I am a firm believer that there is no God or Satan, and that the bible is just a work of fiction wrote to long ago. I believe that when u die from whatever cause u die from u will immediatly be re-born from another mother in a different part of the world and life will repeat itself again. You will have no memory of your previous life except maybe some blurry deja-vu that you cannot really explain. I also believe that you could be reincarnated as a sex that you are not currently, or a race that you are not currently, or even a species that you are not currently. This, to me makes more sense than believing that when you die you float upp to a magical place in the clouds you call heaven, or a place underground you call hell.

Well, even your belief in reincarnation would require some sort of "soul", or "spirit", or whatever you want to call it. Otherwise, it makes no sense to refer to it as a reincarnated "you" or "self". It would simply be another bit of energy floating about the Universe, which, in turn, powers another source of life.

If you retain nothing, then the next life has absolutely nothing to do with the former, in which case, it all seems just as pointless as being entirely blinked out of existence upon death.

Regardless, this is nothing new. If you were expecting some more replies, you need to expand a bit on the known ideas.

Yeah, what you're talking about doesn't make much sense. What you're describing makes less sense to me than what you're criticising.

Unless you're getting at some kind of groupmind, collective conscieceness thing, but i don't think you are.

What UV is talking about is more logical because why bother having a system of reincarnation if there's nothing carried over at all?

UV, you're Buddhist right? How is the "cycle" of reincarnation governed? Is there no operator that decides where your energy is passed? Is it possible that God and Karma are one in the same thing? I guess its confusing to me because it seems like Buddhism has a system of judgement, but no judge.

theBishop

PS: i believe the word "ur" looking for is "you".

Karma does not equal God in Buddhism, IMO.

I posted this in a thread about karma last month, but I think it fits here:

Karma is the fabric of this universe, it is what powers the endless cycle of rebirth.

Many Western people confuse karma with the concept of fate or destiny. On the surface they may seem the same, but they are different.

The Buddha said there are Three Wrong Viewpoints in this world. They are:



1. That everything is controlled by destiny or fate.

2. Everything is in the hands of an unknowable God.

3. That everything is random and without meaning.



These viewpoints are wrong because they offer no hope to humanity. What is the goal of life if it is already decided by fate or God, or if it is random and without meaning?

So where does that leave us? We control our future, no one else does! By creating good karma (living in harmony with ourselves and the world), we help to make our future lives better. We can change our karma, unlike fate.

Now, going back to reincarnation:

Reincarnation is not the same "being" or "self" being reincarnated again and again (this part is highly debated among Buddhists, the following is what I subscribe to). I liken it to the "conservation of energy" principle in science.

So then, how does the "benefits" of karma get passed on if the energy is released to be used again? Who knows (sure, some Buddhists would try to explain it, but I won't). When you try to define religion in logical terms, you have already lost.

Bishop

Well, I'm not exactly Buddhist. Though I do enjoy Buddhist philosophy.

My take on it is this :

There is no judge or operator, in the sense of an external force. Buddhism centers around the idea of self-realization and enlightenment. So, essentially, you are your own judge.

As you gain more experiences and wisdom, you progress through the cycles of death and rebirth, eventually reaching a state of enlightenment or Nirvana. At this point, you escape the cycle. After that, not sure.

Anyway, I would like to think that you would eventually remember your former lives. The Buddha supposedly realized all of his former trips through the cycle upon enlightenment. This makes much more sense than simply restarting each time with no memories whatsoever.

Some describe the cycle in this way : When playing pool, one ball hits another, and comes to a stop. The first ball is your life coming to an end. As the next ball (life) begins, it is rolling in the same direction, yet it is not the same being. In other words, you are reincarnated into a being or state of existence that is, generally, on the same track. That way we can all (hopefully) reach Nirvana at some point.

Not my beliefs, exactly, but I find it interesting.

quote:Originally posted by UnknownVeritas:

Bishop

Well, I'm not exactly Buddhist. Though I do enjoy Buddhist philosophy.

My take on it is this :

There is no judge or operator, in the sense of an external force. Buddhism centers around the idea of self-realization and enlightenment. So, essentially, you are your own judge.

As you gain more experiences and wisdom, you progress through the cycles of death and rebirth, eventually reaching a state of enlightenment or Nirvana. At this point, you escape the cycle. After that, not sure.

Anyway, I would like to think that you would eventually remember your former lives. The Buddha supposedly realized all of his former trips through the cycle upon enlightenment. This makes much more sense than simply restarting each time with no memories whatsoever.

Some describe the cycle in this way : When playing pool, one ball hits another, and comes to a stop. The first ball is your life coming to an end. As the next ball (life) begins, it is rolling in the same direction, yet it is not the same being. In other words, you are reincarnated into a being or state of existence that is, generally, on the same track. That way we can all (hopefully) reach Nirvana at some point.

Not my beliefs, exactly, but I find it interesting.



i believe really closely into the buddhist faith but i believe that everything big in life happens for a reason that was made by a spirit in a higher state. in buddhists case the highest state is nirvana so i believe that when you reach the state of nirvana, your job is to help other people get reincarnated until they reach nirvana. after everybody reaches this state, a big change will happen happen to the earth.

lol... did u all keep with me?

Metallamind:

"in buddhists case the highest state is nirvana so i believe that when you reach the state of nirvana, your job is to help other people get reincarnated until they reach nirvana."

That may be. Why else would we have Buddhist beliefs? Those that supposedly reach enlightenment want to share it. Though, for the most part, I think it has to do with sharing those ideas while they are still here, at the end of their cycles. After all, the Buddha's legacy still carries on, convincing others to follow the belief.

"after everybody reaches this state, a big change will happen happen to the earth."

Heh, I don't think there would be much left on Earth if everyone were to reach Nirvana, thereby breaking their cycles. But, who knows?

Where do all the extra souls come from? There would have to be some new ones coming from somewhere to keep up with population growth.

quote:Originally posted by 2onyu:

I am a firm believer that there is no God or Satan, and that the bible is just a work of fiction wrote to long ago. I believe that when u die from whatever cause u die from u will immediatly be re-born from another mother in a different part of the world and life will repeat itself again. You will have no memory of your previous life except maybe some blurry deja-vu that you cannot really explain. I also believe that you could be reincarnated as a sex that you are not currently, or a race that you are not currently, or even a species that you are not currently. This, to me makes more sense than believing that when you die you float upp to a magical place in the clouds you call heaven, or a place underground you call hell.

Why does your (hindu style) idea of reincarnation makes more sense?

PS.

My Varjana(I'm not sure if I typed right, anyway one of those odd Tibetian style[who have their strange meditation techniques{they suck}]) Buddhist friend told me that they don't believe in reincarnation, but that all short blinks of existence are equal and existence is constand dying and being born. I think this makes more sense than your model of RI.

True tibetan mystacism does have gods and devils, and they do judge you when you die.

Just FYI.

==========================================

Another FYI for discussion of nirvana (i.e. breaking the cycle of samsara).

Nirvana literally means "to exstuinguish"

quote:Originally posted by 2onyu:

I am a firm believer that there is no God or Satan, and that the bible is just a work of fiction wrote to long ago. I believe that when u die from whatever cause u die from u will immediatly be re-born from another mother in a different part of the world and life will repeat itself again. You will have no memory of your previous life except maybe some blurry deja-vu that you cannot really explain. I also believe that you could be reincarnated as a sex that you are not currently, or a race that you are not currently, or even a species that you are not currently. This, to me makes more sense than believing that when you die you float upp to a magical place in the clouds you call heaven, or a place underground you call hell.

Noooooooooo I dont want to be a black person.