Encyclopedia of Buddhism

There is an old tradition (continued now especially
in Tibetan Buddhism) of representing the six realms
graphically as forming six segments of a wheel of exis-
tence: at the top, the heavenly realms of the gods, and
moving clockwise, the jealous gods (separated by the
wishing tree), animals, hells, hungry ghosts, and hu-
mans. The outer rim of the wheel is formed of the
twelve links of PRATI
TYASAMUTPA
DA(DEPENDENT ORIG-
INATION). At the hub, driving the whole process, are a
cock (greed), a snake (hatred), and a pig (ignorance).

See also:Cosmology; Divinities; Ghosts and Spirits;
Heavens

Bibliography

Reynolds, Frank E., and Reynolds, Mani B., trans. Three Worlds
According to King Ruang: A Thai Buddhist Cosmology.Berke-
ley: University of California Press, 1982.

Sadakata, Akira. Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origin.
Tokyo: Kosei, 1997.

RUPERTGETHIN

REBIRTH

Rebirth (Sanskrit, punara
vrtti, punarutpatti, punarjan-
man,or punarj
lva
tu), also called transmigration and
reincarnation, is the belief common to all Buddhist tra-
ditions that birth and death occur in successive cy-
cles driven by ignorance (avidya
), DESIRE(trsna
), and
hatred (dvesa). The cycle of rebirth, termed SAMSA
RA,
is beginningless and ongoing, and it is determined by
the moral quality of a person’s thoughts and KARMA
(ACTION). The effects of good moral actions lead to
wholesome rebirths, and the effects of bad moral ac-
tions lead to unwholesome rebirths.

Origins of the doctrine

Scholars have long debated the origins of the theory of
rebirth among the religions of India. Some trace the
belief to the ritual models inscribed in the ancient
literature of the Vedas and Bra
hmanas, which rested
firmly on belief in the efficacy of ritual sacrifice as a
means to secure a place in heaven. To guarantee pos-
itive future results these sacrificial acts were required
to be perpetually reenacted. The conceptual parallels
in this ancient model of a continuous cycle of ritual
action have led some scholars to suggest that the me-
chanics of Vedic ritual should be seen as the precur-

sor to later Indian theories of karma, samsa
ra, and re-

birth. Other more controversial suggestions have been

that rebirth doctrine originated among the ancient

non-Aryan tribal groups of India. Still others theo-

rize that the doctrine was formulated by followers of

the samnya
sin(renouncer) traditions affiliated with

the broad-based s ́ramana(mendicant) movement that

began to emerge in India around the sixth century

B.C.E., a movement that included the early Buddhists

and Jains.

Rebirth and the problem of no-self

The Buddhist doctrine of rebirth differs fundamentally

from the idea generally upheld in Hinduism and Jain-

ism, both of which accept the existence of an eternal

and substantial self or soul (a
tman in Hinduism, j
lva

in Jainism) that transmigrates from life to life. Bud-

dhism, by contrast, rejects the notion of an absolute

self. Fundamental to its understanding of rebirth is

the doctrine of no-self (ana
tman)—the idea that in

samsa
ra, which is forever in flux, impermanent, and

constantly changing, there can be no permanent, un-

changing, independent self or soul.

But if there is no absolute self, how does Buddhism

resolve the problem of transmigration and of the con-

tinuity of karma between one life and the next? The

early Buddhist schools in India offered a variety of re-

sponses to this conundrum. One school, the Va
ts
pu-

tr
ya (also known as the PUDGALAVA
DA), went so far

as to propose the concept of an inexpressible personal

entity (pudgala) that traveled from life to life, a con-

cept that seemed to contradict the fundamental tenet

of ana
tman. Other schools, such as the Sarva
stiva
da,

posited the existence of an ethereal entity (called a

gandharva) composed of subtle forms of the five

SKANDHA(AGGREGATES) that passed through an IN-

TERMEDIATE STATE(antara
bhava) between death and

the next birth. In the early period of Buddhism in In-

dia, concepts like pudgalaand antara
bhavawere sub-

jects of much controversy.

Not all of the schools accepted such ideas. The

THERAVA
DA, for example, denied the existence of an

intermediate state and argued instead for the existence

of an inactive mode of deep consciousness (bhavan ̇ga)

that forms a causal link (Sanskrit, pratisandhi; Pa
li,

patisandhi) between one life and the next. In this view,

the first moment of consciousness in a new birth is

simply the direct conditioned effect of the final mo-

ment of consciousness of the immediately previous

existence.

REBIRTH