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Fortunately, reincarnation is not a Buddhist idea.
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Rebirth! Rebirth!!!
AMC
This misunderstanding of the definitions of rebirth and reincarnation always seems to crop up in these discussions.
What the Buddhists refer to as rebirth, is what is called by Hindus reincarnation.
Reincarnation as understood by Buddhists (the same soul reappearing again and again as itself) does not exist in Hinduism.
I believe that when most non-Buddhist Westerners use the term "reincarnation" they are using it in the Hindu, not the Buddhist sense -- which is why Buddhists always cry out Rebirth! Rebirth! It's just a terminological problem.
I'm sorry to hear that, too. I was also sorry to learn there are about forty branches of Buddhism. I don't like variation - I need surity.
You'll never find surety among human institutions such as religions.
The following quote by Herman Hesse (don't worry, I'm going to translate it, but it just sounds so great in the original!) says it all, really:
„Es gibt die Wirklichkeit, ihr Knaben, und an der ist nicht zu rütteln. Wahrheiten aber, nämlich in Worten ausgedrückte Meinungen über das Wirkliche, gibt es unzählige, und jede ist ebenso richtig wie sie falsch ist.“
"Reality* exists, you monks, and it is unshakeable.
Truths, though, that is, opinions about the Real expressed in words, are innumerable, and each one is just as correct as it is false."
(Hermann Hesse und China. Suhrkamp Taschenbuch 673, S. 328 f.)
* Reality here meaning spiritual reality, not material reality.
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