Реинкарнация: различия между версиями

{{Redirect|Past lives|other uses|Past Lives (disambiguation)}}

[[Image:Reincarnation AS.jpg|thumb|Illustration of reincarnation in [[Hindu art]]]]

'''Реинкарнация''' (англ. reincarnation — состоит из пяти морфем латинского происхождения: re- = «снова»; in- = «внутрь»; carn = «плоть»; -ate = «причинять, или становиться»; и –tion= «процесс») дословно означает «процесс попадания снова в плоть, или перевоплощение», метемпсихо́з (др.-греч. μετ-εμψύχωσις — «переселение душ») — религиозно-философская концепция, согласно которой бессмертная сущность, именуемая в различных традициях душой, духом или «божественной искрой» после биологической смерти перевоплощается в человеческом, животном или духовном теле, в зависимости от действий индивида в предыдущей жизни. Доктрина реинкарнации является центральным принципом в индуизме, буддизме, джайнизме и сикхизме. Концепции перерождения придерживались такие исторические личности, как [[Пифагор]], [[Платон]], Сократ. Вера в переселение душ распространена в различных древних и современных религиях, принимается последователями спиритизма, теософии, эканкара, и встречается во многих племенных обществах по всему миру, в таких местах, как Сибирь, Западная Африка, Северная Америка и Австралия.

Хотя большинство ответвлений авраамических религий иудаизма, христианства, ислама не исповедуют веру в реинкарнацию людей, определенные группы ссылаются на идею перевоплощения души; приверженцами таких групп являются последователи каббалы, катары, друзы, хетты. Представления о реинкарнации характерны для неоплатонизма, орфизма, герметизма, манихейства и гностицизма римской эпохи. Важным современным трудом по взаимному влиянию древнегреческой и индийской философии в вопросах «переселения душ», служит книга «Форма древней мысли» Томаса МакЭвилли.

В современной культуре, в ее проявлениях, как киноискусство, литература, музыка, часто обнаруживаются идеи реинкарнации. Последние десятилетия академические исследователи интересуются данным феноменом, публикуются отчеты, посвященные теме детских воспоминаний о прошлых жизнях в рецензируемых журналах и книгах.

'''Reincarnation''' is the religious or philosophical concept that the [[soul]] or [[spirit]], after biological [[death]], begins a new life in a new body that may be human, animal or spiritual depending on the moral quality of the previous life's actions. This doctrine is a central tenet of the [[Indian religions]].<ref>The [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] concept of [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]] is also often referred to as reincarnation.see Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper, Philip L. Quinn, ''A Companion to Philosophy of Religion''. John Wiley and Sons, 2010, page 640, [http://books.google.com/books?id=SSCx-67Tk6cC&pg=PA640&dq=reincarnation+and+rebirth&cd=8#v=onepage&q=reincarnation%20and%20rebirth&f=false Google Books] and is a belief that was held by such historic figures as [[Pythagoras]], [[Plato]] and [[Socrates]]. .</ref> It is also a common belief of various ancient and modern religions such as [[Spiritism]], [[Theosophy]], and [[Eckankar]] and is found in many tribal societies around the world, in places such as Siberia, West Africa, North America, and Australia.<ref>Gananath Obeyesekere, ''Imagining Karma: Ethical Transformation in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth''. University of California Press, 2002, page 15.</ref>

In recent decades, many Europeans and North Americans have developed an interest in reincarnation.<ref name="hi.is">{{PDFlink|[http://www.hi.is/~erlendur/english/Nordic_Psychology_erlhar06.pdf Popular psychology, belief in life after death and reincarnation in the Nordic countries, Western and Eastern Europe]|54.8&nbsp;KB}}</ref> Contemporary films, books, and popular songs frequently mention reincarnation. In the last decades, academic researchers have begun to explore reincarnation and published reports of children's memories of earlier lives in peer-reviewed journals and books.

[[File:Dashaavathaaram...ദശാവതാരം....jpg|thumb|Temple door depicting [[Dashavatar]]-the ten avatars, Sree Balaji Temple, Goa. (from leftmost upper corner, clock wise) Matsya, Narasimha, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Kalki, Vamana, Balarama, Varaha and Kurma.]]

The word "reincarnation" derives from [[Latin]], literally meaning, "entering the flesh again". The Greek equivalent ''metempsychosis'' (μετεμψύχωσις) roughly corresponds to the common English phrase "transmigration of the soul" and also usually connotes reincarnation after death,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9063098/metempsychosis |title=Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Concise.britannica.com |date= |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref> as either [[human being|human]], [[animal]], though emphasising the continuity of the soul, not the flesh. The term has been used by modern philosophers such as [[Kurt Gödel]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Karl Sigmund |url=http://www.goedelexhibition.at/goedel/goedel.html |title=Gödel Exhibition: Gödel's Century |publisher=Goedelexhibition.at |date= |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref> and has entered the English language. Another Greek term sometimes used synonymously is ''[[palingenesis]]'', "being born again".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hinduism.iskcon.com/concepts/102.htm |title=Heart of Hinduism: Reincarnation and Samsara |publisher=Hinduism.iskcon.com |date= |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref>

There is no word corresponding exactly to the English terms "rebirth", "metempsychosis", "transmigration" or "reincarnation" in the traditional languages of [[Pāli]] and [[Sanskrit]]. The entire universal process that gives rise to the cycle of death and rebirth, governed by [[karma]], is referred to as ''[[Saṃsāra|Samsara]]''<ref>{{cite book |last=Brodd |first=Jefferey |title=World Religions |publisher=Saint Mary's Press |year=2003 |location=Winona, MN |isbn=978-0-88489-725-5}}</ref> while the state one is born into, the individual process of being born or coming into the world in any way, is referred to simply as "birth" (''[[Jati (Buddhism)|jāti]]''). ''[[Deva (Hinduism)|Devas]]'' (gods) may also die and live again.<ref>[http://vedabase.net/tqk/18/en1 Teachings of Queen Kunti by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Chapter 18] "To become Brahma is not a very easy thing.... But he is also a living entity like us."</ref> Here the term "reincarnation" is not strictly applicable, yet Hindu gods are said to have reincarnated (''see [[Avatar]]''): [[Lord Vishnu]] is known for his ten incarnations, the ''[[Dashavatar]]s''. [[Celts|Celtic]] religion seems to have had reincarnating gods also. Many Christians regard [[Jesus]] as a divine incarnation. Some Christians and Muslims believe he and some prophets may incarnate again. Most Christians, however, believe that Jesus will come again in the Second Coming at the end of the world, although this is not a reincarnation. Some [[ghulat]] Shi'a Muslim sects also regard their founders as in some special sense divine incarnations (''hulul'').

Philosophical and religious beliefs regarding the existence or non-existence of an unchanging "[[self (philosophy)|self]]" have a direct bearing on how reincarnation is viewed within a given tradition. The [[Buddha]] lived at a time of great philosophical creativity in India when many conceptions of the nature of life and death were proposed. Some were materialist, holding that there was no existence and that the self is annihilated upon death. Others believed in a form of cyclic existence, where a being is born, lives, dies and then is reborn, but in the context of a type of [[determinism]] or [[fatalism]] in which karma played no role. Others were "eternalists", postulating an eternally existent self or soul comparable to that in Judaic [[monotheism]]: the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|ātman]] survives death and reincarnates as another living being, based on its [[Karma|karmic]] inheritance. This is the idea that has become dominant (with certain modifications) in modern [[Hinduism]].

