christian concept of a soul is a continuum that changes from moment to moment, life to life, until the ego is negated and Nirvana won.

This belief is often too alien to the Western mindset to be easily acceptable by the heirs of a Christian or Muslim culture, but it is something that is taken for granted by about half the human race, for Hindus, Daoists (Taoists), and others besides Buddhists, subscribe to it.

Though impossible to verify, it is completely logical.

There is less logic in the theistic belief that postulates an infinite extension of life in the future for beings who had a finite origin, for it is reasonable to suppose that what had a beginning must have an end.

Everything observable (matter and energy) is subject to change but never to creation out of nothing nor to total extinction, and it seems more likely than not that the same laws apply to what is not observable.

Incidentally, acceptance of the doctrine of rebirth makes it easy to arrive at tentative explanations of many problems insoluble in terms of environment or heredity.

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