Special Thanks to classical
REINCARNATION and ALL THAT
by Brad Warner
Last week I attended the annual 3-day Zazen retreat hosted by Nishijima Sensei at Tokei-in temple in the tea covered hills of Shizuoka (2 hrs. from Tokyo by Bullet Train). As usual, the question of reincarnation came up during the talks. And, as usual, Nishijima expressed his opinion that there was no such thing as reincarnation and that the belief in reincarnation is not Buddhism. And, like always, most of the people who heard this were pretty cheesed off about it. After all, everybody knows that all Buddhists believe in reincarnation. Richard Gere says so!
I'm not trying to sound high and mighty here. Seven years ago when I began studying with Nishijima, I too asked the reincarnation question and I too was pretty cheesed off by his reply. I should have known better, really. After all, I'd been practicing for a decade or so by then. It's not hard for me to understand why people ask the question. We're all scared of dying and we all want some kind of assurance that we're going to live forever. Having a kindly old man in black robes tell you you're going to be reborn after you die is pretty comforting.
When Gautama Buddha was asked about life after death, eternal existence and so on, he said "the question does not fit the case." The question can't be answered because it's the wrong question. In the chapter titled Bendowa in Shobogenzo, Dogen, the founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan, says this about reincarnation. "According to that non-Buddhist view, there is one spiritual intelligence existing within our body. When this body dies, however, the spirit casts off the skin and is reborn. If we learn this view as the Buddha's Dharma we are even more foolish than the person who grasps a tile or pebble thinking it to be a golden treasure." (from the translation by Gudo Nishijima & Chodo Cross, Windbell 1994) Some might say that what Dogen is referring to here is transmigration and that reincarnation is a different idea. But the two terms are so entangled these days that the difference really doesn't matter much. What's more, the Shobogenzo is just chock full of stories of people dying here and being reborn somewhere else as a different person. What gives?
You know what? Quoting quotes and reading books will not solve the problem. If I just quoted Dogen and left it at that I'd be like one of those guys with the bumper stickers that say "The Bible said it, I believe it and that settles it." Either understand things for yourself or shut the hell up. I'll give you my take on the matter and let you sort it out on your own.
Our brain likes to label things. That's its job. In our minds there is something we call "me." This "me" consists of all of our memories, dreams for the future, likes and dislikes and so on. But "me" is also our label for something ineffable, something we cannot understand or put into words. In moments of balance and clarity, we can see that this "me" does not belong to us at all. It is the possession of the Universe. It is the the Universe itself. My first teacher, Tim, used to say "It's more you than you could ever be." Nishijima says "my personality extends throughout the Universe." This something is the same as the present moment. The present moment is eternal. It's always there. It is unborn and it cannot die. But it's not "me" and it does not reincarnate.
If we watch a river flow, we can see bubbles form on its surface. The bubbles appear, float along for a while, then burst. The bubbles are just air and water. The water returns to the river. The air returns to the atmosphere. But that bubble will never appear again. If we light a candle, then use the flame to light a second candle while simultaneously blowing out the first, is the flame on the second candle the same flame as the first? Where is the first flame? Snap your fingers. Where was that sound before you heard it? After you heard it, where did it go?
When we die, we die. We never appear again. But why should this worry us so much? We die all the time. Every moment of every day we die. Look at a picture of yourself when you were 10 years old. Where is that person now? If we look all over the world, if we scour the Universe, we will not find that person. He is gone and no one will ever see him again. Each moment is our life. Here and now is our life. We want to live forever, we want to be reincarnated, because we have a confused idea of who we are. The "me" we want to live forever can never do so because this "me" does not exist. It is not a thing which can possibly live forever. It is always changing. We don't have to worry about it dying, because it's already dead and gone. In fact, change is so constant, so all-pervasive that we have to question the very idea we call "change." Nothing changes because our concept of "change" implies that some kind of permanent substance makes itself into different forms and yet in its essence remains consistent. There is no essence.
Forget about reincarnation. Look at your life as it is right now and live it.
http://www.hardcorezen.org/
Son of mr. gordo