The [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] concept of reincarnation differs from others in that there is no eternal "soul", "spirit" or [[Self (spirituality)|"self"]] but only a "stream of consciousness" that links life with life. The actual process of change from one life to the next is called ''punarbhava'' (Sanskrit) or ''punabbhava'' (Pāli), literally "becoming again", or more briefly ''[[bhava]]'', "becoming", and some English-speaking Buddhists prefer the term "[[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]]" or "re-becoming" to render this term as they take "reincarnation" to imply a fixed entity that is reborn.<ref>"Reincarnation in Buddhism: What the Buddha Didn't Teach" By Barbara O'Brien, About.com^{[http://buddhism.about.com/od/karmaandrebirth/a/reincarnation.htm}]</ref> Popular [[Jain cosmology]] and [[Buddhist cosmology]] as well as a number of schools of Hinduism posit rebirth in many worlds and in varied forms. In Buddhist tradition the process occurs across five or six [[Six realms|realms of existence]],<ref>''Transform Your Life'': A Blissful Journey, pages 52–55), [[Tharpa Publications]] (2001, US ed. 2007) ISBN 978-0-9789067-4-0</ref> including the human, any kind of animal and several types of supernatural being. It is said in Tibetan Buddhism that it is very rare for a person to be reborn in the immediate next life as a human.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.urbandharma.org/kusala/revkus/5precepts.html |title=The Five Precepts |publisher=Urbandharma.org |date= |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref>

''Gilgul'', ''Gilgul neshamot'' or ''Gilgulei Ha Neshamot'' ([[Hebrew language|Heb.]] גלגול הנשמות) refers to the concept of reincarnation in [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] [[Judaism]], found in much [[Yiddish literature]] among [[Ashkenazi Jews]]. ''Gilgul'' means "cycle"  and ''neshamot'' is "souls". The equivalent Arabic term is ''tanasukh'':<ref>[http://www.mullasadra.org/new_site/english/Paper%20Bank/Anthropology/kennedy%20day.htm Mullasadra.org]{{dead link|date=December 2011}}</ref> the belief is found among [[Shi'a]] [[ghulat]] [[Muslim]] sects.

The origins of the notion of reincarnation are obscure. They apparently date to the [[Iron Age]] (around 1200 BCE).{{Citation needed|date=October 2013}}  Discussion of the subject appears in the philosophical traditions of India (including the [[Indus Valley]]) and Greece (including [[Asia Minor]]) from about the 6th century BCE. Also during the Iron Age, the Greek [[Pre-Socratics]] discussed reincarnation, and the Celtic [[Druids]] are also reported to have taught a doctrine of reincarnation.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]] thought the Druids might have been influenced by the teachings of [[Pythagoras]]. Diodorus Siculus v.28.6; Hippolytus ''Philosophumena'' i.25.</ref>

The ideas associated with reincarnation may have arisen independently in different regions, or they might have spread as a result of cultural contact. Proponents of cultural transmission have looked for links between Iron Age Celtic, Greek and Vedic philosophy and religion,<ref>one modern scholar has speculated that Buddhist missionaries had been sent to Britain by the Indian king [[Ashoka]]. Donald A.Mackenzie, ''Buddhism in pre-Christian Britain'' (1928:21).</ref> some{{who|date=October 2010}} even suggesting that belief in reincarnation was present in [[Proto-Indo-European religion]].{{dubious|date=October 2010}}<ref>M. Dillon and N. Chadwick, ''The Celtic Realms'', Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, {{Page needed|date=October 2010}}</ref> In ancient European, Iranian and Indian agricultural cultures, the life cycles of birth, death, and rebirth were recognized as a replica of natural [[agricultural cycle]]s.<ref>Ara, Mitra (2008). ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=NQ12k9delf4C Eschatology in the Indo-Iranian traditions: The Genesis and Transformation of a Doctrine]''. Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York, USA. ISBN 1-4331-0250-1. pp. 99–100.</ref>

===Early Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism===

Patrick Olivelle asserts that the origin of the concept of the cycle of birth and death, the concept of [[samsara]], and the concept of liberation in the Indian tradition, were in part the creation of the non-Vedic [[Shramana]] tradition.<ref>Flood, Gavin. Olivelle, Patrick. 2003. ''The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism.'' Malden: Blackwell. pg. 273-4. "The second half of the first millennium BCE was the period that created many of the ideological and institutional elements that characterize later Indian religions. The renouncer tradition played a central role during this formative period of Indian religious history....Some of the fundamental values and beliefs that we generally associate with Indian religions in general and Hinduism in particular were in part the creation of the renouncer tradition. These include the two pillars of Indian theologies: samsara – the belief that life in this world is one of suffering and subject to repeated deaths and births (rebirth); moksa/nirvana – the goal of human existence....."</ref> Another possibility are the prehistoric Dravidian traditions of South India.<ref>Gavin D. Flood, ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press (1996), UK ISBN 0-521-43878-0  p. 86 – "A third alternative is that the origin of transmigration theory lies outside of vedic or sramana traditions in the tribal religions of the Ganges valley, or even in Dravidian traditions of south India."</ref> Some scholars suggest that the idea is original to the Buddha.<ref>Arvind Sharma's review of [[Hajime Nakamura]]'s ''A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy'', Philosophy East and West, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Jul., 1987), page 330.</ref>

In [[Jainism]], the soul and matter are considered eternal, uncreated and perpetual. There is a constant interplay between the two, resulting in bewildering cosmic manifestations in material, psychic and emotional spheres around us. This led to the theories of transmigration and rebirth. Changes but not total annihilation of spirit and matter is the basic postulate of Jain philosophy.  The life as we know now, after death therefore moves on to another form of life based on the merits and demerits it accumulated in its current life.  The path to becoming a supreme soul is to practice non-violence and be truthful.<ref>T.U.Mehta,''Path of Arhat – A Religious Democracy'' Pujya Sohanalala Smaraka Parsvantha Sodhapitha, 1993, Pages 7–8</ref>

In [[Hinduism]]'s [[Rigveda]], the oldest extant [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] text, numerous references are made to transmigration, rebirth (punarjanma), and redeath (punarmrtyu) in the Brahmanas.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Doctrine of Karma | publisher=Motilal Barnasidass | author=Krishnan, Yuvraj | year=1997 | location=Delhi, IN | pages=13 | isbn=81-208-1233-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy|author=R.D.Ranade|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|place=Mumbai|page=108|quote= “But the culminating point of the whole doctrine is reached when the poet tells us that he himself saw (probably with his mind’s eye) the guardian of the body, moving unerringly by backward and forward paths, clothed in collected and diffusive splendour, and that it kept on returning frequently inside the mundane regions. That this ‘guardian’ is no other than the soul may be seen from the way in which verse 31 follows immediately on verse 30 which mentions the ‘breathing, speedful, moving life-principle’; moreover, the frequentative (varivarti) tells us the frequency of the soul’s return to this world.” (Interpretation of Rig Veda I.164.30–31)}}</ref> One verse reads, "Each death repeats the death of the primordial man ([[purusa]]), which was also the first sacrifice" (RV 10:90).<ref>P. 99 ''Religion and aging in the Indian tradition'' By Shrinivas Tilak</ref> Another excerpt from the Rig Veda states (Book 10 Part 02, Hymn XVI):

::Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered. O Jatavedas, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers... let thy fierce flame, thy glowing splendour, burn him With thine auspicious forms, o Jatavedas, bear this man to the region of the pious... Again, O Agni, to the Fathers send him who, offered in thee, goes with our oblations. Wearing new life let him increase his offspring: let him rejoin a body, Jatavedas.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}<ref>Provide reference(s) if this refers to rebirth?</ref>

Indian discussion of reincarnation enters the historical record from about the 6th century BCE,  with the development of the [[Advaita Vedanta]] tradition in the  early [[Upanishads]] (around the middle of the first millennium BCE), [[Gautama Buddha]] (623–543 BCE)<ref>"As is now almost universally accepted by informed Indological scholarship, a re-examination of early Buddhist historical material, ..., necessitates a redating of the Buddha's death to between 411 and 400 BCE."

