(11) Rebirth, Reincarnation or Continuation? | A Teaching on Karma by Thich Nhat Hanh, 2009-06-21

In the traditions of religion,

we tend to believe more in
something long-lasting,

like the soul.

We know that in Buddhism
the notion of soul does not exist.

You can call consciousness, you can imagine,
you can identify consciousness with soul,

you may even call consciousness your soul,

with the condition that you know its nature
is only a cinematographic nature;

your consciousness is made of point-instant
flash manifestations.

And if you understand like that, you are free
to use any word, including soul.

But if you use consciousness, you think of
consciousness as something long-lasting,

even the word consciousness is wrong.

Consciousness as well as object of consciousness,

they manifest in such a way that look like cinema.

Cinema.

And people in quantum physics,
they begin to see it clearly.

So when we tend to believe that
consciousness is permanent,

the soul is permanent,

and only the body perishes,

the soul continues like that for a long time--to
go to heaven or to go to hell--

that is the belief in eternalism
[thường kiến].

The view of permanence,

which is a wrong view.

Because Buddhism proposes impermanence.

And impermanence goes well with science,

because science also acknowledges that
everything is impermanent,

that it exists only in one flash.

So that applies not only to consciousness,
but to the world, which is object of consciousness.

And we see that in elementary Buddhism we learn that

Dharma, with a capital "D,"
is the teaching of the Buddha,

but dharma, with a simple "d," it
means object of mind.

Object of mind.

Or knowable.

Object of mind.

So we know that the world is first of all
object of mind.

That is something we can be sure of.

And whether the world exists by itself alone,

we can not be sure.

But we can be sure that it is the object of
our mind.

The sun, the moon, the Earth, the cosmos,

the galaxies, they are all objects of mind.

And our body also are object of our mind.

And our mind also is object of our mind.

So there is the possibility to investigate
the object of our mind

and when we understand the object of our mind,
we understand our mind,

because the mind and object of mind, they inter-are,

one cannot be without the other.

So a Right View should transcend
the view of eternalism.

So a permanent, immortal soul is something
that cannot be accepted,

either by good Buddhists or good scientists.

But the opposite view,

that after this body disintegrates
you will disappear altogether,

that is another extreme.

This is another wrong
view called annihilation.

Annihilation [referring to whiteboard].
Or do we have to say annihilationism?

Which one is good? [referring to two words]

The second one? Annihilationism [Nihilism].

So this is an extreme [pointing to eternalism],

and this is another extreme [pointing to nihilism].

This is a wrong view, this is another wrong
view.

To say that you disappear altogether with
your body is a wrong view.

It's called nihilism [đoạn kiến].

So as a student of Buddhism,
you are not caught in both views.

And rebirth, continuation, should be
understood in the light of

"no eternalism, no annihilationism [nihilism]".

So the popular...the Buddhism of devotion,
popular Buddhism,

may believe something..

.may adopt a more eternalistic approach.

They think that after the
disintegration of the body,

the soul remains the same

and will penetrate into another body--

an animal or a tree or a squirrel or a deer
or another person.

That person may be white, may be black,
may be brown, and so on.

So that is naive if we stand from the viewpoint
of Right View.

So to say that after we die we continue the
same person in different forms of life, that

is not deep Buddhism, and that is not scientific.

Because impermanence always changing.

The cinematographic nature of boy and mind
do not allow such a kind of thinking.

So it's neither Buddhist nor scientific.

But a number of scientists, they are caught
in this view.

And they are not good scientists.

Because good scientists see that nothing can
disappear--nothing is born, nothing dies--there's

only continued manifestation in different
kinds of forms.

So that is a kind of rebirth, that is a kind
of samsara, that is a kind of continuation,

but in the light of impermanence of no self.

And many scientists are capable of seeing
that.

So annihilation is neither Buddhist nor science,
no.

And a good Buddhist student can transcend
both these two wrong views.

And the notion of rebirth, the notion of continuation
is free from these two views, otherwise it's

not very Buddhist, it's not very scientific.

Suppose you are a cloud--and this is to use
an image for meditation.

You are made of tiny crystals of ice or of
water.

And you are so light, so that you don't fall.

You can float.

And there are huge clouds, millions of tons
of water floating like that.

And there is interaction, collision between
these tiny crystals of ice.

And they may become one big piece of ice and
fall down, big drop of water and fall down

as rain.

