WELL... r u ready to let ur mind wander around d things far beyond wht u encounter in daily life? Here's d most critical but d deepest-of-all starting point! Reincarnation/Rebirth vs. One-off life...!
I assign following meanings to d above terms. I'm doing dis... coz i need to reflect whr Buddhist Concept lies in regarding d subject matter.
REINCARNATION - probably d oldest concept of all. Believes in an everlasting soul which never dies even though d person's physical body comes to an end. Soul is expected to find a new body and sow its seeds. Hinduism has its roots on dis, and... Jainism too.
REBIRTH - well... some may argue dis is d same as reincarnation. But to point out a crucial point, i'd say rebirth is open-ended. It talks about the repetition of life... but does it talk about any unique everlasting soul??? So... it could be greatly adapted to d conept of repetition of life in buddhism whr neither eternal soul nor one-off life is accepted!
ONE-OFF LIFE - deals with d belief tht dis life wht u'v got right nw is d only lifetime for ever. Death doesn't initiate a new beggining of another life of ur blueprint to this world. BUT DO NOT forget!!! U may go to hell or heaven for ever once u die!!! Chiristianism n Islam r paradigms of this concept.
BUDDHISM on REBIRTH
REMEMBER... Buddhism doesn't believe in an eternal soul! Then, how does it explain the repetition of life??? The answer involves the true fact of the constant change of EVERYTHING where MIND is no exception.
Eternal soul is dependant upon the belief tht thr's a non-physical spirit (often referred to as mind! not exactly, but quite closely) in anybody which is unique to tht person. This spirit never get killed and can never be killed. It never changes (your physical body is subject to change) but lasts for ever. This gives a person of this world one unique feeling, tht "HE" is thr no matter wht. HE (or "I", when looking at own self) is one unique unit of this universe. This forms the foundation of reincarnation.
In contrast, buddhism never talks abt eternity of anything. MIND is also subject to change. Thr's no one unique mind. Similarly, no such thing as soul which is supposed to be composed of mind. MIND is the formation of series of instances of some sort of energy. To provide an anology; atom was supposed to be unique one single unit. But later it was found tht atom is also formed by sub-particles. If we go deep into tht discovery, we can say, "each and every mass in the universe is a formation of energy". MIND is also the same, no unique thing, but a formation of energy.
Wht happens when a person dies?? Last instance of mind gets connected with a new physical body. If u look at the thing from the same physical perspective tht physicists explored d universe so far, then my dear friend, u'll get into trouble in understanding this. Subsequent instances of mind may carry the same charasteristics of d previous states. REBIRTH is nothing but the generation of another instance of mind with a new set of physical conditions. I hope that clarifies.
May d blessings of d tripple gem be with u all!!!