Paul Dundas, ''The Jains'', 2nd edition, ([[Routledge]], 2001), [http://books.google.com/books?id=5ialKAbIyV4C&pg=PA24 p. 24].</ref> as well as [[Mahavira]], the 24th [[Tirthankara]] of [[Jainism]].<ref>Karel Werner, ''The Longhaired Sage'' in ''The Yogi and the Mystic'', Curzon Press, 1989, page 34. Wayman... traces them particularly in the older Upanishads, in early Buddhism, and in some later literature."</ref>

The [[Buddhist texts#Texts of the Early schools|early Buddhist texts]] discuss techniques for recalling previous births, predicated on the development of high levels of [[samadhi|meditative concentration]].<ref>Paul Williams, Anthony Tribe, ''Buddhist thought: a complete introduction to the Indian tradition.'' Routledge, 2000, page 84.</ref> The later [[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali]], which incorporated elements of Buddhist thought,<ref>Karel Werner, ''The Yogi and the Mystic.'' Routledge 1994, page 27.</ref> give similar instructions on how to attain the ability.<ref>Gavin D. Flood, ''The ascetic self: subjectivity, memory and tradition''. Cambridge University Press, 2004, page 136.</ref> The Buddha reportedly warned that this experience can be misleading and should be interpreted with care.<ref>Joanna Macy, ''Mutual causality in Buddhism and general systems theory: the dharma of natural systems.'' SUNY Press, 1991, page 163.</ref> Tibetan Buddhism has developed a unique "science" of death and rebirth, a good deal of which is set down in what is popularly known as ''[[Bardo Thodol|The Tibetan Book of the Dead]]''.

===Early Greece===

Early Greek discussion of the concept likewise dates to the 6th century BCE. An early Greek thinker known to have considered rebirth is [[Pherecydes of Syros]] (fl. 540 BCE).<ref>Schibli, S., Hermann, Pherekydes of Syros, p. 104, Oxford Univ. Press 2001</ref> His younger contemporary Pythagoras (c. 570–c. 495 BCE<ref>"The dates of his life cannot be fixed exactly, but assuming the approximate correctness of the statement of Aristoxenus (ap. Porph. ''V.P.'' 9) that he left Samos to escape the tyranny of Polycrates at the age of forty, we may put his birth round about 570 BCE, or a few years earlier. The length of his life was variously estimated in antiquity, but it is agreed that he lived to a fairly ripe old age, and most probably he died at about seventy-five or eighty." [[William Keith Chambers Guthrie]], (1978), ''A history of Greek philosophy, Volume 1: The earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans'', page 173. Cambridge University Press</ref>), its first famous exponent, instituted societies for its diffusion. [[Plato]] (428/427–348/347 BCE) presented accounts of reincarnation in his works, particularly the ''[[Myth of Er]]''.

Authorities have not agreed on how the notion arose in Greece: sometimes Pythagoras is said to have been Pherecydes' pupil, sometimes to have introduced it with the doctrine of [[Orphism (religion)|Orphism]], a [[Thrace|Thracian]] religion that was to be important in the diffusion of reincarnation, or else to have brought the teaching from India. In  ''[[Phaedo]]'', Plato makes his teacher [[Socrates]], prior to his death, state: "I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, and that the living spring from the dead." However [[Xenophon]] does not mention Socrates as believing in reincarnation and Plato may have systematised Socrates' thought with concepts he took directly from Pythagoreanism or Orphism.

[[Image:2161 - Taormina - Badia Vecchia - Sarcofago romano del sec. II d.C. - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 20-May-2008.jpg|thumb|left|A 2nd-century Roman sarcophagus shows the mythology and symbolism of the Orphic and Dionysiac Mystery schools. Orpheus plays his lyre to the left]]

The [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic religion]], which taught reincarnation, first appeared in Thrace in north-eastern Greece and Bulgaria, about the 6th century BC, organized itself into [[mystery schools]] at [[Eleusis]] and elsewhere, and produced a copious literature.<ref>Linforth, Ivan M. (1941) ''The Arts of Orpheus'' Arno Press, New York, [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/514515 OCLC 514515]</ref><ref>Long, Herbert S. (1948) ''A Study of the doctrine of metempsychosis in Greece, from Pythagoras to Plato'' (Long's 1942 Ph.D. dissertation) Princeton, New Jersey, [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1472399 OCLC 1472399]</ref><ref>Long, Herbert S. (16 February 1948) "Plato's Doctrine of Metempsychosis and Its Source" ''The Classical Weekly'' 41(10): pp. 149—155</ref> [[Orpheus]], its legendary founder, is said to have taught that the immortal soul aspires to freedom while the body holds it prisoner. The wheel of birth revolves, the soul alternates between freedom and captivity round the wide circle of necessity. Orpheus proclaimed the need of the grace of the gods, [[Dionysus]] in particular, and of self-purification until the soul has completed the spiral ascent of destiny to live for ever.

An association between [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean philosophy]] and reincarnation was routinely accepted throughout antiquity. In the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' Plato makes Socrates tell how Er, the son of Armenius, miraculously returned to life on the twelfth day after death and recounted the secrets of the other world. There are myths and theories to the same effect in other dialogues, in the [[Chariot allegory]] of the [[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]], in the [[Meno]], [[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]] and [[Laws]]. The soul, once separated from the body, spends an indeterminate amount of time in "formland" (see The [[Allegory of the Cave]] in ''[[The Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'') and then assumes another body.

In later Greek literature the doctrine is mentioned in a fragment of [[Menander]]<ref>Menander, ''The Inspired Woman''</ref> and satirized by [[Lucian]].<ref>Lucian, ''Gallus'', 18 et seq.</ref> In [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] literature it is found as early as [[Ennius]],<ref>Poesch, Jessie (1962) "Ennius and Basinio of Parma" ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'' 25(1/2): pp. 116—118, page 117, FN15</ref> who, in a lost passage of his ''Annals'', told how he had seen [[Homer]] in a dream, who had assured him that the same soul which had animated both the poets had once belonged to a peacock. [[Persius]] in his satires (vi. 9) laughs at this, it is referred to also by [[Lucretius]]<ref>Lucretius, (i. 124)</ref> and [[Horace]].<ref>Horace, ''Epistles'', II. i. 52</ref>

[[Virgil]] works the idea into his account of the Underworld in the sixth book of the [[Aeneid]].<ref>Virgil, ''The Aeneid'', vv. 724 et seq.</ref> It persists down to the late classic thinkers, [[Plotinus]] and the other [[Neoplatonist]]s. In the [[Hermetica]], a Graeco-Egyptian series of writings on cosmology and spirituality attributed to [[Hermes Trismegistus]]/[[Thoth]], the doctrine of reincarnation is central.

In [[Hellenistic philosophy|Greco-Roman thought]], the concept of metempsychosis disappeared with the rise of [[Early Christianity]], reincarnation being incompatible with the Christian core doctrine of [[salvation]] of the faithful after death. It has been suggested that some of the early Church Fathers, especially [[Origen]] still entertained a belief in the possibility of reincarnation, but evidence is tenuous, and the writings of Origen as they have come down to us speak explicitly against it.<ref>The book ''Reincarnation in Christianity'', by the [[theosophist]] Geddes MacGregor (1978) asserted that Origen believed in reincarnation.  MacGregor is convinced that Origen believed in and taught about reincarnation but that his texts written about the subject have been destroyed. He admits that there is no extant proof for that position. The allegation was also repeated by [[Shirley MacLaine]] in her book ''Out On a Limb''.

