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The mechanics of rebirth and how to reconcile ot with anatman are one of the issues that Buddhist traditions are most divergent on. You should keep in mind that the Buddha was Indian and so he was arguing against the Hindu idea of what the soul is rather than the Christian idea of what the soul is that most of us who converted grew up with. In either case however the soul is considered to be something pure and eternal. But eternal implies that a thing must be unchanging. If you say that a thing can be both eternal and changing then everyone and everything is already eternal since we know from science that matter is never destroyed nor created only transformed. Do you look at a wooden table and say to yourself: "what a lovely tree?" As a person you exist in a constant state of change, who you are now is different than who you are 10 years ago or even 10 minutes ago. However we will mistake the qualities we have which are long-term or persistent for being permanent or eternal. A person who is often angry is said to be an angry person. People will say that their race, their gender, their sexual orientation etc. are essential parts of their being. And those sorts of qualities do possess enormous influence over how those people experience the world. But if being a black lesbian, for example, is essential to who you are, how is that reconciled with the possibility that after death you might become a straight white man, or maybe even an animal or a ghost? All things are devoid of inherent existence, they are what they are from the qualities they possess, but as those qualities change in the next life, the person themself is different. But as those qualities change in this life too you are constantly becomong different as well. Death is when long-term qualities such as sex or species are changed while short-term qualities are changed throughout life. I do believe in the supernatural things the buddha taught such as the six worlds and I can't reconcile Hell and the God realm with the idea of when you die, you die. And if every being experiences nothingness when they die then there doesn't seem to me to be any point to pursuing Nirvana or to escaping Samsara as you could simply wait or just commit suicide. I apologize if that came off as rude to the people arguing for the other interpretation and its possible that they are simply more advanced than me in their practice and understanding. But there isn't a singular Buddhist answer to your question, it is something there's a lot of debate around and I thought it would be good to bring up an alternative answer.
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Jun 19, 2019 17:05
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Mushika posted:To be perfectly honest, if I may? I'm mostly concerned with reducing human suffering, rather than my own enlightenment. I'm less concerned with ending my Self than I am with helping others. Those're the same thing. Pursuing one leads to the other.
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Jan 20, 2020 17:14
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Yorkshire Pudding posted:I would like to read some of the “canon” of Buddhism, where should I start? The Dhammapada. Most buddhist sutras are very dry and technical and hard to read because they were passed down orally originally and were filled with mnemonics and repetition that made memorizing easier but makes it a lot more dense when written down. The dhammapada is short and sweet and is used by both Therevada and Mahayana.
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Jan 27, 2020 07:17
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