But maybe halfway, you encounter a block of
hot air, so you evaporate again and you come

again, you go down, you come up again, you
go down, you come up--so transmigration, reincarnation,

rebirth, is taking place always in the cloud.

A cloud does not need to become rain in order
to have a new life.

A cloud has a new life every moment.

So rebirth, continuation takes place with
us in the same [way].

Because every moment we produce thought, we
produce speech, and we produce action.

And that action will have an effect on us
and on the world.

And that is our product, our karma, our action.

Karma is a very important term.

So look at that cloud, and if you think that
that cloud just floats and is the same cloud,

that's not true.

A cloud is very active.

There are a lot of activities in a cloud.

And a cloud can produce very powerful energy,
electric light produced by the cloud can destroy

many things and go very quick.

The heat created by a cloud is hotter than
the heat in the sun.

So we don't understand enough about clouds.

We have to learn more about clouds.

And clouds are impermanent, and a cloud is
very active.

And birth and death, continuation, birth and
rebirth, continue always every moment in the

cloud.

And that will be helpful, because we are like
a cloud.

In fact there's a lot of cloud in us.

And we continue to drink cloud every day.

So birth and death are taking place in every
moment of our daily life.

We should not say that "I will die in twenty
years or thirty years," no, you are dying

right in this moment and you are reborn right
in this moment.

So rebirth is something that is happening
in the here and the now, and not in the future.

So when someone asks you, "What happens to
me when I die?" and you may help him or her

by asking back a question, "What happens to
me in the here and the now?"

And if you know what happens to you in the
here and the now, you can answer the other

question very easily.

You are undergoing birth and death right now.

Rebirth is taking place right now.

Because mentally and physically, you are of
a cinematographic nature, and you are reborn

every instant, you are renewed in every instant
in order to be a new person, a new being.

And if you know how to do it, your renewal
is beautiful.

With karma, you can assure a beautiful continuation,
a better continuation.

If you know how to handle your thinking, your
speech, and your action, you will be more

beautiful.

And this is possible.

That is action, that is karma.

So the fact is that you don't need to wait
until you die in order to see what happens

to you.

Look in the present moment, and you see that
birth and death are going on in you at every

moment, both in your body and in your consciousness.

And if you really know what is going on in
the present moment, the other question will

be answered very easily, it's the same kind
of answer.

Every moment of our daily life there is input,
there is output.

You breathe in, you take food, you have new
ideas, new feelings, and the old....there

is output also.

There are things that go out from you, in
terms of body, urine, air, water, and so the

cosmos is going through you, renewing you,
and you are returning other things to the

cosmos.

You are renewing yourself at every moment.

So birth and death does not wait, it is happening
now, in the present moment.

Suppose one part of the cloud is able to transform
itself into the rain and fall down and become

part of the river.

And the rest of the cloud was looking from
up in the sky and see its continuation down

here on Earth.

And it can wave, "Have a good journey down
there.

I enjoy up here, but you, part of me, I hope
you enjoy it down there."

To be floating up here is nice, but to be
flowing down there is also nice, so you are

both up there and in here.

That is our cloud.

And as a human being we can see that too.

I can see myself in my students and my friends.

I hope them good luck, because their good
luck is my good luck.

My disciples and my friends carry me with
them, and I wish them the best.

And my happiness and suffering depend on them,
I continue.

So when I look I don't just see me here.

I see me there, there.

So then I wave, "Have a good stay there, have
a good time."

[laughter] So that is the way to look.

You see yourself not just in this body, because
that is a wrong view.

You see yourself everywhere, because every
moment you produce thought, you produce speech,

you produce action that continues you in the
world.

You are there, and not just here.

So the other day, our friend from Thailand
asked me, "Thay, what happens when you die?"

I said that"I will not die.

I will continue with my friends and my students.

I'll be there for a long time.

I want to enjoy traveling and being around.

So in 100 years from now when you come to
Plum Village you will still see me in different

forms, and younger, more beautiful.

[laughter] Because it is possible to be more
beautiful, in our way of thinking, in our

way of speaking and acting, if we know how
to generate Right View.

With Right View we don't suffer.

We can produce thoughts of compassion, understanding,
forgiveness, and we feel light within us.

And we heal the world.

So it is possible to continue in beauty.

So a cloud can do the work of self-purification
up there, so that when we become snow or river,

it is beautiful.

It is possible.