Origen does discuss  the concept of transmigration (''metensomatosis'') from Greek philosophy, but it is repeatedly stated that this concept is not a part of the Christian teaching or scripture in his Comment on the [[Gospel of Matthew]] (which survives only in a 6th-century Latin translatio): "In this place [when Jesus said Elijah was come and referred to John the Baptist] it does not appear to me that by Elijah the soul is spoken of, lest I fall into the doctrine of [[Transmigration of the soul|transmigration]], which is foreign to the Church of God, and not handed down by the apostles, nor anywhere set forth in the scriptures" (13:1:46–53, see [[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IX/Origen on Matthew/Origen's Commentary on Matthew/Book XIII|Commentary on Matthew, Book XIII]]</ref>

Some early Christian [[Gnostic]] sects professed reincarnation. The [[Sethians]] and followers of [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]] believed in it.<ref>Much of this is documented in R.E. Slater's book ''Paradise Reconsidered.''</ref> The followers of [[Bardaisan]] of [[Mesopotamia]], a sect of the 2nd century deemed heretical by the Catholic Church, drew upon [[Babylon|Chaldean]] [[astrology]], to which Bardaisan's son Harmonius, educated in Athens, added Greek ideas including a sort of metempsychosis. Another such teacher was [[Basilides]] (132–? CE/AD), known to us through the criticisms of [[Irenaeus]] and the work of [[Clement of Alexandria]]. ''(see also [[Neoplatonism and Gnosticism]] and [[Buddhism and Gnosticism]])''

In the third Christian century [[Manichaeism]] spread both east and west from [[Babylonia]], then within the [[Sassanid Empire]], where its founder [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] lived about 216–276. Manichaean monasteries existed in Rome in 312 AD. Noting Mani's early travels to the [[Kushan Empire]] and other Buddhist influences in Manichaeism, [[Richard Foltz]]<ref>[[Richard Foltz]], ''Religions of the Silk Road'', New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010</ref> attributes Mani's teaching of reincarnation to Buddhist influence. However the inter-relation of Manicheanism, Orphism, Gnosticism and neo-Platonism is far from clear.

In the 1st century BC [[Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor]] wrote:

{{Cquote|''The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among the Gauls' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body''.}}

[[Julius Caesar]] recorded that the [[druids]] of Gaul, Britain and Ireland had metempsychosis as one of their core doctrines:<ref>Julius Caesar, "De Bello Gallico", VI</ref>

{{Cquote|''The principal point of their doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another..... the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed''.}}

In [[Judaism]], the [[Zohar]], first publicized in the 13th century, discusses reincarnation at length, especially in the Torah portion "Balak." The most comprehensive [[Kabbalah|kabbalistic]] work on reincarnation, ''[[Shaar HaGilgulim]]'',<ref>"Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity", p. 104, by  B. Alan Wallace</ref><ref>"Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism", p. 190, by J. H. Chajes</ref> was written by [[Hayyim ben Joseph Vital|Rabbi Chaim Vital]], based on the teachings of his mentor, the 16th century kabbalist [[Rabbi Isaac Luria]], who was said to know the past lives of each person through his [[Ruach HaKodesh|semi-prophetic]] abilities. The 18th century Lithuanian master scholar and kabbalist, Rabbi Elijah, known as the [[Vilna Gaon]] (Elijah of Vilna), authored a commentary on the biblical [[Book of Jonah]] as an allegory of reincarnation.

There is an extensive literature of Jewish folk and traditional stories that refer to reincarnation.<ref>Yonasson Gershom (1999), ''Jewish Tales of Reincarnation''. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. ISBN 0765760835</ref>

[[Taoist]] documents from as early as the [[Han Dynasty]] claimed that [[Lao Tzu]] appeared on earth as different persons in different times beginning in the legendary era of [[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors]]. The (ca. 3rd century BC) ''[[Chuang Tzu]]'' states: "Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a starting-point. Existence without limitation is Space. Continuity without a starting point is Time. There is birth, there is death, there is issuing forth, there is entering in."<ref>tr. [http://books.google.com/books?id=vMNI-aFtF4UC&dq Giles] 1889, p. 304</ref>

===Middle Ages===

Around the 11–12th century several reincarnationist movements were persecuted as heresies, through the establishment of the [[Medieval Inquisition|Inquisition]] in the Latin west. These included the [[Cathar]], Paterene or Albigensian church of western Europe, the [[Paulician]] movement, which arose in Armenia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11583b.htm |title=Newadvent.org |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1911-02-01 |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref> and the [[Bogomils]] in [[Bulgaria]].<ref>Steven Runciman, ''The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy'', 1982, isbn=0-521-28926-2, Cambridge University Press, ''The Bogomils'', [http://books.google.com/books?id=d1LGB7u5iD0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=mediaeval+manichee&cd=1 Google Books]</ref>

Christian sects such as the Bogomils and the Cathars, who professed reincarnation and other gnostic beliefs, were referred to as "Manichean", and are today sometimes described by scholars as "Neo-Manichean".<ref>For example Dondaine, Antoine. O.P. ''Un traite neo-manicheen du XIIIe siecle: Le Liber de duobus principiis, suivi d'un fragment de rituel Cathare'' (Rome: Institutum Historicum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 1939)</ref> As there is no known Manichaean mythology or terminology in the writings of these groups there has been some dispute among historians as to whether these groups truly were descendants of Manichaeism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01267e.htm |title=Newadvent.org |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1907-03-01 |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref>

====Norse mythology====

[[Image:Ed0027.jpg|right|thumb|[[Sváfa]] holding the dying [[Helgi Hjörvarðsson|Helgi]] in their first incarnation of three.]]

Reincarnation also appears in [[Norse mythology]], in the ''[[Poetic Edda]]''. The editor of the ''Poetic Edda'' says that [[Helgi Hjörvarðsson]] and his mistress, the [[valkyrie]] [[Sváfa]], whose love story is told in the poem ''[[Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar]]'', were reborn as [[Helgi Hundingsbane]] and the valkyrie [[Sigrún]]. Helgi and Sigrún's love story is the matter of a part of the ''[[Völsunga saga]]'' and the lays ''[[Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and II]]''. They were reborn a second time as [[Helgi Haddingjaskati]] and the valkyrie [[Kára]], but unfortunately their story, ''Káruljóð'', only survives in a probably modified form in the ''[[Hrómundar saga Gripssonar]]''.

The belief in reincarnation may have been commonplace among the Norse since the annotator of the ''Poetic Edda'' wrote that people formerly used to believe in it:

{{quote|Sigrun was early dead of sorrow and grief. It was believed in olden times that people were born again, but that is now called old wives' folly. Of Helgi and Sigrun it is said that they were born again; he became Helgi Haddingjaskati, and she Kara the daughter of Halfdan, as is told in the Lay of Kara, and she was a Valkyrie.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe20.htm |title=Bellow's translation of Helgakviða Hundingsbana II |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |date= |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref>}}

===Renaissance and Early Modern period===

While reincarnation has been a matter of faith in some communities from an early date it has also frequently been argued for on principle, as Plato does when he argues that the number of souls must be finite because souls are indestructible,<ref>"the souls must always be the same, for if none be destroyed they will not diminish in number." Republic X, 611. The Republic of Plato By Plato, Benjamin Jowett Edition: 3 Published by Clarendon press, 1888.</ref> [[Benjamin Franklin]] held a similar view.<ref>In a letter to his friend [[George Whatley]] written May 23, 1785: Jennifer T. Kennedy, Death Effects: Revisiting the conceit of Franklin's ''Memoir'', ''Early American Literature'', 2001. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/25057231 JSTOR]</ref> Sometimes such convictions, as in Socrates' case, arise from a more general personal faith, at other times from anecdotal evidence such as Plato makes Socrates offer in the ''Myth of Er''.

During the [[Renaissance]] translations of Plato, the [[Hermetica]] and other works fostered new European interest in reincarnation. [[Marsilio Ficino]]<ref>Marsilio Ficino, ''Platonic Theology'', 17.3–4</ref> argued that Plato's references to reincarnation were intended allegorically, Shakespeare made fun<ref>"Again, Rosalind in "As You Like It" (Act III., Scene 2), says: ''I was never so be-rhimed that I can remember since Pythagoras's time, when I was an Irish rat"'' — alluding to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls." William H. Grattan Flood, quoted at [http://www.libraryireland.com/IrishMusic/XVII-2.php Libraryireland.com]</ref> but [[Giordano Bruno]] was burned at the stake by authorities after being found guilty of heresy by the [[Roman Inquisition]] for his teachings.<ref>Boulting, 1914. pp. 163–64</ref> But the Greek philosophical works remained available and, particularly in north Europe, were discussed by groups such as the [[Cambridge Platonists]].

===19th to 20th centuries===

{{See also|#Reincarnation research}}

[[Image:Wm james.jpg|upright|thumb|right|American psychologist and philosopher [[William James]] (1842–1910) was an early psychical researcher.<ref name="Berger">{{cite book |last=Berger |first=Arthur S. |authorlink= |coauthors=Berger, Joyce |title=The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and Psychical Research |publisher=Paragon House Publishers |year=1991 |pages= |isbn=1-55778-043-9}}</ref>]]

By the 19th century the philosophers [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]]<ref>Schopenhauer, A: "Parerga und Paralipomena" (Eduard Grisebach edition), On Religion, Section 177</ref> and [[Nietzsche]]<ref>Nietzsche and the Doctrine of Metempsychosis, in J. Urpeth & J. Lippitt, ''Nietzsche and the Divine'', Manchester: Clinamen, 2000</ref> could access the Indian scriptures for discussion of the doctrine of reincarnation, which recommended itself to the [[American Transcendentalism|American Transcendentalists]] [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Walt Whitman]] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and was adapted by [[Francis Bowen]] into ''Christian Metempsychosis''.<ref name="shirleymaclaine.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.shirleymaclaine.com/articles/reincarnation/article-318 |title=Shirleymaclaine.com |publisher=Shirleymaclaine.com |date= |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref>

By the early 20th century, interest in reincarnation had been introduced into the nascent discipline of [[psychology]], largely due to the influence of [[William James]], who raised aspects of the [[philosophy of mind]], [[comparative religion]], the psychology of religious experience and the nature of empiricism.<ref>David Hammerman, Lisa Lenard, ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reincarnation'', Penguin, p.34. For relevant works by James, see; William James, ''Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine (the Ingersoll Lecture, 1897)'', ''The Will to Believe, Human Immortality'' (1956) Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-20291-7, ''The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature'' (1902), ISBN 0-14-039034-0, ''Essays in Radical Empiricism'' (1912) Dover Publications 2003, ISBN 0-486-43094-4</ref> James was influential in the founding of the [[American Society for Psychical Research]] (ASPR) in [[New York City]] in 1885, three years after the British [[Society for Psychical Research]] (SPR) was inaugurated in London,<ref name="Berger"/> leading to systematic, critical investigation of paranormal phenomena.

At this time popular awareness of the idea of reincarnation was boosted by the [[Theosophical Society]]'s dissemination of systematised and universalised Indian concepts and also by the influence of magical societies like [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn|The Golden Dawn]]. Notable personalities like [[Annie Besant]], [[W. B. Yeats]] and [[Dion Fortune]] made the subject almost as [[Reincarnation in popular culture|familiar an element of the popular culture]] of the west as of the east. By 1924 the subject could be satirised in popular children's books.<ref>Richmal Crompton, ''More William'', George Newnes, London, 1924, XIII. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17125/17125-h/17125-h.htm William and the Ancient Souls]; "The memory usually came in a flash. For instance, you might remember in a flash when you were looking at a box of matches that you had been Guy Fawkes."</ref>

[[Théodore Flournoy]] was among the first to study a claim of past-life recall in the course of his investigation of the medium [[Hélène Smith]], published in 1900, in which he defined the possibility of [[cryptomnesia]] in such accounts.<ref>Théodore Flournoy, [http://www.psychanalyse-paris.com/-Des-Indes-a-la-planete-Mars-.html Des Indes à la planète Mars], Étude sur un cas de somnambulisme avec glossolalie, Éditions Alcan et Eggimann, Paris et Genève, 1900</ref>

[[Carl Gustav Jung]], like Flournoy based in Switzerland, also emulated him in his thesis based on a study of cryptomnesia in psychism. Later Jung would emphasise the importance of the persistence of memory and ego in psychological study of reincarnation: "This concept of rebirth necessarily implies the continuity of personality... (that) one is able, at least potentially, to remember that one has lived through previous existences, and that these existences were one's own...."<ref name="shirleymaclaine.com"/> [[Hypnosis]], used in [[psychoanalysis]] for retrieving  forgotten memories, was eventually tried as a means of studying the phenomenon of past life recall.

Psychiatrist [[Ian Stevenson]], from the [[University of Virginia]], investigated many reports of young children who claimed to remember a past life. He conducted more than 2,500 [[case study|case studies]] over a period of 40 years and published twelve books, including ''[[Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation]]'' and ''[[Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect]]''. Stevenson methodically documented each child's statements and then identified the [[deceased]] person the child identified with, and verified the facts of the deceased person's life that matched the child's memory. He also matched [[birthmark]]s and [[birth defects]] to wounds and scars on the deceased, verified by [[medical records]] such as [[autopsy]] photographs, in ''[[Reincarnation and Biology]]''.<ref>Cadoret, Remi. [http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=177497 Book Review: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type] ''The American Journal of Psychiatry'', April 2005.</ref>

Stevenson searched for disconfirming evidence and alternative explanations for the reports, and believed that his strict methods ruled out all possible "normal" explanations for the child’s memories.<ref name="document">{{Cite news| last = Shroder | first = T | url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021001393.html?nav=hcmodule | title = Ian Stevenson; Sought To Document Memories Of Past Lives in Children | work = [[The Washington Post]] | date = 2007-02-11 }}</ref> However, a significant majority of Stevenson's reported cases of reincarnation originated in Eastern societies, where dominant [[Eastern philosophy|religions]] often permit the concept of reincarnation. Following this type of criticism, Stevenson published a book on ''[[European Cases of the Reincarnation Type]]''. Other people who have undertaken reincarnation research include [[Jim B. Tucker]], [[Satwant Pasricha]], [[Godwin Samararatne]], and [[Erlendur Haraldsson]].

Skeptics such as [[Paul Edwards (philosopher)|Paul Edwards]] have analyzed many of these accounts, and called them [[anecdotal evidence|anecdotal]],<ref name=skepticreport.com>Rockley, Richard. [http://www.skepticreport.com/newage/stevensonbook.htm Book Review: Children who remember previous lives]</ref> while also suggesting that claims of evidence for reincarnation originate from [[selective thinking]] and from the [[false memory syndrome|false memories]] that often result from one's own belief system and basic fears, and thus cannot be counted as [[empirical evidence]]. [[Carl Sagan]] referred to examples apparently from Stevenson's investigations in his book ''[[The Demon-Haunted World]]'' as an example of carefully collected empirical data, though he rejected reincarnation as a parsimonious explanation for the stories.<ref>{{cite book | author=Sagan, Carl | authorlink = Carl Sagan  | title = Demon Haunted World  | publisher = [[Random House]] | location = | year=1996  | page=300| isbn = 978-0-394-53512-8}}</ref>

Objections to claims of reincarnation include the facts that the vast majority of people do not remember previous lives and there is no mechanism known to modern science that would enable a personality to survive death and travel to another body, barring the idea of [[biocentrism]]. Researchers such as Stevenson have acknowledged these limitations.<ref name=washingtonpost.com>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021001393.html?nav=hcmodule |title=Ian Stevenson; Sought To Document Memories Of Past Lives in Children |publisher=Washingtonpost.com |date=2007-02-11 |accessdate=2011-12-06 |first=Tom |last=Shroder}}</ref>

{{See also|Reincarnation in popular culture}}

During recent decades, many people in the West have developed an interest in reincarnation.<ref name="hi.is"/> Feature films, such as ''[[The Reincarnation of Peter Proud]]'', ''[[Dead Again]]'', ''[[Kundun]]'', [[Fluke (film)|''Fluke'']], ''[[What Dreams May Come (film)|What Dreams May Come]]'', ''[[The Mummy (1932 film)|The Mummy]]'' and ''[[Birth (film)|Birth]]'', contemporary books by authors such as [[Carol Bowman]] and [[Vicki Mackenzie]], as well as popular songs, deal with reincarnation.

Recent studies have indicated that some Westerners accept the idea of reincarnation<ref name="hi.is"/> including certain contemporary Christians,<ref>Tony Walter and Helen Waterhouse, "[http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/2/187.full.pdf A Very Private Belief: Reincarnation in Contemporary England]". ''Sociology of Religion'', Vol. 60, 1999</ref> modern [[Neopaganism|Neopagans]], followers of [[Spiritism]], [[Theosophy|Theosophists]] and students of [[esotericism|esoteric]] philosophies such as [[Kabbalah]], and [[Gnostic]] and [[Esoteric Christianity]] as well as of Indian religions. Demographic survey data from 1999–2002 shows a significant minority of people from Europe and America, where there is reasonable freedom of thought and access to ideas but no outstanding recent reincarnationist tradition, believe we had a life before we were born, will survive death and be born again physically. The mean for the Nordic countries is 22%.<ref name=surv>{{cite web|url=http://www.hi.is/~erlendur/english/Nordic_Psychology_erlhar06.pdf |title=Popular psychology, belief in life after death and reincarnation in the Nordic countries, Western and Eastern Europe |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref> The belief in reincarnation is particularly high in the Baltic countries, with Lithuania having the highest figure for the whole of Europe, 44%. The lowest figure is in East Germany, 12%. In Russia, about one-third believes in reincarnation. The effect of communist anti-religious ideas on the beliefs of the populations of Eastern Europe seems to have been rather slight, if any, except apparently in East Germany.<ref name=surv/> Overall, 22% of respondents in [[Western Europe]] believe in reincarnation.<ref name=surv/> According to a 2005 Gallup poll 20 percent of U.S. adults believe in reincarnation. Recent surveys by the Barna Group, a Christian research nonprofit organization, have found that a quarter of U.S. Christians, including 10 percent of all born-again Christians, embrace the idea.<ref>[http://worldmonitor.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/buddhism-china/ China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation]{{dead link|date=December 2011}}</ref>

Skeptic [[Carl Sagan]] asked the [[14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]] what he would do if a fundamental tenet of his religion (reincarnation) were definitively disproved by science. The Dalai Lama answered, "If science can disprove reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism would abandon reincarnation... but it's going to be mighty hard to disprove reincarnation."<ref>"The Boundaries of Knowledge in Buddhism, Christianity, and Science", by Paul David Numrich, p. 13, publisher = Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, isbn = 9783525569870</ref>

Ian Stevenson reported that belief in reincarnation is held (with variations in details) by adherents of almost all major religions except [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]].  In addition, between 20 and 30 percent of persons in western countries who may be nominal Christians also believe in reincarnation.<ref name=jh>Jane Henry (2005).  [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=EaIhapm-4UgC&pg=PP5&lpg=PP5&dq=%22Parapsychology:+Research+on+Exceptional+Experiences%22+%22Jane+Henry%22&source=bl&ots=tReXJKfiIh&sig=IIE8o603PaUPxN2RT21gedmeoP8&hl=en&ei=k_VKSpL6HIvkNduOrJsB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 Parapsychology: research on exceptional experiences] Routledge, p. 224.</ref>

| doi = 10.2307/3711748

| title = A very private belief: Reincarnation in contemporary England

| url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_2_60/ai_55208520/

| last1 = Walter | first1 =  T.

| last2 =  Waterhouse | first2 =  H.

| jstor = 3711748 }}</ref> The authors reported that surveys have found about one fifth to one quarter of Europeans have some level of belief in reincarnation, with similar results found in the USA. In the interviewed group, the belief in the existence of this phenomenon appeared independent of their age, or the type of religion that these people belonged to, with most being Christians. The beliefs of this group also did not appear to contain any more than usual of "new age" ideas (broadly defined) and the authors interpreted their ideas on reincarnation as "one way of tackling issues of suffering", but noted that this seemed to have little effect on their private lives.

Waterhouse also published a detailed discussion of beliefs expressed in the interviews.<ref name=Waterhouse1999>{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1080/13537909908580854

| url = http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a794456285

| author = Waterhouse, H.

}}</ref> She noted that although most people "hold their belief in reincarnation quite lightly" and were unclear on the details of their ideas, personal experiences such as past-life memories and [[near-death experience]]s had influenced most believers, although only a few had direct experience of these phenomena. Waterhouse analyzed the influences of second-hand accounts of reincarnation, writing that most of the people in the survey had heard other people's accounts of past-lives from regression hypnosis and dreams and found these fascinating, feeling that there "must be something in it" if other people were having such experiences.

Reincarnation – known as Punarjanma – it is one of the core beliefs of Hinduism that is generally accepted by many of its practitioners.<ref>Vivekjivandas, Sadhu. ''Hinduism: An Introduction – Part 1''. (Swaminarayan Aksharpith: Ahmedabad, 2010) p. 33-36. ISBN 978-81-7526-433-5</ref>

Reincarnation is the natural process of birth, death and rebirth. Hindus believe that the [[Jiva]] or [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (soul) is intrinsically pure. However, because of the layers of I-ness and My-ness, the [[jiva]] goes through transmigration in the cycle of births and deaths. Death destroys the physical body, but not the [[jiva]]. The [[jiva]] is eternal. It takes on another body<ref>{{Cite news |url= http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-02-22.html/ |title=Bhagavad-Gita: Chapter 2, Verse 22 |publisher=Bhagavad-Gita Trust |date=1998-2009 |accessdate=28 July 2012}}</ref> with respect to its [[karma]]s. Every karma produces a result which must be experienced either in this or some future life. As long as the jiva is enveloped in ignorance, it remains attached to material desires and subject to the cycles of births and deaths ([[Samsara]]).

There is no permanent heaven or hell in Hinduism. After services in the afterlife, the ''jiva'' enters the karma and rebirth system, reborn as an animal, a human or a divinity. This reincarnation continues until ''mokṣa'', the final release, is gained.<ref>Jacobsen, Knut A. "Three Functions Of Hell In The Hindu Traditions." Numen 56.2–3 (2009): 385–400. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web. 16 Sept. 2012.</ref>

 

 

[[Image:Reincarnation2.jpg|thumb|right|Hindus believe the self or soul ([[Atman (Hinduism)|atman]]) repeatedly takes on a physical body.]]

 

{{quotation|Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from childhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change. (2:12–13)}}

 

and,

 

{{quotation|Worn-out garments are shed by the body; Worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller within the body. New bodies are donned by the dweller, like garments. (2:22)<ref>Bhagavad Gita II.22, ISBN 1-56619-670-1</ref>}}

 

According to the Hindu sage [[Adi Sankara|Adi Shankaracharya]], the world – as we ordinarily understand it – is like a dream: fleeting and illusory. To be trapped in samsara (the cycle of birth and death) is a result of ignorance of the true nature of our existence. It is ignorance (''[[Avidya (Hinduism)|avidya]]'') of one's true self that leads to ego-consciousness, grounding one in desire and a perpetual chain of reincarnation. The idea is intricately linked to action (''[[karma]]''), a concept first recorded in the [[Upanishad]]s. Every action has a reaction and the force determines one's next incarnation. One is reborn through desire: a person ''desires'' to be born because he or she wants to enjoy a body,<ref>See Bhagavad Gita XVI.8–20</ref> which can never bring deep, lasting happiness or peace (''ānanda''). After many births every person becomes dissatisfied and begins to seek higher forms of happiness through spiritual experience. When, after spiritual practice ([[sadhana|sādhanā]]), a person realizes that the true "self" is the immortal soul rather than the body or the ego all desires for the pleasures of the world will vanish since they will seem insipid compared to spiritual ''ānanda''. When all desire has vanished the person will not be born again.<ref>Rinehart, Robin, ed., ''Contemporary Hinduism''19–21 (2004) ISBN 1-57607-905-8</ref> When the cycle of rebirth thus comes to an end, a person is said to have attained liberation (''[[moksha]]'').<ref>Karel Werner, ''A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism'' 110 (Curzon Press 1994) ISBN 0-7007-0279-2</ref> All schools agree this implies the cessation of worldly desires and freedom from the cycle of birth and death, though the exact definition differs. Followers of the [[Advaita Vedanta]] school believe they will spend eternity absorbed in the perfect peace and happiness of the realization that all existence is One ''[[Brahman]]'' of which the soul is part. [[Dvaita]] schools perform worship with the goal of spending eternity in a spiritual world or heaven (''[[loka]]'') in the blessed company of the [[Supreme Being]].<ref>Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Translation by Swami Nikhilananda (8th Ed. 1992) ISBN 0-911206-01-9</ref>

 

Hindus provide several reasons why the [[jiva]] takes on various physical bodies:<ref>Vivekjivandas, Sadhu. ''Hinduism: An Introduction – Part 1''. (Swaminarayan Aksharpith: Ahmedabad, 2010) p. 46-47. ISBN 978-81-7526-433-5</ref>

# '''To experience the fruits of one's [[karma]]s''': This is the main reason for rebirth. ''[[Sattva|Sattvika]]'' (good or righteous) karmas reward one with the pleasures of  [[Svarga]]. [[Rajas]] (pleasure-seeking) karmas reward one with mrutyuloka (mortal realm or earth). And ''[[Tamas (philosophy)|Tamas]]'' karmas (actions related to inertia, laziness and evil) condemn one to [[patala]]-loka.

# '''To satisfy one's desires''': When a person indulges in material pleasures, he or she subsequently develops a stronger desire to enjoy more of it ([[Vāsanā]]). This unending craving to satisfy one's desires causes the [[jiva]] to assume new physical bodies.

# '''To complete one's unfinished [[sadhana]]''': When an aspirant making spiritual efforts for liberation from ''[[Maya (illusion)|maya]]'' dies without attaining his or her goal, the jiva gets as a natural cause-effect another human body to complete its sadhana.

# '''To fulfil a debt''': When a  [[jiva]] is indebted to another [[jiva]], it gets a human birth to fulfil its debt and receive what is owed to it. The jiva comes in the form of a relative, friend or an enemy.

# '''To undergo sufferings because of a great soul's curse''': A person's grave error or sin may incur the wrath or displeasure of God or a [[Rishi]]. This results in the jiva of that person getting another birth, not necessarily into a human body.

# '''To attain [[moksha]]''': By the grace and compassion of God or a God-realized guru, a jiva gets a human body to purge itself of the layers of base instincts.<ref>Vivekjivandas, Sadhu. ''Hinduism: An Introduction – Part 1''. (Swaminarayan Aksharpith: Ahmedabad, 2010) p. 47. ISBN 978-81-7526-433-5</ref>

 

 

[[Jainism]] is historically connected with the ''sramana'' tradition with which the earliest mentions of reincarnation are associated.<ref>"The sudden appearance of this theory [of karma] in a full-fledged form is likely to be due, as already pointed out, to an impact of the wandering [[Jain monasticism|muni]]-and-[[shramana]]-cult, coming down from the pre-Vedic non-Aryan time." Kashi Nsadcwath Upadhyaya, ''Early Buddhism and the Bhagavadgita''. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1998, page 76.</ref>

 

Karma forms a central and fundamental part of Jain faith, being intricately connected to other of its philosophical concepts like transmigration, reincarnation, liberation, non-violence (''[[Ahimsa in Jainism|ahiṃsā]]'') and non-attachment, among others. Actions are seen to have consequences: some immediate, some delayed, even into future incarnations. So the doctrine of karma is not considered simply in relation to one life-time, but also in relation to both future incarnations and past lives.<ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) pp. 226–230</ref> ''Uttarādhyayana-sūtra'' 3.3–4 states: "The ''jīva'' or the soul is sometimes born in [[devaloka|the world of gods]], sometimes in [[Naraka (Jainism)|hell]]. Sometimes it acquires the body of a [[asura|demon]]; all this happens on account of its karma. This ''jīva'' sometimes takes birth as a worm, as an insect or as an ant."<ref name=krishan43>Krishan, Yuvraj (1997): p. 43.</ref> The text further states (32.7): "Karma is the root of birth and death. The souls bound by karma go round and round in the cycle of existence."<ref name=krishan43 />

 

Actions and emotions in the current lifetime affect future incarnations depending on the nature of the particular karma. For example, a good and virtuous life indicates a latent desire to experience good and virtuous themes of life. Therefore, such a person attracts karma that ensures that his future births will allow him to experience and manifest his virtues and good feelings unhindered.<ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) pp.70–71</ref> In this case, he may take birth in heaven or in a prosperous and virtuous human family. On the other hand, a person who has indulged in immoral deeds, or with a cruel disposition, indicates a latent desire to experience cruel themes of life.<ref name=Kuhn64>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) pp.64–66</ref> As a natural consequence, he will attract karma which will ensure that he is reincarnated in hell, or in lower life forms, to enable his soul to experience the cruel themes of life.<ref name=Kuhn64/>

 

There is no retribution, judgment or reward involved but a natural consequences of the choices in life made either knowingly or unknowingly. Hence, whatever suffering or pleasure that a soul may be experiencing in its present life is on account of choices that it has made in the past.<ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) p.15</ref> As a result of this doctrine, Jainism attributes supreme importance to pure thinking and moral behavior.<ref>Rankin, Aidan (2006) p.67</ref>

 

[[File:Gati or existences.jpg|left|thumb|200px|The drawing illustrating how the soul travels to any one of the four states of existence after the death depending on its karmas, according to Jainism]]

 

The Jain texts postulate four ''gatis'', that is states-of-existence or birth-categories, within which the soul transmigrates. The four ''gatis'' are: ''[[Deva (Hinduism)|deva]]'' (demi-gods), ''manuṣya'' (humans), ''[[Naraka (Jainism)|nāraki]]'' (hell beings) and ''tiryañca'' (animals, plants and micro-organisms).<ref name=Jaini108>Jaini, Padmanabh (1998) p.108</ref> The four ''gatis'' have four corresponding realms or habitation levels in the vertically tiered [[Jain cosmology#Jain geography|Jain universe]]: demi-gods occupy the higher levels where the heavens are situated; humans, plants and animals occupy the middle levels; and hellish beings occupy the lower levels where seven hells are situated.<ref name=Jaini108/>

 

Single-sensed souls, however, called ''[[nigoda]]'',<ref>The Jain hierarchy of life classifies living beings on the basis of the senses: five-sensed beings like humans and animals are at the top, and single sensed beings like microbes and plants are at the bottom.</ref> and element-bodied souls pervade all tiers of this universe. ''Nigodas'' are souls at the bottom end of the existential hierarchy. They are so tiny and undifferentiated, that they lack even individual bodies, living in colonies. According to Jain texts, this infinity of ''nigodas'' can also be found in plant tissues, root vegetables and animal bodies.<ref>Jaini, Padmanabh (1998) pp.108–09</ref> Depending on its karma, a soul transmigrates and reincarnates within the scope of this cosmology of destinies. The four main destinies are further divided into sub-categories and still smaller sub-sub-categories. In all, Jain texts speak of a cycle of 8.4 million birth destinies in which souls find themselves again and again as they cycle within ''[[Samsara (Jainism)|samsara]]''.<ref>Jaini, Padmanabh (2000) p.130</ref>

 

In Jainism, God has no role to play in an individual's destiny; one's personal destiny is not seen as a consequence of any system of reward or punishment, but rather as a result of its own personal karma. A text from a volume of the ancient Jain canon, ''[[Vyakhyaprajnapti|Bhagvati sūtra]]'' 8.9.9, links specific states of existence to specific karmas. Violent deeds, killing of creatures having five sense organs, eating fish, and so on, lead to rebirth in hell. Deception, fraud and falsehood lead to rebirth in the animal and vegetable world. Kindness, compassion and humble character result in human birth; while austerities and the making and keeping of vows lead to rebirth in heaven.<ref>Krishan, Yuvraj (1997) p.44</ref>

 

Each soul is thus responsible for its own predicament, as well as its own salvation. Accumulated karma represent a sum total of all unfulfilled desires, attachments and aspirations of a soul.<ref name=Kuhn28>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) p.28</ref><ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) p.69</ref> It enables the soul to experience the various themes of the lives that it desires to experience.<ref name=Kuhn28 /> Hence a soul may transmigrate from one life form to another for countless of years, taking with it the karma that it has earned, until it finds conditions that bring about the required fruits. In certain philosophies, heavens and hells are often viewed as places for eternal salvation or eternal damnation for good and bad deeds. But according to Jainism, such places, including the earth are simply the places which allow the soul to experience its unfulfilled karma.<ref>Kuhn, Hermann (2001) pp.65–66, 70–71</ref>

 

[[Image:Dazu Wheel of Reincarnation.JPG|upright|thumb|In this 8-meter (25-foot) tall Buddhist relief, made sometime between the years 1177 and 1249, [[Mara (demon)|Mara]], Lord of Death and Desire, clutches a Wheel of Reincarnation which outlines the Buddhist cycle of reincarnation.]]

 

The early Buddhist texts make it clear that there is no permanent consciousness that moves from life to life.<ref>The many references in early Buddhist scriptures include; Mahakammavibhanga Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 136); Upali Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 56); Kukkuravatika Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 57); Moliyasivaka Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya 36.21); Sankha Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya 42.8). For an explicit rejection of this view in the early texts see David J. Kalupahana, ''Causality—the central philosophy of Buddhism.'' University Press of Hawaii, 1975, page 119.</ref> [[Gautama Buddha]] taught a distinct concept of rebirth constrained by the concepts of [[anatman|anattā]], that there is no irreducible [[Atman (Buddhism)|ātman]] or "self" tying these lives together (which serves as a contrast to Hinduism,  where everything is connected, and in a sense, "everything is everything"),<ref>Walpola Rahula, ''What the Buddha Taught'' (London: Gordon Fraser Limited, 1990), p. 51</ref> and [[Impermanence|anicca]], that all compounded things are subject to dissolution, including all the components of the human person and personality.

 

In Buddhist [[doctrine]] the evolving [[Consciousness (Buddhism)|consciousness]] (Pali: ''samvattanika-viññana'')<ref>([[Majjhima Nikaya|M]].1.256) "Post-Classical Developments in the Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravada Buddhism." by Bruce Matthews. in ''Karma and Rebirth: Post-Classical Developments'' State Univ of New York Press: 1986 ISBN 0-87395-990-6 pg 125</ref><ref>Collins, Steven. ''Selfless persons: imagery and thought in Theravāda Buddhism'' Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-521-39726-X pg 215, [http://books.google.com/books?id=ruJvjdNQVPIC&pg=RA1-PA115&lpg=RA1-PA115&dq=samvattanika&source=bl&ots=d_WluqzeuL&sig=SX1Ua5bfFDZJB16eOueopPtVntw&hl=en&ei=bfpFS5WzOs-UtgfU16z7AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=14&ved=0CD8Q6AEwDQ#v=onepage&q=samvattanika&f=false Google Books]</ref> or stream of consciousness (Pali: ''viññana-sotam'',<ref>([[Digha Nikaya|D]].3.105) "Post-Classical Developments in the Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravada Buddhism. by Bruce Matthews. in Karma and Rebirth: ''Post-Classical Developments'' State Univ of New York Press: 1986 ISBN 0-87395-990-6 pg 125</ref> Sanskrit:  ''vijñāna-srotām, vijñāna-santāna'', or ''citta-santāna'') upon death (or "the dissolution of the aggregates" (P. ''khandha''s, S. ''[[skandha]]''s)), becomes one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new aggregation. At the death of one personality, a new one comes into being, much as the flame of a dying candle can serve to light the flame of another.<ref>Tucker, 2005, p.216</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/miln/miln.3x.kell.html#miln-3-5-05 |title=PTS: Miln 71–72; 82–83; 84 (Pali Canon) |publisher=Accesstoinsight.org |date=2010-06-30 |accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref> The consciousness in the new person is neither identical to nor entirely different from that in the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream. Transmigration is the effect of ''karma'' (''kamma'')<ref>His Holiness the Dalai Lama, ''How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life'' (New York: Atria Books, 2002), p. 46</ref><ref>Bruce Matthews in Ronald Wesley Neufeldt, editor, ''Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments.'' SUNY Press, 1986, page 125. [http://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC&pg=PA126&dq=Bija+Niyama&lr=#PPA125,M1 Google.com]</ref> or volitional action.<ref>Rahula, p. 144</ref> The basic cause is the abiding of consciousness in ignorance (Pali: ''avijja'', Sanskrit: ''[[avidya (Buddhism)|avidya]]''): when ignorance is uprooted, rebirth ceases.<ref>Thanissaro Bhikkhu, [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.049.than.html#n-9 Accesstoinsight.org].</ref>

 

The Buddha's detailed conception of the connections between action ([[Karma in Buddhism|karma]]), rebirth and causality is set out in the [[Twelve Nidanas|twelve links]] of [[Pratitya-samutpada|dependent origination]]. The empirical, changing self does not only affect the world about it, it also generates, consciously and unconsciously, a subjective image of the world in which it lives as "reality". It "tunes in" to a particular level of consciousness which has a particular range of objects, selectively notices such objects and forms a partial model of reality in which the ego is the crucial reference point. [[Vipassana]] meditation uses "bare attention" to mind-states without interfering, owning or judging. Observation reveals each moment as an experience of an individual mind-state such as a thought, a memory, a feeling or a perception that arises, exists and ceases. This limits the power of desire, which, according to the second noble truth of  Buddhism, is the cause of suffering (''[[dukkha]]''), and leads to ''[[Nirvana]]'' (''[[nibbana]]'', vanishing (of the self-idea)) in which self-oriented models are transcended and "the world stops".<ref>Peter Harvey, ''The Selfless Mind.'' Curzon Press 1995, page 247.</ref> Thus consciousness is a continuous birth and death of mind-states: rebirth is the persistence of this process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* [http://john-uebersax.com/plato/plato4.htm Did Plato Believe in Reincarnation?]

* [http://luchte.wordpress.com/wandering-souls-the-doctrine-of-transmigration-in-pythagorean-philosophy/ Wandering Souls: The Doctrine of Transmigration in Pythagorean Philosophy] by Dr. James Luchte

* [http://www.bartleby.com/65/tr/transmig.html The Columbia Encyclopedia: Transmigration of Souls or Metempsychosis]

* [http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?scope=6198&kid=6569 Jewish View of Reincarnation]

* [http://www.christians.eu/reincarnation-bible/ Was Reincarnation Removed from the Bible?]